West Coast Malaysia - May 2010

The results of Daryl's entertainment while on watch

We thought we were all organised to move on until Daryl remembered on Sunday night that he had forgotten to check out with Customs and the Port Captain in Langkawi. He set off optimistically at 7.45am on Monday morning saying ‘I won’t be long’. I’m thinking –this is Malaysia, it will take half the morning so we won’t be leaving until tomorrow. But sometimes you get lucky. Daryl arrived at Customs before 8am to find him in and ready for business. Within 5 minutes he was out and heading for the Port Captain. Miraculously he was also ready and waiting. Then there was a quick stop at the dairy, whose only three loaves of bread happen to be the ones we like and lo and behold he was back by 8.20am. I had to eat my words, as we were away by 8.30am and in good time to get to Penang by late afternoon.


Local fishing boats along the way - this one heading straight for us





But we were not happy campers, though, when we got in to Penang City Marina to find half the marina without power. After some shouting with the line boys, as Daryl hovers our yacht between the rows of boats with a current running, we decide there is nothing for it but to stay. Apparently the rats have chewed through the power wires. Which reminded me that this was the marina that Judy, on Braveheart, wakes to a rat peering at her from the hatch straight above her. I hadn’t thought it a problem because with air conditioning we have our windows closed. Now this is a dilemma – sleeping in the stifling heat with the windows closed or risk them open. Open wins, with no ill effects noticed!! The next morning Daryl is up to the office pretty promptly and we are able to move to a powered berth, one previously thought to be too shallow but long as we move on before the spring tides, we'll be right – ahhhh bliss. But still we are struggling to keep the temperature under 30 deg inside in the afternoons, even with the air conditioning going. Daryl has made a shade cover which helps immensely.

Daryl in the chemical shop buying some acid

I take advantage of Georgetown being within walking distance and head off to find what I need to make some new cushions. I find some handmade batik pictures, which are really too good to use for cushion making, but will probably use them if I don’t find something better. The haberdashery shop is like stepping back in time, walking in to long wooden and glass bench height cabinets running full length down the shop. For the Opotiki people reading this, it reminded me of old Mr. Gray Day’s shop.

The girls head off early one morning to catch the local morning market. It is refreshing to wander the streets as the city wakes up. We stumble across a Buddist temple where Judy buys a bird in a cage so she can set it free as an offering. We also meet a colourful local character who swaps our right to take his photo for us buying him a Guinness. Obviously he’s managed to get to a ripe old age on Guinness for breakfast!!

Local characters....................................................Fi and Judy trading photos for guinness

Buddist Temple

Judy with her bird offering.............Tough job

Judy and Fi checking out the fresh eggs

The tourist hospital in Penang seems to have a good reputation and we are beginning to hear of cruisers that are indulging in body alterations, eye lasering, face lifts and breast reductions. Watch out, you may not recognize us next time we come home!!!

The next rally stop is at the very new Pangkor Island Marina. They have kindly waivered all marina fees and are extremely hospitable. As soon as we arrive we are whisked away on a tour of the Lumut University haulout facility which Daryl finds interesting. That night we are treated to an amazing dinner. The marina owner had brought in bins of fresh local fruit that we could help ourselves to. We were also presented to lovely embroidered towels - All very thoughtful gestures. What a great start to the rally.

Rally cruisers at Lumut University facility

The next few nights we are on anchor as we make our way down to Melaka. To avoid crossing Port Klang at night we anchor behind a little island just before the port. The next morning at first light we cross the channel relatively uneventfully - that is apart from deciding to take a shortcut and ending up on a sandbar. The next dive will determine whether we scraped off any of relatively new paint!!

Native hornbills fed at the Pangkor Hotel


Seriously good Chinese restaurant.........................Fish farm

The security staff welcomed us back like long lost friends. They can’t believe we’re back for the third time. Today saw the completion of Daryl’s dentistry work. The final bridge was fitted today and apart from Daryl‘s mouth feeling like he has too many teeth, all is good. I cooked him soft curried fish for dinner and by tomorrow he should be good as new.

Langkawi, Malaysia - April 2010

Native Eagle Langkawi is named after

Langkawi –made up of 99 islands and the most well known tourist destination in Malaysia. Our arrival was into Kuah, the main town. Other cruisers said we’d arrived on the right night as it was one of the two nights a week the locals have a night market. Yum, samosas for 10c each, spring rolls for 5c each, satay sticks with peanut sauce for 30c each, nasi goreng or fresh squeezed juices for $1. I don’t think I could cook for these prices. Dinner is a social time of wandering, sampling and gathering with other cruisers. With appetites satisfied we buy some fresh veges and make our way back to the yachts. It is not recommended to swim in Kuah so we don’t stay more than a day or two before we head out in search of clearer waters. The good news is that Langkawi doesn’t seem to be swarming with jellyfish like Penang and Thailand are at the moment - in particular the nasty box jellyfish.

