Day 39, Year 4: Another Whirlwind Island Tour
Date: Sunday, November 30, 2008
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day
Location: Rebak Marina on Pulau Rebak Besar, Langkawi, Malaysia

We did it again. We took the ferry to Langkawi Island intending to do a little boat shopping and then tour the island. But what we ended up doing was being lost most of the day searching for places that weld stainless and aluminum, and well after 4 pm we did another fast drive around the island. This time we drove all the way north and then back south again. It is a tiny island, so it doesn’t take long to get from one end to the other without stops. So we are learning our way around the island and have a feel for the topography, but delving deeper will have to wait for another day.

Here’s what did do. We got off the ferry at 9 am and drove south to Pantai Cenang to find a place to spend the night. After boat shopping and touring, our real reason for today’s trip was to spend the night in Pantai Cenang so we can talk to and see Sam via Skype after 10 pm. There’s no way to get back to Rebak at that time of night, so finding a place to stay was the first item on the agenda. The motel right next to the internet caf� was totally booked for tonight, so we walked up the street a bit and found another place that looked just fine. The more expensive rooms are on the beach side of the street, but we chose the less expensive rooms on the other side of the street, less than $20US per night with a refrig, air con, TV, and fan. Not bad. Once that was done, out next stop was the stainless Your Way shop. I think I mentioned in a previous log that we need to get the stanchions on either side of our gate straightened and reinforced. We followed the directions and didn’t the place, but we ended up at a great overlook where we could see the whole west end of Langakawi. We also met a very friendly Muslim family visiting from the mainland. It is school vacation time here, so the island is crawling with families on holiday. This family was particularly friendly, however, and we met the two little girls (probably seven and eight years old), the little boys (nine, four, and two years old). The mother was nursing the two year-old and we talked to her about our grandson who is close the same age. It is so heart-warming to meet such friendly local people. They always want to know where you are from and how many children you have. When we explain that we have sailed here from America (no one ever knows where we are from if we say the United States) they just can’t quite understand. But we all shook hands and bid farewell, and we continued our search for Your Way Stainless. We finally found it and left the stanchions for repair. We had hoped they would also be
able to fashion a new piece of aluminum toe rail for us, but we had no luck with that. So on to the next stainless shop to see if they could do the job. Again, we followed the directions we had, but we just couldn’t find the place. We drove down the highway, did a legal U-turn (felt like I was in New Jersey), back-tracked, did another U-turn, and went around two more times before finding the place. And, of course, Mr. Teik was not there. He is the owner and man we needed to see, so we left the
twisted piece of toe rail and said we would return later in the afternoon. By the time we reached Kuah it was noon. We stopped at the bakery and drug store, went to Peninsular Marine, the West Marine outlet, to get a new hand pump for our forward head and another fan (it is really hot and humid here), and then went to the Orkid Food Court for lunch. This is where we first had lunch in Kuah with Ben, the canvas guy, and we had another great lunch of Mee Prawn Soup. We made a stop downtown to try and buy some Schweppes’s ginger ale at a little shop where we had seen it a few days ago, but this quickly, they have stopped carrying it. Mark also made a quick stop in a hardware store and then on we went. It was just one of those days when every stop you want to make ended up to be a major expedition.

Finally around 4 pm we headed out of Kuah and drove to the north side of the island. There are breath-taking views, but unfortunately they are shared with huge concrete factories and other evidences of modern life that totally take away the charm. As we drove west across the top of the island, we saw some villages that looked interesting and we stopped at Komplex Kraf Langkawi. Yes, it is a local arts and crafts complex, but it is huge. It looks like a national monument and is full of beautiful things made in Malaysia. We didn’t have time before closing to visit the museums, but the shopping areas felt like a museum. We bought a beautiful batik painting on silk from an artist named Jasni. We loved his work and he was most engaging. Then the trek continued and we finally got back to Pantai Cenang before dark.

