Malaysia

Sea Fever Journal

By Wendy Catlin

31 January 1999

We departed Raffles Marina, Singapore on 14 January. We feel good luck is ahead of us as I won a Raffles watch and Rob won a huge gift basket of food and goodies on New Years Eve! We have also worked hard on Sea Fever to make her as ready and able as possible for the next leg of our journey. We will keep our fingers crossed that all will work well on our way to the Langkawi Islands.

It felt really good to depart Raffles, as nice as it was. Marinas are nice places to come to, and are very nice to leave from. We are ready to get back to cruising and exploring new places.

Our plan is to take about two weeks to get to Langkawi Island which is near the border of Malaysia and Thailand.

We only went a short distance from Singapore into Malaysia, to put the anchor down at Palau Kupup. Feeling the freedom once again of being at sea and away from cities and marinas.

This leg through the Mallacca Straits is not without its challenges. We are on a major world-shipping route, and there are many huge freighters heading north and south. Along the coast, there are fishing vessels with long drift nets out. Our tactic for the first few days is to do day trips along the coast, watching for the fishing nets and giving the freighters a large berth.

For the next few days winds are light so we sail/motor. Everything is going very well. It is shallow enough that we can anchor almost anywhere along the coast. We are headed for the Water Islands and a visit to the town of Melaka.

16 January 1999

We anchor off the island of Pulau Besar just off the coast of Melaka town. This island was once covered in rainforest, but is now in the process of becoming a major resort island with little of its originality in place. We went ashore to explore, finding a well-kept golf course with a token bit of rainforest. We identified a number of beautiful birds and found large iguanas swimming in ponds. There are aleast two resorts on the island; one operating and the other still under construction. Very fancy places, but so very few guests. The island really did feel somewhat deserted, except for the staff that kept things going.

We found our way to the ferry dock to investigate the best way and times to get to the mainland. Everyone was very helpful, we got the information we needed and plan to go to town tomorrow.

17 January 1999

Bob has decided to stay on the boat while Rob and I go to Melaka. We ride around the island to the ferry dock in the dingy to catch the 9:00 am ferry. Bob lets us off and goes on his way to do a bit of exploring of the island

Once on the mainland, we take a bus to town. The bus gets very full, as everyone seems to be going into town to shop. It is the time of the Muslim holiday Hari Raya Puasa that ends a month of day fasting. Stalls along the road have giant slabs of beef hanging in full display as well as many fruits and vegetables

Behind huge modern skyscrapers, we find the old town of Melaka. This is Malaysia’s most historic town. The little river town turned into a major trading port, and has been owned by the Dutch, Portuguese, French and English. It has been through a lot of battles! The architecture reflects all of these different cultures. Rob and I visited the museum, had a nice lunch on the river, visited temples and the market. In spite of us promising ourselves we would not buy anything, we still returned to the boat with full days packs peanuts, carpet.

It was a good day, but we were very happy to get back to the peace and quiet of the boat. It was a bit soon after Singapore for a city trip, but we were glad we went.

18 January 1999

We up anchor and prepare for a two-day, two-night trip to the next group of islands we want to visit…Palau Pangkor.

Our two-day voyage gave us some wind, but we had to use the motor a lot. We encountered many large freighters come in and going into Port Klang near Kuala Lumpor, the capitol of Malaysia. Sometimes it was a bit scary as some of the ship’s came quite close to us and we had to change course several times. We also encountered numerous fishing vessels, a new type with flashing red lights! Not sure what the flashing was all about, but we stayed away as much as possible. It is very difficult to tell distance of vessels at night. I find the radar very helpful in these situations!

20 January 1999

We arrive at our destination Palau Pangkor about 7:00am. It looks really lovely, with many trees, beautiful beaches. As the morning moves on to 9:00 it becomes obvious that we are in a major tourist area. Boats running all around taking people snorkeling, to the beach, here and there…lots of traffic about! I feel that our isolated anchorage’s we so enjoyed in Indonesian will be difficult to find here. But in spite of it all, still a lovely place to anchor. We go exploring in the dingy to discover the beaches and to look for a quieter anchorage for tomorrow.

