We raced towards our next anchorage, intent on arriving before nightfall. Ko Ha (literal translation: Five Islands) is a group of limestone stacks which jut out of the sea from a protected coral bed. Anchoring is illegal, so visiting boats must take one of the Marine National Park laid buoys.
The pilot chart (a kind of marine guide book) shows the area as suitable only for day stops, but as we’ve stayed in plenty of unmarked areas before we decided to take a calculated risk to stay overnight.
As we made our way south, American and Alicia followed on SY Synchronity. We arrived at dusk and made a careful recce through the channel islands before choosing the most protected place on offer.
The official buoys have a mixed reputation in the yachtie fraternity, and we knew of boats that had drifted away on failing buoys at night. Other salty sea dogs swear by them, often remaining tied to a buoy for months. If the winds whipped up we would take it in turns on ‘anchor watch’.
It was too late to get into the water to inspect the strength of the mooring, so we attached SY Esper to the heavy rope with care and made sure we knew which heading to take should any kind of emergency occur overnight. We were the only boats there, so we would have enough room to manoeuvre without the worry of colliding with anyone else. Once we were happy with our position, Jamie cracked open the beers and we took in the spectacular surroundings.
Although ‘awesome’ these days is used to describe anything from Justine Bieber’s new single to a favourite pair of socks, Ko Ha is a unique place truly deserving of that exclamation. SY Esper was moored 50 meters away from ‘floating island’, named because of the hole in its middle, carved out by the sea, which gives it the effect of hanging in mid air. Each of the islands has virgin rainforest growing on its inaccessible summit. Caused by wind erosion, horizontal shelves criss-cross the cliff faces like massive dry stone walls.
