Malaysia West

This story mostly describes a forced march from Sebana to Langkawi. We day-tripped our way up the coast, sometimes motoring for 11 hours straight into vexatious winds and seas. We naively assumed that winds during the NE monsoon would be from the NE. Wrong. They were usually from the NW, our direction of travel. Half the time we were motoring through heavy haze, probably the result of fires in Sumatra. We often could see nothing, even though the coast (and Sumatra) were only a few miles away. Hence, the few pictures.

As a service to any yachties out there contemplating the same "adventure", we herewith list our anchorages, including coordinates:

1) Santi River mouth, 1 23.8N, 104.04E, water shallow, maybe 3-4m

3) Pulau Pisang, 1 28N, 103 16.08E, hard to get shelter due to mudbanks, rolly

4) Pulau Besar (Big Island), Water Islands, 2 06.36N, 102 20.66E, worse than 3), horribly rolly

5) Port Dickson, 2 30.74N, 101 47.81, 4m tried to anchor behind Pulau Arang Arang, rolly

6) Tengah Island, Port Klang, 2 57.283N, 101 13.29E, very deep, calm, nice!

7) Bernam River, 3 50.913N, 100 48.46E, shallow (3-6m) but calm and nice, did not go far up river

8) Pulau Pankor, 4 12.616N, 100 33.01E, 3m but pretty and rolly

9) Pulau Penang, 5 16N, 100 11.8E, South Bay shallow (3m), OK

10) Langkawi , 6 12.385N, 99 44.874E, Pulau Singa Besar, 7m, nice!

Yikes! This is the screen as we passed Singapore. The data were taken from AIS, which are data transmitted by ships to show their location, size and status. You can see Amante if you look at the center of the dotted ring under "Alliance". The admiral really appreciated this fabulous Christmas present. She loves being able to locate ships, especially when they are breathing down our neck!

This is a sunrise in the mouth of the Bernam River. We were desperate for some relief from the nasty swell and scads of fishing boats. The "C-Map" chart showed a small, shallow entrance but we found it much better than that. The sun is obscured by smoke. It took both of us to monitor the local boat situation.

This is sunrise over Pankor Island. We have more sunrises here because it happens quite late, about 7:30 local time.

Finally, Langkawi! Note the clearer skies. The wind here does come from the NE. This is indeed a yachtie paradise, with lots of pretty anchorages and duty-free booze.

This is the "Lake of the Pregnant Maiden" at Pulau Dayang Bunting. If you look closely, you'll see all the women are wearing hijabs, i.e. headscarves. They are also fully-clothed. But, they're having fun!

After spending a few days anchoring around the islands we moved to Telaga Marina. We're not big marina people but it's nice to have A/C and WiFi once in awhile, plus the admiral doesn't have to cook. Malaysia is a very cheap place to live and the marinas are full of (mostly) European yachties who have decided to just settle down. Not a bad idea considering the state of the economy.

This is the other big marina, at Rebak Island. It's not as pretty but it's cheaper and we needed a place to park the boat for 6 months, so this is it. We figured if we were in China or Cambodia it wouldn't matter where the boat was, so long as it was safe. Rebak also has a haul-out facility, i.e. you can see boats "on the hard" in the background. Also there is the Taj luxury resort here complete with swimming pool and big monitor lizards who enjoy scarfing down chicken for the camera laden tourists. A small beach area with hammocks completes the honeymooners' scene.

Speaking of honeymooners, here we see the Admiral at ease, sporting her $1 Chinese hat, and no, she's not wearing gold shoes.

A pretty sunrise over Pulau Langkawi. Pre dawn walks around the island meant leaving the boat at 7 a.m. Anything later and you were roasting from the heat and humidity.

Rebaks's pool offered a good cooling off and workout when no one was about.

During forays around the tiny isle of Rebak was an abandoned glass factory that looked something like out of "The Shining". The massive and ominous building had this surprise inside. What makes folks like me go inside haunted buildings?

Ready for a mugging. This is what we call Monkey Trail and every morning these guys were just waiting to rumble. The big guy in the far left corner did not want to give up his turf but finally reluctantly gave way for my 'larger Alpha male' ie. John The Hubinator.

The face of the enemy. Not happy having his photo taken. Glare glare.

So much for resorts, join us as we take on Thailand!

It's unexpected, but we ended up back in Rebak for another summer, the victims of old age and medical adventures, which are expensive but not much fun. We do have some more material, however, related to our second season. So, let's go see the hi-jinks of Malaysia Take 2!

Home