[password] KUDZUU1114
[position] 07 57.649N 098 26.450E
[status] Arrived at Ao Chalong Harbour close to Phuket Town, Thailand on 29 October amidst a blistering, sunny day leaden with humidity. The very heavy humidity should have been our first clue of things to come, but we weren't paying attention as we secured Mersoleil to her anchor in 7 meters on a mud and sand bottom. An hour later the sky to the northeast turned a foul, menacing grayish-black followed shortly by wind rising abruptly to 30 knots and, as they say in Iowa, "there come a gully washer". Torrential rain blotted out all visibility including the location of an unoccupied catamaran anchored about 400 meters away. We stretched out our full length of chain, but held securely and marveled at the enormous lightening display, cascades of rainwater and buffeting winds for about an hour. Then as quickly as it came it left. All good.
We cleared in to Thailand this morning and are now setting off for the Boat Lagoon in Phang Nha Bay where we'll stay for several weeks having some teak work done. Then we're off to explore the west side of Thailand.
[speed] 0.0 KTS anchored
[heading] 000
[weather] Wind NE @ 8kts; Temp 89F; 80% cloud cover.
[END]