We waved goodbye to American and Alicia on SY Synchronicity. They were on deadlines and had to head back to Ko Lanta, then on to their respective homes in Shanghai and California. Since the mundane task of hauling out SY Esper in the boat yard loomed, we needed to leave the cocooned idyll of Ko Ha too. We weren’t quite ready to break the spell of Thailand’s coral islands yet, so we plotted our passage south via Ko Rok for an overnight stop before the hard work began.
Ko Ha had been one of those detours which are common for the slow traveller. With no fixed time scale, this kind of life – whether by land or sea – gives you the chance to make it up as you go along, to open a new door or discover an unplanned destination. The collision in a busy anchorage in Phi Phi Don had presented us with new friends and taken us to Ko Ha, one of Thailand’s most weird and bountiful island groups.
But it was time to go.
The entrance to the boatyard is through a shallow tidal creek, so we needed to be there during the next spring tide when the water depth is at its highest to allow access to the slipway. For once, we had a deadline to meet too. With the squalls now over, all wind had died, and nothing but flat seas and motoring lay ahead of us. These extreme conditions are normal at this time of year, leaving many sailors to while away their time in safe anchorages until the weather becomes more favourable.
The engine rumbled on as we settled in to the cockpit for a direct passage towards the jagged specks of Ko Rok Nok and Ko Rok Nai. At this distance they had coalesced into one hazy silhouette on the horizon.
