by Judy Handley | Nov 25, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
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!
by Judy Handley | Nov 24, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
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.
by Judy Handley | Nov 23, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
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.
by Judy Handley | Nov 22, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
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.
by Judy Handley | Nov 21, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
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.
by Judy Handley | Nov 20, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
Day 29, Year 4: Langkawi–What A Great Place
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2008
Weather: Overcast Day with Light Sprinkles All Day
Location: Kuah, Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia
We are liking Langkawi. We have had overcast weather with sprinkles, but the sprinkles are so light that you don’t need an umbrella. The harbor we are in could actually be in the Pacific Northwest if it were 30 degrees cooler. The surrounding mountains are green and lush and low clouds hang over the mountains. We are told that this weather will pass quickly and we will be back to sunshine, but actually it has been a nice break. Langkawi is duty free. We have been in lots of places that are
duty free, but none like this. The cost of liquor and beer here is unreal. In Singapore we would have paid about $40US for a case of beer. We just didn’t buy any. Here we bought ten cases of beer for a total of $100US. And you can buy most any kind of beer you want from Sapporo to Corona to Budweiser to any of the Southeast Asian beers. Unbelievable. You can buy any Corelle, Pyrex, or Luminarik ware in any of the duty free stores. I found a glass Luminarik container that I have been looking for the past five years. I think it cost $5US which was expensive, but I was glad to pay that after five years of searching out here and back in the US. You can buy a brand new 15-horse Yamaha dinghy motor for about $1350US. That’s way cheaper than in Panama and we thought Panama was cheap. We can have all of our canvas replaced for about $2200US. That’s expensive, but a lot cheaper than we could have this done back in New England. So the list goes on. We had lunch with a guy from the US named Ben and his Thai partner, Nim. Ben sailed here from Seattle and has been here about nine years now. He is the canvas guy in Langkawi and he is a wealth of information.
So in one day, we have way more information than we can digest. But it is Thursday, and Friday and Saturday are the weekend days in this very Muslim province. Tomorrow, Friday, everything will be closed, so that will give us a day to think. We will stay here on Saturday and then move the eleven miles to the Rebak Marina on Sunday or Monday where we will be hauled out next Tuesday. We are contemplating having either a new cockpit enclosure made or having a hard top built with canvas side curtains.
Windbird needs her first paint job but it looks like Phuket, Thailand is the best place to have that done. We’d love to have a new dinghy motor, but we have to figure out how to get rid of the two old ones we are currently carrying around. The list goes on and on and it is helping us make our decision about whether to head straight to the Med at the end of January or stay here for another year. I think the decision has almost been made that Windbird will be here for another year. Some of the
work we want done will happen before we head to the US in late February or March, and the remainder of the work will be done when we return in late fall.
So life is good here in Langkawi and tomorrow we will make some final decisions on our plans for the next year. Can’t think of a better place to have to sit and contemplate the future.
