Tuesday, 2nd December 2008

I had not realized it was 12 days since I last added to the blog but since then we seem to have been on the go non stop with various activities.

Eventually arrived at Besar Island just after 7pm on 19th November in the dark and while in the middle of anchoring the heavens opened so got drenched in the process. Next morning several of us went for a walk on the island and were horrified to see several resorts just abandoned. We looked at the possibility of getting a ferry across to Malacca (8 miles) then decided to take our yachts across and anchor off the river mouth and we were followed by four other boats but by the time we got into the city it was mid afternoon so had a bit of a walk around and then decided to do a city bus tour. After waiting an hour we gave up on that one as the bus never turned up.

Next morning we were back into the city and had a really great day, three of the boats that came with us took off in the morning but we decided to stay another day, met up with five other boats and had a ball. We visited the Maritime Museum, did a city bus tour after waiting an hour for the bus but that was a bit of a waste of time as there was no commentary at all. Did a cruise up the canals and our boat had an excellent guide who gave us a great run down on the history etc. of Malacca. Visited the ruins of St. Paul's Church, did the Jonker Street Walk (the Chinese sector), visited the Portuguese Fort. The State Government are spending a fortune in Malacca with restoring a lot of the old Dutch buildings, footpaths and walkways along the river bank and in the city itself. Malacca has a lot of history and is supposedly the Jewel in Malaysia's crown - we could easily have spent a week there. Our dinner that night for both of us cost $NZ4!

We left Malacca at 6.30am Saturday 22nd along with Rubicon Star, Cankata, Pure Chance, Ulah and Viajero who were all the ones we joined up with the previous day. We started off with the wind on the nose and a choppy sea but by later in the day it had died down. We did 47 miles that day and anchored off a coconut plantation and all went ashore and had a barbecue and we had a very pleasant evening.

Another early start next morning and headed for Port Klang, we had all types of weather and did manage to actually sail with no motor for 2 hours. We went in up the river past the actual port of Port Klang as carrying on up the strait we would have had to go way out as there are so many sand bars and it is very shallow. Port Klang is a huge port and is virtually a suburb of Kuala Lumpar. It was fascinating watching all the activity going on there and as one ship pulled out another went in in its place. We anchored off a small island north of Port Klang called Angsa Island with another 52 miles behind our belt.

We were all up for another 6am start next morning, but unfortunately Bill on Viajero was not well at all, had been feeling ill for the previous two days and it was decided that Bill & Lyda needed to go back to Port Klang as Bill needed to see a doctor. Ulah went with them and the next day Bill ended up in hospital and was found to have dengue fever and has only come out of hospital a couple of days ago. The rest of us, including Destiny who joined back up with us did another 50 miles and spent the night anchored off the Bernam River. Not quite so early a start next morning - 7am and did the final 34 miles to Lumut for the next lot of Sail Malaysia activities.

The next afternoon (Wednesday 26th) we were all ashore for the welcoming ceremony at the International Yacht Club (not as grand as it sounds) from the Regent of Perak State and were given a nice afternoon tea and then at 7pm we all walked further up into Lumut to a very smart hotel for the Official dinner which was put on by the State Government and Tourist Bureau. It was a fabulous smorgasbord meal with a mixture of both western and local food. We were treated to some local dancing plus they had a singer and she was dreadful!!

The next morning we were up early to get fuel before being taken on an all day tour of Lumut and its surroundings. We went to a wonderful seashell museum, then visited a "snorkeling park" which was hard to believe but you will see on the website when I have internet access to look at the photos. We then went to a Mangrove Forest and really for us all the biggest attraction was all the monkeys. We were given a bag with food and drink which we thought was our lunch and then we were taken to a Chinese restaurant for a great lunch. From there we went to the Segari turtle breeding farm which was most interesting and quite a few different varieties of turtles. We then watched some small turtles being released into the sea. The last port of call was for afternoon tea at the Swiss Garden Golf Resort and Spa - quite an up market resort with prices starting at 500 ringitt per night. We were given a presentation about the resort but they really were targeting the wrong type of people with us yachties but they gave us a nice afternoon tea. Finally arrived back at our anchorage just after 6pm. A group of us went to some local carts for a cheap dinner.

Friday we spent catching up on a few little maintenance jobs, plus going into town for a few groceries, fruit was non existent which was hard to believe.

We up anchored at 11.30 on Saturday and headed down 10 miles to Pangkor Island for a couple of days R&R. We were the third boat to arrive in the anchorage but were soon joined by quite a few more over the next couple of days. On Sunday morning we did a canopy walk over a rain forest after which we had to "de leach" ourselves! We then walked on into the village and Rubicon Star, Ulah, Destiny 111, Cankata and us hired motor bikes {$NZ10) for the rest of the day and went around the island visiting the various sights which included a Dutch Fort, Tiger Rock, a Chinese Temple with a miniature version of the Great Wall of China, a boat building yard where a fishing boat was near completion and was launched early evening. On our way back we met up with Now A Days and Odyssey 9 but then found our bike had a flat tyre so Grant from Now A Days took Dave back to our guy and Glynis and I sat on the side of the road waiting for them to come back. A tyre repair man eventually turned up to fix it up but we told the others to carry on without us and unfortunately Brian from Destiny 111 got a bit carried away and fell off his bike but Gill managed to slide off before he went over. He is nursing a few grazes and a nasty burn. We all had dinner at a Chinese restaurant to finish off a really good and enjoyable day.

Yesterday the same five boats of us were up at 3.30am and up anchored at 4am and headed up to Rimau Island which is just south of Penang - a distance of 68 miles and we motor sailed the whole way. Our biggest expense since leaving Darwin has been fuel and as you can gather we have had very few days in the last five months when we can sail with no motor.

This morning we motored up to Tanjong City Marina in Penang where we are here for a few days for the Sail Malaysia Penang festivities