June 20 – July 16, 2013 - Phuket, Turkey, & Destiny’s Journey to Turkey

Frank stayed in Phuket where it rained torrents every day until he flew to Istanbul on June 26^th. He spent one night in Istanbul before flying to Dalaman, which is the closest airport to Marmaris where Destiny will be unloaded.

Here is a note Frank sent on his arrival in Istanbul:

“After my 1st 12 hours here are are a few of my thoughts.

I have to preface this with from where I am staying and the neighborhoods  I have been able to ride or walk through.

Everything is very clean.  No litter to speak of, sure there is a little here in there but mostly very clean.

The streets are in good repair and there is a continuous sidewalk.  

More people in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand spoke some English.  Very rare if you find someone who speaks English here. The TV is almost all Turkish or some other language I don't understand. There are over 70 channels and only about 2 are English. There aren't even English subtitles. Oh, that's right I am in a foreign country I forgot.

No bars or nightclubs.  No beer or anything else served at the restaurants. When I went out to dinner tonight I thought for sure there would be some joint that had beer.  Not happening at least in this area.  The only American food place was Burger King and Popeye’s. Everything else is their stuff.  Instead of bars there are a lot of bakeries. Beautiful stuff and all fresh.

The weather is down right perfect. A breeze and a high of about 80.  I didn't feel any humidity.  No smoke in the air.  

I think you can say we are back in civilization.  Hurry and get here I miss you a lot.”

The Clipper Aurora would be Destiny’s home for nearly a month. The crew finished loading all of the yachts on June 21^st and then set off for The Maldives where a few more yachts were waiting to load before transit up the Indian Ocean, through Pirate Alley and the Red Sea into Turkey. We were in a very anxious state because the shipping date has moved well past what is considered safe for this transit. Pirate Alley is extremely active with daily reports of incidents. Without any detail we have been lead to understand that to some degree during the voyage there will be protection on board the m/v Clipper Aurora. Monsoon season is now in full swing and desert sand storms sweep out to sea from Africa. All we can do is pray that all goes well.

Marieke Derks of 7Star (we call her our Angel) kept us apprised of Destiny’s status the entire journey, from loading and departure from Phuket to arrival in Marmaris. She would forward us the reports from the home office in Amsterdam. Here is a copy of the first report we received:

Sent: Monday, June 24, 2013 3:42 PM

Dear Sir / Madam,

Mv Clipper Aurora is on route but is suffering from the bad weather caused by the Monsoon. The vessel cannot maintain her speed and is delaying as result.

schedule is than as follows:

ETA @ Male pilot station: 27th of June, 2013 @ 22:00hrs  AGW WP

ETA @ Marmaris, Turkey pilot station: around 10th of July, 2013 AGW WP

Note that ETA Marmaris is July 10^th

Frank got to Marmaris and waited for Destiny’s arrival. While there he had plenty of time to get to prepare for the arrival & plenty to do with paperwork and red tape.

Meanwhile we received another report from the Shipping Company… I’m including the full detail to show what we were seeing.

Amsterdam, June 26th, 2013

Dear Sir / Madam,

Mv Clipper Aurora is on route but is suffering from the bad weather caused by the Monsoon. The vessel cannot maintain her speed and is delaying as result as cargo safety is first priority in these conditions.

Following received from the master of mv Clipper Aurora:

Date of report                        : 26-06-2013

Time of report                        : 08:00 (GMT+6)

AAA. Position                       : 05-08 N / 081-32 E

BBB. Course                         : 263  Deg

CCC. Speed                         : 10.0 Kn

DDD. Distance for 24 hrs  : 256 Nm

EEE. Daily average speed  : 10.7 Kn

GGG. Distance to go       : 483 NM

III. Wind/Sea/Swell       : SW-6/WSW-4/WSW-3

JJJ. ETA to next port     : Male 28-06-2013 08:00 LT wp agw

LLL. Comments             :     Ship's cranes are on starboard side.

Vessel is pitching & rolling heavily, ETA may be changed considerably.

Cargo checked, all in good condition.

ETA @ Male pilot station: 28th of June, 2013 @ 08:00hrs  AGW WP

ETA @ Marmaris, Turkey pilot station: around 11th of July, 2013 AGW WP. Discharge will take place on the anchorage.

