Feb 3 - We've gone sailing!

Bruce and Alene invited us sailing aboard their trimaran Migration along with Jon, Sue and Amanda of sv Ocelot. What a wonderful day! The weather was beautiful, and Migration was doing 5-8 knots reaching in pretty flat seas. We took a mooring ball for a few hours at Ko Racha Yai, an island about 12 miles south of Phuket, and enjoyed snorkeling and the

delicious food everyone brought along. Conversation was lively, and it was getting late in the afternoon when we (reluctantly) headed back to Chalong. Our group decided on dinner at one of the restaurants lining the street leading down to the Chalong pier, and we enjoyed another fine traditional Thai meal before heading back to our place. We should also mention that the Hacking family (their son Chris was back working in Seattle) and Bruce and Alene work diligently to produce two of the most useful, as well as entertaining, websites about cruising that we've come across. They can be found at: http://HackingFamily.com and http://www.brucebalan.com/migrations. These folks are explorers, go way off the beaten track, and write with the ability to make distant peoples and places come alive in their websites for all of us to enjoy; what a treat! Of special note for anyone planning on coming this way, we referred to Ocelot's tracks many times while enroute to Thailand, and found them most useful. The tracks are in OpenCPN and MaxSea formats, and are spot on when the available electronic (yet alone paper!) charts are way off. Our special thanks go to both crews for taking the time to share such valuable information.
Pic: Photographer Michael- Sue, Jon, Sue, Amanda; Alene and Bruce, enjoying the day away from boat work!