Hi everyone. In the heat of Rose's medical problems, I forgot one of the most important things going on. Joe, the prodigal son, hasgainful employment on the 120 foot motor yacht Sunchaser. It's a long story, but this is the boat he almost got the 1st mate's job inSingapore. The position opened up again and, bingo, he's in Phuket learning the ropes. The way it works is a 3 month trial as bos'ns mate, and if he doesn't get fired, he's first mate with a raise. The difficult captain even seems to like him. Must be all the training he got on Rendezvous Cay. Not a bad way to jump start one's boat career. (okay I took a little poetic license in the subject, but captain comes after 1st mate). Way to go, Joe, sir.
T
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Bali & Penang May 19 2009
Hello everyone.
A few of you may remember that we wrote Lovina Beach on Bali was as close to
heaven as we've been. SO--we booked a trip down there for 10 days. We
planned to stay a week in Lovina and then segue down to Ubud which is the
arts and crafts center. Our travel agent has been less than stellar so we
missed the $150 flight but got a $200 fare. On the way to the airport at
dark o'thirty, I mentioned to Rose I hadn't flown since we returned from our
around the world gig in early 2006. This became obvious as I unloaded my
pockets and put my carry-on on the conveyor and then walked through the
metal detector. Oops, alarms galore. Forgot to take off my backpack. I'm
still hearing about it. Air Asia is a real cheap cattle car type of airline
that charges for everything including luggage, so we carried on. This was a
bit of a pain as, I'm sure you all know, for some reasons the airports make
you walk about 5 miles to get to customs and immigration. It was about an
hour from Penang to Kuala Lumpur and then a plane change for the 3 hours to
Denpasser on Bali.
Unlike coming in on a boat, you can get a 30 day visa on arrival coming in
by plane--$25 p/p, but they only take Rupiahs or US$, neither of which we had. Left my passport at
the desk to hit the ATM, but it's outside the restricted area. An agent stopped me,
but I just explained I needed some cash, gave her my entire wallet and
grabbed a couple million Rupiahs. Of course, that delay put us at the end of
the immigration line. After about an hour, with little movement, some guy
came up and offered to expedite us for about $15 each. Done. Only took him
10 minutes. It was now about 3 pm, but we found our driver and set off for
Lovina. The hotel cut us some slack and only charged $40 instead of the
quoted $50 and it's a long way. With traffic, the 3 hour ride took 4 hours,
but the scenery was nice. Seems they can't put in an expressway because the
direct route would require tunnels, but Balinese and/or Hindus (I'm not sure)
don't like going underground.
The hotel was Sunari Villas, right on the beach. All the internet and
keepsake maps we had were wrong for almost every hotels' location, and we
thought we would be much closer to the little village we anchored off of in
September, but it was only about a 1 k walk up the beach to the town. The
place was really outstanding. It was billed as a 3 star hotel, but it was
better. Nice pool, massages on the beach, good food--$50 night. During the
season these rooms go for about $150. Then, we befriended the GM who
insisted we upgrade our room and gave us a "pool villa" which is a little
self standing cottage behind a wall for privacy with our own Jacuzzi.
Sweet. We really don't know why this is off season as the weather was the
best we've had in months. Quite warm during the day but nice breezes and
about 70 at night with lower humidity and not a cloud in the sky our whole
stay except the last night. So we shopped, got Rose some pain killers for
her latest incident of the mystery disease, and actually looked at some real
estate which is dirt cheap for what you get. In fact, the real estate guy,
Putu, is the one who introduced us to the hotel GM. Seems they were
shipmates on Norwegian Lines cruises years ago. Anyway, we're toying with
the idea of moving there, but Rose wants to start a business or something, so
we have to wait for her trip to the UK for her to check out the market. I
think I'd stay in a heartbeat, because I don't mind being a bum, but she
wants something to occupy her besides cocktails and massages. Got all sorts
of welcome messages from Celcom, Malaysia and Telekomsel, Indonesia on the
phone, and we were able to receive calls and SMS's. For some reason, though,
we couldn't do any outbound traffic, not even to customer service to figure
out what is wrong. Going to check it out here in Penang and see what needs
to be done as all the Asian companies allow roaming all over.
So we had a great week in Lovina and checked out where to stay in Ubud. It
was even cheaper, and we found Nick's Hotels which had the "cottages", the
"pension" and a home stay thing. Cottages looked a bit nicer, but the
pension was closer to the town center, and we picked that. It's about 2-2
1/2 hours down form Lovina, and we ended up with our same driver, Komang,
from our last trip. Coincidentally, Our friends, Dave and Judy-Freebird
were at cottages about 1/4 mile away. We met Freebird for lunch, as the
room wasn't ready yet, so we just left our bags for them to put in there.
After lunch everyone sort of went their separate ways, and I went on a
mission to find the same massage place that gave me one of the best ever
last year. Nah, they were closed, but the one down the street was still
pretty good. The plan was to all meet back up at the Mojita bar, a place
called Cinta, which had really good Mojitas two for one 'til 7. However,
naptime came first, so I wended my way back to the hotel through the
shortcut off the main road to the back entrance, which, as it turned out,
was where our room was. Were we pleasantly surprised!!! Unbelievable!!!
From the front, you walked through a few rice paddies and down the hill to
the room. From the back way, you went down a narrow side street to a bridge
over a small river and ravine. Our room was on the side of a hill
overlooking the river with rainforest and Hindu shrines on the other side. Just beautiful
and, better yet, $40/night!!! Had cocktails and dinner and an early night.
Next day, Dave had rented a car and driver to check out another spot as he
and Judy were staying a full month, so we drove all around. Did I mention
all these places include a full breakfast with the rooms, Lovina, too?
