Phuket Thailand I March 11 2009

Hello out there.Bringing you up to date on Phuket.Well, It's been an event filled month, but I'll try to keep this short.Right now we're at see on the way to the Similan Islands off the northwestcoast of Thailand. We're on our way back from Koh Phayam at the Burmeseborder where we had to take Charlotte, Rose's daughter, to do a "visa run"across the border to get another couple of weeks. She's been with us on andoff for about 3 weeks and Rose is in heaven.We spent the month of February at the Royal Phuket Marina (RPM) to get somework done, chill out and use our full month at the spa (massage or some suchevery day) as well as get some work done. I have to say the boat is in thebest shape in years. We have a new sail cover (the most expensive workdone) as well as a new "used" ice maker, repaired radar that now shows wesupposedly can get 72 mile range, and every possible courtesy flag we canuse for the next 2 years, all at really bargain prices. Also got someniggling electrical problems taken care of which have bothered us for years.We got Rose's mail delivered by a friend from Langkawi, but, alas, mine hasbeen lost. Of course it was the only really important package in yearsincluding 2 renewed credit cards of which we have desperate need!!!.Citibank got it right this time, though and FedExed a replacement in just 3days!!!The only downside of the marina was they (and apparently everyone else) donot have potable drinking water out of the tap. It looked and smelled okaybut why risk it. As a result we put in a dock water inlet on the boat whichbypasses the tanks and uses shore pressure to run the system. Drinkingwater in a 30 liter jug was 35 baht or $1 so it was just a minorinconvenience. Wish I'd done the dock water hookup years ago!!!. The otherproblem was getting in and out. There is another marina up the samechannel, but between the government cheaping out and apparent rivalrybetween the two marinas, the only was to get in is via an ultra shallow 15Kchannel. Seems everyone is too cheap to dredge out a direct route which isonly about 3K. Oh well we still loved it and they didn't charge the normalcatamaran 50% premium so out rate was quite good although about double thatof Malaysia.There were quite a few familiar faces between the 2 marinas, includingFreebird, Scorpido, Windbird, and others. Quite a bit of comings and goingsand regular dinners out at the excellent restaurants around the marina.Prices were great and our last night there, we went across the street to alocal place, a total of 11 of us. We ate until stuffed--really goodfood--and consumed mass quantities of beer for about $5 each!! Awesome! Wehad quite a few "gatherings, and a big Valentine's day party at one of therestaurants. Just try and find greeting cards in Phuket!!! There was alsoa Blues festival going on and the marina establishments kicked in and weeven had a free concert one night. Marina Navratilova was at the table nextto ours. Ah, lifestyles of the rich and famous!!!Rose and I spent ours days driving around checking the place out--the carwas $300 for the month!! Long overdue purchases were new sets of towels andnew tableware; they have a really good stainless operation here. New sheetswhen we get back. Oops, I knew things were going too well. The enginebilge alarm just went off--same one that flooded. There's another smallleak down there in the exhaust system. It's not serious but I'll have towait until we get in and the engine cools down to really check it out. Wepretty well circumnavigated the island by car and checked out every shoppingmall in the place--really nice ones, including a local "night" market. Thelocal markets aren't nearly as good as Penang so out collection ofsunglasses and replica watches has remained static!! It's amazing toimagine the tsunami coming in here as most stuff is built right up to thewater. One of the islands we just stopped at actually had a meter stickshowing the height of the water. Only about 1 meter but it would have sweptway inland as everything is so low lying!!! We also made regular use of theroadside "chicken man" who sold really good whole BBQ'ed chickens for 120baht--about $3.The captain also took a long overdue complete physical, as if anyone cares!!The International hospital here has a deal for about $250 that rivals all ofour old company physicals, including stress tests, EKG, a million bloodtests, chest X-ray and even a full abdominal ultrasound. In and out inabout 4 hours with results and they even have a nice nurse escort youaround. We didn't do Rose as she has had every test known to man over thelast couple of years. She, by the way, really got into the exercise thingand is "shaping up" quite nicely!!! I'm sure you'll all be excited to knowthat, in spite of my dissolute lifestyle, everything was in the acceptablerange, including cholesterol. My blood sugar is just a touch over normaland they suggested I check back in a couple of months. Could have somethingto do with the amount of candy I eat!!??We left the marina about a week ago and hooked up with our friends on ScotFree II to head up the west coast. They, as we do, need to get back toPhuket to pick up friends. Charlotte's friend, Lucy, will be joining usthis weekend. There's been no wind, but the scenery has been spectacular.The windlass (what you use to raise and lower the rather heavy anchor andchain crapped out. For a while jiggling the wires worked but a couple ofdays ago--nada. Turned out the fuse on the up button was a bit corroded andthe fuse holder needed replacing, but after trial and error we disconnectedsome unknown wire on the down and that works now too. Will have theelectricians work on it when we return as well as the freezer guy as theengine driven system, he thinks, needs a new expansion valve. All onlyminor irritations which will get sorted out next week. We sort of had to dothis recent trip up the coast now as the monsoon winds will be changingsoon, making that an unpleasant trip. After we pick up Lucy, the plan is todo the "inner" islands, including the James Bond, Man with the Golden Gun,island and the millions of resort areas in Phang Nga bay between themainland and Phuket.Okay, this is a shorty as we can only tell you about so much shopping, somany massages and so many cheap and outstanding meals. More later on ourtour of the inner islands.CheersTim & Rose

Malaysia IV Feb 11, 2009

Hello everybody.I promise this will get us pretty well caught up!!! Hah, Left you hangingwith our harrowing departure from Langkawi. Actually, the departure wasn'tharrowing at all, but about 5 miles out, off go the bilge alarms. Checkedthat starboard engine (even though we had been keeping a very close eye onit) and, sure enough, it's flood city--déjà vu all over again, as YogiBerra used to say. Only this time it's worse. We have no bilge pump andthe @#&*ing engine won't shut down. I'm pushing the electronic stop andnada, so water is just spewing forth all over everything down there andNorman yelled at me, seriously hurting my feelings!!! I had an enginemanual handy and found the emergency shut off. Whew! Whoops, that's notworking either. Water continues to fill the engine room and now there issmoke and that electrical fire smell. Probably wasn't a good idea reachinginto the salt water to find the emergency stop. Finally, as it is my boat,and I am a Captain, "I can help you", I remembered there is a fuel shutoffat the filter down there. That finally did it, but the smoke kept coming.We had to shut down the entire starboard side electrics to stop whatever itwas from smoking. Out came the emergency bilge pump and we had the waterunder control in a few minutes.Good thing we were headed for another haulout anyway, but we are notseriously going to damage our New Year's Eve celebration over the damnboat. So I got on the phone with Harris when we finally got in range and heworked with the marina to be ready for us. With one engine, it is almostimpossible to maneuver the boat, and the marina had serious tidal current,etc., so we needed help. Nope, no one can do that, but they can temporarilyput us on the inside of the outer breakwater which doesn't require anymaneuvering. Then, the thought is, we'll sort something out with a tow boator something to get us in a slip as the outer breakwater is only accessibleby water and has no power. Now the deal is, when you only have one engineand try to slow down or back up, that one engine moves only that half of theboat causing you to go in circles or back up sideways. We were doing okaycoming in to the breakwater but the genius "helpers" from the marina puttheir skiff right where I needed to go. Tried to back up, got into thecurrent, and we are now floating sideways down the channel. The only way toget under control is forward, but these guys just couldn't get it in theirheads to move the dinghy. Well, my voice carries and they probably heard,after I had asked politely a few times, "move that f'ing dinghy" all theway to Kuala Lumpur. The girls on board were not pleased; Normanunderstood. So to wrap this up, we finally got tied up, but only afterbanging up my newly repaired bow pretty bad. We decided to wait until thenext day to move to a slip as it was already about 5 or 6. Yes, folks, thatis cocktail time!!The next day, New Year's Eve, I think, the harbor guys dug up a boat,assuring us they knew what they were doing, and we put Norman in our dinghy.We did manage to get into the slip but only after the harbor master put a 3foot scrape on the starboard side. Oh well, I figure Pen Marine is payingfor all this anyway. To make this of manageable length, suffice it to saythat it was the starter motor that was smoking, so we had a fire drill toget a new one. (I thought I had a spare, but Yanmar must have changed theirspec as it wouldn't fit). Did that and cleaned everything up and rebuilt thealternator again, etc., etc., which was the plan anyway to do before I hauled.The "paint" specialist came down as well to see what could be done about thestains on the hull, and nothing worked. Ultimately, they 1500 