All good things come to an end and this Barracuda expedition is no exception. Barracuda is now wrapped up and enjoying a well earned rest at Pangkor in Malaysia. Thanks to all our readers for following the trip. All being well we will be back in about a year for more adventures.

Well, at least it was uncharted for us!

Our stop last night deserves some mention. There was a (supposedly) accessible river at a suitable spot on the coast that we thought we might be able to use to break the journey north. The only problem was that the charting was both sketchy and suspect, plus there were reports of silting in the four-mile stretch of river mouth. The river is used by local fishing boats, though, so we figured we should ibe able to get up it somehow with our lifting keel. We choose a track in based on the few charted soundings and entered at high tide, and though we were fine the depths were way off. This was a problem for us as we wanted to leave when the tide was much lower the next day. We started tracking the path the local boats were taking using our radar (they don’t have AIS) and found they were using a different, and hopefully better, channel.

Our anchorage for the night turned out to be a fairly fast flowing tidal river - 2.5kts on the ebb. No swimming then! We were a bit concerned as to whether our anchor would hold, but the sticky black river mud did a good job.

This morning we sat and watched the colourful local fishing boats heading up and down the river before we decided to try for an exit. Just after low water (on a rising tide) we edged our way into the much better local channel and had an easy exit. Phew!

Tonight we are anchored in a wide, sandy bay at Pangkor Island - just 5 miles from our finish point.

Moving on from Port Dickson we headed north up the Malaysian coast towards the port city of Klang. This is very close to Kuala Lumpur and seems to be one of the major ports in the country. The line of busy docks and cranes is incredible and there’s a constant flow of megaships coming and going. The amount of trade being done here is mind-boggling.

We had hoped to visit the grandly named Royal Selangan Yacht Club - but they were full. So instead we carefully worked our way into an unsurveyed area between some forested, nature reserve islands. Ultra peaceful tucked in between mangrove banks - and odd to realise how close we were to the hustle and bustle half a mile away.

From there we have been motoring on up the coast. Either there is no wind, or what little there is comes on the nose. So it’s a bit dull. Our anchorage last night at an offshore island was ok for swimming which was a relief.

Along the way today we are seeing the worst trash we have ever seen on the sea: polystyrene boxes, water bottles, takeaway boxes and general floating plastic trash. Tragic. In amongst the little bits - and some active fishing gear - there are occasional large semi-submerged logs and we even passed a floating metal boiler tank. So we have to stay really switched on to avoid them. Thankfully the rain, thunder and lightning have stayed away.

By Henry from SV Graceful Lady, aged 7. Thank you Henry! Beautiful.

On our way north from croc river we anchored at Pulau Besar (Big Island) for a night. In the early hours it got very lumpy as the tide turned, the swell rolled onto our beam and with lightning flashing all around our sleep was seriously disturbed and some of the crew woke up rather grumpy. We’d had plans for a cave hike, but rather than endure another bouncy night we left with the dawn - glad to see the back of it.

Our next destination was originally the exposed anchorage at Malacca, but we decided to push on 40 miles north to Port Dickson, where there’s a marina and leisure resort where we could tie up for a few nights and not worry about the very regular squalls, thunder and lightning. Four other rally boats were in, so there was a nice social catch up. Yesterday we took a car down to the old colonial city of Malacca - over the years ruled by the Malay, Portuguese, Dutch, British and now back to the Malay. There was lots of the old Dutch architecture to see although much of it crumbling under the weight of modern use and adapted to the demands of mass tourism. Very interesting to see all the same. The best fun was the night market in Jonkers, a maze of streets lined with trinket sellers and food stalls. You wander along through the milling crowds and buy dim sum, ducks’ heads and grilled octopus - a bit here, a bit there.

The local tourist transport is a pedal powered tuk tuk - decorated to the hilt with anime characters and flashing lights, with boom-boom music blasting out.

Popped the drone up at dawn today in the hope of getting a croc pic. There were a couple swimming near the boat.

Our day started early when the wind picked up to 30kts on a lee shore, a thunder storm let rip and we felt ourselves start to slide along the slimy mud anchorage. The only thing for it was to up anchor and get well away from land… at 5:30 in our jammies and in the pitch dark (well, apart from the lightning bursts ripping up the sky). Soaked to the skin, but no worries! As dawn came the storm abated, and we motored up the Strait for about 30 miles until we came to an interesting looking muddy river.

We timed our entry into Batu Pahat for high tide as the entry is very shallow. Once over the bar at the river mouth, we carried on upriver until we found a peaceful spot with jungle on either side, just downstream of a local harbour area where wooden trading boats were loading and unloading cargo. We imagine them trading with the ports of Sumatra (or somewhere equally as tropically evocative).

We took a run in the ding up the river, against a lot of outgoing tide, to have a look around. The banks were full of herons and egrets fishing, and swiftlets and terns were busily swooping. We were enjoying our jaunt until a local at the Chinese temple flagged us down and told us that the river was full of big crocodiles and we should be very, very careful. We hightailed it back to the safety of Barracuda and carried on bird watching from there.

As the sun set we watched the adjutant storks roosting high in a nearby tree, as the muezzin call floated across the stream. Very tranquil.

We thoroughly enjoyed our three day trip to busy, shiny Singapore. There is plenty to do there, including gazing at breathtaking architecture, discovering local art at the national gallery, wandering through the amazing Gardens by the Bay with their enormous glass houses, devouring chilli crab and visiting Little India at Diwali (to name but a few). We filled every minute - and came back with tighter waistbands.

Back in Puteri Harbour, more rally boats had arrived so it was time for hellos … and goodbyes, as we refuelled, repaired and restocked the boat. Our friend Nicola arrived from KL to travel north with us, and we set off on the last stage of the journey. As we write this tonight, we are at anchor off a small uninhabited island, watching the sun go down across the Malacca Strait.