1.9 is the magic number! (Irene)

We’re on the hard, again…..This time in Satun, Thailand, just across the border from Malaysia. Moose is in need of some TLC (tender, love and care) and man, this is the best boatyard we have seen in ages! I mean, as for a working boatyard. We really liked Northsand boatyard in Whangarei, New Zealand, because the people were so great and they really tried all the time to accommodate everybody. We hated the boatyard in the middle of Bundaberg, because the owner was a pr…., well, let’s not get into that. But here, in Satun, everything you need is here on the yard: machine shop, good welders, carpenters, hardware store (small one, but Oh, the lady here who speaks English extremely well, works in the hardware store in town and will bring anything the next day when asked) and a food store. We have I don’t known how many projects running at the same time and it’s all going great. Duncan has sandblasted spots on Moose and loves the job of making Moose better looking!

We both came down here on a sunny, hot day from Langkawi. We had spent some marvelous times there. In Kuah we went up the mountain every other day for some exercise, we had to because the beer only costs $0.30 per can (it’s a duty free island) and we needed to be able to drink more ☺. We spent some great time there with Kari and Kata. Aslaug, the wife, went back to Iceland for 3 weeks, so we took care of Kari the husband and Kata, the dog. Kuah is a busy anchorage on the south side, in the centre of Langkawi. In the Hole in the Wall, on the eastside of Langkawi, we were the only boat. Well, there were more boats, but the owners were nowhere to be seen. It was really nice to be back with nature again. We saw at some point about 30 eagles at the same time! Bird watching time! You go through a cut in the wall and it opens up a little bit to a river where you can anchor. You are so secure there, when we had a huge rainstorm in the middle of the night, we didn’t even get any waves!
We left Hole in the Wall for Satun and managed to run aground in the last mile and a half before we were there. We followed waypoints that the boatyard had put online, but 2 obviously were not really correct. Fortunately, we were stuck on mud and eventually we managed to get off by ourselves. Pfffff……..That took a year of our lives…..Surprisingly, the bottom of the keel was nice and clean!

Duncan & I both work hard on Moose, but besides chipping rust and getting dirty and sweaty, I also go to Satun town, 15 km from here. When we first got here we had to clear into Thailand. We rented a motorbike from the yard for only $3 (!) and Duncan drove us around, me on the back. My goodness, that was the scariest thing we have done for a while. Duncan is not used to a bike without a clutch, and I am not used to bikes, period. Of course they drive on the left side here and on top of that, it was raining so hard, we were drenched within 5 minutes…….(we both have a nice cold now). It was interesting, but I have decided not to drive those things anymore. I prefer to arrive home with groceries instead of going to a hospital. Lisa, from the boat Clair de Lune, which is next to us on the yard, offered to drive me into town, and now we go on regular basis. She is used to driving these bikes and I really have to tell you, she does know how to drive them….I sometimes take a songthow (small taxi) back, because we have too many groceries and Fletcher, the kid,, is always coming along. It’s quite a sight apparently, because all the people in town look at us: 2 white woman and a kid in the front of a bike!

For me, this is the real experience of Thailand: a small town, Satun, and an even smaller village, very close to the boatyard, Chebelung where they speak Thai and Malay (we are really close to the border) and where most families are Muslim and not Buddhist. This place is so off the map, the other day I was the only white person walking around in town. That is the raw experience I like!

Oh, by the way, 1.9 meters is the depth of Moose and we had 1.7 on the depth sounder just before we did not move anymore!