Bangkok by Night

Flying between the UK and Western Australia is a very tedious business. Best you can do is two flights, one 12-14 hours, the other maybe 8-9 hours (although I think it's Virgin, or, maybe BA who now offers a direct flight from Perth to London, for a big price of course). Elapsed time is 20-24 hours, or more, with a short layover in either Abu Dhabi, or, Doha. Both these hot, desert locations don't really appeal to us as a desirable stopover location, so, we try to just get through as fast as possible. This time though, we went for something different. We flew through Bangkok, Thailand with a nine hour layover between flights. We were hopeful that nine hours would be enough to take us out of the airport and maybe on a mini sightseeing tour. We weren't sure if it would be possible and what to expect, but, it all went really well and we had a short, but, densely-packed tour that was a really great first introduction to Bangkok.

We knew we were limited in what we could see because we didn't arrive until 3 p.m., after most of the major tourist attractions had closed and we only had until midnight. We pre-booked and paid for a Bangkok Night Lights Tuk Tuk Tour, with Expique. Are we glad we did, it was excellent! Of course, if we'd done all the work by ourselves, the price would probably have been a lot lower, but, for once, we paid the money along with some extra as well for a private tour as the regular group tour started too late for us. With our limited time and lack of Thai experience it was worth every penny. We've never been on such an easy tour, every detail was taken care of and we packed a lot into just four hours. All food, entrance fees and transport was included.

First, we got on the rail link train from the airport, inexpensive, clean and efficient and were met by our personal guide, Tom, who then shepherded us onto the skytrain to meet up with our Tuk Tuk and driver, Mr. Somtab.

From there we headed out and into the streets. In hindsight, it really was a good choice to travel after dark in Bangkok. It's cooler, there is less traffic, fewer people and the temples and monuments are absolutely beautifully lit after dark showing them to their best advantage. The photos don't really do it justice, but, I did my best. Here are some of the temples we visited.

At one of the smaller temples, there was an evening cremation service underway. The floral arrangements surrounding the cremation house were absolutely incredible.

All this temple touring was making us hungry. Our guide, Tom, had been feeding us delicious snacks along the way, purchased from street market vendors he made sure to tell us are hand chosen by the company to offer safe and clean food, like the delicious sausages from this stall.

Now we were heading for our main evening meal. It was to be Pad Thai. I'm sure maybe some of you are thinking, well, couldn't you have been a bit more inventive, after all there's a lot more to Thai Food, but, this tour was billed as a 'cultural tour with food', not a foodie tour, they had another tour just for those who wanted adventurous eating, but, that wasn't us. Anyway,  this was different Pad Thai to anything we've had before. It was encased in an egg wrap (a skill which takes months to learn how to do) and it was delicious. It was accompanied by fat, sweet prawns as a garnish and the best fresh squeezed orange juice I think I've ever had.

The restaurant is called Thipsamai. You can read a BBC story on it here It doesn't take reservations and the queue when we arrived was very lengthy and snaked way down the sidewalk. Tom, our guide, had hired somebody to stand in line for us and he timed our arrival with military precision so that we only had a very short wait for a table! We had just enough time to watch the noodles being cooked in the sidewalk kitchen over open charcoal fires.

After this we were whisked off to the twenty four hour flower market, a feast for the visual senses. 

Our last stop was in Chinatown, at the mango and sticky rice dessert food stall! A delicious end to a delightful evening.

We got back to the airport in plenty of time for our flight and didn't have any trouble falling asleep on the last leg to London.

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The Two Rocks story, so far.

All the time we sat on the hard in Carnarvon, waiting to get put into the water so we could move the five hundred miles further south to Perth, the weather was just about perfect. Warm and sunny, not too hot and the nights just cool enough, but, not too cold. We had a couple of rainy days that were welcome. We watched many a perfect weather window for departure go by. As described in my last post, we did find a good window for the passage and were glad to be on our way again. After arrival at Two Rocks, near Perth, we didn't realize how lucky we had been as it was the very last good window available for the next month. Two days after our arrival here, the winter storms started and have not abated. There are usually two days of dry, but, cool weather and then a storm rolls in. They're not quick 24-36 hour gales, but, prolonged events. The last one was a full five days in duration. It consisted of constant gale force winds that just didn't stop, with gusts over fifty knots here in the marina. The wind shakes the boat and is very noisy as it's constantly whistling through the rigging, creating a sense of unease even though we're perfectly safe sitting low to the ground on our twin keels and don't have to worry about dock lines chafing, or, anchors dragging. The rain is intermittent, but, very heavy and comes in horizontal lashings that sweep over Gjoa like a pressure washer. The nights are cold, down to 2C. We had to go and buy a heater! It's not exactly what we expected, but, when you look at where we are on the globe, in this very exposed most southwesterly point of Australia, just above the Southern Ocean with no land masses to slow down the low pressure systems that continually travel unimpeded around the globe, I suppose weather like this is the norm here. The low pressure systems do move further south in the summer months, so, hopefully it does get better.

