Bill O’LearyAuthor & photographyBill (aka Billo’), an Australian USL and MCA professional mariner, arrived in Thailand as crew on the renowned racer-cruiser, Stormvogel, in 1987. He joined Amanresorts as founder and General Manager of Amancruises, the original luxury powerboat operating charter company in Phuket. For more than 20 years he built and commissioned scores of local and imported charter vessels and trained upwards of 150 Thai crew, before retiring in 2009. His knowledge of the locations described in this guide is based on 23 years top end chartering in Southeast Asia. A keen fibreglass and aluminium boat builder, Bill produces the STEPPA range of commercial vessels. www.steppaboats.com Billo’ enjoys regattas, deliveries, build projects, superyacht crewing and dive guiding in the region. Married with 4 children, he lives in central Phuket. Website. www.billolearyphuket.com. Email. billolearyphuket |
Andy DowdenAuthorAndy is a British yachtsman who left the UK in 1981 aboard his own 46 ft sloop to cruise the world. He arrived in Thailand for the first time in 1984 after several years of cruising Southeast Asia. In 1989 he set up a yacht services and boat building company in Phuket. He is the author of many cruising guides and notes on local waters; much of Andaman Sea Pilot is based on his 25 years of cruising the waters of east and west Thailand and Malaysia. Still very much involved in the yachting industry, he is involved in the organisation of two of Thailand’s regattas, and the annual International Boat Show in Phuket. Andy lives in Phuket with his Thai wife and family. |
Grenville FordhamCharts, editing, design, layout & project managementBritish-born Grenville moved to Thailand in 1995. An established international freelance writer, he’s been editor of two national magazines and is currently managing director of Southeast Asia Pilot publishers, Image Asia – a Phuket company he formed in 2000. His company produces various information-based publications and websites, including a dining guide and a property guide; he also collaborates in producing yearly golf and diving books. On moving to Phuket in 1998, he discovered boats, an accident that led to Image Asia founding the Phuket Boatshow and Phuket Raceweek, the latter still owned and organized by his company. In 2009, he led the team redeveloping the Ao Chalong Yacht Club and, in 2008, formed a new company building sailing catamarans, the ‘Andaman Cabriolet’ design. Grenville lives in Phuket with his Thai wife and daughter. |
Paul JohnsonAndaman Islands, Mergui Archipelago,
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Captain Ed ShielsEast Malaysia & photographyCaptain Ed’s maritime career began at 15 when he joined the Royal Australian Navy. He has vast experience, from charter work, diving, passenger vessels to film industry. Ed is a dual certified Master Mariner with Australian USL and British MCA Qualifications. He is currently captain of a private luxury Expeditionary Motor Yacht, cruising the equatorial belt of the world. He has spent the last six years in Southeast Asian waters diving and exploring some of the remotest reefs and islands in the region. He has cruised the Andaman Islands, Mergui Archipelago, Thailand, Malaysia and Borneo, giving him the opportunity to indulge his passion of under and above water photography. Contact Captain Ed at edsheils |
Morgan HayesVietnam, Koh Samui & LangkawiMorgan had worked for Sunsail for over 10 years in various destinations around the world before coming to join their Asia operation in 2003. After teaching in Sunsail’s RYA sailing school in Phuket for a year, he moved south to run their Langkawi base. Since 2005 he has sailed extensively around the Malay peninsular, Koh Samui and Vietnam, running Sunsail’s new bases in these areas and discovering new anchorages. While having no fixed address, he can often be found at the bar at most of Asia’s sailing regattas. |
Ian HewittLangkawi & Koh SamuiIan first came to Phuket on a brief visit in 1993 when backpacking through Asia. He returned and stayed for a year in 1996 to work as a scuba diving instructor at various sites from the Surin Islands in the North to Hin Daeng in the South. In 1999 he joined Sunsail and, after a variety of positions in the Med, UK and Canaries he moved to Langkawi in 2002 to take up the position of base manager. In 2004 he moved to the Phuket base. He has a Thai wife and a young son. |
Captain Jimmy BleeDarwin, Indonesia & SingaporeOriginally from the Queensland East coast, Captain Jimmy arrived in Thailand in 1989 to help his long time friend Bill O’Leary set up Amancruises in Phuket. He moved down to Indonesian waters in 1994, establishing a luxury marine operations base on a remote island near Komodo. He has sailed extensively the waterways of Indonesia, particularly the eastern islands, operating many of his own charter vessels. He has led several expedition-style cruises and other long-range adventure trips for the rich and famous to locations covered in and beyond this guide. He now runs his own marine consultancy − Indonesian Marine Services (www.indonesianmarineservices.com) with a boat design, a construction division and a management agency − Asia Pacific Superyachts Indonesia. www.asia-pacific-superyachts.com. 2009 has seen the company complete construction of the luxury 32m phinisi Amanikan for Amanresorts as well as managing superyachts such as Senses and Helios in Indonesia. For Indonesian marine related inquiries contact Jimmy at indonesia |
Jeroen DeknatelMalaysiaJeroen grew up in Holland and spent his summers near the Mediterranean. Taking leave from his job at an Amsterdam film studio to explore S.E. Asia, he arrived in Phuket in 1978 and started Fantasea Divers, one of Thailand’s pioneering dive centres. In the early 80s Jeroen explored Similan and Surin Islands on a 50ft ketch Andaman Explorer, Phuket’s first regular (dive)-charter vessel. Next he refitted a 90ft German built vessel for offshore diving expeditions, renamed her MV Fantasea and discovered the Burma Banks. His next project was building Ocean Rover, a 100ft expedition style dive vessel that was the only Thai flagged vessel in her size to receive IMO certification. Ocean Rover operated in Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Andaman Islands until 2008, when the vessel was sold. Jeroen studied with Lloyd’s Maritime Academy and wrote a series of articles on IMO standards and nautical safety. He received his Marine Surveyor’s Diploma and recently started Waterline Marine, a yacht surveying and consulting business based in Phuket. Jeroen, his Phuket-born wife and their two teenage children live in Phuket and have no intention of moving anywhere else. Website: www.waterline-marine.com email: survey |
Captain Olly WingateVarious waters in ThailandOlly, born and bred in Edinburgh, Scotland, started instructing for the RYA at his local sailing school in dinghies at the tender age of 16. After racing in the national 420 squad he moved to keel boat racing and performed well skippering at all levels winning national 8-metre match racing championships. After some years instructing for the RYA Sunsail Phuket school, averaging 7,000 miles a year, he now runs his own marine services business Integrity Yachting and chills out in his coffee bar, Sunshine Café, in Bangtao. Olly has completed countless deliveries in the cruising area and can be contacted on +66 0892272909 or info |
While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate, the charts of anchorages are based on personal experience and satellite imagery and are intended as a guide only. They should not be used for navigation. Please refer to Official Hydrographic Charts of the respective countries.
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