Ao Po Grand Marina - 08° 04' 08" N 98° 26' 43" E

With the tropical storm putting the spanner in the works for Plans A - F, we arrived at Plan G where we picked up Lynda, Elaina and Keara from their hotel at Nai Yang Beach and drove back to Popeye anchored snugly in Ao Chalong. To great excitement, the girls set themselves up in their cabin before the inaugural swim off the back of the boat.

We then headed up to the Big Buddah, stopping to feed the elephants on the way. For good measure, we managed to produce a couple of monkeys along with kittens, baby bunnies and geckos. All in all, a very successful outing!

Elephant kisses

A big smooch in return for a banana!

Big Buddah - and little Keara

Macaque monkey - be careful, they bite!

And a relaxing end to the day at our favourite restaurant Kan Eang@Pier for fabulous Thai food under red umbrellas overlooking Ao Chalong and Popeye!

Fresh coconut water, prepackaged...

Plan G was then quashed next morning when Sean went to raise the anchor. No power to the anchor winch. At. All. Fortunately, we were in shallow water and had only 25m out but there was still a lot of huffing and puffing as the anchor was raised by hand. A couple of phone calls later and we were on our way to Ao Po Grand Marina where Sombat (our wonderful marine electrician) would meet us next morning.

The Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta 2007 was the last time we sailed together!

Once 'stuck' at Ao Po, the suffering really began with lazing by the pool, practicing snorkeling with new flippers and masks and collecting poor crabs and other sea creatures - a soft landing to overcome jetlag. Sombat duly arrived and diagnosed the problem as a corroded cable to the hand controller. With his usual efficiency, the new cable was manufactured and installed the same day.

We opted for some further suffering next day leaving the marina at 3pm bound for Ao Labu just across the bay.