gritsandpapered the entire hull--looks new now. The water leak in the holdingtanks are fixed now. Starboard was obviously caused by their failure toremove one of the stands when we relaunched, and port was a small pinholeand crack where the keel meets the hull. Both tanks are bone dry, and it'snow been 4 days. So everything got fixed, and the boat looks great.Unfortunately, it still cost me an extra three grand--some of the cost wasfuel and other stuff outside of the warranty that didn't get done lasttime. Oops, icemaker still not working. Now it makes ice and fills okay,but it doesn't automatically turn out the cubes. Oh, and the engine drivenfreezer isn't working either. That's okay. Phuket has all these services,and none of it is critical. Harris really went out of his way to get thisdone and done right, so I really can't complain too much. That's justboats!!!Okay, after that extremely abbreviated version of the boat work, we need to get back to oursocial life. That first night, we went to Little India which is right bythe marina. We were in Tanjung City marina which is in the center ofGeorgetown, the big city on Penang. Had a great meal for about $2 each,ridiculously cheap. That might have been the 29th--mad cow again, so Ithink I lost a day here somewhere. Anyway, New Year's Eve (NYE) I needed tobe on the boat to coordinate workmen and the other three took off exploring.I got a call about 4 pm to meet them at some touristy place.As it turned out later, this was very close to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel (E & O) which is an institution there and was started by the same guys who built Raffles,Singapore, so there are plenty of tony bars in the neighborhood. The crew was in an Espresso place drinking everything but and we decided, as it was about 6 by this time, to reconnoiter for a place for dinner. Norman and I hit an Irish pub while the girls explored something called the Red Garden Night market or something like that. They arrived back to report the place had a giant, very interesting looking food court. This is one of those where the tables are numbered and a million food stalls surround the central table area. You go order your food and give them the table number to which they deliver and you pay. So the giant beers were about $2.50 and they had Sake and wine as well, all of which I think I had. We really lucked out. The place was obviously very good as it was jammed, mainly with locals. The food was outstanding; the beer guys just kept bringing us cold ones, and they had a bunch of entertainment as well. Oh, and did I mention there were stores/stalls around, including a massage place. So not only was the food great, I was able to get a massage as well. Time flew. The old guys made it, not only to midnight, but well past and it was especially sweet as it was one of those unexpected good deals.The next day--we had had this brilliant idea later in the evening the night before--we headed off to the E & O Hotel for their famous Brunch. Norman bought which was great, because the drinks were a rip-off, but we were not disappointed!! While expensive for Malaysia, I think the New Year's Day price was about 80 ringgit or $25, it would have been $80 in the states. Unfortunately, the free wine and champagne were a rumor only, but that would have been too much to ask!! I'm writing this now so long after the fact, I can't remember what we did for the next couple of days, but there was the inevitable shopping by the girls, pubs for the boys and most meals out. R & N left on the 3rd and our livers are still recovering. As an aside, Norman has decided cats are alright after all, after spending 2 weeks with Charlie!!!The rest of our stay in Penang can be described in short order. The yard worked on the boat in the water for a few more days until the tides were right to re-haul. We got the engine running to get down to the yard and hauled on the ninth, I think. We got the car Harris was loaning us, dropped Charlie at the vet and checked back into the Krystal Suites which was having a promotion so our "room" (we got a 2 BR one this time) was even cheaper than before. The boat was out another 10 days, mainly because we had to wait for the tide again. We did every touristy thing there is to do in Penang and had some great food as our waistlines show. Shopped 'til we dropped at markets with Rose "I don't want a new watch" going crazy and buying about 6 or 8, all authentic designer fakes, of course. She also managed to pick up a few sunglasses. The captain managed to get a custom silk shirt made to replace his 15 year old one as well as a Patek Philippe and 2 Tag Heuers. These replicas are $10-30, some self winding and are "authentic" down to the name on the band and the backs. We are stylin' on Rendezvous now!!! We rode the tram to the top of Mount Penang; we visited the largest Buddhist temple in SE Asia, and it is huge; the fruit farm; we did everything!!So I did some pretty close supervision this time around and everything looked good, and, as it turned out, was pretty good. The hull looks brand new, the engines and all the pumps are working. Leaks are sealed and, so far, the holding tanks are dry. The replacement guts for the ice maker--this is important folks--were in and it was making ice, BUT, the thing was not turning out the cubes. It's off the boat right now being fixed in Phuket. Likewise, the guys acid-cleaned the engine driven freezer and did a great job--even found a piece of plastic bag in there (Joey, I'll bet it's left over from Sandy Strait when we sucked that bag up the engine intake), but I tested it and I don't think it's cooling. The icemaker guy is going to have a go at it when he brings the icemaker back. We were pretty nervous after all our past problems taking off for Langkawi, but left the day after our 11 pm launch and have had no problems since.The current was a bit against us heading up north so we stopped at the little bay on the south side from where we had departed 3 weeks earlier. The trip to Rebak the next day was only about 15 miles but it was really blowing until we "turned the corner". Quite a few unsuspecting boats were on their way out. We arrived on Chinese New Year's which is a huge deal in the heavily Chinese Malaysia--sort of like Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's all rolled into one. Businesses shut down for a week, sometimes two. Rebak had a really nice buffet dinner. The next day was Australia day, and the Aussies in the group threw a BYO party at the boat yard which was nice. Our purpose in coming to Langkawi was threefold. First, we needed to get some mail . Wouldn't you know, the only important mail I was getting this year--renewed credit cards--didn't show up. The USPS has washed their hands of it saying the Malaysians don't answer their emails, but I got Harris and the Penang PO involved to track it from this end. No luck yet, but we sent it Express mail and so have a tracking number. Damn. Second and most important reason for the return was to load up on cheap booze at the duty free shops. We know we'll be back as you can only stay in Thailand 3 months (forgot to mention we got our Thai visas in Penang) so our water line dropped only about 2 inches. When we leave for good every spare space will be filled as there has not been a cheaper place for booze we've ever seen and where we're ultimately headed, it is ridiculous. Third, we had to check out of Malaysia.So after three nights in Rebak we took off for Thailand, which is only about 5 miles away, but we were going to Phuket which is 120 miles out. We had to go to another harbour to check out and almost didn't get off as there was still vacation fallout from the New Year. As it was, we got out of Langkawi about noon for the 25 mile trip to the first stop in Thailand. They're very flexible about this run and don't make you check in to the country until Phuket as long as you get there in a week or so. There's tons of interesting places on the way, but we decided just to press on so, two days later, Jan. 30, (see I am catching up!!!) we arrived at the Royal Phuket Marina (RPM). It's sort of interesting getting in as there is a well marked but very shallow channel that weaves it's way in making a 4 km trip as the crow flies into a 15 km trip. Why not dredge a channel, you ask. Politics, I answer.So today is the 11th, and we are really loving this--better than our previous heaven of Lovina Beach on Bali. First, the climate is somewhat better as we're moving a bit farther away from the equator. Water's clearer too, although we haven't been back out. All the services you could ever want are here as are really, really, really good restaurants which are really, etc. cheap. Everyone has 2 for 1 happy hours for up to 4 hours and the drinks aren't too dear to start with. The Spa in the marina has a monthly deal. For 8,900 baht, you get unlimited massages, manicures, pedicures, wraps, facial--the whole nine yards---that's about US$250!!! Yahoo. We also got a car for $300/month and the marina waived the multihull premium of 50%. The only downside is there is no potable tap water in all of Thailand, so it screws up our water thing somewhat. We're using dock water for everything but drinking but there is no way to avoid "polluting" the tanks. A bit of bleach takes care of that, though. We're getting the finishing touches put on the boat here with refrigeration repair, some minor electrical work and a new sail cover which is disappointingly not so cheap. There are also a bunch of our American cruising compatriots here so the social life has been good. Everyone is toying with how to stay longer. We've pretty much made the decision to blow off the eastern Malaysia rally as Rose's daughter has bought her a ticket back to the UK, and the logistics would be off if we went east. But also because Phuket is so nice. Just imagine a cheap BVI where the people love you and want you there.So there. I'm up to date. We've done only a little exploring so far as our massage and workman schedules have interfered. More next time.CheersTim & Rose.