While we were sightseeing, the girls were supposed to go to the post office
and shopping but got side tracked at some famous Indonesian "healer" who's
in the well known book, "Eat, Pray, Love". They couldn't resist and spent
most of the day there, and Rose went back again the next day for 4 hours as
it seemed to be doing some good, and the next day the woman took her up in
the hills to the "master" who poked her and treated her spiritually and gave
her a bunch of herbal stuff. Our last night was really rainy so we just
stayed in and got room service--steak, lemon chicken, drinks, trimmings
$10!!!! In the middle of the night, we got a text message that our 7:45 pm
flight from KL to Penang was changed to 10:45. Bummer as there were no
earlier flights, so we hung around the airport for 5 hours. The upside was
Air Asia has an on time guarantee and pays you about $56 in vouchers for
every hour delay. Should cover our trip to Chang Mai Thailand later this
year. No hassles getting back into Malaysia, but we had been well prepared
with all our boat docs as some countries require an ticket out of the
country when you arrive. Got back to the boat at about midnight.
We did a few of the usual things back here. Reflexology, massages, night
markets, etc. We also hit the travel agent to get our China visas. China
doesn't like Americans. My visa was RM500, Rose's RM140!!! We also got
that trip squared away for a week later and finalized our Angkor Wat tour
and Mekong River cruise. Still working on the tour of Vietnam; the cruise
ends at Ho Chi Minh City. Rose has been up and down with this stupid
recurrence of her mystery disease and Tuesday--we got back Friday--she took
1/2 hour to get out of bed so off we went to emergency at Adventist
hospital. They started her on steroids (she finally gave in) and another
pain killer, but it's only at another hospital where they have the one
rheumatologist on the island, and she only makes appointments for Friday.
The pills helped but not enough yet, so we've delayed the trip to China
until this gets sorted.
After the doc, I had to run out to the airport to talk to customs as they
wanted me to get an import permit for the $6 toaster Lizzie sent. I
schlepped all the way out there, only to have the FedEx guy cut a deal with
the customs officer, so with cabfare, my $6 toaster now costs $25, including
the cabfare. I never did talk to customs; they just waived the permit!!!
Wednesday, we did have a bit of excitement. I was going below to take a
shower and saw a sizable lizard scamper down the hall into my head. These
are not geckos, folks. They are about a foot long and have a mouth like a
crocodile with very sharp teeth. We found the front half of one sort of
mummified in the sail (we figure a bird dropped it there sometime), and they
are nasty. Even the guys at the marina we called to get rid of it trod
lightly. They said if the thing gets its teeth into you, it's hard to shake
loose. So, about 8 guys came down to the boat with nets and one of those
snake hook things--things are slow down here at the marina. It was sort of
a Malaysian Ghostbusters. Anyway, they couldn't find it, but I did a few
minutes later--hiding under the toilet brush holder. Now, however, the guys
wanted to get some kind of pincher gadget to grab it with. I said I'd pay,
and two of them returned with one of those things you use to get stuff off a
high shelf along with a giant bag. Well, after all sorts of banging around for
about 10 minutes, up they came with the thing in the bag. They'd let it get
out of the head, but I had wisely closed my cabin door. They broke my
"grabber" and deracked all my clothes, but they got it and now Rose is
happy. I was drafted by her to get pictures of it in the bag!!! What a
chicken!
Okay, so it's Friday the day we were supposed to leave for China, but went to see the specialist instead. I have to preface my remarks by saying (and Rose would probably disagree) that every time we see one of these doctors, they invariably seem to find something wrong with her that is in their specialty. That being said, with some healthy skepticism, the rheumatologist seems to be on the ball and everything fits. First of all, the steroids have markedly reduced Rose's aches and pains. The guy on Tuesday started her on those. So the diagnosis--and this is the first time we've had a firm one--is rheumatoid arthritis, albeit more rheumatism than arthritis. After a long wait, they snuck us in this morning and, after a thorough debriefing, the doc ordered more blood tests and x-rays. Unlike in the states, the results were in this pm, and the doc made the diagnosis. All the symptoms, the ups and downs, and the tests seem to confirm this, and it's pretty easily treatable, initially with steroids tapering those off as the other pills (sulfazine), which take a couple of months to reach effective levels, kick in. The sulfazine has minimal side effects, but the poor woman isn't supposed to drink. While I would probably shoot myself, Rose is more circumspect!!! Just the relief of knowing what's going on has been a boost, and the treatment promises pretty much a return to normalcy over time. This disease is an autoimmune deficiency, and we still come back to the damn tick bite screwing things up, but at least now something is being done.
So, the trip to China is back on. We just need to rebook with the travel agent and she is working on it. Hopefully we'll depart mid week next week and return just in time for Angkor Wat, our cruise down the Mekong and Vietnam. The extra week here has allowed us to get out Viet visas now instead of between trips.
So we'll report more exciting news as it occurs, but we wanted to give everyone the "Rose" report.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
A few of you may remember that we wrote Lovina Beach on Bali was as close to
heaven as we've been. SO--we booked a trip down there for 10 days. We
planned to stay a week in Lovina and then segue down to Ubud which is the
arts and crafts center. Our travel agent has been less than stellar so we
missed the $150 flight but got a $200 fare. On the way to the airport at
dark o'thirty, I mentioned to Rose I hadn't flown since we returned from our
around the world gig in early 2006. This became obvious as I unloaded my
pockets and put my carry-on on the conveyor and then walked through the
metal detector. Oops, alarms galore. Forgot to take off my backpack. I'm
still hearing about it. Air Asia is a real cheap cattle car type of airline
that charges for everything including luggage, so we carried on. This was a
bit of a pain as, I'm sure you all know, for some reasons the airports make
you walk about 5 miles to get to customs and immigration. It was about an
hour from Penang to Kuala Lumpur and then a plane change for the 3 hours to
Denpasser on Bali.
