At the moment, Mid Dec 2009, we are in Langkawi and about to leave the boat in a marina while we travel back to Australia for Christmas and new year with family and friends as it has now been 8 months since we left Melbourne. We plan to return to Langkawi late Jan 2010 when we will be in the best position to make use of the North East monsoon and travel the west coast of Thailand. We have not yet decided how far up we will go but certainly to at least Phuket. Depending then what takes our fancy and the prevailing weather conditions we may make the trip out to the Simians or, Andamans if we feel really enthusiastic but that entails getting an Indian Visa and alot of red tape.

At this stage we think we will head south again during the onset of the South West monsoon transition period ( April 2010 ) right down to Johor at the southern end of Malaysia and the great new marina at Putri Harbour. During the South West monsoon we plan to leave the boat there for a few months and do some backpacking land travel around Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

On top of this, the boat will need to come out of the water around that time to have some new antifoul applied. The marine growth rate is amazing in these tropical waters ! If possible we are looking at getting the old (10 years worth ) of antifoul soda-blasted off back to gel coat and starting again with two pack expoxy primer before the new antifoul. We are yet to find a facility that does this. Plenty of sand blasters, but this can be a little harsh. We are also looking at getting some interior flooring done in teak and ash to add a nice finishing touch to the interior. Good trades people are cheap in this area.

Cruising wise, we have vague ideas about travelling into the Gulf of Thailand next, especially around the lower areas of the Tiomen islands and up to Koh Samui. Perhaps we will join the new rally going across the top of Malaysian Borneo in 2011.

In reality it is a suck it and see scenario. It is so cheap to live in SE Asia I think we will be here for a while, a year at the very least. Sue would like to continue on across the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea, but Martin is not so sure. Pretty much once you head west from the Andamens or Phuket it is the point of no return, sailing wise, except for continuing around. Whether we are ready for that yet remains to be seen.