Our projected ship date came and went with a shrug
and sincere apologies from the reps at 7-Star. It appears the vessel that had
been contracted for us was making unscheduled stops along the way to pick up
cargo and not moving as quickly as promised. The agreement with our transit
company was that the yachts were to comprise the entire cargo because we were
paying for the entire ship. No one really understood what was happening but
nonetheless we all stood at the ready for the yachts to go. Meanwhile our Thai
visa was about to expire.
Have been given a new date of before May 25th.
Monsoon season starts soon here so we are a bit anxious to get this done. Our
Visas are running out soon.
Phuket Friday, May 24, 13 Another Visa
extension
It is raining pitchforks and devil babies
here nearly every day now. Yesterday we went to immigration to get the visas
extended. We were hoping not to have to do this again and that the ship would
come before any of this became an issue but time is not our friend here. My
unexpected hospital visit last week affords us an opportunity to ask the doctor
for a medical extension since I am due for a follow-up on Monday (27th). He
only wrote 15 days on it and apparently didn't "tick" the correct
boxes on the form so we had a real hassle with it but eventually got the
extension - the stinkers charged us the 30-day fee ($65.00) anyway. He
must have stamped our passports 10 times each - I have no idea what all those
stamps are about. I'm just happy that is over - and happy we never have to deal
with Thai visas again!
We are marking "paid" to
Thailand and are ready to move on. Because of all the hassles it hasn't been
our favorite place. I'm wanting to get the blogs caught up and it is a stretch
to write about it in a positive light. Maybe it is because we have spent so
much money on the boat here although it is purported to be the cheapest place
to get boat work done but certainly was not. Or maybe it is because of the
tremendous number of tourists here - literally thousands and about 80% are
rude, nasty ugly Russians, or maybe because the traffic is insane and it takes
us over an hour just to go to the grocery store, or maybe it is because crime,
drugs and Aids are so rampant here. Take your pick…
May 25th
– more delays
The
transport ship was due to arrive here the 24th, but that has already been
pushed back. We don't have a load date and probably won't until it actually
arrives in Thailand. The company told us not to book any airline tickets until
Destiny is on that ship. We need to find somewhere to go for two weeks,
which is the anticipated amount of time that it takes to get from Phuket to
Marmaris, Turkey. Where we go while she is being shipped is kind of up in
the air because it will all depend on what kind of last minute air fares we can
get to somewhere between this area and Istanbul. It is so weird literally
flying by the seat of our pants. We are told to be in Marmaris a week before
the ship arrives so we can work out the import/immigration/customs
clearances, etc., with the shipping agent at the arrival port. It is all a
little exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.
There is a lot of red tape involved in
shipping a vessel, and then all these rules about how long we can stay in the
country, etc.
May 30th - Invited to a group dinner with all
yacht owners due to ship; something smells fishy!
Well
we now understand why 7-Star invited us all to dinner tonight - it was to
soften the blow of bad news! And this way they could tell us all at once
instead of emails flying around.
The
ship, MPP Shield that was/is to be our transport is now telling 7-Star that
they will not arrive here until June 8th.
Chris,
the lead 7-Star contact said that the ship and his company are having a bit of
a row. Several reasons were thrown out - there are mechanical problems, the
ship wants to take on more cargo in Singapore and is waiting for a full load
(or some such nonsense), and they are Russian and therefore liars and
untrustworthy (according to Chris).
Great.
Chris
said we are stuck in a difficult situation now because they are trying to get
another ship to replace this one in case it doesn't come through, but the
replacement cannot be here before June 15th.
We are seriously not wanting to use the
original ship now after this mess up but we are over a barrel and have to wait
to see what happens.
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