NANOU in Phuket, Thailand.

wiring_2_web.JPG (37544 bytes)  Freudian slip...                 zak and jimmy web.jpg (9529 bytes) Rascally monkeys in Thailand!

                                                                       

You make what you will out of Phuket.  Many of the bad things you hear are blatantly true yet can so easily be avoided.  I found it to be a place full of friendly industrious locals that have a lot to offer those that venture from the more slimy tourist areas...  It definitely is a great place to go diving - with dozens of local dive shops offering dive trips on liveaboard boats, trips to pristine islands with classic white sand and interesting coral.  The local long-tailed boats are awesome - mostly due to the incredible sound they put out from their air-cooled world war II diesel motors!

For yachties, Phuket is a great place to stop (probably the only place in Thailand in fact) if you need work done or need to leave your vessel.   Chalong Bay is OK - and helps the budget, otherwise it makes a nice change to actually dock at a Marina and step off onto dry land...

For NANOU, Phuket was intended to be a pit stop on the way to Sri Lanka but it grew into a marathon permanence for NANOU.   The boat stayed there for ten months. After about 2, Lee Marine, the local business employed to take care of it, decided to just abandon it.  NANOU's delicate electronics and wooden interior would have been a total write off in the tropical wet season had it not been for David, a Singaporean independant boat maintentance man, who came to the rescue and took the boat under his wing.  

dave_at_boat_lagoon_web.jpg (6076 bytes)  Our hero, David

On returning to the boat, I was faced with the major task of removing almost a year's cobwebs and getting the boat ready to cross the Indian Ocean... So began one and half months of boat work...(yet again).

dave_and_tanks_web.jpg (7208 bytes)   One of the worst jobs on the boat - water Tank cleaning. 5,000 litres worth...

 

Phuket can also be a good place to find crew.  But beware - it is a lottery! Anyhow, in the end, NANOU was ready!  So, back in to the water, through the woody shallow-water channel, round the bottom of the island and -- to the west towards Sri Lanka!