Malaysia, Boat Projects

DANGA BAY 01'23N 103'43E

Our first project here has been to get our newly aquired air conditioner mounted and get the interior of the boat cooled off. Now boats are not designed for window mounted units so a bit of fabricating had to be done. After placing the unit in the main saloon hatch we then had to make a cover to keep the rain out.

As ours is a U.S. boat our shore power wiring is for 110 volts not the 240 of the rest of the world.
I'm sure this setup does not meet any code but it works. One drawback to being able to keep the interior temperature down at a "cool" 84 degrees is we tend to turn into moles and not venture outdoors.

Once the air was working it was no problem keeping Kathy happy as she worked on her sewing projects. As with all the other jobs we never seem to truly finish. You just make repairs to things you made several years ago or find something new to construct.

There may not be a lot of floor space but we manage. On new construction I do the design and Kathy the stitching. Here she is working on the cover to seal the air conditioner to the main hatch.

Of course there are outside jobs that need to be taken care of too. Several years ago we learned that by painting our exterior canves sunshades with a latex type house paint we could extend there life. This has been my recent job. Due to the outside temps being in the mid 90's, yesterday I suffered a bit of heat stroke; today I started at 0700 and quit the outdoor stuff at 1000. This will have to be my routine when I come back from the states and continue on the never ending list of jobs.

As you can see here as we enjoy margarita's on friends John and Jan's boat in Langkawi before heading down to Danga Bay our life is not all work.

We are now in countdown mode, 5 more days, for our trip back to Southern California. It's been 3 years since our last visit to family and friends. I'll attempt to keep the blog updated from there but for a while there will be no sea stories.

Malaysia

DANGA BAY MARINA 01'23N 103'43E

After surviving our close encounter with the dredge ship we were ready to be off again. The next segment of our journey took us to an anchorage just north of the city of Port Dickson. An uneventful day, fine with us.

Monday the 18th a day of about 46 miles was intended, until I started trying to figure fuel consumption as we were motoring more than we had hoped. So only 10 miles away was Admiral Marina where we could get fuel. Better to stop then run out.


Here at Admiral Marina the gate guard is quite formal. We purchased fuel at $3.50 U.S. per gallon and were then ready to head off again the next morning.

The last three days of our journey were again adjacent to the busy shipping lanes of the Melacca Straits. The big ships do keep to their own lanes but it is amazing to view the numbers of them as they move along. Anytime you look in that direction you see 10 to 15 hurrying on their way.

Nearing Singapore there are 100's of these monsters anchored , doing maintenance and waiting to load cargo. At the bottom of the brighter red stripe is a crewman of a hanging scaffolding with paint brush in hand.

We arrived in the marina here in Danga bay in the city of Johor Bahru on the afternoon of the 20th. Marina check in is easy and and we even managed to be in the same slip that we occupied when here 5 months ago. One great advantage to this marina is there is no charge for moorage, yes FREE. We're not sure why but it's fine by us.

We have till the 2nd of May to get some things done and the boat ready to be left on it's own while we travel back to the states.

One of the first things done was a new hairdo for yours truly. The Mr. Clean look.

As it's warm here and we have dock power we decided to splurge and buy an air conditioner. We managed to find a used one for $400 RM or $130 U.S. now to figure how to mount it. Where day temps are in the low to mid 90's it will make doing interior projects nice.

Most of the jobs to be done now are small ones to get ready for our states trip, the big ones will be put off until my return the end of May.

MALAYSIA

Admiral Marina, 02'28 N 101'50 E Since our last update we have continued on our way down the coast of Malaysia, navigating thru the Melacca Straits. We are heading back to Danga Bay Marina in Johor Bahru just across the river from Singapore. Prior to leaving Langkawi which is a 'duty free shopping port" we took advantage and did some provisioning. Having bought new batteries for the boat along with other such necessities we stocked up on some liquid refreshment. Now you must realize a case of beer in Langkawi is about $8 US. Once we get to Johor Bahru it's $38US for that same case. So we saved $900US on this stockpile.

As we move down the west coast of Malaysia we again had the pleasure of dealing with lots of shipping traffic.

Our plan had us only moving during daylight hours. There are just to many fishing boats plying the waters during the night and most without any sort of lights. Even during the day they want to come right along side just to look and wave hi.

Our first stop was in Penang. On our way up to Thailand we had left off two of our spare anchors to be re-galvanized. We actually got to sail almost the entire 60 miles from Langkawi. As we arrived over a weekend it was Monday the 11th before we got our anchors so we only moved a short distance to the most southern point of Penang island. This at least got us through the area where they are constructing a new bridge to the mainland. A distance of over 6 miles.

Our day trips continued. As we got moving from our anchorage in the river just south of Port Klang the weather turned nasty. Winds in the 25 to 30 kt. range and from the direction we were headed. Hey a reason to take a rest day.