I am writing this log in our motel room and will send it from the internet cafe later tonight. It is now time to go out and “forage” for dinner and then we will have our Skype call with Sam and company. I’ll have to report on that in tomorrow’s night log.

081130 Day 39 Langkawi, Malaysia–Langkawi Island Tour

Day 38, Year 4: Surprisingly Busy Day
Date: Saturday, November 29, 2008
Weather: A Day with No Rain–Yea!
Location: Rebak Marina on Pulau Rebak Besar, Langkawi, Malaysia

We actually made it through an entire day with no rain, and no rain overnight either. Of course, the forecast was for stormy weather, so it seems no one can really predict the weather here right now. We had no major jobs on the list for today, but we have worked hard all day. Mark had to take down the life lines on the port side of the boat in order to get the stanchions on each side of the gate removed. These stanchions were bent in a storm coming from New Zealand to Fiji, and although we had
them straightened once, they have bent again with time. So we need to get them straightened again and get reinforcing bars welded in. I spent part of the day finishing my cleaning of the dinghy and applying the UV protectorant. Once that job was done, I started in on the stainless. It is an easy job when we are at a marina with water. I just brush on the “Grunt”, a product from New Zealand, take a scrubby pad and rub over the stainless, and then use the pressure hose to spray it off. I then
take a towel and wipe done the stainless, and it shines beautifully. In between working on projects outside, I also did a major straightening job on the inside of the boat. I had moved everything from the aft cabin to the v-berth when Mark started his aft shower stall renovation, but the v-berth was a mess and all of the stuff needed to be tidied up. This was precipitated by an early morning visit of a fellow Tayana 42 owner just down the dock from us. I was mortified to think that Barbara might
want to come aboard and see the inside of our boat. So the straightening up process began.

Increscent Moon is a Tayana sailing out of California. Barbara is originally from Poland and Cory is originally from Romania, but both have lived in California for the past twenty years. Barbara came by this morning to say hello to a fellow Tayana owner and she and Cory returned later in the day to visit for a bit. We haven’t visited their boat yet, but it is so much fun to share ideas with people who have the same boat and the same issues as we do. We hope to spend more time with Barbara and
Cory while we are here at Rebak Marina.

As we are learning by being here, Rebak is really a special little place. The beautiful Hornbills fly in to roost in the last afternoon. There are monkeys here, there, and everywhere if you just know where to look. And Brahminy Kites, those majestic eagles that we have chased from Australia all through Indonesia, fly overhead constantly. And although there are no services here, anything you need is no more than a 15-minute free ferry ride and then a 30-minute car ride away. Tomorrow morning
we are leaving on the 8:45 am ferry, renting a car, and taking in stainless in to be worked, going to Kuah to buy a new dinghy engine, new life lines, and who knows what else. If time permits, we will do a bit of the tourist thing, and then return to Pantai Cenang, the touristy beach area close to here, to spend the night. We are doing this so we can go to an internet caf� late tomorrow night to talk with Heather, Jed, and Sam. The wireless internet connection out here on Rebak is just not good
enough for Skype calls, but when we can connect our computer directly to the internet on the main island, we can do a Skype call with video. We talked with Justin and Jo a couple of days ago in Kuah, so we will now hope to make a good connection with Heather, Jed, and Sam. We’ll return to Rebak the next morning and continue our jobs on Windbird.

We got the estimate on painting Windbird today and it was a bit of a shocker. To paint the hull (topsides), the cabin top and cockpit, and the mast and boom will cost $48,000 RM. That’s about $13,000US and way more than we had hoped. The estimate in New Zealand was about $25,000US, and didn’t include the mast and boom, so this is better, but it is certainly more than we have. Yet the job needs to be done, so we will continue to consider this one. I mentioned in the previous paragraph that we
will be buying a new dinghy engine when we go to Kuah tomorrow. The price of a 15-horse Yamaha Enduro here is just hard to pass up, so we are trying to sell the two old dinghy motors we currently have. We think we have our Suzuki sold after only one mention on the local morning net here and we will work harder to sell the other. We really don’t have the room to be toting around two dinghy engines, so it will be nice to have one new one that will hopefully be reliable. We learned when Justin and
Jo were here, that the old motors just don’t move four people very quickly. So with Kevin and Claire, and then Heather, Jed, and Sam coming, the new motor should move us all around easily and quickly.

