A hectic afternoon in Penang
06 November 2014 | Straits Quay Marina
Clouds
We lowered Puff back into the water after a good blowup. She still has a small air leak(as well as water) and while I've found it, I can't find the Hypalon we have on board to fix it. Luckily the leak is small and it takes a couple of days to really deflate it. We lowered our Mercury outboard(freshly fixed again) on to it and after a couple of pulls of the cord, she started right up. YEAH!! That's the first time she's done that in a long time. Replacing the carburetor did the trick.
Now while the anchorage just outside of Straits Quay in Penang may have great holding in mud, well the current that flows through here is downright nasty at times. Not as bad as Derawan in Indonesia was a year ago but she really made poor Puff move around a bunch when we have her tied to the stern so we can put the motor on.
We headed into the marina just about 1200 and got settled in with the office. Nice people trying to help boaters. We knew they had no slips available but we did get in line for one that was to become available on Monday. There is lots to see in the area and this will be our last time here. On previous trip past here, we could never get into the marina so we just passed the island by. This time, since we need to get our Thailand visa, we had to stop.
We grabbed a cab and had them take us to the consulate. The sign on the gate said that they were open from 0900 to 1200 and again from 1400 to 1700. Closed for lunch--two hour lunches! We had the driver take us to a local shopping center so we could get some lunch and then take us back just after 1400. What we didn't see was the line at the bottom of the original sign that said the for Visas, they were only open from 0900 to 1130!! Rats, foiled again. Now we have to go back tomorrow. There was a huge traffic jam around the consulate area and I snagged our cab driver again for the ride back. We did find out from the consulate that they needed 2 passport size photos of each of us and copies of our passports. We had the passport copies but no photos. We talked to the driver and he took us right to a photo shop and he took our pictures-- 4 for 15 ringitts--about $4.50US. We are picking them up tomorrow on the way to the consulate.
Now we've been in lots of cabs but this driver takes the cake for crazy driving. Down the wrong way on a one way street. Not pulling over when an ambulance come by. Horns on cars were invented for this man. He honked his at every street corner and just driving down the road. GET OUT OF MY WAY!! He was a man to be watched out for. He got us there quickly and with great skill plus he knew where to get the photos and where the consulate was. He's picking us up again tomorrow for our next shot at getting our visas. At least we know what to expect from him--crazy driving and unrelenting horn honking. You got to love it out here sometimes.
We we dinghyed into the marina, we saw Solstice. Our friend from Bill was still in the area. He wasn't on board when we got there but we hope to see him again when he does return. Bill owns a Liberty 458 and crossed the Pacific with us back in 2011. We'd become friends then and better during our time together back in Puteri Harbour Marina. He'd left with Totem back in early September and we figured he was up in Langkawi, not here. Sure hope he comes back while we are still here.
So tomorrow, back to the consulate and try and find a place to fix owe small Samsung computer. It stopped working yesterday. Just won't turn on. Probably a bad switch. Sure hope so. She's been a great computer just full of navigation info for out previous trips and future ones. We'd hate to loose it.