We continued to receive similar reports, as the monsoon season threw gales at the ship constantly. The Aurora had to at one point go into shore to hug to coast because of severe seas, and while coastal cruising, got hit with severe sand storms.

Meanwhile I received updates from Frank as well. He was pretty miserable in Marmaris. He had booked a nice hotel online, but when he arrived it was closed for renovation. So he was put elsewhere. The new room was above a disco that roared all night long and his bed was wall to wall in the room. So he changed again as you will read:

“Ok this morning I have been very busy.  I changed hotels, that was #1 on my list.  The hotel situation has been a total fuck up.  The manger of the hotel that I was supposed to be staying in asked me if I had looked at the rooms of the hotel I was going to?  I told him it was twice as big as advertised with a balcony at half the cost of where they put me. I ask him if he had seen my room and that any thing in town including backpackers would be a step up. So I got to go back down there to work out the financial arrangement.  I know I'll get screwed on that but at least I will get a night of sleep.

Took my clothes to the laundry.  I am sure I wasn't pleasant to be around. I will pick that up this afternoon.

Talked to Soner our agent. We will get together for coffee tomorrow morning.

Having dinner with Brian and Isabel on Wasabi this evening.

I might need to take a nap I’ve been so busy. Take care and I will send some pictures.

Love F”

Poor Frank! We continued to receive scary reports form 7Star and then the reports just stopped. Apparently when in the heavily pirate-infested areas the boats go Radio Silent. We heard nothing until July 13^th when Frank got word that the Clipper Aurora was at the Suez Canal. Sweet Blessings! She made it through Pirate Alley!

July 16, 2013

Hooray! Destiny is reunited with Frank after a dreadful passage that lasted just shy of a month! She is caked with salt and desert sand but as far as Frank can tell, we only lost a canvas cover from the anchor locker hatch, a cockpit instrument cover and the use of our wind instruments. The crew broke our swim ladder on the stern using it to board to check the boat from time to time, since she was in the very front during two Monsoons and a Sahara sand Storm. The goosneck cover and pulpit covers are completely shredded. A few areas of our stanless are cracked and everything looks sandblasted. Frank has not surveyed the damages yet but we paid for extra insurance for this.

Unloading was first delayed by the presence of a cruise ship in the Marmaris port, but as soon as Clipper Aurora got the thumbs-up to begin unloading, he said it all happened so quickly he didn't even have an opportunity to snap pictures because Destiny was second off the ship. Once on board, he immediately deployed the mainsail and headed south to Gocek where he'll worry about getting her cleaned up and re-dressed as she is getting her bottom scraped and repainted on the hardstand.  I'm really looking forward to joining them soon.

June 19th, 2013 - Destiny loaded!

Desinty did finally get loaded the afternoon of the 19th. Frank had a rough time of it and so did our boat. He is exhausted. I will write more later as he relays his experience to me. I had a very long trip home and hate being so far away from them. Frank took footage for me - the wind was a real problem for them. My nerves would have been shot watching this live.

June 17, 2013 Shipping Destiny…Loading Day!

This is really happening! The skies are clear and the seas calm for the first time in ages. The ship is here, Destiny is first to load in about an hour - Whoop! Whoop!

We thank God and any of you who have been sending prayers and kind thoughts our way for this amazing window of good weather.

Well just as we got close to the ship the wind kicked up now it's blowing like crazy - too rough to load so they're moving the ship hoping to find a calmer spot.

Destiny did not load after all. We were nearly to the ship, they were preparing the deck with our cradle and then the winds began howling, seas kicking up and it became too rough to load. We circled for a couple of hours but it worsened and storms came along. They finally called it off around 1:00, telling us tomorrow will be worse than today so not to expect to load before the 19th.

I'm in a hotel room at the new little Nai Yang Beach hotel, just by the airport market until 9:30 tonight. I fly home tonight at midnight. My poor little mom is fading and I have to see her. I'll meet Frank at Marmaris in a few weeks. Frank is stuck on the hook by the beach outside Ao Pao, and will have to move to the deep water port (Panwa??) on the 19th to load. Then he'll stick around here for a week and take it easy before heading on to Turkey.

Oye! What a world - huh? Love this cruising life - it makes great stories :)

SevenStar was going to feed everyone but obviously there were no others out there today so when they aborted, they dropped off 8 sandwiches for him! They told me I had to leave then and there or be stuck on the boat until the 20th! So I got a hotel room for 8 hours near the airport to wait.

