We are presently in the Boat Lagoon hard standing area in Phuket, Thailand. Since we started our serious world cruising, in 1992, we have been hauling out Scorpio in 17 different shipyards or marinas – in almost as many countries. Only once have we visited the same yard twice (this was in Deltaville, Virginia, USA). Every time we have to go through the same process: evaluate the shipyard/marina, find the reliable contractors in various technical areas, hardware stores, marine chandlers etc. Everything is new, people as well as the culture. This is a complicated process but, at the end of the day, very rewarding: you really get to know places and cultures in a completely different way than tourists do.
We are definately no tourists in the usually accepted sense, trying to get our floating home maintained and improved and dealing with local small businesses. Just as an example, if you are in a yard at, say Costa del Sol, don’t buy your paint in the marina store, go to the hard ware store on the third street from the waterfront (where the local fishermen go).
There is usually also a lot of dealings with officialdom; customs, immigration, health inspections, agriculture, harbour masters etc. And usually you have to find these offices in different parts of the cities. Clearing in or out of a country may take a few days sometimes. Sometimes it is an additional challenge trying to explain why you want to leave your boat and fly home for a while (“you are not selling it here in our country are you, in that case you would have to pay tax for importing it, just to make sure we will want a bond while you are away”). And remember, the language barrier is often pretty high, they are not spelling it out as clearly as I’m doing here, and there are usually no written guide lines (as you would have arriving on a commercial jet).
But the bottom line is, that along the way we have met many wonderful people and even if we are getting poorer every time we haul out, we are so much richer with experiences – every time.