Even though it has been very stormy, the last few weeks here have not been unproductive. One major job completed was to replace our standing rigging. It's an insurance requirement that rigging is replaced every ten years. So, we didn't have coverage for rigging failure and were anxious to get it done. We were so lucky to find an expert rigger, Edgar from Yacht Rigging Solutions who was very professional and got the job done quickly and reasonably. Here he is on one of his many trips up the mast. I should point out he's probably the same age as we are, but, obviously in great shape as he put in a full day and made it look like it was nothing.

It was quite shocking when the very first shackle he inspected looked like this. This rather ominous-looking crack was hidden, but, an obvious accident just waiting to happen at the bottom end of a backstay. There were also a few broken strands of wire, so, definitely it was time to replace the rig.

We also decided to change from a twin headsail setup to a cutter rig. We'd grown to appreciate the flexibility and ease of handling a cutter's sail plan on our first cruising boat, a Baba 35. The twin headsail setup is an excellent rig for tradewind sailing, but, our kind of sailing never seems to take us into the tradewinds. Dealing with two enormous genoas, both with poles, one of which we never used didn't seem to make much sense. It was actually an easy hardware change which only required moving the head of the inner forestay down to a tang that was already on the mast for a removable storm jib and adjusting the length of the roller-furled, inner forestay. The two stays now aren't quite parallel, which they probably should be, but, our sailmaker has assured us it should still work ok. We're meeting with him tomorrow to discuss recutting our old inner genoa into a staysail and creating a new jib top (Yankee) sail for the outer forestay. Depending on cost, a new mainsail may also be in order as we want to put in a third reef which the existing main is too weak to support.

Standing rigging replacement and sailmaking are jobs best left to the experts, but, we weren't idle while all this was going on. We completed a large job which we hope never to have to repeat. We dismantled all the ceilings on the boat to repaint them as they were looking very dingy and depressing. It was a massive job. This picture shows only the first half of all the bits and pieces that had to be unscrewed and carried down the ladder to the asphalt so we could paint. First day was carry it all down, sand and prime. Then, carry it all back up into the boat for the cold overnight. Then, next day it all went down again for two finish coats. We had to pick our days to dodge the storms and finally were able to complete the job today. It does look great. New led lighting will also help to brighten things up.

The acrylic Lewmar hatches in the boat are all badly crazed. It's very expensive to replace them, so, as a test we brought a piece of replacement acrylic to fit, with the hope that if it worked out, it would be a much cheaper, but, time-consuming method of replacement. It went in easily and well, but, the hatch we chose to do turned out to have a broken weld, so, will require a complete lid replacement. The other four will just require the new acrylic inserts, another future job for the to-do list.

As I've posted recently, we did extensive work on our hydraulic steering. It's been a steep learning curve. The autopilot did work flawlessly on the way down from Perth, thankfully, but, it was clear that the motor on the continuous running hydraulic pump was on its last legs. A new one is about 3,500 USD, so, we were very eager to try and fix the unit we have. We were told by a hydraulic shop that the motor was not rebuildable, so, after a solid week of research, we were able to track down the manufacturer of the pump in the UK who luckily does sell replacement motor kits. There was a snag though. With the new version of the motor, a new variable speed check manifold would also be required. Even replacing both these pieces is still vastly cheaper than a new, complete pump. It arrived yesterday after having to pay an additional 350 AUD customs duty. We won't have time to fully install and test it before leaving for the UK next week, but, at least it's here awaiting our return. We then picked up our 'dead' motor from the hydraulic place and took it to one of those motor rebuild places that haunt the fringes of industrial areas in every town. They were able to rebuild it for just $55. Guess it will make a good spare...

