North East Winds

The wind is still shifting around, but it's very light anyway. The next week could be some of the best weather of the year for getting out on the water - scuba diving, sailing, kayaking.. not surfing, though. Once the north east winds set in, the waters are not rough exactly, no rolling heavy seas, but can get a fair old bit of surface chop to be sure.

Can't help but quote a bit of poetry here. Ode to the North East Wind by Charles Kingsley. Do bear with me...

What’s the soft South-wester?
’Tis the ladies’ breeze,
Bringing home their true-loves
Out of all the seas:
But the black North-easter,
Through the snowstorm hurled,
Drives our English hearts of oak
Seaward round the world.
Come, as came our fathers,
Heralded by thee,
Conquering from the eastward,
Lords by land and sea.
Come and strong within us
Stir the Vikings’ blood;
Bracing brain and sinew;
Blow, thou wind of God!

Read the full poem here.

Today has been virtually windless, hot, mostly sunny, some dark clouds here and there but no more than a few drops of rain. Good ol' tropical weather.

We took a little drive today to the north eastern part of Phuket island to the Gibbon Rehabilitation project, which seems to be larger than last time - the viewing area is much bigger and you can see a lot of gibbons.. it's kind of a trade off I guess - donations are needed, visitors are needed, and yet, the idea is to minimise the gibbon's interaction with people so they can be released back into the wild.

After some gibbon time, we drove a few minutes to Bang Rong, where you find the Chumchon floating restaurant. We had lunch here and had thought of hiring kayaks, but the tide was out meaning you can't paddle into the mangroves. It's a lovely peaceful spot (aside from the odd longtail boat).