Unlike coming in on a boat, you can get a 30 day visa on arrival coming in
by plane--$25 p/p, but they only take Rupiahs or US$, neither of which we had. Left my passport at
the desk to hit the ATM, but it's outside the restricted area. An agent stopped me,
but I just explained I needed some cash, gave her my entire wallet and
grabbed a couple million Rupiahs. Of course, that delay put us at the end of
the immigration line. After about an hour, with little movement, some guy
came up and offered to expedite us for about $15 each. Done. Only took him
10 minutes. It was now about 3 pm, but we found our driver and set off for
Lovina. The hotel cut us some slack and only charged $40 instead of the
quoted $50 and it's a long way. With traffic, the 3 hour ride took 4 hours,
but the scenery was nice. Seems they can't put in an expressway because the
direct route would require tunnels, but Balinese and/or Hindus (I'm not sure)
don't like going underground.
The hotel was Sunari Villas, right on the beach. All the internet and
keepsake maps we had were wrong for almost every hotels' location, and we
thought we would be much closer to the little village we anchored off of in
September, but it was only about a 1 k walk up the beach to the town. The
place was really outstanding. It was billed as a 3 star hotel, but it was
better. Nice pool, massages on the beach, good food--$50 night. During the
season these rooms go for about $150. Then, we befriended the GM who
insisted we upgrade our room and gave us a "pool villa" which is a little
self standing cottage behind a wall for privacy with our own Jacuzzi.
Sweet. We really don't know why this is off season as the weather was the
best we've had in months. Quite warm during the day but nice breezes and
about 70 at night with lower humidity and not a cloud in the sky our whole
stay except the last night. So we shopped, got Rose some pain killers for
her latest incident of the mystery disease, and actually looked at some real
estate which is dirt cheap for what you get. In fact, the real estate guy,
Putu, is the one who introduced us to the hotel GM. Seems they were
shipmates on Norwegian Lines cruises years ago. Anyway, we're toying with
the idea of moving there, but Rose wants to start a business or something, so
we have to wait for her trip to the UK for her to check out the market. I
think I'd stay in a heartbeat, because I don't mind being a bum, but she
wants something to occupy her besides cocktails and massages. Got all sorts
of welcome messages from Celcom, Malaysia and Telekomsel, Indonesia on the
phone, and we were able to receive calls and SMS's. For some reason, though,
we couldn't do any outbound traffic, not even to customer service to figure
out what is wrong. Going to check it out here in Penang and see what needs
to be done as all the Asian companies allow roaming all over.
So we had a great week in Lovina and checked out where to stay in Ubud. It
was even cheaper, and we found Nick's Hotels which had the "cottages", the
"pension" and a home stay thing. Cottages looked a bit nicer, but the
pension was closer to the town center, and we picked that. It's about 2-2
1/2 hours down form Lovina, and we ended up with our same driver, Komang,
from our last trip. Coincidentally, Our friends, Dave and Judy-Freebird
were at cottages about 1/4 mile away. We met Freebird for lunch, as the
room wasn't ready yet, so we just left our bags for them to put in there.
After lunch everyone sort of went their separate ways, and I went on a
mission to find the same massage place that gave me one of the best ever
last year. Nah, they were closed, but the one down the street was still
pretty good. The plan was to all meet back up at the Mojita bar, a place
called Cinta, which had really good Mojitas two for one 'til 7. However,
naptime came first, so I wended my way back to the hotel through the
shortcut off the main road to the back entrance, which, as it turned out,
was where our room was. Were we pleasantly surprised!!! Unbelievable!!!
From the front, you walked through a few rice paddies and down the hill to
the room. From the back way, you went down a narrow side street to a bridge
over a small river and ravine. Our room was on the side of a hill
overlooking the river with rainforest and Hindu shrines on the other side. Just beautiful
and, better yet, $40/night!!! Had cocktails and dinner and an early night.
Next day, Dave had rented a car and driver to check out another spot as he
and Judy were staying a full month, so we drove all around. Did I mention
all these places include a full breakfast with the rooms, Lovina, too?
While we were sightseeing, the girls were supposed to go to the post office
and shopping but got side tracked at some famous Indonesian "healer" who's
in the well known book, "Eat, Pray, Love". They couldn't resist and spent
most of the day there, and Rose went back again the next day for 4 hours as
it seemed to be doing some good, and the next day the woman took her up in
the hills to the "master" who poked her and treated her spiritually and gave
her a bunch of herbal stuff. Our last night was really rainy so we just
stayed in and got room service--steak, lemon chicken, drinks, trimmings
$10!!!! In the middle of the night, we got a text message that our 7:45 pm
flight from KL to Penang was changed to 10:45. Bummer as there were no
earlier flights, so we hung around the airport for 5 hours. The upside was
Air Asia has an on time guarantee and pays you about $56 in vouchers for
every hour delay. Should cover our trip to Chang Mai Thailand later this
year. No hassles getting back into Malaysia, but we had been well prepared
with all our boat docs as some countries require an ticket out of the
country when you arrive. Got back to the boat at about midnight.
We did a few of the usual things back here. Reflexology, massages, night
markets, etc. We also hit the travel agent to get our China visas. China
doesn't like Americans. My visa was RM500, Rose's RM140!!! We also got
that trip squared away for a week later and finalized our Angkor Wat tour
and Mekong River cruise. Still working on the tour of Vietnam; the cruise
ends at Ho Chi Minh City. Rose has been up and down with this stupid
recurrence of her mystery disease and Tuesday--we got back Friday--she took
1/2 hour to get out of bed so off we went to emergency at Adventist
hospital. They started her on steroids (she finally gave in) and another
pain killer, but it's only at another hospital where they have the one
rheumatologist on the island, and she only makes appointments for Friday.
