Cruising Notes – Thailand (Phuket and area) January 2004 

Weather – As in Malaysia, the weather patterns are monsoonal. The nicest time of year to cruise the area is Nov-Feb, which coincides with the time when many people are arriving here to reprovision and get ready to go out into the Indian Ocean. 

Charts and Guides – Sail Thailand is big on photos, ok on content and probably the best detailed guide around. There are also lots of cruiser notes around, too. Cruising Guide to SE Asia gives some information but not lots of detail. It is a very easy area to cruise – few hazards and nice weather. 

Anchorages – there are lots of anchorages all along from Langkawi north to Phuket, and beyond to Ao Phangnga where the scenery is beautiful and there are the famous Hongs to explore. You can take up to about 2 weeks to check in to Thailand from Langkawi, so no need to hurry. 

Dinghy Landing – leave the dinghy either at the base of the steps at the main concrete pier at Ao Chalong, or on the beach in front of the distinctive restaurant shaped like a lighthouse. The downside of the pier is the severe chop caused by all the comings and goings of the tour boats. Tie a long painter and bring it up to the top railing on the pier. The pier area can be accessed at any state of the tide.

The beach is not so good around 2 hours each side of low tide, when it becomes a very soft mud flat, so you need to time your shore visits.

Customs & Immigration – the situation changes a lot, so ask around for the latest. But it seems Phuket is the best place to clear in, with Krabi being less tolerant of the 2 week delay situation.

There is a ‘one stop’ clearing in area in Ao Chalong. There is much bragging about the convenience of this, in all the glossy brochures put out by the Thai government. If the officials are there (and they seem to work their own hours), it is relatively painless. But there is much paperwork to fill out with unclear instructions so you have to sit there and get sh-- from the guys for filling it out wrong. Once you are finished with immigration (the first guy you have to see), he will ask for 3 copies of your boat papers, 3 copies of the photo page of your passports, and 3 copies of the page in your passport he just stamped. You will have to run over to the photocopier place around the corner. But, get 5 copies of everything. The immigration guy won’t tell you that customs and the port captain each need a set of copies – otherwise you will be running back to the copy place! Returning to immigration, give the guy his copies. For this privilege, you will be charged 300 bahts for the captain, plus 10 bahts for each ‘passenger’. (About 3 US dollars). He will not make change so come prepared. Going from desk to desk (customs and port captain), you repeat the paperwork ordeal. Now you are free to stay for 28 days. We heard it was a month, but I guess they are on lunar months here!

Clearing out is a repeat of the process and they nail you 310b at immigration, 100b at customs & 100b at the port captain. We just found out today that they are also imposing an anchoring fee of about 500b. This is still up in the air....

ANCHOR in Ao Chalong. I think they do this each year in the ‘high season’. Simple solution is to move to Nai Harn bay around the SW corner of Phuket island. 

Fuel  – At Ao Chalong, there is a convenient fuel ‘dock’ attached to the big concrete pier. The local tour boats all line up there to fuel, so the turnover of diesel is good. You need high tide of the dock will be at the level of your spreaders, and a day when it is fairly calm, depending on your docking skills. Also put out lots of fenders because there are just dirty old tires to tie up to.

You can also get gasoline there.

From Ao Chalong, the alternative is to jerry jug from the main road from the Esso station.  

Water – The tap water is not drinkable so don’t even try. It is not even recommended to try treating it with bleach or iodine or anything to make it drinkable.

There are 2 options in Ao Chalong for drinking water. One is  very awkward, using bottled water in 20 liter jugs. You buy the jug, filled, for 90 Bahts. Then you can get it refilled for 20 Bahts. Some places won’t accept the empty for a refund so you are stuck with jugs. But ask around, many places allow you to just bring in your own jerries.

An easy solution is to go to the fuel ‘dock’ attached to the concrete pier – he has both drinking and ‘washing’ water. We filled up with the drinking water and treated it with a little bleach just in case, and it was fine – we did not get sick. It was also very cheap – cheaper than buying it by the jug. We got 400 liters for 100 Bahts, and by the jug ashore it is 20 liters for 20 bahts (and a lot more work!) 

Propane – Again, in Ao Chalong, go to the Esso station where you can easily get propane tanks filled (seems they can do all types of fittings). You just leave them overnight or a couple of days depending on weekends and stuff. For a 5 kg tank it cost just 105 Baht (about 50 cents US per Kg). 

Provisions – It is not that easy or that cheap to provision here. There are 3 or 4 big supermarkets in Phuket town that all the cruisers seem to go to. But it but necessitates Tuk Tuks to get back to your boat unless you are doing small provisioning and can carry it on your back. You could rent a car – the going rate is 600-800 Bahts, but the return trip by Tuk Tuk is only 200-400, and the traffic is wild, so you decide. Motorcycles rent for 300 Bahts for a day (9AM to 5PM roughly).

There is a large veggie market in Phuket town at the central bus area – if coming in from outside of town the bus will drop you off here. There is also a nice fresh market in Ao Chalong that runs every day from 8AM to 10AM. From the traffic circle, walk along Chao Fa WEST road 500 meters and it is on the right hand side. There are fresh eggs, chicken, pork with no flies, and lots of fish, prawns as well as the usual fruits & veggies. 

Laundry – There are many laundry services in Ao Chalong and if you just get it washed and not dried, it is very inexpensive. The going rate is 20 bahts for up to 7 kilos. Two big bags of towels & bedding cost just 50 Baht for them to wash it (about $1.30 US) and I just brought it back and hung it up on the boat. You would be crazy to slave over a bucket for this price! If you want it both washed and dried, the price goes way up to 20 bahts per kilo.