Malaysia III Januray 23 2009

Hello everybody.Please remember we're using the satphone and don't just reply to this--Mywhinging must be working; a few of you actually have responded. Thanks.We actually might get caught up with this one, space and time permitting,but there's a lot so I might need another. Nah, didn't happen.We arrived back in Penang on Friday Dec 5, and the boat was scheduled tolaunch a week later. That was actually a few days more than they originallyestimated, but we didn't need to get to Langkawi until around the 15th,anyway. I went down to the yard on Saturday to check on the progress--theywork weekends here. Everything was pretty much getting done but the yardmanager, Mogan, asked me if I had sacrificial zincs for the sail drives.For you non sailors these zincs keep electrolysis from eating up the saildrives themselves. Now I had already, weeks ago, informed the yard theseneeded to be replaced, and it was pretty obvious from day one, just lookingat them, they needed tobe done. I had also asked the yard to let me know in advance if there wereany parts I needed to source. Okay, no real problem, I had spares--Ithought. Must have used them in Auckland--still no problem; these arestandard and any Yanmar guy will have them. To make a long story short, bythe following Thursday--2 days before launch--the only source was on Borneoand, for some reason that was going to take 2 weeks to get here. Thecaptain got cross!! Not only was all this drama unnecessary, but we neededto get to Langkawi, and it was costing me about $100/day in expenses to beout of the water. After some unpleasantness which included me having toscout out a computer capable of downloading directions to get the prop offso the zincs could be changed, we agreed they would fabricate new ones.So Saturday arrived. We got the cat. We dropped off the car. We launchedthe boat. There was still a bit of minor work to be finished includingchecking the alternator they had worked on. Not working; no problem, we'llget that done in Langkawi. Small fuel leak in the generator--fixed.Alright, we're ready to go and at daybreak Sunday--left early because we hada long way to go--off we went. There is a bridge between the mainland andPenang about 5 miles north of the yard. We have a sticky float switch onthe starboard engine, and, while we always check when the alarm goes off,normally there isn't any urgency, so when it started, I decided to waituntilwe got under the bridge which would coincide with sunup as well, so I'd havesome light. Yep, you guessed it. Opened the hatch and seawater wasforcefully spewing everywhere. Shut down the engine which was almostsubmerged and got the emergency pump out just in case. Fortunately, thebilge pump was keeping up and water inflow stopped with the engine off. Welimped back to the yard on one engine all the while trying to reach Mogan.I also started the generator since we now had nothing charging the batteries(remember the alternator we are going to fix in Langkawi). After droppinganchor, a check of the engine room revealed that the pump had failed, butthere was only about 4 inches of water left. However, the genset was spewingdiesel all over so that fix obviously didn't work. Irate would be toomild a word. We finally got hold of Mogan who sent some guys out. One ofthe cooling hoses--did I mention that part of the work order was to checkall the hoses--had burst. The diesel leak just hadn't been fixed. Anyway,everything had been soaked in seawater and diesel so they fixed the problemsand cleaned up, sort of. The guys just left at about 3 for, I thought, acheck of the bilge pump--it's not too smart to head off without a workingpump in the engine room, but they never came back. Screw it. We'releaving. Strong letter to follow to Harris, the owner, demandingreparations. Who knows what damage the saltwater caused and I noticed thehulls were not properly buffed out. Figured I could get all that done inLangkawi and would get an appropriate refund from the yard.This is probably boring you, but almost sinking is not amusing, and thisshoulddispel any ideas that this life is a piece of cake. All the way toLangkawi, we had a periodic bilge alarm going off. Being a bit sensitive bythis time, we diligently checked everything, but couldn't pin it down. Ifigured I hadn'tproperly seated the speedo impeller or something. Couldn't find anything,including the guilty engine room. Again, to shorten this up, it turns outthe holding tank on the starboard side was filling up from the outside--aleak!!!--and just seeping through the access port into the bilge. Nowwe're beyond irate as this was one of the main reasons for the haulout andwas meant to be fixed. Not only that but now the tank was filling up every12-16 hours whereas before they worked on it, it could take days or weeks.Of course, if Joey was still on board, I'd just have him pump it out and letit go until I returned to Penang in May. However, both the flow rate andthe fact that the captain was MANUALLY pumping this thing out every 12hours lead to 1)installation of an electric pump and 2)rescheduling ahaulout in January after Rose and Norman departed. Much more nastinesstranspired as you might imagine, but, to Harris' credit, there was noargument about hauling the boat for free and fixing all these problems. Asa result, we settled into Rebak Hotel Marina and waited for Rose and Normanto arrive on the 21st. There was the grand finale dinner for the rally aswell on the 20th. This was a very well done affair at the "EcoPark" withgood food and cheap drinks. It was nice to catch up with the rest of thefleet.Rebak is a 5 star resort on a small island off the coast of Langkawi, whichis a fairly large island. We went to the hotel bar for happy hour--yachtiesget a 20% discount on food and beverages--and checked out the restaurantmenu. Fairly expensive by Malaysia standards, but the Maitre d' told usthere was a breakfast buffet for RM15. Up we get the next morning and headover. One look told us we'd misunderstood--couldn't be 15, must be 50, butwe get 20% off so that's about $12 and what a spread!!! champagne, caviar,smoked salmon, custom egg, etc., etc., etc. Awesome service as well.Worth every sen (Malaysia penny). There's also another cheaper yachtierestaurant and bar down at the marina proper and we managed to eat there afew times.Our friends on Freebird were at the Langkawi Yacht club on the main islandand friends of theirs had lent them a car so we hooked up and explored themaintown of Kuah. This is a duty free island so we started to rebuild ourprovisions ofalcohol. Talk about a kid in a candy store. We hadn't seen prices likethis since Tortola and, in some cases, never before. Case of beer $10,booze, all liters. Stoly $6, JD $15, wine $5 or $6/bottle. We had somefun.Back on the dock, an older South African guy stopped by, recognizingRendezvous as a Voyage boat. He was in the process of selling his boat andheading home, and we invited him on board for a beer or two. Later on, hiswife joined us and we got some valuable info from them. First, the numberofthe cheap car guy at the ferry dock--$12 a day. They also had the secretnumber of the Friday produce guy's girl friend who takes one's pork orders.That's right folks, this is a highly Muslim country, and ham and bacon, notto mention pork chops, are not easy to come by. The Friday produce guy wasgreat, and you take the ferry over at 9 and he comes about an hour laterwithall sorts of cheeses, meats (but you get your pork products separately,wrapped in newspaper and brown bagged), veggies and fish. The quality isquite good, but it ain't cheap.The Sunday after the finale dinner, Rose and Norman arrived, bringing a mostvaluable Christmas turkey. We didn't get one in Penang due to logistics,but, foolishly, believed we could get one in Langkawi. Everyone has turkey,right. Wrong. The Muslims strike again, but we outfoxed them by asking N &R to pick one up in KL. Thanks guys. R & N arrived early, somehow gettingaprivate ferry ride right to our dock. A few beers later, my memory is alittle foggy being so tardy with this letter, we went to the hotel bar forhappy hour. Not sure where we ate dinner. Next day it was off to Kuah,again,in Langkawi in a cheap rental for provisioning. The plan was to stickaround Rebak for Christmas, cruise the following week and return for NewYear's Eve. We loaded up on cheap booze and wine and groceries. The girlsmanaged to dent the wine supply pretty good the first few nights so we hadtosacrifice and make another trip to town to buy more. Rose is nowcomplaining that the cabin where she keeps her stuff has no room for it dueto all the booze.Okay, so the breakfast we had was so good, with free champagne, we decidedtodo the Christmas brunch at the hotel and talked a bunch of other boats intodoingit as well. Okay, so what do we do with the turkey. Fortunately, my socialconsultant, Norman, who is of German heritage, suggested we do it like theGerman's and have our Christmas dinner on Christmas eve. We did, and it wasquite nice. Did our presents then as well. Christmas morning, we invitedthe guys from Scot Free II over for champagne and a viewing of Love Actuallywhich we consider the modern replacement for It's a Wonderful Life. (brunchwasn't 'til 11:30) We strongly suggest you see it if you haven't alreadyand, even thought there is just a bit of rough language and skin, it is oneof the ultimate feel good movies. Rose has seen it 6 times and still cries.Even the boys got a bit teary!!! The food that morning was a bitdisappointing. While the brunch was good, there was no champagne, nocaviar, no smoked salmon, although the chef brought some out for Rose afterwe whinged. We didn't think they'd do breakfast Christmas day due to thebrunch, and expected allthe goodies at the brunch. Nope. All the good stuff was at breakfast, butwe