22nd January, 2009

Having arrived back in Kuah on 6th we spent a few days there, along with Craig & Lynne on Solan (Tauranga) and Margaret and Doug on Tonic (Whangarei) doing a few repair jobs, re stocking food supplies and waiting for our dinghy. On the Wednesday and Saturday nights we went to the night market where we also had our tea which we bought from food stalls at the cost of between $NZ3 & $NZ5 per couple which is being virtually cooked in front of you.

We had been having battery problems with the batteries virtually going flat overnight. I actually spent a whole day studying up on batteries so there is not much I don't know about them when it comes to boats. The long and short of it was that we needed to equalize the batteries which meant putting a high voltage with low amperage into them for several hours. We also found that our smart charger was not set to the correct voltage for our lead acid batteries so since leaving NZ in June 2007 with new batteries they were never ever being fully charged. Once we changed the smart charger it made a big difference but we have gained a lot more capacity since we equalized the batteries. It was a big relief to find that we do not need to buy new batteries as they are an expensive necessity. Tonic ended up having to buy new batteries in Kuah and Solan new solar panels.

Finally got our dinghy back on the Sunday (11th), less expensive than first quoted but not all what we wanted done. However it stayed inflated for a week but is now once again on the downward slide but not quite as bad as previously. It is not worth spending any more money on it so looks like we will be looking out for a new dinghy as the one we have in NZ is only PVC and it will end up the same way as the one we have here.

There were five yachts in Kuah who were kiwis so we had a Kiwi pot luck dinner on our boat and we had a lovely meal. The other kiwis were Brian & Brenda on Galiano (the babies of us all as they are only 29 & 30) and Colleen from La Passerola (so her husband Les was the Aussi ring in) along with Tonic & Solan.

On Monday 12th, Solan, Tonic and us left Kuah and headed around the eastern side of Langkawi to the Hole in the Wall up the Killim River. It was a lovely anchorage with dozens of tributaries, caves etc. to explore by dinghy which we did each day we were there. We visited a bat cave with hundreds of bats hanging from the ceiling of the cave, watched eagles being fed and they are certainly majestic looking birds. Had a nice meal at a seafood restaurant there which is built out over the water.

We went to up anchor from there last Thursday (15th) and the anchor was well stuck in the mud and with the extra pressure on the electric winch the wiring corroded. We ended up having to jerry rig the anchor chain on to one of our other winches to pull it up. Once up we headed on around to the northern side of Langkawi to a lovely anchorage called Tanjung Rhu where it was better water to swim in than we have had the whole time since being in Malaysia and also had a beautiful beach with a couple of 5 star resorts there. While there Dave and Craig fixed the wiring on the anchor winch and we also did the final repair job on our genoa furler in readiness for the arrival back of our repaired genoa. We talked to an employee of one of the resorts and they were only 65% full but were going to be full for Chinese New Year and after that bookings were well down.

We left Tanjung Rhu on Saturday (17th) and stopped off at another northern Bay (Datai) for lunch and then carried on to Telaga Harbour where we were anchored up until yesterday morning. We all spent the time there doing boat maintenance but on Monday we hired a car between us all for the day for $NZ25. Now begins the saga!!

Craig, Doug, Dave & I were going on the first trip to Kuah which is 25km away by road. We get the car at 9am and it won't start so Craig is at the wheel and us three push it to start and finally got it started. We get down the road and it is doing all sorts of peculiar things so we stop at a place and borrow a spanner to tighten up the cables on the battery and then we get further down the road and it won't idle so stop at a garage and borrow a screw driver to adjust the idling. The clutch is not working too well and to get going after stopping Craig had to rev the engine otherwise we would stall so it was a bit of a mission when we stopped at traffic lights etc. However we did make it in to Kuah where we visited Immigration, Customs and the Harbour Master to do our clearance and we did get one or two things we needed. I needed to go to the Post Office to post a package to our Accountant. They have a numbering system for service in the Banks and Post office and when I went in they were up to 1190 and my number was 1249. An hour later a finally reached the counter just after Dave came in to see what I was doing! From the Post Office Dave & I were walking along the road to meet up with Craig & Doug and by then the car is in a dreadful state. We had to push the car to start it as the clutch had finally completely gone and Craig just managed to drive it to the Jetty where we were to pick up our sail. We then rang the car rental place but had to wait over an hour for them to bring us another car. Turns out that the clutch cable had broken. The sail wasn't quite ready so we went back to Telaga and then Dave, Lynne, Margaret & I went back into Kuah and while Dave went and picked up our sail us girls went to the supermarket. Once Dave picked us up we did a fruit and vege shop finally arriving back at Telaga at 9pm. Easy tea that night as I was exhausted and was in bed straight after it. Langkawi is a duty free island but as far as we are concerned the only thing that is really that cheap is alcohol. We all stocked up on beer at a wholesaler when in Kuah on Monday and a tray (24 cans) is $NZ12. Wine is still expensive as it is imported but spirits are relatively cheap.

Before coming here various yachties had told us that Malaysia and Thailand were cheap places to get boat repairs done etc. but we are all finding now that it is not the case and apparently prices have gone up considerably since the Tsunami. Mind you if we had US dollars or Euro it would be different but having kiwi or Aussi dollars is not good, especially with the kiwi dollar plummeting.

Tuesday was spent ferrying fuel and water from shore to our boats and then yesterday at 9am Solan, Tonic and us headed north 24 miles to the most southern island of Thailand and we anchored for the night on the north west side of Koh Tarutao after having a lovely sail and our genoa and furler worked as it should. As we arrived early afternoon we went ashore to the visitor information centre and have a look around and walked up to a look out. We had to pay 200 Baht ($10) each for a 5 day permit (locals pay 40 baht) and on hind sight we should have just gone back to our yachts as it was a complete and utter waste of money when just visiting the island for half a day. We had thought the museum might be worth looking at but it wasn't so you could say we were sucked in. There is supposedly a crocodile cave which is worth visiting and one goes by dinghy up a mangrove lined river. It was a lovely trip but we didn't find the cave so came back for a swim from shore in lovely water and used their facilities to have a fresh water shower afterwards.

Now that we are in Thailand we have had to put our clocks back an hour so we are now 6 hours behind New Zealand. We up anchored at 8 this morning but we are motor sailing as there is very little wind and are spending the night at an island called Koh Phetra. We are going to have a pot luck roast chicken dinner to celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary so if there is a nice beach we will cook it ashore in our barbecue.

I have tried to download more photos on our website but have had no joy - I think the internet was just a bit too slow.

We plan to be in Phuket by Monday and just doing 20 odd mile island hops each day as Customs are not too friendly if it takes one more than a week to 10 days after clearing out of Langkawi.