A tough climb at Almagro

We awoke the next morning at Guinauayan Island to what sounded like something crashing into the side of the boat. Turns out it was the local fishermen 200m away throwing sticks of Dynamite into the water before ducking for cover. We had a rushed breakfast enduring the blasts and promptly headed of to Almagro.

Once anchored the Police commandeered a banka and came out to greet us and explain how safe their town was. We later visited their office and when making inquiries as to if the town had a restaurant they reluctantly replied “no but we can make you something.”

A trip around the bay by dingy turned up caves, bats, and crystal clear water with good snorkeling prospects.

Feeling the need for some exercise we headed to the police station the next morning to find out if we could climb Mt Oopow. The chief wanted to donate the time of 2 officers to go with us but as the Mayor was due to arrive and they were all in dress uniform he rounded up an unsuspecting local instead.

Typical of a Thyme trip our guide got a little lost, most of the track we made by slashing through the jungle and it rained… and rained. Did I mention the rain?

Our disappointment at not being able to reach the summit was intensified when it was revealed we had lost both our phones with water ingress… despite them being wrapped in plastic bags. Our plan was to head off the following morning but once I got up and saw the sun on the mountain I couldn’t resist the challenge of a second attempt at the summit – with a fresh guide. Amanda came for the walk to the end of the track if you could call it that and my new guide and I pressed on. The growth took hours to slash through but we made it with only 1 rain shower.

The view was worth the cuts, ant bite and drenching getting there. Amanda’s plan of an on track walk backfired when our latest guide took a short cut and yep, got lost. Luckily we backtracked and after an hour found where we were supposed to go. I think if it had rained at that point it would have all ended in tears, aye Amanda!

Three days later we reluctantly left Almagro - which had started out as an overnight anchorage. Out of the 34 islands we have visited to date this was a real highlight.
PS we were the first yacht to ever visit that town.

North to Tablas

Our first stop was the small town of Santa Fe where Marc perfected his bomb on behalf of Germany. He actually came up with 2, the flying air guitar and the Kusseler roll.

The plan was to head from here to Looc stopping at Looc’s fish protection zone and reef along the way for a snorkel. All was going well until an official came out and asked if we had registered. Of course the answer was no but we will do it when we arrive in town AFTER our snorkel. This got him all upset and he raced back to get the big boss who came out in the big boat and escorted us to the shore to the awaiting police one of which told me he had killed 27 political extremists in a gun battle in southern Mindanao some years ago before he was wounded. After having the charges read to us while being recorded and photographed I managed to get our fine reduced from $46 to $9.30. The police kindly gave us a ride to town once all was settled.

Our next town up the west coast of Tablas was San Andres where a family took us under their wing taking us the waterfall in the rain.

The track was washed out in a lot of places but after a successful trip they kindly made us lunch accompanied by Tuba? their wine from the coconut tree.

After Tablas the island of Romblon, home of marble was our destination. Here we hired motorbikes. Our trusty machine turned out not to be so trusty with 2 puncture repairs needing to be attended to under burning pistons and running out of petrol on the way home. Lucky for Amanda it was dark so less people noticed her pushing me to the closest coke bottle filled with fuel. Which turned out to be not so far.

Birds, Tribes and Gaol

Long Island was an old timber town and as a result all the buildings were large timber ones although very run down. We did manage to find a restaurant after following the blue arrows painted on the path. The ½ hour walk needed the arrows. Here the record for the time between ordering and eating was broken at 2 hours 14 mins. A long time, when they don’t serve beer. Trevor got separated in town so we sent out a motorbike to find him. He had stumbled across the code word to get the only alcohol available a home brewed whiskey, which was quite drinkable with coke.

The next day, we were all keen to head up the Humphrey Straight apart from Amanda who wanted to spend time hunting the local Hornbill. After confirming the arrival of a ferry the following morning heading to Neil Island she decided to stay another night and meet us at Neil. We anchored near the ferry crossing and got a rickshaw limo (seats 6) to the local village. Having seen very few westerners we were a highlight for the village getting invited for tea with the school headmaster. Trevor got the code word for whisky however as thyme was short didn’t try the local brew.

Catching the tide the following morning we headed to South Button and had a dive before over nighting at Henry Lawrence Island. We arrived at Neil around lunch to discover the Islands accommodation was booked out. This resulted in Amanda not being at the rendezvous point. I went from place to place on my hired bike eventually finding a very excited manager who claimed the Police came for her. After he calmed down I got him to show me the guest register and her room to make sure we were talking about the same person and made the Police station my next stop. Sure enough there she was waiting for an official to return with her papers. It turns out upon arrival by plane you are issued with travel papers that need to be shown when traveling between Islands and when checking into accommodation. Her papers allowed the boat to travel around but in the fine print said that you couldn’t leave the boat. Of course when he arrived back and wanted to know the boats whereabouts she was able to say anchored out front and things sort of blew over after that.

