20th February - Yacht Haven, Phuket - boat cleaning

Thursday 20^th February

Sunrise, for a change!

It is much quieter here, in our little Yacht Haven corner of Phuket.  The marina is very big, with a capacity of 280 boats.  Lots of coming and going, and big charter boats off to the islands for the day.  But no deafening longtails, jetskis, stalls full of things to buy buy BUY.

I spoke too soon…There goes a longtail!!

And…the people seem much nicer.  Happier and less hassled… On our first day at Patong Beach, Bron and I wandered up and down the laneways full of stalls (full of things to buy buy BUY.)  I kept saying, to persistent sellers, Thank you, but I am only looking.  One exasperated young woman flapped a dress in my face and said, And I, madame, am only selling!  Fair enough… I could see her point.  But surely we should be allowed to look??  Bron and I were, in or mild way, quite good for the economy on the street; we really did earn the right to browse just a bit.  Last week we did the same walk with Andrew and Sue.  They stopped to look at some hammocks being sold on the street.  They were all quite keen to buy, but the weave was very big and it would have been a most uncomfortable hammock to lie in, so they thanked the man and walked on.  As they left, he snarled, Well fuck you then!  I do understand; they are sick to death of those pesky tourists… But…maybe find something to do other than dealing directly with us on the street.  Please!

We have had The Clean Team onboard.  A lovely local man came up and offered his scrubbing services – how could we resist?  It is costing 3,000 baht ($102) to have these two men scouring every inch of 2XS… They did so much better a job than ever I could… Pete, I am sure, could equal them but – he is a convalescent!  And…they need the baht… My role was to make sure the hatches were all firmly closed – in the big spare cabin, which is also our library, I was a teensy bit late…

Never mind...we didn't want this book anyway...

(The hatch appeared to be closed but in fact it wasn’t sealed.)  

And, more important, I had to make sure the boys were all hydrated –many glasses of lemon cordial, with ice, went up and down the stairs.

By  the end of the day 2XS was positively GLEAMING.  Pete paid off the CleanTeam, and I gave them each a beautiful soccer t-shirt, from my stash – they love European football, here…

Mr Boo is a very imposing character!

In the afternoon (siesta time for most workers in Thailand) Pete and I hired a car and went down the coast to Boat Lagoon marina, to check out the chandleries.  We needed…a new pump for the dinghy.  Oh dear…the last one, a very nifty, simple contraption, fell off the back steps when we were coming up to yacht harbor, in the bouncy waves.  (Not sure WHY it was on the back steps but…there you go.)  The pump needs to be in the dinghy at all times because…yes, it is still deflating, poor darling.

They must be having trouble, in the marina toilets...

We have the car till midday so we are going on a land excursion – no chandleries, no shops, just seeing some sights!  Weehee!!