The pills helped but not enough yet, so we've delayed the trip to China
until this gets sorted.
After the doc, I had to run out to the airport to talk to customs as they
wanted me to get an import permit for the $6 toaster Lizzie sent. I
schlepped all the way out there, only to have the FedEx guy cut a deal with
the customs officer, so with cabfare, my $6 toaster now costs $25, including
the cabfare. I never did talk to customs; they just waived the permit!!!
Wednesday, we did have a bit of excitement. I was going below to take a
shower and saw a sizable lizard scamper down the hall into my head. These
are not geckos, folks. They are about a foot long and have a mouth like a
crocodile with very sharp teeth. We found the front half of one sort of
mummified in the sail (we figure a bird dropped it there sometime), and they
are nasty. Even the guys at the marina we called to get rid of it trod
lightly. They said if the thing gets its teeth into you, it's hard to shake
loose. So, about 8 guys came down to the boat with nets and one of those
snake hook things--things are slow down here at the marina. It was sort of
a Malaysian Ghostbusters. Anyway, they couldn't find it, but I did a few
minutes later--hiding under the toilet brush holder. Now, however, the guys
wanted to get some kind of pincher gadget to grab it with. I said I'd pay,
and two of them returned with one of those things you use to get stuff off a
high shelf along with a giant bag. Well, after all sorts of banging around for
about 10 minutes, up they came with the thing in the bag. They'd let it get
out of the head, but I had wisely closed my cabin door. They broke my
"grabber" and deracked all my clothes, but they got it and now Rose is
happy. I was drafted by her to get pictures of it in the bag!!! What a
chicken!
Okay, so it's Friday the day we were supposed to leave for China, but went to see the specialist instead. I have to preface my remarks by saying (and Rose would probably disagree) that every time we see one of these doctors, they invariably seem to find something wrong with her that is in their specialty. That being said, with some healthy skepticism, the rheumatologist seems to be on the ball and everything fits. First of all, the steroids have markedly reduced Rose's aches and pains. The guy on Tuesday started her on those. So the diagnosis--and this is the first time we've had a firm one--is rheumatoid arthritis, albeit more rheumatism than arthritis. After a long wait, they snuck us in this morning and, after a thorough debriefing, the doc ordered more blood tests and x-rays. Unlike in the states, the results were in this pm, and the doc made the diagnosis. All the symptoms, the ups and downs, and the tests seem to confirm this, and it's pretty easily treatable, initially with steroids tapering those off as the other pills (sulfazine), which take a couple of months to reach effective levels, kick in. The sulfazine has minimal side effects, but the poor woman isn't supposed to drink. While I would probably shoot myself, Rose is more circumspect!!! Just the relief of knowing what's going on has been a boost, and the treatment promises pretty much a return to normalcy over time. This disease is an autoimmune deficiency, and we still come back to the damn tick bite screwing things up, but at least now something is being done.
So, the trip to China is back on. We just need to rebook with the travel agent and she is working on it. Hopefully we'll depart mid week next week and return just in time for Angkor Wat, our cruise down the Mekong and Vietnam. The extra week here has allowed us to get out Viet visas now instead of between trips.
So we'll report more exciting news as it occurs, but we wanted to give everyone the "Rose" report.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
Monday, April 27, 2009
Thailand III & Malaysia April 7 2009
'RE BACK ON OUT MALAYSIAN PHONE NUMBER: country code 60 197951501 My apologies in the past for not advising you to drop the zero in front of the regular number after the CC.
Hello everyone.
When we last wrote, we were wrapping things up in Phuket and getting ready to head back down to Langkawi and Penang to begin our Asian land travel. We stayed around a few extra days in Phuket to get part of the rigging done. The rest will have to await our return as it was going to take 2 weeks to get parts like turnbuckles in from Oz. Rose also started seeing an acupuncture guy at the hospital and had a last appointment to attend to. So far not much luck with either her prescriptions or that to ease her aching. However, she came up with the thought that there might be something in the boat's water system--has to be chemical--causing her discomfort. We're experimenting with bottled water and out impending 10 days in Bali will tell the tale. Wish us luck.
So we left Ao Po Marina in the north for Ao Chalong on the south end of Phuket to check out of the country. Major drama at Ao Chalong. Phuket, and maybe all of Thailand, have public moorings which are orange with a blue stripe. There's been some problem in Ao Chalong with the commercial boats throwing yachties off these public balls, claiming they are theirs alone. Some other guys checked with the harbor master who uncategorically confirmed they were first come first served moorings. So we took an empty ball and, to make a long story short, about 5 pm a sport fisherman with 2 local guys came up, honked and ordered us off. Well, let me tell you, I saw another side of Rose!!! She was rather assertive and told them in no uncertain terms to stay away from our boat. Shortening this up dramatically, after about 2 hours of haggling over the phone, yelling back and forth and them getting more guys, the harbor police came out. No one admitted we were right but they finally agreed we could stay the night (we were leaving the next day anyway). So we go to bed and I find Rose cowering worried they're going to come back and slit our throats!!! She now explains she was only assertive because she was afraid. Coulda fooled me!!! Really, this was mild mannered Rose Dyer turning into super bitch withour even a phone booth--sharper than a honed razor, able to heap shit on small Thais with a single bound, etc. There is a moral in this--don't mess with Rose!
