Mooring Buoys in Chalong

[patongphil]

If these blocks were really in the designated approach channel then with the couple of hundred docking and sailings every day I am surprised that so few have sunk.

[NomadJoe]

If these blocks were really in the designated approach channel then with the couple of hundred docking and sailings every day I am surprised that so few have sunk.

They are only a hazard at very low tide, and it has been mentioned in a couple of the articles that several other boats have struck them which didn't sink, including speed boats.

I believe what has happened is many of them have been dragged into the channel by medium to large boats in high surf, then the line snaps. As I mentioned earlier, I have seen these same sized mooring blocks get dragged around dive sites by medium size dive boats when there is wind and waves. The captains do generally know where they are now, as the word spreads fast, but for each one that moves in heavy surf then loses it's line, it must be "discovered" again, often with tragic results.

[huuwi]

Forgot to mention, they where not dumped for moring, they wher dumped for new coral reefs.

[NomadJoe]

Forgot to mention, they where not dumped for moring, they wher dumped for new coral reefs.

huuwi think what you saw were the hollow cubes the Department of Marine Coastal Resources (DMCR) periodically drop outside reefs around Phuket. I was speaking to one of the officers there a few days ago and they said they were dropping some more in the area and I think it correlates roughly to the time you saw them. This is unrelated to the mooring blocks in Chalong bay which were placed by the Marine Department. What did they look like? Like this?

[IrishIvan]

I never thought I would have to draw a crayon map for English speaking locals. I suggest you all photocopy it and hand it out around the pier

Your location of where the Booze Cruise sank is way off. The photo here was taken from the end of the floating dock pointing south.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/All-safe-after-Phuket-tour-boat-hits-mooring-sinks-in-Chalong-Bay-20348.html

When the boat, better known as the “Booze Cruise” (emblazoned on the front of the vessel’s wheelhouse) was about 500 meters from Chalong Pier, it hit and got stuck on a mooring block, said Mr Phuripat.

“Mr Suthip tried forward thrust to free the boat from the mooring, but it didn’t work. When he put the boat in reverse, water came in and it started to sink,” Mr Phuripat said.

“All of the tourists on board jumped into the water without life jackets. Boat operators in the area saw the incident and rescued them,” he added.

Mr Phuripat attributed the cause of the crash to reckless driving.

“The concrete mooring was installed to mark a boat anchorage. It has been there for months. Every boat driver in the area knows where the moorings are located and where the rocks are. The boat driver did not drive along the right path,” he stated.

Read the article mate^^

Sorry Joe, thats its final resting place, thats not 500m from the pier as per the article, also are you trying to tell me the boat headed out towards Phi Phi and then came back in to the channel after being at coral island without taking a shortcut?? Ya righto hahahaha, pull the other one

As Phil says there would be hundreds of sinkings of much larger vessels like liveaboards if the blocks were in the middle of the channel. There is 4 low tides a day in Phuket, one every 6 hours. Its not like its an unusual phenomenon.

Also as the name of the boat suggests, I am sure they werent praying to Allah on there, and it is most likely not a dry boat.

And Lady Andaman was returning from the South also Joe, Werent they doing personnel fitness at Nai Harn or one of those beaches? For sure they didnt come from Phi Phi.

You can spin it any way you like to make out the marine police being numpties and do a bit of Thai bashing, but if the boat owners and captains took note of the correct way to navigate a boat there wouldnt be problems.

Also the moorings were cut off (by weather or people, who knows?), boats cant keep dragging them into the channel if they have no where to tie off to, the new buoys were all laid well to the south of the pier.

[IrishIvan]

Perhaps you should show us on my crayon map exactly where this mooring buoy is or was Joe

[steelepulse]

>>There is 4 low tides a day in Phuket, one every 6 hours. Its not like its an unusual phenomenon.

Are you sure there are 4 low tides per day? Now that would be an unusual phenomenon!

http://www.phuketgazette.net/tides/

[stevenl]

I would not use mr Phuripat as a source of reliable information., That man is really doing everything he can to dodge any kind of responsibility.for his adverse actions and inaction. I'm still waiting for his first positive action.

[eezergood]

I would not use mr Phuripat as a source of reliable information., That man is really doing everything he can to dodge any kind of responsibility.for his adverse actions and inaction. I'm still waiting for his first positive action.

SOP for govt officials......

[IrishIvan]

>>There is 4 low tides a day in Phuket, one every 6 hours. Its not like its an unusual phenomenon.

Are you sure there are 4 low tides per day? Now that would be an unusual phenomenon!

http://www.phuketgazette.net/tides/

typo

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[NomadJoe]

So much assumption and incorrect info in this last post Ivan that it's hard to know where to start.

