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We were pretty a nervous during our trip from Ko Muk to the very safe anchorage on the east side of Ko Lanta Yai. It started with very light wind on the nose, rocks on our lee side and the drive shaft overheating if we used the engine. But the wind picked up and the last two hours turned out to be a perfect sail, averaging around six knots exactly in the direction I wanted to head.
Road Trip Number Two
We hired a car and set off on Road Trip Number Two to Phuket (firstly via two car ferries to get us to the mainland) so we could find a new engine mount and replace Yana Banana, our tender which was taking in water and letting out air at an alarming rate. Her outboard wasn't working either as it had gone for a swim on account of this.
On the road to Phuket
I guess this was the point when I started wondering when things would start going right.
I got a cold
My computer was stolen by sea gypsies and I hadn't done a recent back up as we didn't have enough power. But I had transferred all my current photos onto the missing computer and deleted them from the camera
We ended up with a monster four stroke outboard, instead of the two stroke we wanted, being delivered, too big for our needs
The monsoon influencing the weather has created two weeks of impossible conditions to sail on to Phuket
The engine wobbles with the new engine mount
Old Town seen from Yana
Waterfront real estate
But Ko Lanta is a lovely place to be stranded. Old Lanta Town is all character, sensationally delicious honest Thai food and really friendly locals. They lead you from the street tables and chairs through the kitchen to the restaurant's "back side" where the rest of the tables and chairs are over the water (at high tide). I terrorise them with my attempts at their language from my Thai phrase book and they usually correct my pronunciation, stare at me blankly or smile encouragement.
Old Lanta Town's main street ("front side")
The "back side"
The community comprises a lot of Chinese and Muslim Thais. Their calls to prayer are much more musical and less mournful than in Langkawi. As I was riding past a mosque on our scooter there was a dog howling along with the call to prayer. I guess it was a Muslim dog.
The weather has been wild. There were two days when it was so rough we couldn't get to shore, even though our tender is the size of the Queen Mary. We got cabin fever and felt like prisoners in paradise. The forecasts have improved now so now we're just waiting for a break to continue on to Phuket.
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