Next morning, bright and early, we left for the Phi Phis, about 25 miles away. Oh oh, the engine driven freezer isn't working again!!! Oh, and I forgot to mention some workman stepped on the port engine water lock (keeps water from siphoning back into the engine), but the guy changing the oil noticed it. This is a rip-off $600 plastic box with a baffle, but our guys fabricated us one out of aluminum (aluminium if you prefer) alloy for a fraction of the cost of a new plastic one!!! So we did the usual touristy things at Phi Phi and left the next day for an intermediate stop before getting to Langkawi. This was the area in which the pirates got the English couple so we were a bit nervous. Also friends who had left earlier had had terrible weather. We had neither and had to motor all the way to the Telaga Harbor marina for check in to Malaysia and freezer repairs. The freezer had a leak in the coolant return pipe and these guys changed the whole thing out as the old one was built too far into the bowels of the boat to effect a repair. They only found it after discovering a couple other problems and 2 guys worked two 12 hour days to get the job done. This $ thousands job in the states or Caribbean was about $300 here!! Yippee!!!!!!. Working great now. Of course, now the electric one has crapped out. Cooling water problem that I diagnosed and really nothing wrong with the freezer, thank God. They'll change out the clogged hose while we're gone.
Rose met a couple of other pommies, one of whom had a car which we rented from him for a day or two to go see our friends in Kuah, about 20 kilometers away. Had lunch with Freebird and next day met Scot Free II and took a longboat out to the "Hole in the Wall" where they are leaving their boat to travel home to Canada. Very cool outing and the food at the place was excellent. We also took the opportunity of the car to restock our depleted liquor stocks at dirt cheap duty free prices. One night we had dinner with the two English couples Rose had met and had a great meal--surf and turf for two was about $50 and had shrimp, fish, squid, steak and lamb chops with the usual extras. Before we knew it, it was midnight and they kicked us out, but not after an amusing story from one of the guys. You may remember us talking about the Kiwi boat Squid. Joey befriended the son on board with his elderly, and somewhat odd parents. As usual, the conversation turned around to boating "incidents" and after a few harrowing tales, Graham says something about this Kiwi cat, Squid. Seems they were anchored in some bay and Squid pulled up in front of them, putting out, according to Graham, way too much chain. Well, the wind kicked up a bit which tends to push boats backward to the full length of their chain, and, sure enough, Squid banged into Graham's boat. However, Ian, the crotchety father on Squid (you have to know the guy) claims that Graham's boat dragged forward into Squid. Folks, this is physically impossible but typical of Ian, a short man with an even bigger syndrome. He even tried this preposterous story out on the insurance guys who were paying Graham's damages. Graham got paid!
So we finally got our repairs made and headed around to Kuah before leaving for Penang. We decided to stop at the resort beach just beyond Telaga for a quick lunch and massage before heading on. More drama!! We anchored the dinghy out a ways so we wouldn't have to drag it around the beach. After my massage (Rose was getting a longer treatment) I saw the dinghy was getting grounded and a couple of guys helped me get it back out a bit. I went back to the beach bar to settle in for a few screwdrivers and some spring rolls waiting for Rose. I had debated just going back to the boat and waiting for Rose to call, but the thought of food and a cool drink impaired my judgment. I had just ordered my libation when, bam, all of a sudden, the surf kicks up. We're not talking Hawaiian size rollers, but big enough. I saw the dinghy get swamped and raced down the beach to get out of there, holding my wallet and cell phone over my head. A guy came out to help me and I was trying to pull on the anchor line so I could go, while he pushed. Boom, 3 foot breaking wave over the bow, knocked me in the water and completely flooded the boat. I have a new cheap phone now and have confirmed that the dinghy bilge pump works well!!!
We ran into SFII half way to Kuah and hung out with them for a few days. Had some big storms and we actually--I know you'll find it hard to believe--dragged anchor a bit. Had their crew over for dinner both for their company and to empty our freezer prior to land travelling. Had a few dolphin swimming around the boat and watched the sea eagles feeding at sunset. It was really nice except for dragging, but, at least, we didn't hit anyone!! The boom light went on the fritz, but I got it fixed only to have it and a couple of other lights outside go off the next day. We're leaving that to the electricians in Penang.
We spent an uneventful couple of nights in Kuah, arriving in pouring rain, and then we left for the 60 mile run down to Penang. Damn it, found another leak in the starboard engine room, but it wasn't a deluge. Leak in the exhaust muffler. We finally had some wind and actually put a sail up--first time in weeks or maybe months.
So we arrived in Penang about 4 days ago and have met with Harris, the boat yard guy who is doing our repairs and looking after the boat while we're gone. We met the travel agent who, by and large, isn't too good, but got Rose a cheap flight to the UK and does the tedious legwork of searching out acceptable alternatives. So far, all we have booked is 10 days in Bali, which, even with airfare, is as close to free as you can get a vacation. They're researching the rest at the travel agents, but when we return, we have to hustle out passports over to the Chinese consulate for visas--takes about a week. Then we're doing China for 2 weeks or so, back for a week to get Vietnamese visas, then off to Bangkok, River Kwai, northern Thailand and the golden triangle for about a week. We then segue to Siem Reap, site of Angkor Wat, pick up a week cruise down the Mekong river ending in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon), a week in Nam and then back to Penang. Lest you think I have beaten the financial crisis, here's an example of travel costs around here. We're not doing this particluar tour but it is indicative of the deals. 8 day/7 nights in five star hotels, tours up the yingyang, almost all your meals and round trip airfare from Penang to Beijing--which is a loooonnngg way--is about $900, taxes and service included.
Okay, that's it. You're up to date and we have an 8:15 flight to get tomorrow morning.
Cheers
Tim and Rose
Hello everyone.
