Well, we made it to Telang just fine during a very hazy day. It was really bad today, one of the worst days we've seen. It was hard to see the islands as we passed just a few miles off shore of them. There is lots of burning going on in Malaysia as well as Thailand and Indonesia. People making more farming area by burning the forests that currently cover them. The governments have tried to stop it but people will do what people will do. No crops, no money. Simple economics.

Any way, we dropped the anchor just about 1400 and had nice left overs from lunch. I had spaghetti while Tracy had the left over chicken stir fry. Both just as good as the day they were first served. We've now made some nice room in the frig for more things.

Geramar, one of the other boats traveling north with us(sort of) just came in and dropped their anchor right beside us. It's now 1520 so they were a ways behind us. They left about an hour after we did and as we were doing so well with out speed, we got in long before they did. Of the four of us heading north, two are here, Emerald Sea is anchored on the north side of Pangkor and Romance is in a cove on the west side of Pangkor. Both are a good 10 miles south of where we are so they will have some miles to cover to catch up with us tomorrow. As the hightide is about 0250, we will be on our way again by 0700 to catch the good current. We lost it later in our trip today and the speeds fell off sharply to just the high 4 knot range. A BIG drop from the 9+ knots we were doing earlier today.

So here we sit relaxing after another day of motor sailing. We called the Straits Quay Marina in Pinang about a week ago to try and get in but were told to call back once we were closer. I called in earlier today and she said she would check and call me back(you know, it's sort of like "the check is in the mail" routine). I called again once we dropped the anchor and she seemed quite surprised that we had contacted them again. Did she have a space? "let me check" was the response. In the end, the answer was "no, not till next Monday". This was our third try getting into their marina and each time it was a no go. I guess we will just have to anchor off the marina and take a dinghy in. It will save a bit though they do charge for dinghy dock use. We will be stopping in there to visit the Thailand embassy to get our visa for the up coming visit. We were only allow to stay for a month last time as we hadn't gotten our visa before arriving. Now we know what to do to get to stay longer this time should there be delays with our new dinghy or the replacement anchor we will be receiving.

We had just a hint of a breeze coming through the anchorage so it's helping us cool off a bit. It's always in the high 80's to low 90's here. There are no change of seasons other than one is referred to as the "rainy season" and the other is the "dry season". They are both equally hot. Believe me, a "cold" shower later today is going to feel quite nice. Good to get the sweat off.

Well, it's now Wednesday the 5th and we pulled up the anchor and set off again just about 0700 with 317 miles under the hull so far. Late in the evening(about 2100) a fishing boat came by and decided to drop his net all around our boat. He pretty well surrounded us and then a short time later, he pulled it all in and took off for another place to fish. He returned a while later and did it all over again. As we went to bed, he had finally left us(we think).

The dawn broke again quite hazy with an orange Sun slowly making it way above the hills on the mainland to our east. As we headed out, there were a good 35 fishing boats all around us with nets everywhere. We dodged to the right and then to the left heading away from the coast to escape them. The fish don't stand a chance out here. We pulled out the big genoa sail and with the current, we zipped into the 8+ knot range and stayed there for a while.

Well, it's about 90 minutes later and we had to pull in the genoa as a squall came down our port side sucking all the wind with it so the angle of the wind wouldn't allow the sail to do it's job. We heard thunder in the distance so we turned on the radar to see where the storm was as it didn't look that bad to us. About 4 miles off the port side, you could see the rain on the screen. It looked like it was heading our way so I went below and pulled out the side panels for the cockpit. Better to be dry than wet. The heat and humidity does that out here. Now I knew full well that as soon as I brought out the panels the storm would pass us by and that is exactly what happened. Once it was past, down came the side panels and with the storm passing, the wind shifted to come in off the port side so we pulled out the genoa and took off again. Rarely does it hurt to have a sail up. It gives us a nice boost of speed. Emerald Sea, one of our traveling friends is about 3 miles in front of us so they must have set off really early since they were a good 5 miles behind us last night. Romance is about 5 miles behind us and we have no idea where Geramar is as once the storm came with it's lightening, all the computers were stashed in the oven just incase a bolt of lightening takes aim at us. Better safe than fried. I've pulled out this one as it's not plugged in and might escape destruction. So far, so good.

Well. it's now 1345 and we are still motoring along with wind right in our faces. The gauge reads 12 knots and since we are doing about 5.3, it's about an 8mph wind. Add in about a three foot swell(at worst) and it's a bumpy ride specially since it's hitting us just forward of the beam. The bad thing is that there is no current push and we are only doing just over 5.2 knots. We will get there but it's going to take a good bit of time. Sure glad we left so early.

We just had a great lunch of Hickory flavored Spam(fried in a skillet) on whole wheat bread with mayo(Best Foods of course) with Dijon Mustard and a slice or two of tomato on top. Now I've mocked Spam forever as many Americans have but since we have been out here and with Spam sometimes being the protein of choice, we've really grown to enjoy it--a lot. Makes a great sandwich and it's not that expensive.

Emerald Sea(they are on Sailblogs too) is right behind us currently planning on anchoring with us at Palau Rimau tonight. Romance is about 7 miles behind us and plan on stopping there too. No clue where Geramar is. Not showing on any AIS. Guess time will tell. Fishing boats dragging nets are still around us but far less often as we are quite a ways from ports where they would off load their catches. We have one heading for our port side as I'm typing this. He's hell bent to get past us crossing our bow. We've found that it must be some kind of "macho" thing about having to pass a pelangi(foreigner or white person) boat by the stern. They "HAVE" to be in front of us. Well, this time, he blinked and changed course when a man on the bow yelled up to him that there was another boat right in front of him. OOPS! Sudden course change to his starboard and he just passed behind us. When we last went to Langkawi, a BIG fishing boat tried to ram us as we approached the south side of the island. He veered off only once I started taking pictures of him. It can be a bit crazy out here

At 1700, we pulled into the south side of Palau Rimau and dropped anchor in about 21 feet of water. The winds had dropped from the unforecasted 22 knots to just about 8 as we came in but we were behind an island so I'll give it credit for the wind break. The forecast had been for just 6-8 knot of wind so when they hit over 20, it came as a surprise. We'd let out about 70% of our genoa so it gave us a good boost to get here late in the day. For the most part, we had been taking wind right on the bow for the afternoon. The Sun is set to set in about 35 minutes and as we (Emerald Sea and us) wait for Romance to come in. They radioed about 30 minutes ago asking about the anchorage an if it was calm. When I answered yes, they said they would be in in about 45 minutes. With three of us here, it's going to be a nice anchorage tonight. I think we are all headed for Staits Quay Marina tomorrow though none of us can get in. No space, so we will be anchoring just outside the marina for a few days. Sure glad the winds have died down. We were taking waves over the port side hull for the last half of the afternoon with some water making its way through the open window in the dodger and getting me from time to time. A little salt water never hurt anyone.