A boat slipping we will never forget!
30 November 2008 | Langkawi, Malaysia
The name Langkawi combines two old Malay words Helang meaning 'Eagle' and Kawi meaning 'Strong'. One of the many legends is that this is the resting place of Garuda, the mythological bird. I love the stories that surround this beautiful culture, there is one about a maiden called Mahsuri who was wrongly accused of infidelity. Before allowing herself to be executed she put a curse on the island for seven generations. As proof of her innocence white blood flowed from her veins turning all the beaches of Langkawi white. Isn't that a great story?
We arrived at Telaga Harbour on Langkawi early in the afternoon and spotted our friends cat 'Raku' immediately, they were out and about so the reunion would have to wait. There were quite a number of boats in the anchorage that we had met while travelling up the coast of Australia, it was nice to see them all again and hear how their experiences had been. The beach running along the edge of the bay was called Pantai Kok (Kok Beach), Jay had a lot of fun with that name! They filmed the modern version of the movie the King and I here in 1999 with Jodie Foster, what we thought were the beautiful old ruins of a traditional house on the beach were actually the remains of a movie set.
After a dodgy lunch ashore (we obviously picked the wrong restaurant) we sourced a motorbike for the next couple of days and more importantly found some alcohol. Langkawi is a duty free port and alcohol is cheap, along with cigarettes and chocolate! After in some places paying $7 for a can of beer and sometimes up to $15 it was refreshing to finally find some as low as 50c a can. A decent selection of wine was also on offer but the prices were the same if not more than at home. The big winner of course is spirits, a 1 litre bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin which in Australia can cost anywhere from $50 to $60 is only about $20 here. On the way back to the Makani Kai, Ian and Michelle were back on board 'Raku' and there was much merriment as we caught up on what they had been up to while watching the sunset, beers in hand, each glad the other was alive and well. We have missed them! Moving the party over to the Makani Kai, Ian showed off by not only bringing over 3 different types of fish he had caught for the BBQ (we haven't caught any in months!) but also by bringing over a remote control car he had been given. He and Jay happily took turns crashing it around the cockpit while trying to convince me that it would be a good idea for Jay to get one too, will these boys never grow up?
We did not do a lot of sightseeing on Langkawi, we allowed ourselves one day to travel around on a motorbike we had hired taking in the sights. But the first day on the bike was all work, we planned to haul Makani Kai out of the water while we were here to re-antifoul her and give her a bit of a birthday with a wash and polish. She was looking a little sad with black streaks all over her from when we were in Singapore, every time it rained there boats were covered with black stuff that will just not come off! We went in search of Wavemaster, the only place we were told that could lift us. We had received a quote from them which was ridiculous and needed to go over it with them. The facility was impressive but fairly empty, we were told by the Shipyard Manager who is a Kiwi that they had a bad rep for a while but that things seemed to be getting back on track. They mainly dealt with commercial vessels. After going through the quote we realised that the main cost was in applying the antifoul, the men to do the job cost au$25 per hour (not sure how many men they quoted) and they had allowed 4 days to do the job! Knowing that Jay could get the job done in one day we were lucky that they would allow us to do our own work as many places around here will not. With that out of the way we spent the rest of the day going back and forth sourcing materials and paint for the job. Unfortunately in Langkawi they have spread everything out and a whole day was spent going back and forth organising things. We had organised to come out on the Wednesday so we decided to make Tuesday play day and see some of what Langkawi had to offer.
Langkawi is basically set up for the tourists, there are manmade waterfalls, lots of resorts and of course, duty free shopping. We decided just to ride around and pull over when we saw something interesting, we stopped at waterfalls where the water was clear and cool set in amongst rainforest, we stopped to watch monkeys at play and at one stage spotted some Lemurs up in the trees at the side of the road. The Lemurs are gorgeous black monkeys with white faces, they look like black and white minstrels but they are very shy and it was hard to get a clear photo of them. We went to the Tujuh Telaga (seven wells) which is a waterfall with a series of pools at different levels that you can swim in. You can slide from one to the other down natural water slides made of smooth rock. Jay and I took advantage of a swim as the day was hot, the water was perfect but I must have found the only leech in the place which attached itself to my calf and was not letting go. I created a small scene in this idyllic place as Jay tried unsuccessfully for the most part to remove the offending creature to my cries of 'Get it off, get it off!' Finally Jay got rid of it and I was left with a leech love bite for several days as a reminder.
Finally the day arrived for us to be lifted. The positioning of the facility meant that the tides had to be taken into account and the current runs through there quite strongly so a lot of care had to be taken. On arrival there were at least twelve men waiting for us but no one seemed to be in charge and this is where the fun began! First of all they made us reverse in even though we had already spoken with someone about going in forwards as we do in Australia. Second, we realised that the straps were not manoeuvrable but were fixed. Thirdly we had explained that we had marks on the hull indicating where the straps were to be placed that they seemed oblivious to. Fourthly we kept asking them to lower the straps as reversing in meant that the rudders were getting caught, they sent a diver in (we had asked them not to do this and eventually the charge of AU$250 was taken off the bill for this) who eventually surfaced and told them in Malay to lower the straps. All the while the tide was knocking us around and Jay and I ran around fending off from the sides of the travel lift bay. Finally we were out and breathing a sigh of relief as she came out intact. Sitting us in the area where we would do our work, they were just beginning to prop us up when a loud siren went and everyone disappeared, it was time for their break. They left us swinging in the straps unable to do anything as we waited to be water blasted. When they finally returned and finished the job Jay and I began the work, the antifoul was not arriving until around 6pm so we set about preparing her for it.
The next day was a blur of polishing and painting, with the black streaks gone and a fresh bottom she looked like the Makani Kai we knew and loved!
We came out of the water on the Wednesday afternoon and went back in at midday on the Friday. The boys turned up Friday morning to lift Makani Kai so that Jay could get to the spots that we had been sitting on. Luckily Jay noticed that they had turned up with only two straps to lift her and not the four that they needed. Jay had to explain to them that that is how you can break a catamaran, I don't think they understood but they went and got the other straps anyway. The process of lifting her on dry land seemed to take as long as when we were in the water coming out! I was nervous and wouldn't be relaxed until we were driving away from here. They lowered us into the water with ropes on all four corners of the boat to hold us steady but again the same problems occurred, no one was in charge or would listen to us. Lowering the straps enough seemed to be the issue and when they finally did lower them enough the steel spreader bars for the straps were swinging around threatening to bang into our hulls. We were ready to go but they would not let go of the ropes and at one stage the port side of our stern threatened to become wedged underneath the concrete edge of the travel lift bay. Jay was yelling to me to tell them to let go of the ropes and I told him I was and that they were blatantly ignoring me. Eventually they let go and we were off breathing a sigh of relief! I never want to go back there again! Funnily enough we moved on to the Royal Langkawi Marina and met a couple who had had the exact same experience as us there. Management didn't really seem interested when we voiced our concerns to them.
We were ready to leave Malaysia. I have loved it here but we are yearning for some clear water and picturesque anchorages so after provisioning the boat we checked out of the country and headed for Thailand.