A couple of weeks ago we went on a Sunset Sailing Tour with Captain Mark on the Sakai.

What a fantastic afternoon/night this was.

After a little mix up with our transfers (we changed our pickup location at the last minute and the driver couldn’t find us) we were on our way to meet Mark, John & Ann from New Zealand and the lovely family from Perth, Ian, Tanya, Emma & Brooke from Bunbury W.A.

The weather was perfect, actually way to perfect for sailing as there was not a ripple on the ocean and virtually no wind at all. Not to worry, we were still on a yacht, the company was good and we were all about to have another fun adventure.

I didn’t have breakfast or lunch this day as I knew Ya would cook her special crunchy chicken wings not long after we boarded, so I was starving. We were all spread out around the boat and then noticed smoke coming from the kitchen, oh no is it a fire??? No just Mark, he decided to let off a small smoke bomb to scare Ya.

Soon the chicken came out, sorry guys if I ate too many of them but they are sooo delicious.

Then it was time to anchor off Kho Naka Yai for some cooling off and swimming time. Ian and his daughter Emma swam to the island, while I sat on the Sakai thinking could I make it there as I’m not the world’s best swimmer. Mark took everyone else over on the dinghy and I took the big jump with Gary not far behind me.

The water was absolutely beautiful, warm and crystal clear and of course I made it to land ha-ha. (Probably the longest distance I have ever swam – and it was not that far)

All of us were mucking around in the water and then we started talking about of all things “SHARKS” Not a good topic when someone like me is around, no way am I swimming back to the Sakai now, I’m going back in the dinghy!! Then something grabbed my leg, holy cr**p, I only let out a little yell and then it surfaced, something with a hairy face called Mark.

Oh nearly forgot the sucker fish, Ian felt something on his leg and flicked at it, up into the air it went, some sort of white fish that decided to latch onto his leg, so it was called the Sucker Fish, (I thought of Ian and that fish last week while having a deep cleansing facial thingy at a Japanese place, they were using a machine that sort of sucked at your face and I had visions that it was a sucker fish, but that’s another story!!)

By the way Ian, how big was that fish, Im sure it was about a foot long!!

After an hour or so it was time to leave and off on a scenic cruise we went. The photos explain all of this much better.

Emma and Brooke wanted another swim so Mark anchored again, not sure where but it definitely was not close to land, it was out in the deep blue ocean – fathoms deep ha-ha.
Ian and the girls jumped in and Mark threw over one of the big foam cushions from the seats on the Sakai, they looked like they were having so much fun, but at this stage I was not sure if I wanted to be in there with them with my legs dangling down below.

Then Mark decided to show us how to correctly wear a life jacket. What a crackup, he put his legs through the armholes, did the jacket up, it looked like a big nappy, put a drink in a stubby holder and in he jumped. When he surfaced it was just like he was bobbing around in an armchair, you had to be there to see how funny he looked.

Ok my turn but I want something to float around on as well, Noi threw me another one of the big cushions, what fun this was going to be, laying on a floating cushion out in the middle of the ocean.

Yeah right!!

No matter what I did I just could not get up onto the cushion. I would get half on – then fall off, or nearly be on it and roll off the other side. Ian held it for me and I still couldn’t get on the stupid thing, everyone is yelling out what to do but there was no way I could get on it. Then success – well sort of. I made it by dragging myself up from the end but had to use every muscle to stay on it as I kept rolling to the side.

Anyway I was happy to be the butt of everyone’s funny comments and laughter. All I will say is – No other adults tried it and kids can do anything – go Emma & Brooke ha-ha.

Once everyone had had enough it was back on board for lots of fresh fruit, drinks and yes more of Ya’s delicious chicken wings.

Soon its time to head to Kho Naka Noi for a bbq dinner, brilliant sunset and fireworks!!
Mark took us all over in the dinghy along with beach mats, eskys, food and the most important person his cook Ya. After collecting a nice little pile of firewood Gary and Mark proceeded to build our fire and on went our kebabs – Survivor eat your heart out!!

Mark yelled out to me could I move one of the beach mats away from the fire as he didn’t want sparks landing on it. Hang on, something doesn’t sound right here, I just had a feeling that he was up to something, so I carefully lifted the edges of the mat up and sure enough – under it was Marks huge rubber cobra. (I think he was disappointed he didn’t scare me).

Emma, Brooke & Mark collected some crabs and built a crab racing track where fortunes were then lost on the crab races.

Not long after I was standing not far from the fire and there was a huge bang behind me, scared the living whatever out of me, there was also a fine spray of sand go up my leg. It was sooo loud, yes – you guessed it - Mark again. He was determined to scare me and he did by throwing a small cracker bomb behind me. (I have to say it was not close enough to hurt me or anyone else)

Your time will come Mark; we are coming back just to get you.

Time to get our cameras out as the sun is setting now and it’s a beauty. It looked like it would pour at any time; there was thunder and big black clouds heading for us, pretty spectacular as there were also patches of bright blue in between this.

There are quite a few photos of the beautiful sunset.

Dinner was yum, first we had Ya’s famous Tom Kha Gai (Thai chicken & coconut soup) then lots of veggies, rice and fresh prawns, and we finished off with the most delicious bbq kebabs cooked on our fire by Mark & Gary. It was a feast and you will definitely not leave Marks tours hungry!!

Now its time for Marks fireworks display, oh no where’s the bag of fireworks gone? (Ann had decided to hide them earlier in the bushes, but then forgot where she had put them) So there we all are with torches looking for a plastic bag of crackers. We found them about 15 minutes later ha-ha

What a display Mark put on, here we are on a secluded beach, fire roaring away and our own private fireworks display.

A perfect ending.

I think we arrived back at the pier about 8.30-9.00pm.

There is no way I could choose my favorite between the Sunset tour and the day sailing tour as we loved both and they are so different. Everyone had a great time and we all couldn’t stop talking about it on the way back to our hotels.

(What a scary trip back that was as well, our driver thought we were going back to Chalong, we let him know he was going the wrong way and we were going back to our hotel, it rained like I have never seen before, the roads were flooded around Chalong and Kata, all traffic was going very slow – thank god and then we came over the hill into Patong – Dry as a bone, not a drop of rain in sight!!)

We are so looking forward to doing both tours again next year.

Heres the link for our Sunset Sailing Tour photos
Picasa Web Albums - Cathy - Sunset Sailin...

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Hi Cathy, We are booked with Mark for a day's charter when in Patong next month and your Sunset Tour sounds terrific, can you tell me was it a private charter or is it one Mark does and you can join? Also what is the cost? Much appreciated, thanks. Karen

Hi Karen,
If you just join in a Sunset tour its 2,500baht but if you get a group of 6 or more together (this is what we did, I put up a post asking who wanted to do a Sunset Tour) its a lot cheaper as its like a private charter, then the cost of 13,200 is split, plus you can also take your own drinks on board the, not that that matters as Marks drink prices are cheap..
Cathy

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I can't beleive that it is coming to an end. You seem to have been away for ages- you have.
I have loved these reports and it has made me feel like i have been there. Thanks for taking the trouble to share them.

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Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

Your welcome Jacky, Ive enjoyed participating in those reports haha. Only one more left and thats the end. Though we have already booked for another couple of months next year.
Cathy xx

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