When we last wrote, we were wrapping things up in Phuket and getting ready to head back down to Langkawi and Penang to begin our Asian land travel. We stayed around a few extra days in Phuket to get part of the rigging done. The rest will have to await our return as it was going to take 2 weeks to get parts like turnbuckles in from Oz. Rose also started seeing an acupuncture guy at the hospital and had a last appointment to attend to. So far not much luck with either her prescriptions or that to ease her aching. However, she came up with the thought that there might be something in the boat's water system--has to be chemical--causing her discomfort. We're experimenting with bottled water and out impending 10 days in Bali will tell the tale. Wish us luck.
So we left Ao Po Marina in the north for Ao Chalong on the south end of Phuket to check out of the country. Major drama at Ao Chalong. Phuket, and maybe all of Thailand, have public moorings which are orange with a blue stripe. There's been some problem in Ao Chalong with the commercial boats throwing yachties off these public balls, claiming they are theirs alone. Some other guys checked with the harbor master who uncategorically confirmed they were first come first served moorings. So we took an empty ball and, to make a long story short, about 5 pm a sport fisherman with 2 local guys came up, honked and ordered us off. Well, let me tell you, I saw another side of Rose!!! She was rather assertive and told them in no uncertain terms to stay away from our boat. Shortening this up dramatically, after about 2 hours of haggling over the phone, yelling back and forth and them getting more guys, the harbor police came out. No one admitted we were right but they finally agreed we could stay the night (we were leaving the next day anyway). So we go to bed and I find Rose cowering worried they're going to come back and slit our throats!!! She now explains she was only assertive because she was afraid. Coulda fooled me!!! Really, this was mild mannered Rose Dyer turning into super bitch withour even a phone booth--sharper than a honed razor, able to heap shit on small Thais with a single bound, etc. There is a moral in this--don't mess with Rose!
Next morning, bright and early, we left for the Phi Phis, about 25 miles away. Oh oh, the engine driven freezer isn't working again!!! Oh, and I forgot to mention some workman stepped on the port engine water lock (keeps water from siphoning back into the engine), but the guy changing the oil noticed it. This is a rip-off $600 plastic box with a baffle, but our guys fabricated us one out of aluminum (aluminium if you prefer) alloy for a fraction of the cost of a new plastic one!!! So we did the usual touristy things at Phi Phi and left the next day for an intermediate stop before getting to Langkawi. This was the area in which the pirates got the English couple so we were a bit nervous. Also friends who had left earlier had had terrible weather. We had neither and had to motor all the way to the Telaga Harbor marina for check in to Malaysia and freezer repairs. The freezer had a leak in the coolant return pipe and these guys changed the whole thing out as the old one was built too far into the bowels of the boat to effect a repair. They only found it after discovering a couple other problems and 2 guys worked two 12 hour days to get the job done. This $ thousands job in the states or Caribbean was about $300 here!! Yippee!!!!!!. Working great now. Of course, now the electric one has crapped out. Cooling water problem that I diagnosed and really nothing wrong with the freezer, thank God. They'll change out the clogged hose while we're gone.
Rose met a couple of other pommies, one of whom had a car which we rented from him for a day or two to go see our friends in Kuah, about 20 kilometers away. Had lunch with Freebird and next day met Scot Free II and took a longboat out to the "Hole in the Wall" where they are leaving their boat to travel home to Canada. Very cool outing and the food at the place was excellent. We also took the opportunity of the car to restock our depleted liquor stocks at dirt cheap duty free prices. One night we had dinner with the two English couples Rose had met and had a great meal--surf and turf for two was about $50 and had shrimp, fish, squid, steak and lamb chops with the usual extras. Before we knew it, it was midnight and they kicked us out, but not after an amusing story from one of the guys. You may remember us talking about the Kiwi boat Squid. Joey befriended the son on board with his elderly, and somewhat odd parents. As usual, the conversation turned around to boating "incidents" and after a few harrowing tales, Graham says something about this Kiwi cat, Squid. Seems they were anchored in some bay and Squid pulled up in front of them, putting out, according to Graham, way too much chain. Well, the wind kicked up a bit which tends to push boats backward to the full length of their chain, and, sure enough, Squid banged into Graham's boat. However, Ian, the crotchety father on Squid (you have to know the guy) claims that Graham's boat dragged forward into Squid. Folks, this is physically impossible but typical of Ian, a short man with an even bigger syndrome. He even tried this preposterous story out on the insurance guys who were paying Graham's damages. Graham got paid!
So we finally got our repairs made and headed around to Kuah before leaving for Penang. We decided to stop at the resort beach just beyond Telaga for a quick lunch and massage before heading on. More drama!! We anchored the dinghy out a ways so we wouldn't have to drag it around the beach. After my massage (Rose was getting a longer treatment) I saw the dinghy was getting grounded and a couple of guys helped me get it back out a bit. I went back to the beach bar to settle in for a few screwdrivers and some spring rolls waiting for Rose. I had debated just going back to the boat and waiting for Rose to call, but the thought of food and a cool drink impaired my judgment. I had just ordered my libation when, bam, all of a sudden, the surf kicks up. We're not talking Hawaiian size rollers, but big enough. I saw the dinghy get swamped and raced down the beach to get out of there, holding my wallet and cell phone over my head. A guy came out to help me and I was trying to pull on the anchor line so I could go, while he pushed. Boom, 3 foot breaking wave over the bow, knocked me in the water and completely flooded the boat. I have a new cheap phone now and have confirmed that the dinghy bilge pump works well!!!