did get some champagne anyway. Besides the turkey, the other change inplan was to head off to Penang for New Year's. The crew decided thiswithout the captain's knowledge, and the only problem was R & N's presentfrom us was a massage at the hotel, so how could they do that if we left.The problem was solved when they took them on Christmas day. Anyway,despite the subpar--only based on our expectations--brunch, and the massageissue and the mutiny about where to spend New Year's Eve, we had a greatChristmas.The next day, as you know, was Friday, and we weren't going far, so we madea quick run in to the Friday produce man and took off for a large bay(Tenga) just a few miles from Rebak but on the main island of Langkawi. Wehad walked around there when we had the car, but were pleasantly surprisedby the great beach, good anchorage and numerous very reasonably priced beachbars and restaurants. Turns out this is the main resort area in Langkawi.Somewhere about this time, my main GPS started showing a date in August2028, even though all other aspects seemed to work. Of course, with a wrongdate, the position shown is going to be off as the software relies onsatellite triangulation and satellite position depends on the date. To make along story short, after numerous emails, and calls to the local Raytheonguys here in Malaysia over a period of several weeks, it turns out thegovernment launched a new satellite which is incompatible with my receiver,and it needs to be replaced. Here in Asia, they want the equivalent of$500, but Raytheon has a trade-in deal in the US and you can get it for$200. Naturally, they won't ship it here and want the old unit back first.After some groveling, I got them to agree waive the return and am shippingto Lizzie. In the meantime we'll be using the good old 11 year old Garmin12, handheld and a new USB mouse-sized GPS, we picked up in OZ.We spent the next couple of days at Tenga, and, for our last night inLangkawi, moved further south so the trip back to Penang would be ofmanagable length. Had the usual massages, cocktails and great food.With that, I'll leave you here with the teaser that the trip back to Penangwas hair raising with another close call for sinking. I am stillunbelievably behind as it is Jan 20th as I write this and much has happened.As the boat is once again out of the water, perhaps, I will be able to catchup in the next couple of days.Cheers,Tim & Rose

Malaysia II, Haul Out & touring Jan 6 2009

Hello everybody.Please remember we're using the satphone and don't just reply to this--notthat most of you even acknowledge our existence out here!Still way behind.So---we hauled the boat at about 1 PM and Rose, Charlie and I were off.First stop the vet to board the cat. Harris, owner of the boat yard hadgraciously given us directions to his vet and it was near our hotel. Ofcourse, S E Asians have no sense of distance. So Harrises' go 100 meters,turn, go another 300 meters was more like 1 km, turn, etc. but we found theplace finally and it, like most of this area was a great deal. Boarding wasRM8/day including food. We also had to pay RM16 for the flea stuff theystick on the animals neck. That's about US$2.50, a tenth of the costin the states!!! Even veterinary medicine in the states is a rip.With Charlie boarded, off Rose and I went to the Krystal Suites Hotel, about10minutes from the yard and in the middle of a business district with tons ofrestaurants. Penang is sort of a Silicon Valley for Asia and had Agilent,Intel, etc., all the big players here. Our room, at RM150 ($40) really wasa suite with a living room (lounge) dining room with a small kitchenette,and office area. One bedroom and bath. Sweet!! (get it sweet, suite). Wealso had free internet, but the TV was a bit subpar--no HBO.The hotel was in an area near the airport and industrial parks housing allthe silicon valley companies and was in a kind of extended strip mallcontaining at least 15 restaurants including Domino's Pizza (YES!!) and aChinese Irish pub. So we ate really well. Twice at the Steamboat place.There, for a fixed price of RM26, we got enough food for 4, maybe 6. It'sone of those deals where they bring you a big pot, split in two, with 2kinds of broth of your choice (watch out for the Thai Tom Yam which isreally hot) and plates and plates of different food to cook in the broth,including just about everything you can imagine. Oh, dessert and appetizersincluded, all for about $7!!!! Then there was the Teppan Yaki Japaneseplace--like Beni Hana. We did that three times. The captain loves sake!!.There was also an excellent Italian place and several Chinese or Malay. Inthe Hotel ground floor was a chain restaurant that was pretty bad but hadgood pastry and coffee. We spent our early days checking out Penang whichis a fairly large island. We hit the snake temple where there are all sortsof snakes around--some Buddhist deal or something--but it took us 2 days tofind the place; the Komtar market downtown which is a rabbit's warren ofshops in a high rise and we did some other stuff which was so long ago, I'veforgotten. Must be the Mad Cow disease (for those of you not in the know,that's what Denny Crane in Boston Legal calls his Alzheimer's). Anyway,also spent some time planning our sojourn into Malaysia by car.Unfortunately, once again, we had hit a school holiday period and rooms werehard to find, but we did. More on that later.The boat was supposed to be out of the water for a couple of weeks so weplanned on about 7-10 days off island with the remainder back in Penang,sightseeing, which is a euphemism for visiting temples and shopping!!!First stop was Cameron Highlands (CH) up in the central mountains abouthalfway the 500 kilometers to Kuala Lumpur (KL), next was Genting Highlands(GH) just north of KL which is a mini Las Vegas with a finale in KL followedby a leisurely trip back up the coast if anyone thought it was worthwhile.So, off we go over the 15 km bridge between Penang and the mainland. We hadmaps, phrase books and tourist guides galore. Roads are well marked inEnglish and a couple of other languages so, believe it or not, we didn't getlost once. There is a relatively new back way to CH, and that knocked about60 km off the trip so we just followed the signs. Up in the mountainsproper, it was windy, twisty roads with lots of switchbacks but we made itto our "supposedly" 3 star hotel about lunchtime. Yes folks, I and theinternet said this place was 3 stars, but what a dump. We had no choice asevery other place we had tried, and it was several, were booked. It wasonly one night we said, so in we went. Cost almost as much as out suite inPenang!!! Hard mattress on the floor, bathroom about the size of the headon the boat but grotty and a pervasive musty smell. Moslem place so youwere supposed to take off your shoes on entry--right.... The (tehee)concierge arranged an afternoon tour and we set off for lunch. Found alittle bakery but also found a German place for dinner. To digress, dinnerwas awesome. We were into pork withdrawal--yes, it is very Islamic here andthe national religion--but this place was authentic. The Malay owner evenbought us a beer while we feasted on real sausage and sauerkraut.Our tour was RM25 and really a good value. We were in a minibus with a fewother people and hit all the highlights, some of which, like the butterflyfarm and a rose center, the captain skipped. We mainly wanted to see a teaplantation and that was cool. There are thousands of acres planted andprocessing is really quite simple with picking followed by cleaning,shredding, drying and packing. Because it was a holiday weekend, there wasan unbelievable traffic jam getting back to the hotel. We were just in timefor the most excellent German dinner--not much else to do up there exceptcommune with nature. Our plan was to get up fairly early--breakfast was notincluded in the hotel rate--and get a bite at the local Starbucks--they'reeverywhere--and check our email before taking off for GH. (sound of buzzer)Malaysia's a bit laid back so Starbucks wasn't open at 8AM. Plan B was tostart down and get something on the way. Surely there would be a place onthe way to the resort. (sound of buzzer) If we thought the northern approachto CH was twisty, the 50 k trip to the main road south was like an oldslinky. Navigated that to about 10 k from the main road (buzzer again).Landslide. Tree down blocking the road. Figuring it would take hours toget someone up there on Sunday to clear the road, we turned around andworked our way back to our starting point. By this time, 9 or 10, Starbuckswas open so we stopped for our coffee, muffin and internet. The rest of thejourney to GH was uneventful if you can a 100 km detour uneventful.Once again, we were able to just follow the signs to GH. We were staying inthe Theme Park Hotel and our room was okay but actually did overlook theTheme Park. Luckily the screaming did come to a stop at 10p.m. This place issomething, and totally crammed onto the actual top of a mountain. There isa giant 6,500 room hotel as well as a couple of others besides ours and bothindoor and outdoor amusement parks with about 10 casinos and a millionrestaurants. Great, right--ring that buzzer. Millions of kids, difficultygetting a drink--Muslim you'll recall--and what I imagine Circus Circus inVegas must have been like years ago. We'd planned on 2 nights but secretly,I was hoping to extend--until we got there. But we did make the best of it,and anything was better than the CH dump. Had fun people watching and I wonsome money. Would have done about 400 better except for a crazy woman whohit against a dealer's 6. They didn't have craps which I'd expected, butthey also did not have true Blackjack. There's a new game out there I raninto in Sydney called Pontoon. It's pretty much blackjack but they take allthe tens out of the deck. There are