One last saga to report. The previous owner of this boat spent 10,000 NZD on all-new Raymarine electronics in 2015, radar, two chartplotters, ais etc... We were glad to have this all done and installed and just two years old. We thought we'd have a few good years of service out of it. The models chosen weren't what we would have picked, especially the touchscreen-only versions of the plotters. I think I wrote about this before, but, wet and cold fingers in the areas we usually sail don't work very well on a touchscreen. The plotter at the outside helm, well-protected under a hard dodger, started failing in a predictable, but, weird way. Every night, just after the sun went down, the screen would freeze and the touchscreen would no longer work. Next morning, when the sun came out, it would start working again. Obviously, some kind of moisture ingress problem. Anyway, we finally had an opportunity to get it into a service centre here, only to be told that it would cost $2,000 to repair it! The seal had somehow been compromised. There had been a two year warranty on all the equipment and if the previous owner had enrolled for the free extended additional one year it looked like it may be covered under warranty. I hopefully sent in the bill of sale showing the 2015 purchase date only to be told that the warranty doesn't start when the purchaser buys the equipment, but, when the dealer buys it to sit on his shelf! What kind of misleading warranty is that? After pleading poverty, the bill came down to $1,200, still exorbitant.

I'm sure that those of you reading this that are not boat owners think that this is all a little over-the-top, but, actually, talk to any boat owner and you'll find these sorts of things are all in the normal course of events. To get those few perfect days at sea, or, at anchor, requires a lot of background effort and expense. Anyway, we have a few exciting things planned over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned and I promise I won't talk again about boat repair for a while! It'll be good to take a break.

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Passage to Perth

We thought we were never going to get back into the water at Carnarvon. After what felt like a very long wait, we were finally dropped back in on June 27 and we have just arrived at Two Rocks, a northern suburb of Perth, on July 11. Two Rocks is a small community which is currently being redeveloped. A huge housing subdivision is being built along with a rebuild of the marina. Its main claim to fame right now is this rather tacky statue of King Neptune which dominates the seafront.

There is another smaller version at Neptune's Cafe overlooking the attractive waterfront area. In this picture you can just see Gjoa behind Neptune's head (burgundy sail cover).

It was only about five hundred miles, 4-5 days, to Perth, but, it doesn't matter whether it's a five, or fifty, day passage, the amount of preparation to go to sea is the same. In addition to all the usual departure preparations, Gjoa had been sitting on the hard for seven months and we'd made a lot of changes, so, there was a bit more effort required than normal. The shaft had been out to install a new cutless bearing, replace anodes and install our Variprop feathering propellor that we had sent off to Germany for servicing and carried back in our luggage. All the sails, including the newly refurbished main, were off and had to be bent on. Bilge pumps needed testing. Electronics needed to be reinstalled and tested. A new Racor fuel filtering system had been installed. The hydraulic steering pump and cylinder had been out for servicing and now were reinstalled. The nav lights and a deck leak had been fixed. Would it all ever work together again?

It didn't go that smoothly. First, the engine wouldn't start. After trying everything we could think of, we had to get a mechanic in, who found a stuck open fuel actuator. A deft movement with a screwdriver and it started like a charm. It's just one of those things that we don't know how it happened and it will probably never happen again. We'd also done so much work on the steering system that we were a bit nervous if we'd put everything back together properly. We wanted to make sure that our emergency tiller worked in case we had no steering. This turned into a full day job as the bolt on its deck cap was seized and then broke necessitating a major excavation.

We tested forward and reverse gear only to find, as we had suspected, that they were reversed. We had to make our way over to the mooring very slowly and carefully. Once tied up, we switched the gear cable over to the other side and it was fixed. This had become a problem when the new engine was installed by the previous owner. The old Volvo required a left-handed prop. The new Yanmar requires a right-handed prop. They took a shortcut and didn't change the prop, just swapped the cable over. So, effectively, we had been driving 'forward' with the transmission, shaft and prop in reverse and vice-versa. When we sent the prop to Germany, they were able to adjust the pitch and change from left to right-handed. Now everything is moving in the same direction and we found a noticeable increase in forward power once underway.

We were almost ready and the weather was looking fantastic. First day when we had to cross Shark Bay was supposed to be a South wind, followed by four days of East 20. This was as good as it would ever get. As usual though, the forecast was just that, a forecast. The reality was much different. We left Carnarvon straight into 25-30 knots from the SW, the direction we needed to go in. It was rough and we were corkscrewing around, it was really miserable. We hadn't had time to get our sealegs and I was feeling sick. We hadn't sailed in seven months and wanted a gentle reintroduction, but, it wasn't to be. We were questioning our sanity.

But then, then, after two days, things flattened out, the wind did go East for most of the time and it was great! The days looked like this.

And the nights like this.