Day 37, Year 4: New Address, Same Marina
Date: Friday, November 28, 2008
Weather: Sprinkles and Rain All Day
Location: Rebak Marina on Pulau Rebak Besar, Langkawi, Malaysia

We moved from A Dock to E Dock today. So the new address is E Dock. We are now closer to the marina office and restaurant and to the laundry and shower. The laundry and shower are in a complex that is also accessed by the tourists staying at the resort, so it is very fancy. It was quite a long walk from Dock A to any of these things, but I liked the walk and would have preferred to stay there. But the marina office wanted us closer for whatever reason, so we moved. We met our new neighbors
to starboard and across the dock from us. Next to us is Envy out of Brisbane with Audrey and Bruce onboard. We met but really haven’t had a chance to chat. Across from us is Lazy Bones with Steve (father) and Magnus (son) from north of London. They bought the boat in Malaysia eighteen months ago and are preparing for a trip to Antarctica. Steve has sailed to Patagonia previously and Magnus has sailed to Antarctica multiple times. He doesn’t look old enough to have done it even once, but he
must have gotten an early start. They are totally refitting Lazy Bones and work from first light to dark. When they get the boat ready, they will leave here and south outside Sumatra to Perth, Australia-4,000 miles south of here. From Perth they will go around the south of Australia to Tasmania and from there they will leave for Antarctica. Most ambitious!

We feel a bit lazy after talking with Steve. Our only project for now is laying up layer after layer of fiberglass in the shower stall. I continue to do laundry and name photos, but nothing major. We are spending a lot of time looking at other boats and trying to decide what we want to do about either building a hard dodger and bimini or just replacing the cockpit enclosure that we have with canvas. More and more we are thinking of going with the hard dodger and bimini, but if we do, we need
to decide if we will build it ourselves or if we will have it done. We are also watching closely the boats in the yard that are being painted as we hope to use the same painter when we return here in February. The weather right now is not very paint friendly as it seems to sprinkle every 45 minutes, so paint progress is slow right now. It should be dry in February, but we would love to see a finished job while we are here.

Our wish for world peace was shattered this morning when we learned of the terrorist bombings in India. We have also learned (from Jed’s father back in Washington, DC) that the Bangkok airport is closed. The Thai nationalists wanting a new government have totally taken over the airport. This is nothing new in Thailand as this struggle goes on and on, but the timing is not good. Our friends Kevin and Claire are slated to arrive in the Bangkok airport in mid-December as are tons of relatives of
other cruisers. This is exactly why the take-over has happened at the height of the tourist season but I sure hope they get things resolved soon. Then there is the crazy increase in piracy of cargo ships in the Red Sea. We have so many friends headed that way this year and the current increase in piracy, even though it is targeted at ships, is still a huge worry. So each of us needs to step up our hope (and activism) for world peace. One person at a time we can do it, but we have a lot of individuals
to convince to go our way.