some other rule changes as well infavor of the players. Too much to describe here--Google it if you want toknow more. Anyway, I did Google it as I figured this had to improve thehouse odds--otherwise why change. Nope, according to several sources on theinternet, Pontoon, played correctly, unlike that b@#*& who cost me RM400, isbetter for the players. So we did a lot of people watching, had some goodfood, wandered, gambled and had a pretty nice time. Also took the cable cardown and back which had lovely scenery.Man, I need a break, and I'm sure you do, as I haven't even got us to theadventure filled trip to KL. Take a breath. I'll be back.I can't believe I'm still about 6 weeks behind and much exciting hasoccurred for you to read about in our next installment!! Can hardly wait,eh? It's 50 k from GH to KL, and, on the north side, is a big Hindu templeinside a cavern called Batu Caves. Of course, we had to stop, and then wehad to walk up the 272 steps to the actual cave and temple. And, yes, wedid and without too much huffing and puffing nor too many rest breaks Cool,lots of photos. Back in the car and off to central KL the site of our hotelwhich we were hoping would be okay. The normal rate was about RM275/nightwith breakfast and we got an internet deal at 160. We were notdisappointed. Great hotel--Ancasa, look it up on the internet. This was areally nice hotel and the breakfast buffet was huge, although it would benice to get bacon and real, not chicken, sausage. Basically we just parkedthe car and explored on foot or by taxi. Taxis are pretty cheap all over,but they almost never use the meter so you have to ask in advance andnegotiate. We found out from one guy that the government hadn't allowed arate increase in 17 years so the metered rate is ridiculously low.We did the KL twin towers that are a famous landmark and have a bridgebetween them you get to visit and cross. We did China town and the markets.Got a new optical fiber Christmas tree as we think we inadvertently leftours with the locals in Tanna, Vanuatu. Loads of authentic fake Rolexes(and every other kind of watch), Mont Blanc pens, designer women's stuff andjust about anything your heart desires. I even got a green laser thingwhich they sell in the catalogs as a rescue beacon for about $200--cost me$25--range is about 3 miles--cool!!! Found one favorite Chinese place weate at three times and frequented the Reggae bar, an expat hangout. The Tshirts are amusing with a pic of Bob Marley, and "Reggae bar, Chinatown KL,Malaysia"--covers it all. The owners also started a Beatles Bar across thestreet where we also spent some time. KL is a very civilized city withexcellent infrastructure. In fact, the entire country is very well kept,and they have built on what the British left instead of letting it fall intoruin like the BVI. Just as a side note, this is a really great littlecountry and worth a visit for all you world travelers. It's not as cheap assome (but it's till inexpensive for what you get), but it is clean, wellrun, great food--I mean really great, and the people are super nice. Whilea Moslem country, they are not anal about it and are very tolerant ofeveryone and all religions which are legion here with the blend of IndianChinese and all other SE Asia. Big thumbs up from Rose and Tim.Our last day, we wanted to go on an organized city tour which was offered atthe hotel--RM80/each. At the last minute the chick called and said theywere full but said she had a friend who could do it for 60 each. Hey, we'rein, and the car was very nice instead of a bus. We did a huge Chinesetemple, the war memorial, the national museum--another example of how niceand modern the country is, the national mosque, which was gigantic and theyactually let Rose go inside--the captain wasn't interested. I get a bitpissed off when some of these mosques won't let infidels inside but you seeMuslims touring all the other temples. We drove past a bunch of otherattractions like the railway station, etc. Now it's getting towardslunchtime, and the driver wants to take us to the obligatory tourist trapswhere, if we buy something, he gets a cut. We did leather; we did batik; wedid souvenirs; we said enough Jeeves. Home please. Back at the hotel, Islip the guy his RM120 and start in. He chases me down and explains it's60/hour, not 60/person. No wonder he was stretching it out. Rose got thegirl who booked us who, of course, denied everything, so we gave him 180 forthe 4 hour tour. At least we didn't end up like Gilligan. Believe it ornot, this is coming to an end.Enjoying KL and with nothing much else to do we tried to extend our stay--wereally liked the Reggae bar and the Chinese joint. First the hotel saidthey had no rooms, then they said okay, but at the RM275 rate. Nah, we'retoo cheap. After a while here, even though a ringgit is only $.30, itstarts to get to you and you start thinking it's real money, even thoughit's only a third. I don't know--you sort of have to be here to get it.You should see Rose yell at the cabbies over 20 ringgit!!! Anyway, we likedPenang and there is really nothing on the coast on the way up so off wewent.I think I'm going to stop here, and pick up on our return next time. Lotsgoing on. Stay tuned. The excitement, including almostsinking--twice--will be in upcoming episodes. I'm going to make an honesteffort to catch up this week.CheersTim & Rose

Malaysia I December 20th 2008

Well, once again I've fallen way behind so this will be long. Braceyourselves.IN THE MEANTIME, BEFORE YOU GET TOO BORED WITH US, ROSE AND I WOULD LIKE TOWISH EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.Please don't send us those silly electronic cards to this emailaddress--satphone, etc.Even I had to look back and see where we left you. We were leaving thedock in Singapore with teary farewells 6 weeks ago. Much has transpiredsince then.Our departure was in company of seven others heading off to Malaysia.Singapore has a goofy system for checking out with immigration and you haveto take the boat to the quarantine anchorage and they come out to you. Anannoying and unnecessary interruption. After that, our route was taking uswest along the south shore of Singapore and then up into the west side inthe Johor Strait to Danga Bay, Malaysia. There were at least a millionships around as we navigated through shipping lanes, strong currents and thebridge to Singapore on this 30 mile journey. Every mile or so in the straitthere was a Singapore patrol boat and that side of the island is fenced offto keep out illegal aliens, primarily Indonesians. Also a few Malaysianboats,but none bothered us. On the way back down we actually saw a patrol chasing a local boat all over the place. A second boat joined the pursuit with both firing flares across the other guys bow, but we don't know if they caught him. Danga Bay was a pleasant surprise. The rally up theMalacca Straits starts there and it was the venue because the new marina inJohor wasn't complete. We expected sort of third class environs but theplace is a huge resort area for Malaysia and Singapore, alike, with tons ofrestaurants, tour boats and even an amusement park. Check in was the bestin 4 years with the officials asking us to sign about 10 forms and takingthem away with our passports. Next day they returned everything and theyhad taken our info and filled in the forms for us.It was an eventful 3 days. First, I went to get a new SIM card for thephone and, I must have screwed up aconnection prying the old SIM card out of the phone. Another 20 minute walkbackto the nearby shopping mall to get a new phone. Ended up with a used phone,but a really nice one for $80. By the way, the Malaysian Ringgit ishoveringaround 3.5 to the dollar, so Malaysia is relatively inexpensive. Not ascheap as Indonesia, but so much more civilized with really great food. Ofcourse , Rendezvous Cay is not at rest in any venue and we had our usualproblems. In Singapore, we had them put on a spare alternator as the otherhad crapped out. We were on shore power, though and couldn't check it.When push came to shovethe spare didn't work either. We had also been told that we could fuel upeasily in Danga. Wrong. They bring in a barge, which we had to beg them todo early, and you either bring the boat to them or jugs. Since we neededquite a bit of fuel we elected to bring in the boat. Of course, the bargewas late and we had to rush out during the middle of the Rally briefing toget it done in daylight. Their idea of fenders was a large chain through anold tire so the boat hits the chain and we got a couple of nice scratches.No problem, though, as we were on our way to getting hauled out and boththings could be fixed easily then--sure!!The next day was an all day tour which Rose went on but I decided to foregoand get a massage. For RM80, you get 2 hours!! Yes. I had been in massagewithdrawal since Bali. That night was the official rally dinner and it wasreally well done. Lots of good food and free beer and wine. SailIndonesia could take a few lessons. It was held in the park's band shellthing and there was a ton of free entertainment as well. An oldies band(they love oldies in Malaysia) alternated with traditional dance. Quitenice and not too many speeches. We were leaving the next day and concernedabout the heavy current in the strait so we were being a bit flexible on ourdestination. There was a close in island about 25 miles away that the priorday's bus tour actually went to and another island 15 miles further on.So off we went on the early side due to potential current, which, as itturned out, were unfounded. However, it was more of the same, motoring,motoring, motoring. Light air. Another boat, our dock mates in Singapore,Freebird, left the same time. So we decided to go to Pulau Pisang, about 40miles away which breaks up the trip to our ultimate destination, PortDickson, into