By late morning the weather had cleared but we were settled in. Next we had a close incounter of the worst kind. We watched as an approximately 300' dredge ship who was anchored down river from us pull their anchor and head our way. They looked to be getting ready to anchor again. Kathy got on the VHF radio and attempted to call the vessel to find out their intentions.

Soon it was obvious they planned to anchor again and almost on top of us.

This was our view as the "Inai Tulip" started to swing towards us. On the bridge wings they were yelling for us to move as we were in their way. As they swung towards us our only recourse was to slip our anchor and move as quickly as possible. We managed to dump all 280 feet of chain and another 30 feet of line along with a float before getting run over. Our last view of our buoy to our ground tackle was as it went under the "Tulip".

Thankfully we incured no injury or damage. Whomever was operating the "Tulip" did not seem to have any idea of what he was doing.

Next we managed to get secured to a dock at a nearby marina and launch the dinghy so I could look for our float and hopefully recover our ground tackle. As I neared the "Tulip" no one seemed to understand or speak any English and did not want to have anything to do with me.

We were later able to locate and recover our anchoring gear. We also have made telephone contact with someone in the office of the company that owns the "Tulip" and have attempted email contact with the parent company.

We were very lucky for here in the third world had we been damaged it would have been tough luck.

We now have four more day trips before reaching the Danga Bay Marina where we'll leave the boat to return to Southern California for a visit in early May.

Langkawi Again

JEREJAK ANCHORAGE, PENANG MALAYSIA 05'18 N 100'18 E We arrived back in Langkawi, Malaysia on Sunday 27 March. Our check in port was Telaga, at the northern end on Langkawi island. The next day we moved on to the marina at Rebak. Marina's mean work to be done but we also wanted to catch up with our friends on "Scarlett O'Hara" who had just returned from a 4 month visit back to the states. We did also have lots of things to fix. It was time to change ends on the anchor chain and more important our battery bank was not holding it's proper charge, most important one of our refrigeration systems had gone down .

A view of the fishing fleet at anchor.

It seems that they always like to get close.

We managed with only a short 3 day stay at Rebak Marina. Kathy spent most of her time using the washers and dryers catching up on laundry. For the time in Thailand we either sent laundry out or did it in a bucket. At last real machines and you got to do it yourself. I got the anchor chain switched end for end along with some routine engine maintenance. We also were able to make contact with someone to repair the refrigeration compressor and where we could purchase new batteries. Next we moved to the anchorage off the main Langkawi town of Kuah.

In Kuah we managed to get one refrigeration compressor fixed and purchased a new one which I got installed and the frig running cold again. Next was the purchase of new batteries. This is what keeps our electrical system going and for the last several months I've been doing my best at keeping them going. So after over 5 years we now have new ones.

Now installation of new batteries is not just a simple trip to the local auto parts store and having them do the work. We use six 6 volt batteries wired together, each weighs about 65 pounds. We managed to get them delivered to the dinghy dock. Next it was to hand truck them to the dinghy and lift aboard, then across the bay to where we're anchored. Next using a halyard lift them aboard and down into the cabin. In 92' heat that's enough for one day. The following day it's remove the old ones and install and re-wire the new. The last is to once again load the dinghy with the old and transport them to shore. We even managed to contact someone to recycle the old ones.

Our time in Kuah was very busy but it was nice to get some important thing accomplished.

We did also have a chance to enjoy some better than average sunsets.

Phang Nga Bay Photos

JEREJAK ANCHORAGE, PENANG, MALAYSIA 05'18N 100'18E OK, so I realize it's been a while since any postings but we truely have been busy and for those of you who pay attention to our latitude and longitude you'll see that we have moved a fair way south. Back here in Malaysia we are able to hook up with the internet on the boat and I hope to keep the posts a bit more current. These photos are all from Thailand during our trip around Phang Nga Bay. We enjoyed a number of anchorages there and spent lots of time in our kayak taking slow trips around the islands and going through tunnels in the limestone walls linking to inland lagoons called "hongs". The entire Phang Nga Bay is dotted with 100's of these islands, both small and large.

Above is a view of the anchorage are of Phi Phi island.

The entrance to the "hong" on Koh Phanak. The tunnel is about 50 yards long and DARK. We went in with our kayak but due to the tide being a little to high were unable to actually exit into the "hong"

The other kayaks you see are from tour companies that visit the area daily.

These Junks are run by various tour operators.

A view of one of the many islands as we approach.

This is an interior view of the "hong" on Koh Muk called the Emerald Cave. The entry tunnel was about 80 yards long. We managed in our kayak. The tour operators put lifejackets on their customers and along with a guide they floated in.

A happy Kathy after exiting a tunnel.

A view of the Emerald Cave "hong"

This "hong" at the end of Koh Kudu Yai could almost have been accessed on Po o'ino Roa.

Throughout these island we were approached by local fishermen who wished to sell or trade their catch. These two enjoyed a cold beer.

Another "hong" entrance.

"Our House" sitting at anchor!

This "hong" had several entrances some small and others large.

The happy travelers as we make our way along.