A whooping 25 miles away….our first stop was Koh Lipe (Koh is Thai for “island”). A lazy morning, we left Langkawi, Malaysia at 10am with 10-15 knots of breeze, slowing dying to 5 knots so motor on by noon. We had been sitting in the marina for a 1 1/2 months so Trevor was checking the engine (oil pressure, temps, and such) since we hadn’t used Polly the Perkins engine for so long. Humm…..the exhaust manifold was hotter than usual…..to boot, Trevor also fixed the fuel lift pump gasket (more man speak) while we were under way. Just a part of being out here….. excited to finally get to Thailand. Originally we wanted to be a part of the Sail Thailand rally but was delayed by our “wood eating friends” and the rally left Langkawi a week earlier. We might be able to catch up with them…
So you’ll notice that we are not flying the yellow “Q” flag….this is because Thailand allows for you to travel up north to Phuket from Langkawi, Malaysia (about 120 miles from Langkawi) to officially check in.
There are a few schools of thoughts on this: some that say 1 week is best…others say 2 weeks is ok. Up to you…we decided to take a week just to be on the safe side : )
We anchored in 17 feet of water at Koh Lipe, close to shore. There were lots of ferry, fishing, and tour boats on moorings but we thought we would sneak in and tried to find a patch of sand to drop anchor. It was about 2:30 pm…opps..1:30 pm Thai local time so we had planned to scrub the bottom of the boat, a much needed chore after sitting at a marina for so long. The water was really clear, comparatively to the rest of the waters we had been in, so we took full advantage and hopped in…the first time in about 2 months?!
We can see the bottom!!!! Scuba tank out and time to start scraping…OMG…it was a Barnacle family reunion!!!!
While scraping the all the barnacles off the bottom of the boat (3 hours later)….the tide was becoming lower and we were anchored REALLY close to a big coral bommie….yup…we moved farther out..better to be safe than sorry. Time to head to shore and get the usual…local currency, sim cards, and a BEER!
The beach…pretty touristy….but lovely sand! 
Love the tour boats…aka Long Tail boats…. with their colorful garlands around the bow. These garlands are not for decoration but in honour of the spirits of the water and Mae Yanang the spiritual goddess of journeys. It’s a big deal to them and ceremonies of incense burning or blessings supposedly happen each morning! 
A great walking street with lots of cute stores, bars, and restaurants. The beach is lit up with fire shows and music at night. 
Of course we have to try the local beer! 
Dinner near the beach…Trevor opted for tacos….I desperately wanted Pad Thai noodles. The food is incredibly fresh and full of flavor. Very different from Malaysia and Indonesia. 
So….we heard that you can’t access the beach until mid tide….we were on shore during low tide and had to wait for the tide to rise…so why not get a beach Thai massage?! I have never been twisted and pushed into a pretzel before….check! 
Slow Flight anchored at low tide…we could practically walk out to her…so glad we moved.
Nest stop was 45 miles away, Koh Rok, a national marine park. The anchorage was between 2 islands. We showed up just about 4 pm…hoping that the rangers would not charge us a park fee ($5 per person per night we think). We would of paid it anyways but saving a dollar is always a good thing. We sailed most of the way until noon then motored the rest. Only a few boats were there so we decided to drop the dinghy and go ashore before dinner.
Flo at anchor…looking heavy…cant even see her water line!
Dinghy ashore…one island had a fisherman’s relic on the north shore of the southern island…. 
This was the fisherman’s relic…..no comment! 
We went to the other island and found the “park” complete with camping grounds, short hike, a small cafe (closed) and park rangers….they all said hi to us but never asked for money.
Next stop was Koh Muk about 16 miles away and is known for the “Emerald Cave” which is a “hong”. A hong is a basically a sea cave. If you get the chance…it is so worth the stop…don’t miss it! It does take some timing with the tides to get in and for your enjoyment, try to time it without the tour boats that come and drop off massive amounts of tourists. We waited until late afternoon with a mid tide… only a video will capture what we saw…it’s long but I think worth the 6 minutes…it could be a spoiler though for those coming behind us….sorry : (
Yeah…we are those people…. Barnacle fleet you would be proud! Now….I don’t think it was very appropriate but we did it anyways. We definitely got a few weird looks.