more manageable chunks. The bottom there was a very stickygooey clay, and there was tons of traffic on the way including all thecommercial traffic as well as a billion local fishing boats. The nextintermediate stop was Pulau Besar in the Water Islands and there were a fewother boats there. Freebird dropped their dinghy and came over to see if wewanted to explore and maybe have a happy hour drink. Not much on theisland, and NO alcohol--damn Muslims--so we beat a hasty retreat to Freebird(Dave and Judy) for an extended happy hour. Next day we finally made AdmiralMarina which is about 10 miles south of Port Dickson. The attraction hereis that is is very close to the colonial town of Melaka (where the MalaccaStraits gets its name) Melaka was a very important trading port even beforeEuropean exploration and conquest and has both Dutch and Portugueseinfluence.The marina was a little pricey, for Malaysia, mind you, not Singapore, butvery nice. I think they're trying to make the area into an entire resortthing. Drinks were a bit much but they had a monthly special "all day,every day" happy hour which was two for one so that brought down the price.Fuel was ridiculous--50% more than Danga, though, so we decided to passuntilPenang, our next real stop. Several of the Blue Water Around the Worldrally were in which might explain why Sail Malaysia dropped Admiral from therally. We spent a day or two reorganizing the boat to suit our tastes andthen rented a car to drive down to Malacca about 1.5 hours away. Several ofthe boats were spending a couple of days there, but we were on a fast trackto get to Penang for the haulout so we just went for the day. Gave Dave andJudy a ride--the car was only RM80. We ran into a few other yachties in thetourist area and dropped D & J with them as they needed to findaccommodations while we went to Carre Four for something that escapes mymindat the moment. We met up with everyone later for lunch at Nancy's Kitchen,a Malaysian place with really great food and cheap beer. Architecture wasinteresting but it was all pretty touristy.On our return, we ran into Peter from Dutch Touch. I may have mentioned himfrom Noumea where he stirred me up. He's still a jerk but we couldn't avoidhim and did get the real scoop on another boat he'd been travelling withwhich has headed on a fast track back to California for business andpersonal reasons. The price of the gossip was listening to Peter talk abouthimself endlessly. Hey, that's my job!!! We were going to leave the nextday, but decided to stay. The weather wasn't that good and Rose had to sortout her ATM card which NatWest, in their infinite wisdom, decided to put ahold on without informing her. It was a pretty cheap cab ride into PortDickson just for the heck of it and to get Rose money which is when we foundout her card wouldn't work. So, back to the Marina after lunch, happy hour,dinner at the cafe there and off to our next stop in the Port Klang area.One good thing that came out of our drinks with Peter was he'd heard of anundocumented (at least in our guides) anchorage north of Klang thatshortened the trip to Lumut, our next anchorage, into a managable but quitelong day trip. The weather was very iffy when we left, but turned nice.Still no wind.It was a long, long day up to Lumut, actually Pulau Pangkor, off the coastwith no wind and varying currents that make arrival times uncertain. Someof the other rally boats were also underway and there was loads of radiotraffic deciding stop or go on, anchor here or there, arrive after dark ornot, etc. Pangkor was quite nice and a resort destination. There weren'ttoo many boats in, and we decided we were ahead of schedule to get to Penangso we'd stay another day and chill out. Just as well as the next day theweather was lousy. While we were there, I emailed the yard to tell themwe'd be at Penang in another day. Now there's been all sorts of dramasurrounding the timing of the haulout. It seems the bottom of the slipway(marine railway) has silted in a bit and unless the tide is high,it is notpossible to get the thing deep enough to float the boat on top. That's whywe were racing a bit. They could either haul us around Nov 30th or notuntil 2 weeks later. Well it turns out we were early enough, Nov 18th, thatthey could get us out earlier. The bad news is they wanted us there thenext day and the haul wouldn't happen until 11 PM!!! Past our bedtime.Okay, we're in, but Penang is even farther than Lumut was so we left beforedawn. While we can motor at 8 or 9 knots, you never know when you'll get 3knots of current against you so it's best to leave plenty of time for thetrip. There was a passage out of the bay which would have knocked a fewmiles off, but too scary in the dark. As it turned out, we had the currentwith us and got in mid afternoon. To make a long story short, we went inand reviewed the work orders and made arrangements for a hotel and car.Oops. forgot to mention, something was rotten in the state of our shorepower. When we left Singapore, I noticed the plug that goes into the 110Voutlet on the boat was burned. Looked like it had been loose, however, soI changed power cords and made sure the connection was good in AdmiralMarina. Uh,oh. Same result --in fact, worse, with both female and maleends melted and burned. As most of our freezer capacity is water cooledand we'd be out of the water, we needed shore power to run our spare aircooled freezer, so the electrician came out to look. In the meantime, wewere able to offload some of the food to Pen Marine's freezer, and the nextday the guy got ours working with a 3rd cable. Probably a loose connectionto the plug on the boat. Harris Loo, the guy who owns the yard spent 5years in Chicago at IIT so we hit it off right away. Mogan, an Indian guy,runs the yard, itself--foreman, if you will. Late that day, it startedpouring rain and we were really tired from getting up at 5 so it was a greatrelief when Mogan called at 6 pm to say the railway wasn't working and we'dhave to delay hauling until the next day.So the next day, we booked into Krystal Suites Hotel and got a car. Car wasabout $35/day and the hotel (our room was like an apartment) was about $43.The guys at the yard are very nice and drove me around and booked the hotelfor us. Harris even set us up with his vet to accommodate Charlie who nowmeows in Malaysian. Back on the boat about 1, we were getting ready to moveoff when Mogan called and said he thought they could get us out right then.Yes!!!! Brought the boat in, offloaded our stuff and the cat and we wereout of there.Okay, we're not halfway caught up but I'm going to have to break this into 2or 3 or no one will read it allWill start volume 2 tomorrow.Best holiday wishesTim & Rose

Belitung & on to Singapore November 15 2008

Hi everyone.Well, I've put this off as long as I could, so it will probably be toolong!!Free at last. Free at last. Oh Lord, we are free at last. Thank you MartinLuther King, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the quote just right. As youmight have guessed, Joe and Olivia have moved off the boat. But firstthings first.We left you last time on our departure from Kumai to Belitung--almost amonth ago. The trip to Belitung about 230 miles west northwest of Kumai waspretty unremarkable. Several others had left the same day and we kept inradio touch and all arrived the next morning at Belitung not knowing quitewhat to expect. There was no wind, of course. As it turned out, Belitungwas sort of like Lovina light. There were tons of booths hawkingeverything from phones to fireworks, but the vendors were not nearly asaggressive as at a few of our other stops. No massages, though, much to mychagrin and the actual town on the island was a 1/2 hour cab right away. Asthe last stop they really went all out with non stop entertainment, freetransportation and a free dinner that was very good. It was somewhathumorous, however, that we could only find butter at a stand on the beachand not in the sizable town. Same in Kumai. The Indonesians fry prettymuch everything in oil and have no need for it. The locale for the rallywas a park like beach setting which apparently has a different form ofentertainment every weekend and we were it this time. Something like 20,000people were there on Sunday.At the official dinner on each island, the rally people chose onenationality to say a few words and thank the local officials for theirhospitality. It was the Americans turn and Mark off Windbird, who was ourrepresentative, suggested a fireworks show. We, along with Scot Free IIhad put on a great free show a few days before that, and he asked if we'dsource the works and do the show. Now we're talking major US city 4th ofJuly quality fireworks here. Giant mortars and Roman candles that send uphuge starbursts a couple of hundred feet in the air. So we collected a fewbucks from the other American boats and bought $200 worth which was about a40 minute show, at pretty much a grand finale pace.We were able to check out of Indonesia here with almost no hassle other thanmore payments. The trip to Singapore was about 2 days and 330 miles, and weelected to leave the morning after the official dinner. Rose and Tim wereanxious to get to civilization where you can buy butter and Joe and Oliviawanted to get going on job hunting as well. We had chosen to book into OneDegree Fifteen marina on Sentosa island just south of Singapore properinstead of Raffles marina over on the west side and an hour commute to thecity. More on that later.Once again several boats were on the move with us. We left at the crack ofdawn on October 15th or 16th, planning on 2 full days to get there. Otherboats followed in dribs and drabs after until there were about 6 of us enroute. We weren't too far out when there was a thunk on the port side (asusual we were motoring, but fortunately had