Day 36, Year 4: Giving Thanks from Malaysia
Date: Thursday, November 27, 2008
Weather: Partly Sunny Day with Sprinkles Here and There
Location: Rebak Marina on Pulau Rebak Besar, Langkawi, Malaysia

We are far from home and there are no other Americans here at Rebak Marina, so we kept up the Thanksgiving tradition all by ourselves. In our “tradition”, we worked all day. Mark layed in the new shower stall floor this morning and then continued to put layers of fiberglass on throughout the day. I worked on trying to get mildew stains out of all of our extra sheets and pillowcases. I thought I had mentioned the discovery of this problem in a log a couple of days ago, but in a quick review, I
can’t find the mention. We have kept the extra sheets and pillow cases in the same place for three years, but for whatever reason, water got into that locker and wrecked havoc. After using every mold and mildew remover I have, most of the linens must be thrown out. I had not put away our very best sheets since Justin and Jo’s visit, so I am ever so grateful that I was lax in putting those away. We have been searching for days for our dinghy repair kit, and I found it this morning. So Mark also
patched the dinghy. Late in the afternoon, I started cooking our Thanksgiving meal. We just finished eating our Malaysian turkey (chicken) with stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans with almonds and locally grown baby corn. Everything was delicious and just like it would have been if we were back home. We decided not to have the prawns we bought yesterday as there was just so much food, so we will have those tomorrow. We are now getting ready to have steamed plum pudding with a Fiji custard
sauce. It’s not pumpkin pie, but it sounds good to me.

Busy as we were, Thanksgiving Day is a time when we stop and reflect on all that we have to be thankful for. Our family always comes first on that list, and then, of course, all of our friends. We recently got an email from a friend back in New Hampshire whose mother had just died a few days shy of her 92nd birthday. Our friend, Judi Stuart, sent out an email explaining that her mother, Marge, believed right up until the day she died that if all women of the world prayed for peace, it just might
happen. Judi’s email expressed that if all men and women “say a little prayer for peace to whomever your higher being might be” that maybe, just maybe, we can make it happen. On this Thanksgiving Day, we can think of no better wish. There is so much unrest in the world, yet all of the people we have met in our travels express the wish for world peace. One person at a time, we can make that happen.

So wish with Marge . . . her daughter Judi . . . and with Mark and I that we can find ways to reconcile our differences without resorting to violence. Please take a few moments out of your Thanksgiving Day to hope for a world at peace.

Day 35, Year 4: AQuick Tour of Pulau Langkawi
Date: Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Weather: Partly Sunny Day
Location: Rebak Marina on Pulau Rebak Besar, Langkawi, Malaysia

The free ferry that takes us back and forth to the mainland is wonderful. It runs both ways about every hour and a half from 7:30 am to 8 pm. Almost no one takes the 7:30 am as it is barely light here at that time of day. The sun rises at 7:15, but it is really almost 8 am before it feels like morning. So we took the 8:45 am ferry to the main island, met Din, who gives you the keys to a car and tells you to put the keys under the floor mat when you return and “don’t lock the car.” So off we went.

We were headed to Panti Cenang, the most popular beach resort (popular because it is not as expensive as the resorts on the north side of the island) to the TCY Internet Caf� that we had read about in the Lonely Planet. In fact, it is the only internet mentioned on the whole island, although we know there are more. But where? We got there at 9:15 am which was going to give us plenty of time to get things set up for a 10 am Skype call to Justin and Jo. Foiled again. TCY is not open until 10:30, so we decided to drive across the island to Kuah, go to the wet market (veggies and fresh meat) that is only open for a few hours in the early morning, and then go to an internet caf� in Kuah. This sounded like a good plan to us. Kuah is the biggest center of population on the island, so we thought that most assuredly it would have internet cafes. We unfortunately hadn’t checked this out when we were anchored in Kuah. Since we had told Justin and Jo we would call at 10 am our time, we were in a rush. But we barely got started when we realized the rental car was on empty. I guess they don’t come with a full tank here. We had to back track to get fuel, but then the trip to Kuah was really fast. It is only 25 kilometers from the beach to the wet market in Kuah. We arrived, bought veggies and the chicken for Thanksgiving. I had them cut the feet and head off, but when I got home, I found they had included the treasures in the bag. They packed the chicken in ice and we bought some prawns on the way out of the market, also packed in ice, and both packed securely in our little cooler bag. Chicken and prawns for Thanksgiving sounded good to us-a great substitute for turkey.

