Unintended Singlehander: Day 2, the grounding

Updated on Monday, November 21, 2011 at 09:46 by Kaci Cronkhite

This story continued from Day 1, next blogpost down!

We motored east as the tide began to ebb. Flipped up the fenders, one at a time. Not cool to keep them trailing, like fingers skimming patterns in the sand. Dawn was warming black into blue and the monolith islands ahead looked like construction paper silhouettes.

Nervous, excited energy made my stomach queasy. The tide carried us right on course, so I hopped below to start the propane stove for tea. One one-thousand, two one-thousand, click. The flame burst into the darkness and the red light came on. All good. Back in the cockpit, wood smoke signaled the start of the day. Cocks crowed, answered, crowed again.

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Unintended Singlehander: Day 1, the decision

Updated on Monday, November 21, 2011 at 09:48 by Kaci Cronkhite

When a Thai official decided to push it, to insist that that the letter stating I was officially Captain of the vessel while the owner was out of Thailand and that the money we'd already paid for extending our visa wasn't enough, I called his bluff. "If you do not pay, then you must leave Thailand", he said. "Ok," I replied, calm and determined not to pay the bribe. "Alone?" he said. "Yes," I replied, less calm and mind awhirl with an adrenalin rush.

Officially checked out of the country and with 24 hours to leave, the sweat making my shorts stick to the taxi seat were, this time, not just due to the tropical heat.

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