only the starboard engineengaged). We hooked about a 40 foot 4 inch diameter waterlogged bamboo log.While trying to get it off we were weaving and cricling, etc. so the otherboats wanted to know if we'd changed our minds and were returning toKumai. Took awhile, but we got it off with no damage to the boat. The routerequired extreme vigilance as there was loads of traffic. For the firstpart, at least, we were in the major shipping lanes heading south fromSingapore and the Malacca straits. As we got closer, traffic petered outas we got in smaller channels between othe islands. Some boats elected tostop at a few places on the way, but we just carried on having had quiteenough of Indonesia. On crossing the equator, we had a suitable ceremonyfor Olivia, our only pollywog. Joey mixed up an evil concoction of food and stuff onboard and poured it over her exhorting her to pay homage to Neptune. Rose, thedesignated photographer, unfortunately, turned off the camera so there wentthe video. Joey wanted a reenactment with an empty slop bucket, but Oliviahad had enough.Per our plan, we arrived at the Singapore straits in the morning and thetraffic was simply unbelievable. Hundreds of ships heading both ways andwe had to cross the shipping lanes. Fortunately, most of the traffic waseastbound and we found a gap after a couple of freighters and before acouple of tugs and tows which were slow moving, and we made a race acrosswithout incident. Immigration actually is out there in boats to expediteall these ships and you call them on the radio and they drive over, boardand do your paperwork in about 10 minutes. Some boats didn't even have thatand just passed the stuff back and forth. Rose and Tim were given only 2weeks, but Joe and Olivia, since they were getting off, got 90 days. Thismakes no sense, but that's Singapore. We had to invest in a cab ride torenew our stamps--no charge so that can't be the reason. The marina handledthe rest of the check in and clearance for a fee of $30.The marina is really nice!! Hot as blazes so we're running the AC, but themarina has a big pool, really nice locker rooms with a sauna, etc. There'sa free bus across the bridge to Vivo City, Singapore's largest shoppingcenter and they'll even take you to your boat in a golf cart if you askwhen returning with parcels. Glad we changed from Raffles as Joey and Iwent out there to pick up mail and it took an hour with busses, trains,taxis and more busses involved in the trip. Phone service here is reallycheap with a SIM card with $10 credit costing $8 and a cost of only$.08/minute. This is a rather large city of about 4 million with all sortsof nationalities and architecture. Lots of shopping, including westernstuff like A1 Sauce right around embassy row. Big shopping centers all overthe place. There are t shirts all over that say Singapore is a "fine" city,$500 for chewing gum, $1,000 for smoking in public, $1,500 for jaywalking,etc. You get the picture, but it's true. It also makes for one of thecleanest big cities you've ever seen. A very modern transit system has notone speck of graffiti; everywhere is spotless.So our first order of business, after getting the phone the first night hereafter a dinner of ribs at Tony Roma's with Joey and Olivia's friends here,was to arrange for the usual repairs. Considering the miles we've travelledsince May--around 5,000--the boat was in pretty good shape. We needed theexhaust hose replaced, a new thermostat for the fridge, an alternatorreplaced, the image stabilizer binocs worked on, the outboard serviced andthe dinghy's irritating unfindable pinhole leak found and repaired. Alsoneeded to get the water maker pump swapped out which had been prearranged.Getting the fridge worked on proved to be easy as did finding a guy to lookat the dinghy, but both Yanmar and Mercury basically told us to piss off.Fortunately, whining to the dinghy guy worked out as he said they can workon both. Fujinon once again said they couldn't find anything wrong with thebinoculars, but I know there's a short somewhere and asked if they couldn'tfind anything to fix, if they would swap them out for new. Unbelievably,they came back with a deal for about 25% of retail and half of what I paidfor them new. Now that's customer service. The news wasn't so good on thedinghy. The guy found a leak between the seams attaching the tubes to thealuminum hull. They say irreparable. Then the outboard needed likeanother $1,000 in parts plus labor, this after over $2,000 work in Oz.Doesn't matter though; they can't get the parts before we leave. Likewisecan't get the alternator rebuilt (which isn't that big a problem as wecarry a spare). So now what do I do. Dinghy and engine can't be fixed.The dinghy guys could sell me a new engine for about S$3,700. Emailed theAquapro factory which wanted pictures and a copy of my purchase receipt toevaluate the situation. I knew what the answer would be. Same as with theold Apex dinghy--screw you!!! Okay, shortening this up significantly, wesaw a flyer for a 3 year old dinghy with a 25 horse 4 stroke Yamaha for salefor US$5,500. Took a look and it was really nice--nicer than the old one,and pricing is like in Indonesia. To make a long story short we got it forUS$2,750 and the broker arranged to get our old one to Mercury to sell onconsignment.Well I've procrastinated some more, so this will be really long as we are now in Malaysia with still lots to tell about Singapore, but I'll try to be brief. Sometimes I feel like I'm showing home movies or slides after a dinner party putting everyone to sleep.One night we did the Night Safari at the Singapore zoo. It's a pretty cool deal where you can ride a tram around or use the walking trails to see nocturnal animals in their habitat. You don't want to buy dinner or the $12 beers there, but the free shows are nice. One was a bit tacky--a fire dance thing--which was pretty lame after the stuff we'd seen in the SouthPacific. The other was a "Creatures of the Night" thing with everything from some weird anteaters to birds to hyenas, fairly up close. Our other touristy things were a trip to Little India for Deepavali which is a Hindu festival of lights and a really big deal. They had it in Fiji when we were there too. One evening a bunch of us went off to Raffles Hotel for the infamous Singapore sling. The drinks are good. (In fact, that was what I'd treat myself to 40 years ago on spring vacation in Nassau, but that's another story) BUT--there's always a but--the bloody things were $26 each setting a new all time record for drink price paid by the captain. I had two. Followed that with a rickshaw ride to Clarke Quay which is the restaurant district and blew another boat load of money on martinis and tapas. Since we don't eat out that much, it was worth it, even if it was a bit extravagant.Singapore is also known for it's cheap electronics and they have huge buildings with nothing but computers, etc. My backup computer was in the process of dying and I had planned to get another laptop, using the existing computer at the helm for navigation--instead of running below every so often to check the charts. Caught up in the excitement of the newest technology, we bought a desk top computer, but the box is the size of a Webster's college dictionary. For US$650, it comes with 6 USB ports, 360 gig hard drive, 2 gig of memory, wireless keyboard and mouse, 20 inch screen and built in TV. Damn!!! How could anyone resist that deal. The bad news it had Vista, but it seems mainly to be just something to get used to with all the updates ironing out the bugs. Although it was a bit of a problem in some ways, eventually, we've gotten all out software to run. They have a tax rebate thing so we thought the thing would be 10% cheaper yet, but it turns out, outrageously & ridiculously, the rebate does not apply to departures by land or sea, only air. Got Joey a sweet laptop too, for about the same price.So we were there a month and spent the rest of the time chilling. Rose did acupuncture, Tim massages. Regularly went into town for lunch and shopping. Did the immigration visa extension, Rose toured the Bird Park. Who knows what else? That was last week. We did eat at the Marina the last night having avoided it because we thought it was expensive. Turns out it was very reasonable and excellent food. We'll know next time as we will return on our way to Western Malaysia next summer.After a bit of a confrontation with the prodigal, things did settle down. Getting off the boat was stressful for both of us, but at the end , we did a few movies together, met the friends they're staying with who had drinks on the boat followed by dinner at their place, and I had a final farewell dinner alone with the lad which was nice indeed. Joey, with Olivia's help, got the boat in pretty good shape as that side could have been characterized as the Black Hole of Calcutta. With a new paint job (thanks Olivia) and significant cleaning and moving of stuff off, we have tons of room for any of you who would like to visit. Towards the end, we're waiting with baited breath on news of Olivia's job interview with Chubb which looks good. Joe has a few prospects as well, but a major one just fell through which would have vaulted him to 1st mate on a 120 foot yacht. Captain wanted him, but the "manager" had, unbeknownst to the captain, already hired someone with a lot less experience. That would have jump started the lad's marine career.Okay, I've got to end this saga. We left Singapore at about 8 on Thursday the 13th. Joey was there as he has been doing day work on the boat next door. He actually got a little teary so I had to get out of there or I would have too. We've had our moments, but I'll miss him.CheersIt's only Tim & RoseP.S. I've probably left a bunch of stuff out and Rose is on a tour, so you might get more Singapore next leter.

