[Dar Es Salaam - Phuket] Day 37 -- The Shortest Day

I got up early in the morning. The thirtyseventh day was to mark the end of the trip, weigh the anchor and head for Chalong Bay. It would only take three or four hours. Before everyone else was out of bed I had organized myself and whatever I could prepare on board. Our breakfast was quick, but fresh bread had taken the place of the usual pancakes. After, we were on our way out of Patong Bay down the shoreline of Phuket Island.

The wind was blowing hard, twenty to twentyfive knots and even we had no sails set, the wind pushed us one on the side. The sea was rough even so close to land. Still, we made a steady speed and had an easy trip for once. As we entered Chalong Bay we could make out the anchorage. Hundreds of boats were there, around a large jetty. We were supposed to meet the family and Charlie, the boat owner at a restaurant right at the jetty. The captain had promised, we'd be right off the restaurant and the ride in the dinghy would be short and easy. Even so, when we finally dropped anchor, the last time with that boat, we were not only far from the beach, but out in choppy water and also far from the jetty. I had become very accustomed to handling the dinghy, but I just couldn't imagine how to get to the jetty under these conditions, and even less, how to stay dry doing so.

Only minutes later, I had my chance to find out. First, I took the captain and cook ashore, a perfect run to practice balancing the tiny boat over the waves. They threw us around like a water toy. The steering was ridiculed by each wave and it seemed like a miracle that it was possile to keep the boat under control. Only a little water in the boat we made it to the jetty and I turned back for my final run, to get my brother's and my belongings and leave the boat behind for good. A good shower would have gotten me similarily wet as did the ride back against the wind and approaching waves. When I reached the ship, I was soaking wet and the dinghy full of water. My brother looked unsure, but there was no other way. We packed our things and put them in bags to protect them against the water that would eventually enter the boat. We made it safe, the bags had almost stayed dry, and we tightened the dinghy to the jetty and left behind with it any attachement to the ship.

My brother Tommi and my brother Andrew's family were waiting for us there. All of us met with the captain and Charlie at the restaurant and I couldn't help ordering a big burger. Still, before we could eat, we urged the captain to complete immigration. We went with him this time, so we would get the correct stamps for our visa and it seemed better that way. Our passports were quickly processed while the captain's immigration could not be completed. Time ran out and he would need to return the next day.

After a short and useless visit to Charlie's house Tuk organized some rooms to spent the night. At the restaurant and at the house, my brother had tried to organize his payment, but hadn't been completely successful. We needed to stay at least another day to sort things out. I was merely looking forward to taking a shower and shaving a mess of hair from my face. I spent a good hour in the bathroom to reveal the old me and scrape off my sea skin. We relaxed in the rooms for a while before taking a good Thai meal at a nearby restaurant. The food felt even better than the burger had for lunch. On the way back, we discovered a snooker club were I, my brother, and my nephew spent the rest of the night before returning to the rooms to finally rest on a real bed. The journey was over, but already a new one was just about to begin.