Ideas for great vacations

Sailing in Cambodia and Thailand – Deserted Beaches and Aquamarine Seas

Travelling by road from Bangkok via the ferry from Laem Ngop to Dan Kao on Koh Chang, the second largest island in Thailand, we arrived at Thida’s base at Salak Phet where she was moored by the side of a seafood restaurant. Thida is a 44 feet yacht built in Pattaya, Thailand in 1986 which was to carry us on our journey through the sparkling waters of the Gulf of Thailand for the next 6 days. As the captain and assistants stowed our luggage and made final preparations for the voyage, we tucked into the as usual delicious Thai lunch, our appetites sharpened by the car journey but also whetted by the excitement and thrill of the impending cruise. Captain Ralf eventually joined us for a beer bearing the same name as the island Chang. A glance at the chart quickly reveals the origin of the name as the island is shaped like an elephant’s head, “chang” being the Thai word for elephant. We were drinking elephant beer on Elephant Island.

We discussed options for the impending cruise and, decisions made; we cast off at 8pm just as the full moon was rising over the mountain and picked our way across calm, silvery seas through the small islands that make up the Koh Chang archipelago. 4 hours of atmospheric, moonlit cruising under power later, we dropped the anchor and chain into black, shimmering waters of a very sheltered bay on the south western tip of Koh Kut The plan was to head for Koh Tang which was as far from home port that we would travel and then slowly work our way back to Koh Chang. This was the reason for the 4 hour trip to our anchorage and why we needed an early start in the morning.

Dawn broke around 6am and very soon afterwards the rattle of chain as the winch hauled up the anchor signalled our departure from our very scenic anchorage. We set a course of 155 degrees across the Gulf of Thailand to Koh Tang under steady throb of the Volvo Penta engine. The wind direction was south east prohibiting the use of sail as we had an estimated 14 hour journey at 6 knots to reach Koh Tang. The early morning cloud that was to be an almost daily feature gradually dissipated leaving behind a hot blue sky. Wind and wave height increased gradually slowing our speed and lengthening our journey until we decided that Koh Tang was becoming just a little beyond our comfortable reach for that day opting instead to raise sail and head East for Koh Rong. With jib and mainsail aloft, Thida steadied