Thailand-Phuket sailing info?

[Whiskey Bravo]

Having failed in our attempt to charter in Malaysia we've now booked to sail from Phuket for 2 weeks at the end of November-early December.

Has anybody sailed there/been there and got any useful information etc. I've found the basic stuff, but personal recommendations are always welcome, especially with regard to eateries/moorings etc.

Thanks in anticipation, the info provided for the Sporades recently was very useful.

 

[davel]

I sailed out of there on a charter in 2002. I guess a lot will have changed in the past 8 years so far as specific restaurants etc are concerned but it was a great trip. The winds were not that strong although we did have a couple of good days, but the scenery is stunning and the people very friendly. There are some wonderful places to visit and the place was virtually empty of other sailing boats.
I kept a track of where we sailed to (readable using Google Earth). Drop me a pm if you'd like me to send you our route or if you have any specific questions.

Enjoy.
Dave L.

 

[V1701]

We anchored for a couple of weeks christmas/NY 08/09 across the bay from Ao Chalong Pier (South of Phuket town), very sheltered, most of the boats stick to the Ao Chalong side where it's more choppy. I remember eating a very large barbecued frog which was very tasty! Within reach of Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta, Krabi area. Fantastic diving...

 

[tjfmmaes]

Some experience

Hi

I went there a while ago, and posted the same question then in this forum: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33131

We went and had a good time, however, it was not the best sailing ever due to lack of wind during the day. We used up about 90l of diesel during the 2 weeks! That said, there was a lot of wind during the evening starting at 6pm, going up to F5-6, shifting about 180d at about 11pm. But that could just have been the season /Feb.

Some other remarks:
- be prepared to anchor, and anchor deep. Our Sunsail boat came with oversized anchor and 55m or so of chain and we used all of it and more in some places (15-20m anchoring). Also look at your swinging room as we had wind directions changing 180d in the evening.

- look after your water tanks - when we went in 2004 it was hard to get water.

- The sunsail base is good, entrance is a little tricky but they did help to get you out and in with a helmsman, who is picked up/dropped of in a dinghy. (might have changed now)
link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...8054,98.396258&spn=0.010519,0.019248&t=h&z=16

- be prepared to pull up your dinghy up the beach a long way at low tide, beaches are shallow and with the relative low tide, it is amazing how much falls dry.

- distances between the "famous" spots are quite long, arrival should be at the latest at 4pm or so, so make sure you time it right.

- it can be very disconcerting to see 2 fishing boats coming towards you, about 500m apart. Then you realise that they are trawling... luckily the nets hang very deep, so no question of being stuck, but still.....

- Get sunsail (or whoever) to provision the boat for you, is a lot less hassle

- the various areas are stunning, I can recommend the Andaman sea area (including James Bond island, very touristy & tacky, but funny nevertheless, and the only place where you will actually meet people). Our first night at anchor was in the Andaman sea, next to a vertical cliff face, in 15m with a F5 blowing and not a single person, boat, light in sight. Scary, absolutely, magical, yes!

- in between Ko Yao and the other island, there is an anchorage and a fishery farm. When we were there there was no landing spot, so you take the dinghy to the fishing pier (don't drive through the farm, they get very upset ), moor up to a fishing boat and climb up the pier. Not very easy.... Then take a taxi to one of the local restaurants, well worth it.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=8.13...168234,0.43808&t=h&z=12&lci=com.panoramio.all


- Other usual suspects such as Krabi (very nice, take a taxi to see the temple of a 1000 steps, bring an oxygen tank), ko Siboya, Ko lanta and the islands just behind with the cave you can only reach by swimming (can't remember the name) are very lovely too
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=7.864997,99.010763&spn=0.042087,0.07699&t=h&z=14

- I was in Ko Phi Phi Don before the Tsunami, when it was very nice, including the neighbouring island with "The Beach", but I don't know how it is now.
In the end, it is not so much a sailing as an exploring holiday, well worth it, but the facilities (dinghy docks, navigation, water, fuel, shopping) is a little limited. The BVIs are much simpler to holiday in by comparison, but you feel less like a Cruseo ;-))

Have fun!

Tom

 

[HinewaisMan]

We spent a couple of months in the area back in 2008 - there's a few places of interest mentioned in our log once you get past the blurb about the Kings Cup.


http://www.oceanodyssey.net/log23-Thailand.html