We spend a delightful week cruising island to island. The water is not particularly clear but we swim to cool off anyway. One island has a fresh water lake which is picturesque. In the mornings and evenings we would dinghy along the shoreline seeing what wildlife we can spot. We’ve taken to sleeping on the trampoline as it seems to be the coolest spot on the boat. We have corrupted Chris and Fi who have become as addicted to card playing as we are. So many an evening is spent with a drink in one hand and cards in the other, one eye on the table and the other on the sunset. Ohhhhh it is lovely to be on anchor once again.

We have a few days at ‘hole in the wall’ where we dinghied for hours in a network of streams through the mangroves. The second day we get horribly lost and when we became low on fuel we took to hiding amongst the shade of the mangroves at an intersection and waited for a passing tour boat then retraced their path as far as we could….then wait again. I got back horribly sun burnt despite our best efforts.

Cool Bananas anchored in the bay.....................the exhausted photographer



Colourful kingfisher..................... ..Native hornbill in the wild



Grey macaque monkey.........................................Nit collecting

Bats in the the caves at Gua Cerita....................The 'Hole in the Wall' limestone cave

Floating seafood restaurant at Tangung Rhu.... Try the butter prawns....

Anchored outside resort at Sungai Kilim

ANZAC day was spent in Telaga Harbour with fellow NZers and Australians. It began with dawn song on the VHF radio followed with ANZAC biscuits and billy tea on the beach. A big thanks to Judy and Donna for their efforts.

Telaga Bay where we spent ANZAC Day

As time passes the electrical storms are intensifying and some yachts have been hit causing $1000’s of damage. As luck would have it we have moved on twice now one day before boats have been struck and damaged by lightening.

I had my birthday here and we randomly found a restaurant that served us a scrumptious lunch including the biggest tiger prawns we’ve ever eaten. The seafood here really is quite exceptional and affordable.

Prawn lunch.........................................................what do you expect for $16 a day?

Chris spotted in a guidebook that there was an island nearby with ‘an interesting cave’ - worth checking out we thought. Well, what an adventure. As usual we waited until all the tourist boats had left so we could have to place to ourselves and in we went. The stalagmites and stalactites we the most beautiful I’ve ever seen and they were in such undamaged condition. If you look closely at the photos you may be able to see how they sparkle. I chickened out part way up so meandering back when I hear the others shout and Fi scream and then they shout to me “there’s a 4 ft monitor lizard swimming your way”. Great……luckily he chose to detour and didn’t come near. He had, however, swum within centimetres of Fi. And all of this in the dark in an underground cave. That was enough for me….I was out of there!!!! About thirty minutes later the others emerged full of their adventure down under.

Only the brave go caving....................................Chris exploring



Limestone formation

We shouted ourselves to a few nights in the Rebak Marina which is well known for looking after cruisers –swimming pool, restaurants, cheap hire cars, air conditioning on the boat….this is the life. And of course Langkawi is a duty free island so a stock up on alcohol and chocolate is a must. Who can resist a 1 litre bottle of Mt Gay, Jim Beam or Blue Sapphire for under $20 a bottle? For many other foods, it is all about availability - 2kg blocks of Anchor cheese, NZ lamb chops, Argentinian fillet steak and easy yo yogurt powder…….treats all round. Cruisers are abuzz with who has found what where.

Rebak Marina - front row park...........................Daryl socialising at the pool




This is the life....



Provisioning at Soon Huat Warehouse..............the whiskas mascot

As we have previously observed, Malaysia isn’t heavily into maintenance, so should we be going on the cable car hundreds of metres into the mountains? – our sense of adventure wins and off we go. The views were spectacular and we were all impressed with the bridge architecture. The drop in temperature was also a relief.

All in a days work as a tourist..............................suspended viewing platform/bridge



View coming down in the cable car....................Photographers dream spot

I think we’re all provisioned up and all set to begin the ‘Sail Malaysia Rally to the East’. We have our first gathering at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club who put on a very warm welcome and a lovely hi tea. We’ll be cruising with 40 odd other boats and on first impressions they seem a great bunch.

Local fisherman

Sunset over Langkawi