We were planning on staying a few days until my birthday but the wind had changed the anchorage was uncomfortable so we decide to head over to Port Blair in preparation for our outwards clearance. Sven and Kartja booked a flight to main land India leaving us to explore the local sights. The jail was well worth a look.

The Indians also appeared to have had some trouble with Simon in the past

Clearing out was straight forward, visit the required offices, wait for them if they are not in and meet them 1 hour after agreed for our stamp in their port office or foundations of, then leave. Two ezy.

The trip back to Phuket was mostly uneventful however Amanda suffered from chest pain, and difficulty breathing for the trip. As soon as we arrived I took her to hospital on a motor bike where she was rushed to a doctor, sent for X rays and back to the doctor who kindly told her maybe she pulled a muscle. Ha ha, I told her it was quibblitis. We later found out 2 other people had suffered from the same thing at the same time so maybe whatever it was had cleared up by the time we got to the doctor?

Here's the route we took around the Andaman Islands.

Clearing In (?!?) and Heading South

Our Monday morning arrival in Port Blair happened as planned however despite Amanda’s best efforts to have all the correct paper work which included 20 copies of everything, she left me with one task. Clearing out.

This resulted in us arriving without a Port Clearance. That’s like trying to travel without your passport, best described as a cockup. In my defense I was suspicious at the time and asked the Thai Immigration Officer 3 times if I required any further paperwork other than what he gave me until he became grumpy. Well actually he was grumpy to start with, so I got sent away with some papers written in Thai.

After a late night meeting, a declaration where we were told what to write, “in our own words”, and the departure of some US dollars we were also free to depart getting a taste of the local transport.


We decided to spend the first week of our 30 day stay exploring the islands to the south.

Was the navy keeping an eye on us or maybe looking for Crocodiles?

The guys on Ultimate Dream had caught up by this stage so we all headed down to Rutland Island for a fire on the beach while the sun went down.

Things we going along swimmingly until despite Greg’s best efforts to stop me, I had the great idea to shake down a tree for fire wood. The plan kind of worked with the tree breaking off half way up and landing on my head. Ouch. It felt as if my lower intestine had passed through somewhere it shouldn’t have. I got back to my feet, had a few more beers and we all headed home. Maybe then it was Sven’s idea to attack Trevor’s boat with water buckets. This didn’t end well with him falling out of the dingy and getting rescued by the Gadfly crew.

The next day is not going to be good.

The Sting

Remember the post "Painting B at Brunner?" Well upon returning from NZ to the marina we were unpleasantly surprised to discover our outboard from the back of or dingy had also gone ... on an open ended holiday. We borrowed another one to get to the boat, I bought a new one and the story ended there.... Not quite, Amanda kept an eye on the papers, eBay etc until, what do we find 2 months later.


Yes, its a advertisement for an outboard motor that looks exactly the same as ours. Same broken catch and most damming of all, the same 5hp sticker made by me. I couldn't replicate the colour of the existing stickers. Why put on a new sticker you may ask? If your dingy has a motor over 5hp you have to get it registered. Our motor was in fact a 6hp in disguise as a 5hp to avoid registration.
Amanda sent an enquiry to the sellers requesting a look with no success. I asked Lindsay to bid on the motor and ensure he got it. Now we can arrange "The Sting".
Lindsay organised to meet the sellers near a local park at 7.00pm and gives me his phone. After work I pick up a friend, Detective Dave from the Auburn cop shop and we drive over to the Burwood police station. He rounds up 3 uniformed officers and a paddy wagon and we make our way to the meeting point where Amanda and James are equipped with liquid refreshments waiting for the show to start.
The paddy wagon parks around the corner and we rendezvous with the sellers. On inspection of the motor in the boot of their car I give Dave the nod and he steps away to make the call. He then pulls out his badge and announces that he Detective Dave is placing the two rascals under arrest. As the sellers world crumbles around them, the paddy wagon screech's to a holt in front of the car preventing all hope of escape. They were patted down, their car was searched and they were bundled into the paddy wagon for transport back to the cop shop for processing.
Amanda, James, Dave and I debriefed (detective talk), we went to the police station to drop off our equipment, dropped Dave back and the story ends there.
At this stage our motor is Exhibit A and we are waiting for news as to what will become of it and the rascals.
Over and out.