Day 26, Year 4: First Day of Passage to Penang
Date: Monday, November 17, 2008
Weather: Rain Overnight and Early Morning; Totally Overcast Day
Latitude:02 degrees 45.665 minutes N
Longitude: 101 degrees 21.500 minutes E
Location: On Passage from Port Dickson to Penang, Malaysia
Miles to Go: 181
Sailing, well, actually, motoring in the Strait of Malacca is really no fun at all. It is truly a nerve-wracking experience. First of all, the water is an ugly greenish-brownish-yellowish color. It is rainy season, so it is either raining or overcast. But when the sun does shine, it is so hot you can hardly breathe. We mostly have wind against us, what little wind there is, and the currents are strong. Half of the time you have one to two knots against you and the other half of the time you
do enjoy the boost of a two-knot current. The coastline is low, no mountains, with lots of manufacturing plants. So suffice it to say, we will be glad when we reach the city of Penang and then have only a day sail to get us out to the island of Langkawi. It is a tourist destination and should have white sand beaches and turquoise water. Neighboring Thailand is in a totally different season. It is the dry season there, so I’m hoping that the weather in Langkawi in Malaysia will be much more like
Thailand. The real problem with the rain is that we have to shut the boat up tight to keep the water out, but that also makes it unbearably hot. Thailand should be a tad cooler and without the rain, we can at least have ventilation down below.
The other things that make sailing here no fun is the amount of “stuff” in the water. Today we have seen huge logs, five gallon buckets, tree limbs, plastic, Styrofoam, lots of huge ships, little fishing boats, you name it. It is in the water here. We are currently passing the entrance to Port Klang, the major big ship port in modern-day Malaysia. We are currently going through the big ship anchoring area for the port, and I am sincerely hoping that after we pass this area, the traffic and stuff
in the water will both reduce in numbers. Robyn and Eric on Scorpido crossed from Penang to Langkawi a few days ago and they were actually able to sail. We’ll just hope that the conditions are right for us as well. But until then, we will continue motor sailing north and hoping that it is our lucky day and that we will not have any collisions with logs. If we make it safely to Langkawi, I will be ready to give thanks on Thanksgiving Day next week. The land experiences this cruising year have
been wonderful, but the water travel has been challenging.