We ran into SFII half way to Kuah and hung out with them for a few days. Had some big storms and we actually--I know you'll find it hard to believe--dragged anchor a bit. Had their crew over for dinner both for their company and to empty our freezer prior to land travelling. Had a few dolphin swimming around the boat and watched the sea eagles feeding at sunset. It was really nice except for dragging, but, at least, we didn't hit anyone!! The boom light went on the fritz, but I got it fixed only to have it and a couple of other lights outside go off the next day. We're leaving that to the electricians in Penang.
We spent an uneventful couple of nights in Kuah, arriving in pouring rain, and then we left for the 60 mile run down to Penang. Damn it, found another leak in the starboard engine room, but it wasn't a deluge. Leak in the exhaust muffler. We finally had some wind and actually put a sail up--first time in weeks or maybe months.
So we arrived in Penang about 4 days ago and have met with Harris, the boat yard guy who is doing our repairs and looking after the boat while we're gone. We met the travel agent who, by and large, isn't too good, but got Rose a cheap flight to the UK and does the tedious legwork of searching out acceptable alternatives. So far, all we have booked is 10 days in Bali, which, even with airfare, is as close to free as you can get a vacation. They're researching the rest at the travel agents, but when we return, we have to hustle out passports over to the Chinese consulate for visas--takes about a week. Then we're doing China for 2 weeks or so, back for a week to get Vietnamese visas, then off to Bangkok, River Kwai, northern Thailand and the golden triangle for about a week. We then segue to Siem Reap, site of Angkor Wat, pick up a week cruise down the Mekong river ending in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon), a week in Nam and then back to Penang. Lest you think I have beaten the financial crisis, here's an example of travel costs around here. We're not doing this particluar tour but it is indicative of the deals. 8 day/7 nights in five star hotels, tours up the yingyang, almost all your meals and round trip airfare from Penang to Beijing--which is a loooonnngg way--is about $900, taxes and service included.
Okay, that's it. You're up to date and we have an 8:15 flight to get tomorrow morning.
Cheers
Tim and Rose
Monday, April 6, 2009
Thialand II April 6 2009
Hello everyone.
We left you on our way up the west coast of Thailand with our friends on
Scot Free II (SFII). Our initial stop was a nice bay near the Phuket
(pronounced pooket, by the way) The rainy season is starting, and there are
about 10 foot tides so, needless to say we have been getting a bit wet going
in and out and dragging the dinghy 50 feet back to the water when the tide
ebbs. This was a very nice bay with a few resorts and we stopped at a few
more scenic, but shoreside uninteresting places, on our way up to our ultimate
destination, a little island called Phayam, which, according to a few people,
was like Eden. From there Lottie needed to make a "visa run" to Ranong and
then Burma to get another 2 weeks. Well, the island was nice, but we've
seen a lot nicer. Had some good meals and a great massage, but the surf was
coming in, making dinghy landing and launching difficult at best. One day
we went in around low tide and tried to anchor the dinghy so it could come
in with the tide. No dice. When we all returned, including SFII, it was
about 1/4 mile offshore and it was dark, etc. Discretion is the better part
of valor. After Gerry made an attempt to swim out--too far, too deep--we
had to borrow a local boat and paddle out. It was a circus getting the
girls in and we all got soaked but finally made it. In Thailand--must be a
Buddhist thing--they have these very cool hot air balloon things which you
use with some kind of solid fuel circle, light, make a wish and let it fill
up with hot air, then release it. Made of paper. We got one done before the tide wrecked
the other two, so Rose got her wish made, but the rest of us lost out. The
things go up about 200 feet and it's really neat at night with the light on
the white paper balloon. Later that night--about 3 AM--I awoke to some
serious rock and roll--sort of like Cane Garden Bay when the wind is wrong.
It was full moon so the tides were large and we were broadside to the inflow
and only about 100 feet from the surf break. Okay, no problem. A bit
uncomfortable but we had about 2 feet under the keel. We were rolling quite
a bit so I stayed up just in case. Figured as the tide came in, it would
get more comfortable. Worried a bit about SFII, though as they are a keel
boat and were really rolling. Sure enough, about 4:30, they moved---turned
out they bounced off the bottom. I waited another 15 minutes with no
improvement, woke Rose, and we moved as well. Okay, nice or not, who needs
that aggravation, so we all took off for the Surin Islands, about 50 miles
south--national park. Would have liked to stay for another massage and the
Full Moon Party, but it just wasn't in the cards.
The guides to the Surins weren't much help and the first place we tried to
anchor just wasn't working so we headed over to a gap between a couple of
islands. At one beach was a village of "sea gypsies", the other a Park's
office and restaurant. We went to try to get to the village and saw several
"longtails" (those native boats you see in the movies with the engine
mounted on a 25 foot shaft) go in. However, the captain ran aground several hundred
feet offshore; the admiral said I was going too fast. We tried to wend our
way through the reef, but it was impossible. Decided to check out the
ranger station--going a lot slower this time--but couldn't get in there
either. As a result we had sort of a pot luck on Rendezvous and left the
next day for the Similans, another 50 miles and national park. SFII decided
to stay another night and we didn't catch up with them for several days as
we were just ahead and had to get back to pick up Lottie's friend, Lucy.
The Similans were great. There are basically two islands you can take the
boat to overnight and we did both. The north island is quite a dive and
tourist destination, and the anchorage is in a mini fjord with mooring balls.
The water is crystal clear--the first we've seen since Australia--and we
were greeted by a pod of dolphin on our way in. The water is also warm
enough for the captain to swim, which, hold on to your hats, he did four
times in 2 days. Lots of fish, good snorkeling and we even had sea turtles.
