With the storm clouds gone, we made our way to a gentle spot just east of Phuket along the coast of Ko Yai. Jamie dropped beneath the clear water to scrape the hull of gathering barnacles, while I tried a spot of unproductive fishing. It was our first quiet night in two weeks.
Ko Yai was a welcome break from hectic Ao Chalong, but we had to leave the next day for Phi Phi Don to hook up with a new friend we had met through social media, American McGee. A name to conjure with – to be honest, we weren’t sure if it was a wind-up – but we thought ‘What the heck?’. If we didn’t get along, we’d make our excuses and skedaddle.
The next morning we set off on a short hop across the bay towards our meeting point. We sailed past fishermen pulling up fish traps from the shallows, the sun shone, a gentle wind blew and we found just the spot to anchor.
The thing about Phi Phi Don is that we didn’t like it all that much when we first dropped the hook in hectic Ton Sai Bay. But American assured us that this anchorage was altogether a quieter and prettier place.
With just a couple of small hotels on shore, a few holiday makers playing in the surf, and the usual long-tails coming and going, it seemed American was right. Jamie relaxed in the cockpit with a cup of tea and searched for a wifi signal, while I did a bit of tidying-up below. If we were going to receive visitors, I had to find somewhere to hide all the clutter that quickly piles up in the saloon.
Thwack! Thud! Crash!
What in hell’s name was that?
I flew on deck to find an old steel boat the size of a house backing away from our stern. She’d hit us!
WTF?
