Singapore to P. Redang
04 September 2014 | Pulua Redang
Steve

From a sailing perspective it was a mixed bag of fair winds, light winds and no winds. Once we turned the southern corner of Malaysia we had fair winds all the way to P. Tioman and a good night sail arriving at SE Juara Beach in the morning and spent the day here including a visit to the turtle sanctuary. The next day we sailed around to Telek Tioman, cleared in/out and immigrated in, did some duty free shopping then pick up anchor and headed to the very pretty little island of P. Tulia about 30min NW of Tioman. Picturesque bay here.
The next morning we dug in and headed out for another 38hr/205Nm straight run to P. Redang with light winds, some motoring and a few squalls to keep our attention focused. At one moment, our furled up gennaker caught a wind gust in an available pocket and opened up and we scrambled to pull her down. Kids, don’t try to wrestle an open gennaker to the deck – this one decided to pull me along our deck like a giant kite trying to lift me off and I have bare knee wounds now to remind me! Our lesson learned here is to take the genny down when not in use. Sadly, in the middle of the night we hit a surfaced turtle – hope he only has a headache.
We arrived in the NE bay on Redang at 2200hrs, dark but with a ½ moon and moved slowly into our anchorage with 8 pair of eyes on deck watching for anything odd. We safely anchored in 10m and after ensuring we were well buckled down we headed for a good rest. At 0500 we had a 35kt squall run through and I thank our good Rocna anchor for holding us well into the seabed.
Pulau Redang has the namesake of our boat – Emerald, that describes the beautifully clear waters here. Turtles abound and the marine fauna is varied with a growing coral garden. We recupped from the previous night shifts, made visits to the resort on this bay with friendly folk and chatted with a few likewise cruisers. Now off to explore, find a SIM card, and some fresh provisions.