Sorry Joe, thats its final resting place, thats not 500m from the pier as per the article,

No need to apologize. I never said it sank 500M from the pier, and neither did the article. Read again more carefully. I have been saying that the boat sank less than 50m south of the south dock, as that is where I saw it sink. The article very clearly states that the mooring it struck was 500M from the pier. It does not say that the boat sank 500M from the pier. Unless you are defining "final resting place" differently than "where it sunk."?

...also are you trying to tell me the boat headed out towards Phi Phi and then came back in to the channel after being at coral island without taking a shortcut?? Ya righto hahahaha, pull the other one.

And Lady Andaman was returning from the South also Joe, Werent they doing personnel fitness at Nai Harn or one of those beaches? For sure they didnt come from Phi Phi.

I am saying no such thing. I admire your imagination though.

I am simply showing you what has been reported, as it seems clear you have not been following the story very closely nor have any first hand knowledge of it. And actually, if you look at Google Earth, any vessel coming up from the south does not at any time need to "headout towards Phi Phi" to use the channel, only take a slightly more east approach, closer to Koh Lon. Hardly out of the way at all.

I don't know what approach the boats took, as I did not see their approach, and neither did you. I only know that the song of "there are moorings in the approach channel" is being sung by everyone in the industry. I personally only saw the Booze Cruise just as it sank, as people were jumping in the water from it and climbing onto a speed boat, and this happened less than 50m from the dock, and not outside the channel as you keep claiming in Crayola color, which is the only piece of evidence you have put forth. That evidence has been proved incorrect by the below photographs and an eye witness, yours truly. The rest is just speculation on your part.

As Phil says there would be hundreds of sinkings of much larger vessels like liveaboards if the blocks were in the middle of the channel. There is 4 low tides a day in Phuket, one every 6 hours. Its not like its an unusual phenomenon.

One very 6 hours eh? You must have read that in a "newspaper." lol

Anyway, I did not say low tide, I said very low tide. The level of the lowest tide is different every day and is effected not just by the position of the sun and moon and also the current distance between the earth and moon. This is not a binary problem. The lower the tide, the more moorings become hazards and the more boats they become hazards too since boats have different drafts. Even speed boats have hit them, and a speed boat has less than a meter of draft when not on plane, and about 10cm of draft when on plane.

I am sure you will just dismiss these all these quotes as rubbish as well, but here are some more comments from boat owners from PN and from an online news site:

"Another boat owner, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Phuket News, The sinkings are only part of the story. Every captain is totally paranoid about hitting [the blocks]. Almost every boat operator in Chalong has hit the blocks causing untold damage, lost business and near-sinking."

Another quote from dive business owner who does not own a boat:

"All regular captains are terrified there at the moment because of all the unmarked hazards."

Another:

"Thank the late J C, I sold my boats. That block is right in the channel. My boats both had underwater scanning radar and when we picked up that block, we avoided going into Chalong bay. Why don't the Navy just remove that one block. . . "

You can spin it any way you like to make out the marine police being numpties and do a bit of Thai bashing, but if the boat owners and captains took note of the correct way to navigate a boat there wouldnt be problems.

It is universally agreed among the boating community that these moorings they dropped are/were:

1. ...placed in too shallow of water for the types of boats using them or travelling near them when accounting for low tide.

2. ... were too light for the boats designed to use them and thus dragged around the bottom during windy/wavy weather making it impossible to know where they end up.

3. ...incorrectly attached to their mooring lines which where directly tied to coarse rebar instead of using U bolts with swivels with the rope incased in a plastic sleeve. (I would wager some also landed on their sides which would obviously fray their lines quickly as they rubbed the side of the block)

4. ...placed to close to each other.

In the channel or out of the channel, the Marine Dept. shouldn't have placed objects that become collision hazards at any tide. Boats tied to the moorings can, and have, hit them too.

Edited February 19, 2014 by NomadJoe

[IrishIvan]

We will agree to disagree then Joe. I say its safe if you use the channel. You say its not

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[stevenl]

We will agree to disagree then Joe. I say its safe if you use the channel. You say its not

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Nice try. Won't work though, because your information is simply factual not correct.

[NomadJoe]

The story online now. According to the PG, they were destroyed, not relocated.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/706583-hazardous-phuket-moorings-removed-from-chalong-bay/

[NomadJoe]

The story online now. According to the PG, they were destroyed, not relocated.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/706583-hazardous-phuket-moorings-removed-from-chalong-bay/

Sorry,was confusing two stories of the same event. The PW story said they were destroyed. The PG story said they were removed, with pictures to prove it.