Next stop was Koh Phi Phi another whooping 42 miles away. We could of stopped at Koh Lanta, which we hear is just amazing but we wanted to try to catch our friends on SV Starry Horizons at Koh Phi Phi. So we blazed there…literally! The early morning started out with great 10-15 knots…as we rounded Koh Lanta about 9-10 am we experienced 25+ knots of wind!!!! We couldn’t believe it we had to reef the main and jib sails. Our speed over ground was about 8-9 knots…it was totally crazy. Then by about noon, and we passed the island, the wind dropped back to 10-12 knots. Koh Phi Phi is the one of Thailand’s most popular islands and for sure it was true by the amount of tour boats around us coming in. We were lucky to arrive just about 3 pm and there were a few mooring balls left at Monkey Beach, where SV Starry Horizons was at. Again, it’s hard to access the beach during low tide so we had a peaceful night and planned to go ashore the next day during high tide.
Looking out at the bay ashore at Phi Phi island. 
The otherside of the bay is where all the ferry’s come and go….can you see them all?! 
Seriously…there was a tattoo shop, a clinic, or a dive shop every block…it was like Starbucks in Seattle! 
We walked around off the beaten path and found a second hand store. We looked for t-shirts for Trevor..instead found cheap shoes and CATS! They are everywhere on this island. 
Lunch at Anna’s…super good food, great service, beer koozies to keep your beer cold….highly recommend it!
Monkey beach..literally…with angry monkeys. We were told that these monkeys, for generations, have been fed by tourists and actually target women because they usually have food in their bag. We watched one monkey take something from a guy and run up rocks while the guy chased it. I wonder deep in the trees if there is a pile of iPhones and cameras just lying around (LOL). We actually didn’t see any monkeys when we went ashore AFTER all the tourists left about 6 pm (access at low tide is difficult). It’s like the monkeys are on the tourist schedule and of course…that makes total sense…I would be too!
Our 7 days was just about up and it was time to head to Phuket island (proper) to check in. We had the option to anchor at Ao Chalong bay where all the offices are located, but had read the bay is busy, noisy with all the tour boats, and lots of “phantom” mooring our propeller could get caught in. So we opted to anchor at Nai Harn Bay and catch a cab to the Ao Chalong pier to do our formalities….best idea yet!
Still dodging fishing nets…can you see the flag? Didn’t think so : ) 
Thai fishing vessel….
Nai Harn bay view from our boat… 
Nai harn bay anchorage view from land…. 
Nai Harn beach…..the tourists start and get their spot as early as 8 am….Interestingly enough, we went to dinner and the menu was in Thai and Russian! Lots of Russians here…I mean LOTS!
The next day we took a cab to Ao Chalong pier…. 
One stop check in…got to love it. It was the easiest check in process EVER. Sign in to their online service (remember your password to check out), go next door to harbor master, then next door to immigration, then next door to customs….DONE! 
Technically you and the boat have to notify the local harbormaster that you are leaving their “state” and going to another. Then you “technically” have to check in/out of the new “state”. This is very laboursome as the harbourmasters office could be 45 minutes away from your boat and hopefully you don’t show up during their lunch hour(s). With that said….when we checked in, we asked the harbor master in Phuket about going to Phi Phi islands again. Phi Phi island is technically in another “state” (Krabi) but the harbourmaster in Krabi is 45 miles away from Phi Phi island by boat. We slightly insisted there was no way that they could make us sail up to the harbormaster to check in, then go to Phi Phi Island, then sail back to harbourmaster to check out. He just said, “if anything happens, we would be in big trouble”. So we made sure to keep a wide berth and make sure we didn’t cause trouble.
There is a port closer (Surin) than Phuket but we had friends officially check in there (boat work to complete) however, because no one told them they had to “check out of that specific port”, they were fined 500 Baht ($15 usd) when they arrived in Phuket. There is also an immigration office on Koh Lipe but no harbormaster, no customs….so if you check in there (immigration only) it seems to causes problems when you actually try to check in at Phuket. Each cruisers needs to weight the costs and benefits of doing this.
Just be aware….they want to keep tabs on us….that reminds me….note to self…Thailand now has a mandatory AIS requirement and they do track you.
Officially checked into Thailand….”anchor beer”…with a fancy twist! Rock Salt bar and restaurant offer half off drinks between 6-7pm…additionally the Nai Harn Resort (big white resort) offers happy hour between 6:30-7:30 at their rooftop bar…just an FYI.
With the formalities done it was time to figure out what we wanted to do and see….both friends and Buddhas?!