UK visit 3 - Over the Sea to Skye

The ballard actually refers to Bonnie Prince Charlie's trip from south Uist to Skye not Skye to the mainland. Actually we went over the bridge, but it doesn't sound as good and has only been possible for a few years, certainly not in 1745!

We first attempted to get to Skye in 1969, before we were married, but chickened out when it started to snow heavily in Glengarry.  We have been promising ourselves the trip ever since and have now succeeded.

Having appreciated light, clear water & mountain ranges on our travels - Skye has them all in spades & our photos cannot do justice to the scenery.


While England was suffering torrential rain and storms, Skye was windy and cold, but reasonably dry & the air was clear. This last fact was important to us coming from a polluted Asia. Our excellent snug B&B, Glean an Ronnaich in Portree, was nicely central & we can't recommend it too highly. Walks range from gentle rambles to serious climbing in the magnificent Cuillin range. We limited ourselves to a daily gentle ramble. 

North Skye

Kilt Rock ( in the distance)

Kilt rock is a cliff formation on the NE coast where a layer volcanic rock shows half way up the cliffs, apparently resembling tartan in a kilt (English of course).

Duntulm Castle

Duntulm Castle near the northern tip of the island is the ruins of the former seat of the MacDonalds of Sleat. Not much remains & the what is left are unstable.  We have to confess that we ignored all signs & climbed up.

View from the top

The view from the top of the Trotternish Ridge is spectacular.

UK visit 2 - Edinburgh

The 3 weeks of our visit with Catharine and Steve in Edinburgh flew by. Grandsons Archie and Max are growing apace with Archie now at school and Max becoming quite articulate.  We managed a bit of babysitting and some weekend outings .It was a good break from the littleies to have lunch with Susan's sister. We also did duty visits to Susan's 102 yr old mother. 

Stuck in the mud - Roslin Glen

Female panda Tian Tian

During the visit we managed trips to both the botanical gardens and the zoological gardens, the latter just us with the boys. At 1000 hrs the only tickets available to see the giant pandas were for 1700 hrs- long time but the 7 hours with inquisative,agile boys passed quickly.
For the record we only lost Archie once!

Wooden ones are less aggressive than real ones (when awake)

UK visit 1

21/22 March saw us travelling Phuket-Kuala Lumpur-Dubai-Gatwick, with an overnight stay in Dubai. The KL to Dubai leg was supposed to be an A380, but it had been replaced with a 777 and that was only about 1/3 full - signs of the economy? So we spread ourselves & slept.

Dubai Fort

In Dubai we had a morning free so we had a healthy brisk walk to a museum in the old Dubai Fort. 

The Dubai-Gatwick leg was however nearly full. Susan was seated next to an obese man who spread himself largely into her "territory" & was very rude.  One of the few empty seats was next to Richard so she was able to move, otherwise she would have contacted the stewardess.

In UK we touched base with Nik and Lou, had the annual sort out of wardrobe and moved on to Paul & Elizabeth, catching up on Fenland news.  Richard absented himself for a night, off to Cambridge for an old boys reunion. True to promise he didn't buy the photo of white haired men!

Dubai - Air conditioned bus shelter

Boat Lagoon, Phuket

Apologies to all our readers for the lack of updates. Life has been a bit hectic.

On 9 February Sea Bunny was lifted out at Phuket Boat Lagoon principally to have the topsides painted and for a few minor jobs, expected to take about 3 weeks. However, we planned to leave her on the hard for our UK trip commencing in late March.

Not well adhered - but it is 18 years!

This was very fortunate as we found a few blisters in the paintwork below the waterline. On investigation we discovered that the epoxy coating that a previous owner had applied in 1994 could be peeled off in sheets.  This was done, copious copies of work specs written and the hull left to dry out while we went to the UK.






 

Friends

Playtime came when  Susan had a major birthday, so we all saved our Baht to celebrate with friends at an Indigo Pearl buffet luncheon
It was good to have John and Judy (Kalypso) and Barry & Noote (Coco de Mer) from the 2001-3 Blue Water Rally join us as well the present crowd of fun makers.

RIB rescue!

From Koh Phayam we went to the Surins for a few days.  Unfortunately the coral in both the Surins and the Similans has suffered from bleaching over the last couple of years.

The Koh Miang anchorage (taken in 2009)

At anchor off Koh Miang in the Similans we were in the cockpit playing cards, when Susan observed a very smart RIB heading out through the channel between the islands, with the tide and wind, but with no-one on board.  Was it was supporting a drift dive? Too fast to have divers attached.  We launched our RIB and collected the drifting boat.  There was a swimmer, complete with flotation vest, chasing the RIB.  He had swum at least 0.4nM (750 m) from the large motor yacht M/Y Amadeus from whence the RIB has escaped but he was losing the race. There were us and one fishing boat on a mooring between him and a 40 nM swim to the mainland!  We picked him up and reunited him with the RIB, which had apparently gone adrift during lunch.
 
In the picture we were on the second mooring from the left, the RIB was further E (right) when picked up and the fishing boat was on the last mooring (no tender) - then nothing till the mainland.

We can only assume and hope that the  skipper was not on board Amadeus at the time the boat became detached and that the crew member made the decision himself to try to rescue the RIB in such a potentially suicidal way.

Man cannot live by bread alone - Koh Phayam

We have been a bit busy planning for our maintenance period in Phuket and hence have not got round to blogging for a while.

We headed up from Nai Yang, via Ban Thap Lamu and the channels inside Koh Ra and Koh Phra Thong (don't try looking for Koh Ra on Maps on an iPad - it apparently doesn't exist but does on Google Earth) to Koh Phayam.

Ko Phayam - main road

Butterfly - Ko Phayam

Koh Phayam is like what Phuket probably was 30 years ago - low key backpacker resorts, good beaches, very relaxed -Lonely Planet says demure.

R had an arguement with a lawn mower at the hairdressers. We found fruit and veg and the cafe beside the library (book swap or loan) took an order for bread. 

2 kg loaf

Be warned however, a 2 kg wholemeal loaf cost us THB 600 (GBP 12) and was dense (like R's hot cross buns -have 2 for breakfast and you don't need to eat again all day). R suffered from severe indigestion after two slices of toast.  The loaf was quartered, frozen & lasted 2 weeks - so quite economical really!
With no inverter, this was an investment & kept the male of the species happily married to cracker girl!
The b...d word looms so large on Sea Bunny that it is now banned & has to be referred to as fermented wheat.

Some success - and moving. Posted from Nai Yang, Phuket

The repair on the gen set seems to have worked - hurrah! Now we can move again, clever Richard.
The inverter is a different matter & according to Xantrex is an expensive, in warranty, throw away item. Guess what our valentine day present will be?
With AC power partially restored yesterday we motored up to Nai Yang in a very rolly anchorage as there was a NW swell and an unseasonal westerly wind. In the evening our friends on Cankata organised a dinghy raft up for sundowners. 9 dinghies with 23 people drifted along enjoying the sunset and the camaraderie.
Today we will continue in day hops towards Ko Phayam, just south of the Myanmar border and then to the Surins and Similans.