We saw dozens of whales, spouting and surfacing all around us, heading north to their calving grounds. We sailed over half the passage and it was very good, a mostly effortless 5- 7 knots. Traffic was very light overnight, not even any fishing boats and the stars were stupendous. We never heard anybody on the vhf except for one night at 3 a.m. when a voice boomed out into the silence: "what are you doing! turn on your lights!". Panic ensued, but, there was nobody in sight, or, on the radar, so who knows what that was all about, but, it had nothing to do with us!

It took five days to do the five hundred or so miles. The marina was being demolished, so, we had to immediately come out onto the hard as there was nowhere to stay in the water.

 As we won't be sailing again until December, Gjoa will only have been in the water for two weeks and sailed for five days in 2018. Let's hope 2019 will have a better return for all our efforts.

This is our new view from Gjoa's forward deck, not too shabby!

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A Whale Shark Swim

We're in Oz for a while, back aboard Gjoa at the boatyard in Carnarvon. We were quickly able to get the various jobs done to enable a quick refloating and had hoped to have splashed-down and been on our way to Perth by now. Unfortunately, we've become prisoners, doing hard time 'on the hard' and won't be going back in anytime soon! We were very grateful to have found a boatyard here that could haul us out when we really needed it. However, it's a small operation and there are two problems. The owner has just had a knee replacement and cannot operate the loader. Also, there's only one 'jinker' (flat bed trailer) onsite. This is what we need to use to get back into the water. It is currently occupied with a catamaran sitting on it waiting for new engines. They are currently three weeks behind schedule and we have to wait for them to be done and back in before we can have our turn. So, we wait.

Although we still have lots more boat jobs to occupy us while we wait, the critical ones have been done. This allowed us to take advantage of the lovely 'winter' weather here now (lots of sun, low humidity, little wind and 'cooler' temps i.e. in the 20's) to enjoy two days away from the boat. We headed north, back to Exmouth, where the whale shark season is just starting. We had been disappointed to be in Exmouth at the wrong time of year when we spent a few weeks there last October, for either humpbacks, or, whale sharks, both of which congregate there in great numbers. So, we jumped at the opportunity to take a break with an organized Whale Shark swim on the
Ningaloo Reef, a World Heritage Site.

There are nine companies operating 'swims' in the area. We chose Ningaloo Discovery because they were the only ones that operate a sailing catamaran. It's an expensive day trip, but, given the level of infrastructure and staff required you can see where the money goes. First, they have to find the whale sharks (chartered aircraft spotters are used), then, the boat crew works to line up the boat with a shark (a spotter has to be in the water to see which way it's going and then hand signals are given back to the boat). Then two groups of ten snorkellers (only ten are allowed into the water on each swim) have to be alternated quickly into and out of the water and going in the right direction to avoid getting in the shark's way.  There's also a professional photographer in the water. It was quite the experience, but, well managed and of course being up close and personal with these massive creatures was really something very special.

It's a bit daunting on the first swim, we did six in total, when the shark looks like it's coming right for you with that huge mouth. Luckily, they filter-feed almost exclusively on plankton and not on humans!

I (in the yellow mask) was surprised at how easily I could keep up with the shark (they're very slow swimmers and just seem to glide effortlessly through the water). On about the fourth swim, it seemed quite easy to stay alongside. The first few swims were spent trying to stay away from other swimmers and their bubbles, but, by the last swim, the sixth, most swimmers had dropped out and it felt like it was just me and the fish, amazing.

It was fascinating to watch the entourage that came along with the shark, both underneath, presumed cleaner fish, or, maybe they were just enjoying the draft and the smaller ones both around the head and even inside the gaping mouth!

After doing a morning snorkel, then, six swims with the sharks, we were all ravenous. There was lots of great food served and then we had some other activities to keep us entertained. The cargo net diving was fun. This is Laura, one of the talented marine biologists onboard.

My entry was a little more sedate, but, I got in there nonetheless.

Although we didn't participate in the 'whale shark pose' the smiles say it all. It was a great day out both on and in the water.

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A weekend visit to Manchester

Manchester may not be a dream destination for many, unless you're a football fan, as, of course, it's home to two world-famous teams, Manchester United and Manchester City. We didn't have any interest in visiting the National Football Museum, so, we didn't know what to expect when we ended up there for a weekend away to see very long-standing friends visiting from Canada. They were visiting their son who attended uni in Manchester and has now settled in the city. We hadn't seen him since he was about ten, when he appeared very studious. After receiving multiple degrees in mechanical engineering, he has now made the switch to software engineering, the place to be these days. Having his insider knowledge got us to places we never would have known about, like Heaton Park, a 600 acre municipal park jewel located in the Prestwich suburb of the city. It's the largest municipal park in Europe. After walking the dogs in the park (a 'puggle' pug/beagle and a French bulldog) we walked to a very hidden-away pub, The Church Inn . It didn't seem to have road access, but, I'm sure it must. Not a fancy place, but, we enjoyed a traditional, three-course Sunday roast beef lunch with all the trimmings for only £11.95 including an excellent Sticky Toffee Pudding for afters.
We strolled in the adjacent churchyard after lunch. It was a sunny stroll with bluebells, a babbling brook and some very ancient headstones to look at. It doesn't get much better for a Sunday afternoon.