June 16, 2013 - No ship yet

We have been told the ship will be here tomorrow. Destiny is to be at the ship at 9:30 to begin loading. I'm flying out tomorrow night for Texas. Our plans of a trip to Hong Kong have been cancelled. I have to go home and take care of personal family matters. My parents’ home has to be put on the market and my job is to clean out 40 years of accumulation. They are not capable, as they are both in a memory care facility now.

Frank will be staying around Phuket for about a week before flying on to Turkey to meet Destiny on her arrival there.

The weather here is absolutely dreadful - we now get massive storms every day that bring very high winds and hard rain. Three of the yachts to be loaded require fairly calm conditions for the straps to be attached, so the loading process here may take a fair amount of time as they dodge the storms. Destiny is scheduled to load first. Fingers crossed - and lots of prayers going up for everyone on this shipment.

June 6, 2013 – More Venting & Another Visa extension to Singapore!

We are having real problems here. Boats only get 6 months in Thailand before they have to be "imported". Destiny's 6 months runs out the 20th, so if we aren't gone by then I don't know what we'll do.  Most of the other cruisers booked on the transport are European and have flown out to their respective homes, leaving 7-Star to hire captains to load their yachts at 7-Star's expense. There is no way we are going to leave the sealing and  loading of our boat to anyone else.

We are so disappointed and a bit angry - have spent beau coups $$$ fooling around with the darn visa extensions, and only had until June 11th on our final one. Now the ship is not due here before the 16th. So we were trying to figure the easiest and least costly way to extend from that date. We found that the minimum cost (just a couple hundred $) would be if we rent a car and drive to the Thai border, take the boat to Burma (again), but will only get 15 days, and that is a horrible trip. We never want to do that again! Meanwhile the others who are really griping and making a fuss are getting all kinds of things paid for, such as extended marina fees and so forth, by 7-Star. We really don't know what amount they are getting but do know that paying for a captain to load their boats and paying their boat fees here in Phuket are not cheap.

That's not our style, but finally we told the local 7-Star Rep. about our issue with the visas. She called Frank and told him they had a surprise for us for my birthday. They said they would pay for our air ticket to fly to Singapore to get our passport stamped for 30 more days. That was a very sweet gesture and one that we appreciated, but if we had done it ourselves, we were just going to fly to KL, in and out in one day. We want to spend our money on a trip to Hong Kong on the way to Turkey during our 3+ weeks off the boat while it's being shipped.

7-Star booked the plane ticket for us (we did not get a choice of where or what airline or date - probably b/c they were looking for the cheapest airfare from Phuket). They booked us for an overnight stay - out on the 5th and back on the 6th. Frank asked if they were going to pay our hotel, airport transfers and meals and they said NO.

For some crazy reason we had a real hard time finding a hotel for one night in Singapore - everything was booked or required minimum 3-night stay, except for some backpacker hostels in Chinatown. We finally found a room at the Swissotel. That plus meals plus all the airport transfers ended up costing us over $500 (and we used the train - no taxis!!!). The air ticket that they paid was under $300 for us both on Tiger airways. We have never been on a plane with seats so small. Frank's knees would not fit into the back of the seat in front of him because his legs were too long! He had to sit sideways. Our ticket was not upgradable or refundable. He was NOT HAPPY.

I know they were trying to be helpful and in spite of the frustration, we did have a good time (at least I had a nice birthday), but Frank grumbled the whole time about this being our most expensive visa extension and not what he would have planned. Frank said my present from him was the hotel. Now we are back in Phuket waiting and waiting. I sure hope that getting to Turkey is worth all of this because right now, we are ready to ask for our money back. It would have been so much cheaper and less stressful if we had sailed back to Penang that second week of May and sat out the season in the nice marina there, where at least I could do my own laundry and be in walking distance of groceries, etc., which was our original 6-month plan. But then we thought we would have been shipped between the 14th and 25th of May too.

OK, so we did really enjoy our quick trip to Singapore. Enjoyed a wonderful dinner on the Singapore River. Our room had a nice river view, and we visited the astounding Botanical Gardens before returning to Phuket.

views from our room of the river

travel docs for Singapore

May 20-30, 2013 – Growing Frustrations/waiting /killing time

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 25^th. 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 25^th – 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 30^th  - 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.