We were still on track, only 10:15, so we hoped Justin and Jo would still be standing by for our call. Then we hit a brick wall. Everywhere we went we asked where we could find internet. No one knew. We couldn’t believe it. We got a few vague directions, followed them, and found one place that was not open. We finally headed to the town center, parked the car, and walked to the shop where we had bought charts and bottom paint. The son of the owner of that shop is young and I was pretty sure he would know. He was busy, but another young man immediately directed us to the closest internet shop. Okay, we thought, we still might reach Justin and Jo. We found the shop, but then we could not get connected. An hour later Mark was still struggling to figure out the problem, and just when I was on another computer emailing Justin and Jo to tell them we were not going to be able to call them, he got things working on our computer. I should mention that in order to have a hard wired connection for Skype, we have to connect our computer as the local computers do not have Skype as an option. Mark connected with Justin and Jo and we were finally able to do a Skype call with video. There was a bit of a delay, but it was so much better than any wireless connection we have had recently. It was so wonderful to see Justin and Jo. Jo is almost five months pregnant and really doesn’t look it. She has a little bit of a belly, but not much, and if feeling great. Justin assured us that she really looks bigger in person, and since I know she has a most hardly appetite, I know “wee gerbil” is growing. Justin has cut off his beard as I suspected for the glimpse I got yesterday, and they are loving the new house in Santa Fe. So all is well in New Mexico and we feel so much better after talking to them and being able to see them via the Skype web cam. As frustrating as it has been to get connected with them, it was all worth it. Unfortunately, calling them is easier than calling Heather, Jed, and Sam due to Sam’s bedtime. We have to call Heather and Jed late at night our time in order to see Sam in the morning. So we’ll work on that next. The internet caf� that is closest to us on the main island is open until midnight seven days a week. We’ll just have to spend the night there as there is no transportation back to the island after 8 pm (5 am on the East Coast and not a good time of day for a phone call), but that should be a fun outing.

Once we had our Thanksgiving chicken and prawns and had talked to Justin and Jo, we turned around and headed back west. We stopped at our favorite Kuah restaurant and had prawns in Thai sauce. They were delicious and we were now ready to do a bit of touring of the island. We drove back to the west coast to Telaga Harbor where we checked in with the Harbormaster and checked out the Telaga Harbor Marina and the newly built Perdana Quay. This is a very upscale little quay with megayachts “parked” right next to the row of restaurants. It all looked great but was very expensive, so we traveled on. We then checked out a couple of tourist attractions that we will definitely want to visit on another trip and made it back just in time to catch the 4:30 ferry to Rebak Marina.

I forgot to mention that I was able to buy California celery at the wet market this morning. Now I’ll be able to have my favorite Thanksgiving stuffing. It just wouldn’t have been the same without celery and celery is a seldom seem item out here. Celery, a chicken, and a successful video Skype call to Justin and Jo . . . I feel thankful already.

081126 Day 35 Langkawi, Malaysia–Telega Harbor Check-in

Day 34, Year 4: Frustrations in Paradise
Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Weather: Partly Sunny Day
Location: Rebak Marina on Pulau Rebak Besar, Langkawi, Malaysia

