Review of "The Junk" Liveaboard with photos of damage from collision

[Wookie]

That of course assuming the pending incident is seen at all.

I guess if neither vessel sees the other, then a proper lookout was not maintained. Yet another violation of the rules of the road.

 

[Quero]

Was the Junk at anchor or was she moving? Was the collision due to the squid boat ramming the dive boat or the other way around? When boats are at anchor or tied to a mooring at night in the sheltered bays of the Similans, they have a flashing light to indicate their positions. On sailing vessels like the Junk, it's on a mast.

It's rather surprising that the guests weren't advised, at least by a knock on the cabin door, that they weren't in danger. I'm not sure it was necessary to muster everybody on deck immediately, but some kind of pro-active reassurance would have been appreciated, I'm certain. But then, maybe all hands were needed for more urgent tasks to make sure that nobody would be injured subsequently in a secondary accident--tasks such as assessing the damage, cleaning up broken glass, etc. From the report, it's pretty clear that all guests were accounted for at some point.

 

[Darnold9999]

The OP did say they were cruising so if both were moving it is the Junk's responsibility to give way to a boat approaching on the starboard side. Sounds like neither had a watch however.

 

[rickcavanaugh]

Correct the Both boats were moving. The junk has a large salon with lights on. Pretty hard to miss the junk with the cabin lights on. The crew claims the fishing boat had not lights. However, the Junk has radar....... Bow of the fishing boat hit the Junk mid ship.


Only 7 passengers were on board. Within 15 minutes of the crash 6 of the 7 were on deck without notification. 1 remained below. After about 1 hour one of the crew went down to check on him...

 

[rickcavanaugh]

Received a reply on my blog from the management of the Junk today.

Comment:
We are very sorry that your holiday did not have a perfect ending and below a report of what happened after you left the Junk.

As for the Junk damages they were repaired in 36 hours and we went out again with a full boat charter the day after you came back. An incredible achievement by our carpenters, the same team that did the rebuilding 12 years ago and have done all maintenance since. They worked all the way through the night on Friday to get this done.As our crew assessed after the crash the carpenters agreed there was no structural damage to the Junk.

We went out the next day with a full boat charter (20 people from Belgium) they came back raving about the Junk. And were very appreciative of all the effort we made to get everything fixed before their departure.

The carpenters that repaired our boat went a day later to work on a supply vessel from a fishing fleet. They noticed that the boat was broken at the bow and had the colors of our boat on it. They notified us immediately that they found the boat that hit us. The captain of that boat said he was very sorry for what happened. He just delivered supplies to the squid fishing boat that was fishing with their all their fishing lights on. He was parked on the far side of that boat and just left. Because of the big lights from the fishing boat he did not see us coming (blinded by the light!). He also admitted that he had not put on his navigation lights yet.

Our crew, there were two people in the wheel house and two on deck never saw the supply vessel coming. It came from behind the fishing vessel (the crew of the Junk were also blinded by the light !!) and because of its
closeness to the fishing boat it was also invisible on the radar. Luckily because the supply boat just left it was not at speed yet when they hit us. As is almost customary in Thailand after an accident the supply vessels captain panicked and fled. The captain of the fishing boat (from the same owner as the supply vessel) saw everything and reported to his boss.

A few days later we had a meeting with the fleet owner and he also apologized for his crew and gave us some compensation for the damage (enough to cover the repairs done but not enough to do a proper restoration which is what we have to do in the low season when we go to the shipyard) Still we were very impressed with the honesty of all parties involved. And are happy all is settled.

below some quotes from a couple that also was on the Junk that fateful cruise.

there are many people on this earth and all of them have a personal opinion about things that occurred in their life.
Personally I need some unforeseen surprises / adventures during holidays.
I learned this by experience on many travels around the world.
Such happenings make it charming and memories will never fade completely away.
All over the year I am ( must be, cause of the job ) a very organized and therefor stressed business man.

My personal opinion of the Junk is very positive.
Naturally it was not perfect, but compared in price/service relation to the Holliday Inn on Phi Phi Island, (which was much more expensive),
I ( and even my wife as a woman ) preferred the Junk.
The whole stay with you was perfectly planned and realized.
People was very friendly, cooking on the boat exceptionally good ( very important ),
Keith as our dive guide „ top „ ( I have more than 1.000 dives in tropical seas and met lot’s of dive guides ).
and a little animal guest in my room doesn’t mind.
The crew was very friendly and helpful.
(I would hate passing my spare time in such sterilized spaces, as I daily must live in).

And the crash ….. Things happen.
( During our stay in Thailand many people on this world had been hit by a car somewhere in a civilized city or had been hurt, or even killed, by something else.. ).
Yes, the crew had been upset by this exceptional happening, but there was at no moment any danger for the guests.
All of them ( seven !!! ) had been within minutes out of their cabins and I suppose that there was no need of any official rules to apply ( as it should be the case if such a crash happens to a huge cruising ship with thousands of passengers ). It would had been even silly in my eyes. The situation was very clear to everybody.

Frank, don’t worry, price / service relation are good on the Junk

Greetings from Luxembourg
( arrival temperature : -14° C )

I hope this balances things a little for people who visit this forum.


Kind regards
Frank de Groot
Managing Director
Dive Inn Co.,Ltd.
The Junk "June Hong Chian Lee"
6 Koktanod Road,
T.Karon, A.Muang.
Phuket 83100, Thailand
Mobile: +66-81-8937348
fax: +66-76-333495 (Main Office),
Tel: +66-76-284568
www.thejunk.com

 

[Bowmouth]

Although the reply from the Junk's management answers some of the OP's concerns, there are still several issues that do require an explanation. Why the tour-leader / cruise director did not muster / check on all guests immediately after the collision is baffling to say the least. Guests could have been hurt, scared or even panicking. Mustering all guests (and accounting for all crew as well) is a priority during any major incident (and a collision at sea is a major incident). Saving a skiff is NOT a priority. Another important question to answer is why the Junk was cruising so close to the fishing vessels and did not keep a adequate safe distance. Had a safe distance been maintained between the Junk and the fishing vessels, this accident would likely never have occurred.