Kumai River October 10 2008

Hello everyone.Well, it's pretty definite we'll be staying in SE Asia another year. Why, you might ask. Okay, I send a copy of my witty repartee to my broker. Mainly it's to let him know where the money is going. About 18 months ago he actually called me to chastise me for my wanton spending and reckless disregard for the state of my account. Now all this was done in a good natured fashion, but he explained that he couldn't increase my account if I kept spending all the gains he, and he alone, was responsible for. Now, this should give you a pretty good idea of the pittance the wicked witch left me. I don't need the tens or hundreds of thousands the rest of you are wastrelling away. No country clubs for Tim. No sirree!! No Mercedes; no Harleys (you know who you are); no vacation homes, etc., etc., etc. So anyway, normally, he, who shall henceforth be known as Dr. Doom, responds with a nice, but brief email back--"sounds like fun"; "I've been there. did you go to such and such" which is normally a 5 star resort which is protected from people like me by laser guided missiles and a small private army. Actually it's really nice, because most of you don't acknowledge my existence, and it's good to know my correspondence isn't lost in cyberspace somewhere. BUT, last letter, no niceties. All I get back is "market crashing, worst ever, another 1929". This ran on for a page. The only thing missing at the end was "have a nice day". So--curious to know if I needed to start looking for a tall building to jump off of, I emailed back asking how my account was doing. What I got back was "you still have enough for beer and gas". You might think that is good news for someone with as modest tastes as I--that is until you remember I drink Jack Daniels. So we can't afford to go anywhere else!!!You might have noted the more cheery attitude in this letter from the last several. Of course, you have or will. Normally, I'm writing these underway at 4 in the morning motoring away at $7 gallon for diesel. This takes the edge off a bit. Not today. Yes, I am writing this on my "late" watch, but it is 10 pm to midnight. Yes, we now have four crew and I, the captain, set the watch schedule so I'm not on again until 6. Hah, rank hath its privilege. We are also actually sailing. Not hugely fast but we're only going about 300 miles and are in no hurry to get there. Peaceful, quiet and $15 hour cheaper!! Finally, my spirits were buoyed this morning by a conversation I overheard on the VHF radio from a very nice Aussie chap to one of his mates. Since we've literally been up the river in Borneo without internet, we are woefully uninformed about the state of world affairs. Anyway, Dave, the Aussie, was bemoaning the state of the Aussie dollar at US$.64. Now I've got nothing against Australians and I do feel a bit bad for them, but the 9 months we spent there, the damn thing was hitting new highs all the time and peaked out at about $.96. Okay, bad luck for us, but the Oz press rubbed our noses in it. "$ hits new high". "$ expected to exceed parity in '09". "How low can US$ go", etc. That was another reason to stay in good old cheap Asia!!After my last missive, we had a minor change in plans. The weather was right, and there was no real reason to stop at Bawean Island on the way to Borneo, so we skipped it. Passing by we threaded, literally, our way through a large fleet of local fishing boats and actually had to call an oil tanker to remind him we were out there and were a sailing vessel he was supposed to yield to. You see, from here on out we'll be in really busy shipping lanes right up through the Malacca straits. Takes a bit of the boredom out of the late night watches when you need to worry about 100,000 ton tankers. Rose also saw a rather large sea snake en route.Our destination was Kumai, 15 miles up the Kumai river on the Indonesia (southern) part of Borneo, which is something like the third largest island in the world. Adding a bit of humor, or humour, if you like, to the trip was the ongoing story of Aqua Magic, redubbed Aqua Tragic. These are the guys that ran aground in Oz and then, that night, when finally anchoring, the guy almost cut his fingers off on the wind generator. Yes, it's dangerous out here. Then a bit later they ran into another boat while trying to anchor. So they were ahead of us when we hear on the radio another plea for help as they had run aground again at the river mouth. We couldn't help as one of our engines was out, but, as we passed the green buoy marking the channel, we noted they were almost on the beach. Seems they just followed the range markers in until they hit sand instead of taking a right at the buoy. After that, we figured these people are jinxes and everyone has gone to some length to avoid getting too close to them!!!Our trip up the river, which is quite shallow, was uneventful, and other boats already there gave us the lay of the land. It's too bad, but this was the antithesis of Lovina--no beach, dry town, no restaurants for 15 miles, likewise (ouch) massages. But, Kumai is the starting off point for an "African Queen" trip up the river to a nature reserve for orangutans which are only remaining in Borneo and Sumatra and are in danger of extinction through loss of habitat. Adi, one of two "go to" guys here in Kumai arranged for Rose and me to take a slow boat 40 or 50k up the river to the reserves for 3 days, 2 nights. When we got back the plan was for Joey and Olivia to do a trip. That way, we didn't have to leave the boat or the cat unattended, although part of Adi's service does provide a boat sitter. This was Wednesday and the trip was set for Saturday.Wednesday happened to be the end of Ramadan, so the mosques were going full tilt and we just hung out. Our friends on Scot Free II came over for dinner, and we planned to hit town the next day and, Jerry, who's handy, said he's take a look at the engine. Town was a total bust except we were able to get some totally outstanding fireworks. I'm talking Chicago 4th of July quality. Seems with the end of Ramadan, everyone takes off, so almost nothing, including the internet cafes, was open. No grocery store either. Now I'm a little hazy on timing of the rest here, but somewhere in there that afternoon, but I think the next day--life is hell when you're getting Alzheimer's--Jerry took a look at the engine which, by now, had miraculously decided to run. My engine rooms are so filthy, however, he insisted on spending 3 hours cleaning that one out before looking at the thing. Good deal for me, but we never did figure out what was wrong. We did fix a few other minor things down there. Unfortunately, Joey and I think he sprayed water into one of the alternators which froze up an blew a belt when I was up the river. All fixed now.In addition, before getting into the river trip, my ten year old shower sump float switch finally bit the dust. Not noteworthy you say. Yes it is, I say. Every other one has been replaced at least once, and I find it amazing that the one that has had the most use lasted the longest!!! We also had the windlass (the big winch we use to raise and lower the anchor) go into runaway down, feeding out almost all our chain before we got to the circuit breaker. Defective microswitch in the foot switch now also fixed. Probably got drowned in the massive rains we're having here. Finally, the thermostat, we think, on the fridge has packed it in. The compressor still runs and it's cooling, but we have to shut it down manually. Well, overall, we've been pretty lucky this year. We've put about 7 or 8,000 miles under the keel with very little problems.Now for the rest--I know this one is getting a bit long. Picture a double deck African Queen. The boat is about 40 feet long and 8, yes, 8 feet wide. The "crew" deck, and there are 3 crew, captain, cook and guide, has about 3 feet of head room and includes the wheelhouse and a galley, such as it is. The passenger deck above that is open in the back with the front half covered with a blue poly tarp canopy. Two deck chairs, plastic but with cushions are provided as are a "day bed" kind of thing to sit on under the canopy as well as lumpy mattresses and full mosquito netting for nighttime. We are in the land of Dengue fever and Malaria, after all. The piece de resistance is the head. This consists of a roughly 3 foot square platform hung on the stern with 4 foot walls and a toilet that flushed directly into the river by dumping a bucket of river water in it. It got pretty amusing when every time Rose went to the head one of the crew would come out to fish or do something back there. Most of the boats had showers using river water; our boat had a bucket. Power plant is a one lunger diesel. No electric lights so it's pretty much bedtime at dark after dinner. This was really roughing it, but it added to the ambience of the whole thing up river in the jungle, etc. Food was surprisingly good and frequent with morning and afternoon tea as well as three hot meals.The trip up to Camp Leaky, named after a biologist, which is the main orangutan research station is about 5 hours. Until the river branches off, the main channel is pretty disgusting from runoff from mines; the branch with the apes is much cleaner and the distinction at the actual river branch is striking. The channel is only about 40 feet wide so you see all sorts of monkeys, birds and snakes; we also saw a small croc sunning and a giant one swimming. Did I mention they discourage human swimming here? So we arrived in time for the afternoon feeding and were lucky enough to see Tom--yes, stupid name--who is the alpha male. The orangs are pretty tame or at least used to humans so you get pretty close and it's fascinating to see these very smart creatures in the wild. Rose, the next day, actually saw one of the females take the keys to the feeding room from one ranger, give them to another and then lead him by the hand to the door to unlock it.The 3 day, 2 night trip, in true Indonesian fashion, is very leisurely with lots of downtime so it's a really nice forced relaxation with lots of reading and sleep. The first night we just went back down the river and tied up to shore. Surprisingly, the bugs weren't bad at all, but they're just now going into the rainy season. There's a lot of walking involved so Rose hit the sack at about 7:30 and I followed shortly as there was no way to read outside the netting. Next morning was back to a different feeding station at Camp Leaky and a really interesting documentary on this specific area and group of orangutans in their information office. A leisurely trip down the river and lunch left us at a 3rd feeding station which Tim skipped, but Rose enjoyed with the female and the ranger thing.That night we stayed at another feeding area and rafted up to another boat that carried some friends, and another boat or two showed up later. No partying though as this is a highly Muslim area and they discourage drinking on the boats. At sundown, we saw a huge troop of monkeys, just 50 meters across the river settling in for the night. the next morning was another hike to a feeding station which started out as a bust until one of the guides pulled out an apple and got a baby to come down for it. I should mention, it's bloody hot here, almost unbearable in the sun, so these walks are no mean feat. I've even been running the air conditioning on the boat during the heat of the afternoon. (some of you know how I hate to run the A/C) Next was lunch, meant to be followed by a visit to a local village--this looked a bit hokey as we're up this remote river and the village had a big arch thing and welcome sign. Then we were supposed to do another feeding station and then back to the boat. Well, at 1 it started pissing rain so we canned the hokey village and last feeding. Seen one ape, seen 'em all!!. Got back about 4pm, and immediately took nice showers.Joe and Olivia had opted for a cheaper but less action packed, one day only speed boat trip up to the park for the next day and loved it. They just didn't get the African Queen thing. Of course, Olivia had never heard of the African Queen anyway. The next couple of days were fixing all that stuff I mentioned and finally getting to a grocery store. Oh, and there was the 5 mile walk to find the "local" internet place. It's too long a story to go into here, but the 1 k they said it was turned into several miles and the place was closed. Hot, no shade--I'm lucky to be alive!!! A really nice local family sort of took us in, gave us some snacks and water and then a ride back to the waterfront on motorbikes. I think that's the only way I did survive that experience.The final day was supposed to be a big all day freebie tour and dinner. But, we have been misled before, and, while I was smart enough to opt out, Rose went in. I was going to meet her for the FREE dinner, but found none of the transport runs after 5 and this was in the town 15 miles away. Worked out okay as Rose turned up at about 5, not wanting to sit around waiting for dinner until 8 and listening to more speeches in Indonesian.Okay, I know this is a long one, but I've been pretty good lately. We left about 6 this morning and with a falling tide made 10 knots down to the river mouth. We planned on taking 2 days for this trip, but have actually been getting some decent wind so, if it's okay to make a night landfall. we might get there tomorrow around early evening. "There" is Belitung. a large island between Sumatra and Borneo. We have no idea if we'll luck out with another Lovina or be roughing it in another Kumai. It's the last rally stop and about 300 miles to Singapore.CheersTim, Rose, Joe & OliviaP.S. I really did shorten this up. there's lots more to tell but no room.