In the meantime, Rob and Bob decide there is enough wind to put the wind surfer together and give it a try. It proves to be a little more difficult to connect all the bits while on the boat, so they head inshore to the beach. Sure enough, in about a half-hour, Rob is up wind surfing and really enjoying it. Looks like we will now have another reason when looking for wind!

We did go to another anchorage in a lovely horseshoe bay on the next island of Palau Lumut. Bob and I decide to take a snorkel, while Rob works on some charts. The water was very muddy to see the marine life, but Bob seems to have good eyes and was discovering all sorts of things.

Later in the afternoon, we anchor in a spot with more wind…for wind surfing!

This anchorage proved a bit roly-poly for the night, so we moved in closer to shore which was better. After doing boat jobs in the morning we motor up the channel between the mainland and Palau Pankor. This takes us by an active fishing village and ferry terminal. As we leave the channel, we head off on another overnight voyage for the Langkawi Islands.

This was a slow sail, as the wind was coming from the direction we wanted to go (to windward). The sea was short choppy waves, which also keeps our speed down. Not a real comfortable sail!

This should be our last windward sailing for quite some time. As we cross the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian sea, the prevailing wind is North East. As we will be sailing to the west, we have the potential of some really good sailing!

We were happy to arrive at the southern most islands of the Langkawi Group. Not only was it calm, but extremely beautiful. Steep limestone cliffs, narrow channels between the islands and pristine rainforest. Lots of activity in the forest along the shore….monkeys!! Leaf eating black monkeys jumping from tree to tree. We had an excellent view of them through the binoculars. Here is also the land of the white-breasted sea eagle, the brahminy kite (another type of sea eagle) and the golden breasted kingfisher, an absolutely stunning bird.

After a good rest and relax, we up anchor and head for Kuah, a large town on the main island of Langkawi. Here we anchor just off shore of the Langkawi Yacht Club where we are hoping to pick up mail and packages.

We got our Christmas cards!!! Thank you to all who sent them. We put them up around the boat and they really make us feel good with a bit of friends and home with us!

There are some very fancy mega-yachts at the club as well as some normal ones like Sea Fever. We are catching up with friends once again, either in person or by radio.

Many of the yachties we have met will stay over the "season" here in Malaysia or in Thailand, not crossing the Indian Ocean to the Red Seal until this time next year. Others have returned for the winter to their home countries and still others have quit due to too many engine/boat problems or burn out. It is a tough life at sea!!! There can be a lot of frustration at times and one has to be strong to overcome it. I am still learning to do this!

Kuah is a nice town, has good provisioning if you find out where to get it. It is also a duty free port which means that booze, chocolate and cigarettes are very cheap. Everyone stocks up here on these vice items!

Rob and I took an island tour, finding the economy is based on rice, coconut, fishing, hospitality and some rubber production. 90% Malay, 6% Chinese & 4% Indian. Indians do the rubber plantations, Chinese run many of the commercial enterprises and the Malay do everything else.

We had a great view from the island’s highest mountain Gurung Raya at 3000 feet. We could see all of Langkawi and islands off Thailand not far away. We also saw the wonderful black monkeys once again, sharing some yummy tree fruit with Oriental Pied Hornbills (a large very exotic bird).

After a few days of town and marina, we go back to the islands for a quiet anchorage amidst the limestone cliffs and rainforest. Not far from us is a fresh water lake in this most beautiful setting! We take the dingy for a good explore and a refreshing, wonderful swim. Really felt great!!

Rob needs to organize charts for our continuing voyage to the Mediterranean. It is a big job and he likes total concentration while doing it. Bob and I do other jobs from Rob’s "TO DO" list around the boat, again making sure all is in order.

Tomorrow we will return to Kuah, provision the boat, get fuel and water. Spend two nights anchored off the yacht club then depart for the Nicobar Islands. We hope to make contact with other yachts who may be leaving the same time as us. Always good to have another yacht around when making a long crossing.

I finish this part of my journal on 31 January, 99.

6 degrees 12 minutes North

99 degrees 45 minutes East