Mark is making progress on the shower stall, but it has been frustrating. Getting out the old floor was a major and messy task. That is now done and he has the first layer of fiberglass on what will be the new floor. Progress is being made. I discovered that the storage area where I keep all of my extra sheets and pillow cases somehow got water in it since Singapore and all of the linens in plastic bags are now spotted with mildew. It will be a yucky job to try and clean that up and to figure
out how everything got damp in the first place. And then there are the communication problems from here. We have tried and retired to connect to Justin and Jo via Skype and have been thwarted at every attempt. This morning we called at the appointed time, but we had a terrible connection. We finally talked for a few minutes by having them call us on our cell phone via Skype. We don’t pay anything for incoming calls on our cell phone and Skype doesn’t cost them but about 2 cents a minute. That
was only minimally satisfactory, so we decided that when we go to the mainland tomorrow, we will try again in the morning from there. We got one glimpse of Justin via the camera and I do believe he has cut off his beard. I’ll have to report on that after “seeing” him tomorrow. To add to the communication frustrations, our cell phone has a very weak signal here and while I was working online this morning, the whole place lost all electricity and internet connection. And then there is the fact
the Winlink is offline. That has happened only once before in our three years of travel. It is off and on and we don’t know what is happening with that. It has been like this for two days now. All of this adds up and we are feeling a wee bit disconnected and frustrated. We had so hoped to connect with Mark’s family via Skype when they gather for Thanksgiving, but I’m not sure this is going to happen from here. And only saw glimpses of Sam on our last connect with him, so we really need to figure
this out.

Otherwise, things are fine. I keep working on naming photos-what a long and laborious job. But when I am done, I will have a complete record of our travels. So I don’t want to take shortcuts. I just have to keep plugging away. Tomorrow we will take the free ferry to the main island, rent a car and tour around the island. We haven’t officially checked in with the Harbor Master here as the one in Kuah wasn’t interested in dealing with this. So we will try again in Telega Harbor tomorrow. We
are still on a search for a Thanksgiving Day “chicken”-no turkeys here. The only chickens I have found so far still have feet and heads attached, even when frozen. I was reluctant to purchase one of those, but that might be my only choice!

Day 33, Year 4: No Bottom Painting This Year
Date: Monday, November 24, 2008
Weather: Rainy, Rainy, Rainy
Location: Rebak Marina on Pulau Rebak Besar, Langkawi, Malaysia

In Thailand, November can be a rainy month, but December is one of the driest month of the year. Since we are right on the border between Thailand and Malaysia, I suppose the weather should be the same here. But we are certainly getting rain and no sunshine. Hopefully that will turn around in a few days.

We found out early this morning that there is no financial penalty for not hauling out, so our decision was made. We will not haul out now and paint the bottom. That will happen in February, so at least we don’t have to worry about painting in the rain. February is definitely the dry season here. That is also when we will paint Windbird’s exterior if we can afford it. We will get quotes here and in Thailand and make a decision once the facts are in. For now, many of the jobs we have to do are
inside the boat, so today we stayed in and ignored the rain. We did walk over to the marina complex to send and receive emails this morning and search out some things on the internet. When we returned to Windbird, I worked on naming photos and Mark started ripping the floor out of our shower. That is a messy, messy job as it requires grinding old fiberglass and sanding. He’s only halfway there with the removal, so that job will continue for the rest of the week. We are doing this job because
cracks developed in the fiberglass and the shower stall would no longer hold water. I loved using the shower stall as my laundry tub, but I have not been able to do that all this season. So once the repairs are complete, I’ll be back in business.

We are having trouble with Winlink, so if you have sent us an email to our Winlink address in the past day or so, we have not received it. Winlink is the way we send our emails via HAM radio. And when we have high speed internet, we can also send and receive that way. But neither have worked since we arrived here. Hopefully Winlink will only be down for a short time. Without it, we have no way of communicating from sea. You don’t know how much you appreciate something until it is not there.

Day 32, Year 4: From Kuah to Rebak Marina
Date: Sunday, November 23, 2008
Weather: Partly Sunny Day
Latitude: 06 degrees 17.642 minutes N
Longitude: 099 degrees 41.837 minutes E
Location: Rebak Marina on Pulau Rebak Besar, Langkawi, Malaysia

