Ready-Sailing Bliss in Cambodia and Thailand

by Kevin Hellon/pattayasaeejvsh/Sail-World on 8 Jan 2007 Kevin Hellon describes a holiday on a chartered boat with a skipper through the lovely waters of Thailand and Cambodia. Worth reading for the envy value alone, but contains handy descriptions of the route they took and anchorages they liked.

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 Thidas 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 six 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 elephants 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. Four 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 four 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 in the beam seas providing a more comfortable journey as we sped across the now Cambodian water at 6-7 knots. We reached a large bay in the north of Koh Rong, well protected from the swell and south easterly wind just as the sun was setting.

The bay offered a selection of palm fringed sandy beaches and our carefully selected anchorage was shared by a solitary fishing boat, the occupants of which had retired to a makeshift shelter on the beach.

The next day we rounded the point and motored a few miles down the eastern side of the island and took the dinghy ashore to visit a fishing village. The village epitomised how the fisher folk of Cambodia had lived remote from the mainland for hundreds of years scratching a living from the sea.

Our curiosity with the village was equally matched by the villagers themselves who seemed happy at seeing such strange visitors. A posse of children soon followed our every move and gently jostled each other to gain prime position whenever our cameras were raised to take a photo. This was followed by laughter and squeals of delight as we showed them the result. The adults also got in on the act usually transforming a toothy or toothless grin into a solemn, proud pose for the photo before breaking out into the same grin again.

We moved on with a good wind to reach the port of Kampong Som or Sihanhoukville to give its most recent name. The port was established in the 1950s and is also Cambodias major coastal resort with several beautiful beaches of its own once frequented by the pre Pol Pot middle class of Phnom Penh.

The captain had radioed his agent as we approached who was waiting with the necessary official papers. There then followed a troupe of officials representing various agencies, customs, health, immigration etc. each of whom received their gratuity for ensuring the smooth processing of the necessary official documentation. In actual fact we were registered as entering and leaving Cambodia on the same day which effectively meant that we did not have to stop in Sihanoukville again on our departure from Cambodia.

Official business over, we spent some time exploring Sihanoukville before returning to Thida now lying serenely anchored off one of the beaches. That evening, we ate excellent seafood and soup cooked by ourselves on a table top BBQ at one of beachside restaurant for U.S. $3 each accompanied by the local Anchor (the ch is pronounced as in cheers which differentiates it from the rival Ankor beer).

Determined to eventually reach Koh Tang, we set course again and arrived in the early afternoon to anchor in a bright, aquamarine bay with a selection of fishing boats. After a much needed, refreshing dip into warm, clear and deep salty sea, we spent late afternoon amassing a pile of driftwood and bamboo on the beach in preparation for our beach BBQ.

Ralf took the dinghy and visited the fishing boats returning very shortly afterwards brandishing a king mackerel which was cleaned and cut up into thick juicy steaks in readiness for the BBQ. All food preparations complete we lit a fire on the beach, relaxed with a beer and waited until we could rake the coals out of the fire to barbeque the fish. The fishing boats had all left for the nights fishing and we could see their bright lights attracting the squid on the horizon looking like a city in the distance. Otherwise, we were alone cast away on our own private desert island. We were late to our bunks that evening as we savoured the unforgettable moment as long as possible each of at times gazing with that faraway look into the orange embers of the beach fire thinking our own private thoughts.

We were now half way through our trip and it was time to backtrack towards Koh Chang. We again stopped at Koh Rong but this time on the western side of the island in a bay featuring intense, aquamarine water and fringed with blinding white sand as fine as talcum powder that squeaked when you walked on it.

It was just so beautiful Paradise found and a reminder of the magnificence that Mother Nature has bestowed upon this world all by herself for us to enjoy. The beach was about 6 kilometres in length and deserted but for an unoccupied hut at one end and a small fishing village at the other end. We spent the afternoon periodically enveloped in the aquamarine liquid and exploring the beach before reluctantly raising the anchor at dusk to motor for three hours to Koh Samit for what proved to be a rather eventful overnight stop.

We anchored off the fishing village in Koh Samit which, although Cambodian territory, was founded by Thai fishermen deciding as a precaution against collision to leave the navigation lights on in preference to the anchor light and hit the sack. A squally storm had us back on deck at around 3am to let out more anchor chain.

Satisfied that the anchor was holding it was back to bed until around 5am when a tremendous crash brought us hurriedly on deck again just in time to see a fishing boat reversing off the stern and speeding away at full throttle. Initial though