The next day, we explored Manchester on our own. Like many British cities, it is a blend of very old and very modern architecture. It's the third largest metropolitan economy in England.

This building seemed an improbable shape and it dominated the skyline.

There were also the more reassuring shapes of old buildings as well. We got this photo early in the morning, before this pub was packed to overflowing with drinkers enjoying the sunny day.

It was another gorgeous blue-sky and spring blossom day.

This restaurant's floral doorway turned out to be made of plastic flowers, but, it was so realistic I had to get really close to tell, it was lovely and very inviting.

On our day tour, there were two things that really appealed to us. First, was the Castlefield area of the city (not the new 'docks' area which gets all the hype), but, the area which has the old canals and docks. Did you know you can get from Manchester to the Irish sea via the Manchester Ship Canal.  Today, there are commercial cruises available that follow this historic route including through the Barton Swing Aqueduct, another Victorian feat of engineering, it's the only one in the world. Narrowboats and broad-beam barges cross over the top, large vessels pass underneath.

There were many places along the canal to get out of the noon sun and admire more traditional architecture.

We ended up at one of the tram stations with another picturesque view.

Hopping the electric tram (reminiscent of Toronto streetcars) back into the city, we visited the other highlight of our visit, the interactive Museum of Science and Industry. Manchester used to be the textiles powerhouse of the world and was known as Cottonopolis. This history was excellently demonstrated with a working factory area showing just how dangerous, noisy and dirty working with cotton had been.

In another building were the old engines and train displays. Some of them were like works of art.

This massive governor on a diesel engine was a sight to behold.

They did have a demonstration diesel engine which they fired up. It was very interesting to really see, in a simple way, how a diesel engine actually works. It required lots of fine-tuning to get it to run properly without exploding its piston!

There were some amazing steam engines there as well. This one was absolutely huge, very long. The wooden wheel had many belt takeoffs on it and it probably ran an entire factory.

All in all, very fascinating and a good couple of days away.

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Gloucester

Gloucester, like Wells, is also a cathedral city and equidistant from Bristol, so, a prime candidate for another day out. What attracted us to it is that it's also a historic port. Looking at its location on the map, you'd never think a port of any consequence was possible, particularly when access is by the very tidal Severn Estuary (second only in tidal height to the Bay of Fundy) and Severn River.

However, when the Gloucester and Sharpness canal opened in 1827 it enabled the largest sailing ships of the time access to the docks and warehouses far inland at Gloucester. The canal was once the broadest and deepest in the world. 26.5 km (15.6 miles) long, 86 1/2 feet wide, 18 feet (5.5 m) deep and could take craft of up to 600 tons. The port still houses the most inland RNLI lifeboat in the United Kingdom.

Today the canal can be used by boats up to 64m in length, 9.6m in beam and 32m in height. On arrival, we weren't aware of these facts and in addition to the expected narrowboats, we were surprised at the size and variety of ships to be seen at the docks, including the tall-masted Sceptre, an America's Cup boat from 1958 (she didn't win).

The historic dock precinct is surrounded by old grain warehouses converted to apartments and other uses. It has been renovated and is now a popular entertainment area with many restaurants and museums surrounding the mooring basins.It looked like there are also a number of workshops doing traditional boat joinery.

The locks are still active, although only used by narrowboats these days.

There were also a few sailboats moored, not as many as we would have expected. Gloucester is probably one of those 'inside knowledge' destinations. It looked like a very well-protected place to overwinter. There were the usual narrowboats moored-up, this one with a sunbather on its roof.

We walked for a distance down the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal.

This lightship looked in good condition (currently operated as some kind of Buddhist centre) and was for sale! Any prospective B&B owners out there? We thought it would make a great, colourful addition to the Bristol waterfront, where a barge is already being used as a floating hotel.

Uptown from the Docks area, the town of Gloucester still has a number of surviving medieval and Tudor period gabled and half-timbered houses although most of the rest of the town wasn't much to speak of.

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