After an early morning rush to shore in search of paint rollers and fresh vegetables, we pulled up anchor and motored the thirteen miles from Kuah to Rebak Island, the home of Rebak Marina. Unfortunately, our early morning forays were not particularly successful. Nothing was open until at least 10 am and we wanted to leave Kuah no later than that, so we left without everything we wanted. We entered the channel leading into Rebak Marina just after noon. It is hard to believe this marina was damaged by the tsunami in 2004. It is so protected, but I guess nothing much is safe from a tsunami. We checked-in with the office, looked over the haul-out area and other facilities here, and then hurried back to Windbird to start the top-down cleaning in preparation for our Tuesday haul-out. This top-down clean-up was to get the dinghy cleaned and off the deck, then to clean the deck, and finally to clean the topsides if time permitted. As we ate a quick lunch, we looked over the price list for haul-out. Yikes! It is as expensive to haul-out here as it is in the US. Of course, it is the only place to haul out in northern Malaysia and it is cheaper here than in Thailand. But this got us to thinking. We were planning to haul-out here now and paint the bottom. Then, since we have made the decision to stay in this part of the world for another year, we plan to haul out again in February for a major paint job of the topsides. I posed the question, “Why should we pay to haul out two times?” And Mark took it from there. While I stayed on Windbird and gave our dinghy a thorough cleaning, Mark looked into the possibility of not hauling out now. We won’t know for sure until we talk with the yard manager tomorrow, but if there is no penalty for not hauling out after making a reservation, we will cancel and just do one haul-out in February. The decision to stay here for another year is so new to us that the ramifications haven’t really sunk in. But I think we are getting on the right track.

The marina is part of the Rebak Marina Resort. Evidently the resort has elegant chalet-type rooms, but I haven’t walked to that part of island to inspect for myself. The marina side has basic facilities for the resort other than the pool which is down by the chalets. I’ll have to check that out tomorrow. But there is a huge pavilion with very comfy seating and wireless internet, showers, a laundry facility, a resort restaurant, and a shop where you can buy clothes for twenty times the price you can buy the same thing in Kuah. Further along, there is the marina office complex with a smaller outdoor restaurant with yachties prices. The haul-out facility is next to this complex. The whole place is very nice, but it still doesn’t measure up to One15 in Singapore. We really did get spoiled.

081123 Day 32 Langkawi, Malaysia–From Kuah to Rebak Marina

Day 31, Year 4: Walking, Walking
Date: Saturday, November 22, 2008
Weather: Mostly Clear Day
Location: Kuah, Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia

In Indonesia “jalan, jalan” means “walking, walking” but here in Malaysia “jalan” means mad. But after Indonesia, anytime we do a town walk-about I always think “jalan, jalan” in my head. And today we certainly did a bit of walking. We left Windbird around 10 am and stopped by Blue Marlin to check in with Idunne and Rune. We saw Idunne in town our first day here, but we tried to visit yesterday and kept missing each other. Rune was home alone this morning, but we were really glad we connected.
He had a five-page document from another cruiser in the bay listing all of the businesses here, what they offer, with directions on how to the find the place. There was even a detailed map. We took Rune’s only copy since they were leaving today for Rebak Marina and we can return their copy tomorrow when we get to Rebak. This document saved our day. We had a huge list of things we needed to purchase and we had no idea where to find the things. With a little help from our friends, we located International anti-fouling paint in a store that sells marine charts. We went on to buy charts for Thailand, engine oil, transmission fluid, multi-grain and dark rye bread, Australian frozen meat, and on and on. The two things we didn’t get were fresh veggies and paint roller sleeves. We must have walked five miles to the veggie market only to find that it is open at 7 am and 4 pm daily but is not open in the middle of the day. We also did not find 7″ paint roller sleeves. So tomorrow morning before leaving for Rebak Marina, we will make one more trip into town to get these items.

It was after 5 pm when we returned to Windbird with a heavily laden dinghy. Soon after we got things packed away, Marianne and Kaye of Nabob popped in for a visit. They had arrived this morning after we left for town, but they had connected with Blue Marlin before she left and had been told to get a copy of the Kuah Town directory from us. We made a copy for them and made arrangements to go back in for dinner together. After a dinner not far from the dinghy landing, we walked around the corner to the Saturday night market. We immediately realized we had made a huge mistake eating dinner before coming to the night market. There was food of every type imaginable and lots of fresh fruit for sale. I loaded up on fruit and onions, but there were no other veggies. That must wait until tomorrow morning.

After a short shopping trip tomorrow morning, we will pull up anchor and head the twelve or so miles to Rebak Marina. As soon as we arrive, we will start the cleaning of the deck and topsides so that once Windbird is out of the water on Tuesday, we will be ready to assault the bottom. You never want to clean above the waterline just after painting the bottom due to the fear of destroying the bottom paint with harsh cleaners from above. So Sunday and Monday are clean, clean, clean, and then Tuesday she’s out of the water and the real fun begins.

081122 Day 31 Langkawi, Malaysia–Glimmpses of Kuah

Day 30, Year 4: Day of Contemplation
Date: Friday, November 21, 2008
Weather: Overcast Day with Rain Early; Slight Clearing Late Afternoon
Location: Kuah, Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia

It was a day of contemplation. Early in the day, the canvas guy, Ben, came to the boat to look at our Doyle Stack Pack that covers our mainsail and to look at our cockpit enclosure. He can remake the stack pack for us with a few modifications to make it even nicer. But he can’t do this until February, so that piece of information made our final decision that we will be keeping Windbird here until this time next year. One decision made.

He then looked at our cockpit enclosure and his first comment was that whomever made it spared no expense. It was done right, but he pointed out the fact that we have a huge investment in stainless steel framing for the enclosure. If we build a hard dodger, all of that stainless has to be removed. So a hard dodger might not be our answer. We are still contemplating this one, but as of today we are leaning toward a new cockpit enclosure made just like the one we currently have. Oakum Bay in Marblehead,
Massachusetts made the current enclosure and we have been so thankful to them so many times for the great joy they did. Ben thinks he can the same job with a few improvements, so that is probably what we will end up doing.

The next stage of contemplation was about Christmas. We took our computers and went to the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club where we can be on the internet. It was a busy, busy place today as a major sailing race is coming in tomorrow. Actually, many of the boats are already here and today the place was abuzz with people. If there is enough wind, tomorrow’s leg of the race will take place here in the bay, but if there is no wind here, the race will take place outside the harbor. The bar and restaurant
were so busy today that they wouldn’t let us plug in our computers there, so we found a place on the second floor with a great view of the marina and bay and plopped ourselves down there for the entire afternoon. We contemplated the option of Christmas gifts for our kids, made some decisions, and got things ordered. We also made final orders of small boat items that we will have Kevin and Claire bring to us when they come in December. We still have a few loose ends, but we are much closer than
we were this time yesterday.

The thing we are still contemplating is whether or not to buy a new dinghy engine. We have our old Suzuki that just needs a little work on the carburetor, and we have the Tohatsu we bought from Freebird when they moved up to the 15-horse Yamaha. It looks worn, but it has been doing a great job for us. If we bought the new Yamaha, we would have to find a way to sell the two old ones and I’m just not sure that is going to happen here. So we’ll keep thinking on that one. It is just one of those
deals that is hard to pass on.

Tomorrow we will do more shopping in Kuah, top up on groceries, and get ready to move to Rebak Marina. It is on an offshore island, but they do provide a free ferry shuttle to the mainland a certain times during the week and then a van here to Kuah for shopping. There is no public transportation on the island, so you either use the free Rebak service or you rent a car or hire a taxi. We’ll start off with the essentials and see how it goes from there. Since we will scraping, sanding, and painting
the bottom next week, we aren’t going to want to stop to come in to Kuah to shop. Once the bottom is done, we can start exploring the island here. There is another major harbor with another marina complex, the tourist beach area, an aerial tram ride to the top of the highest mountains, waterfalls, and lots of other hidden gems to be discovered.