We had just missed the whale shark season but it was still nice. Surprise,
surprise, our friends on Freebird pulled in that afternoon. They'd spent 2
weeks there and were just heading north where we'd been. Had cocktails and
caught up. Couldn't believe with all the tourists, there wasn't a
restaurant. Rose and Lottie kayaked ashore to reconnoiter. You simply must
see the pictures of that event.
Well, with no restaurants and our friends gone, we headed to the next
anchorage south--only about 6 miles away. It was beautiful as well with
lots of tour boats during the day. The parks had a backpacker tent city
going and, halleluiah, there was a restaurant. This restaurant brought new
meaning the the term "fast food". We went in around 6 planning on a few
beers and dinner before returning to the boat. Got our beer, ordered some
local fare and went to get a table. Before I could get the 10 feet to our
table, the waitress paged me and there was our food. Lots of mozzies, so we
ate fast as well and hightailed it to the boat.
The original plan was to head back to Ao Chalong, get the windlass wiring and the freezer done, pick up Lucy and head out cruising in Phangnga Bay, between Phuket and the mainland. As it was closer and had been nice, we decided to go back to Nai Yang. As it turned out this worked out well because Lottie decided to fly to Bangkok for the weekend and hang out with Lucy there while we, presumably, were getting work done. Anyway, it was too rough in Nai Yang and was a mission just to drop Lottie off, so we hightailed it back to Ao Chalong on Saturday. In terms of work getting done, we pretty much had to wait until Monday, so we just hung out a bit, got massages and hit the local market. On Monday, the electrician came out and I asked him to see if he could get a new radio unit for the wireless remote control for the windlass which has mysteriously disappeared. We also needed it completely rewired. Gerry and I (mainly Gerry) had done some work at Phayam having to replace a fuse holder and just disconnect another wire (we think it had something to do with the remote) Later on, the down stopped working, and I found another loose wire so it was time to get things done professionally!!!! An errant engine alarm has also been chirping, and I wanted him to fix that, but, of course, it stopped doing it when we arrived. Well, he couldn't do any work early in the week but promised to look into the remote. We were to call him on our return. Same deal with the freezer man. He found a small leak and fixed it but didn't want to get into replacing the expansion valve. So our plan was to get the girls on board, cruise around and then return to Ao Po on the dock after their departure to get the work done. In the meantime, the icemaker still wasn't turning out cubes at an acceptable rate. Yesterday, we concluded it was the thermostat but it uses a special one which I have now inquired about with the manufacturer.
After what must have been some hardy partying, the girls arrived not Monday, not Tuesday, but Wednesday!!!! and we headed north to Ao Po marina which is really nice except it's in the middle of nowhere. Their water is drinkable and they are about half the cost of RPM. We stopped there for the night and to fuel up. The girls went up to the local resort's pool. Next day, we fueled up and took off for the short trip to James Bond Island. The idea is to get there on the early side before all the tour boats come in. A longtail came over and we hired him for a few hundred baht to take us ashore and then circumnavigate the island for us. Well worth the money with the crowds of boats and hassle of launching the dinghy. Well, it's just like the movie, which we confirmed by watching that night, except for about 50 identical stalls selling identical crappy souvenirs. Lot of photo ops with the big pillar in the bay in the background. After a night at a nearby bay, the next morning we went just a few miles around the corner to another tourist area--a sea gypsy fishing village on stilts. Same deal, a longtail came along and took us on a tour of the river which was pretty cool, with lots of mangroves and a rather large cave/tunnel along the way. Another branch had some prehistoric drawings on the rocks. Back down the river to the stilted village for shopping and lunch. Food was okay. Shopping was only slightly better than James Bond.
The next day we had planned to go to "Pearl Island" for a tour of the pearl farm and lunch. As we approached, the skies opened up so we opted to head on back to Ao Chalong because, that Monday, Lottie needed to hit immigration again for another extension. We also got a call from SFII that they were down there. Once there, I did a little research on windlass remotes as Lofrans apparently cannot replace the sending unit--only sells the remote as a matched package tuned at the factory. This was distressing as the US price for this thing is $600, meaning it would be about $1,000 here. Fortunately, Lewmar has come out with one for $140 which is now installed and working. Of course it was $240 here!!! So we hooked up with SFII for drinks and dinner Sat night and, Sunday, hit Patong for shopping and lunch with Freebird who had called to let us know they were back at RPM. On Monday, first thing, Charlotte went off to immigration. What a rip-off! It costs the same 1,900 baht (about $50) to get the 1 month renewal Rose and I did, or this one week deal which is all you can get on the kind of visa Lottie had. Done with the visa by 11, off we went to the Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee--I'm not kidding) group, one of Thailand's premier tourist destinations, especially for the backpacker crowd.
There are basically two islands there--about 20 miles east of Ao Chalong. The larger, Phi Phi Don, has the hotels, shops, etc. and the bay with all the commercial boats, ferry dock, etc.. The smaller, Phi Phi Le, is a park and has the "beach" where the movie of the same name was filmed. Lottie bought the movie and it sucked, but the beach was nice. Both islands were seriously wiped out in the tsunami, but have rebuilt. Judging from what we saw, the tsunami destruction, from an aesthetic viewpoint, was probably a good thing. Nonetheless, Don, just off the beach, have miles of "alleyways" with shops, bars, restaurants, hotels, dive shops, travel agents, you name it. SFII had pulled in just before us having spent the prior night at Le, and sort of talked us in. There are public moorings there, but beware!! That afternoon, the first one started dragging; we noticed and moved to a more secure location, but a couple of days later, we awoke in the middle of the night as we had dragged (this was a different ball we picked up on our return from Le) and were banging into 3 fishing boats rafted together. Fortunately, the only damage was a 1 inch scrape at the stern but we've RE-learned to back down on moorings like you do when anchoring. Had a nice night or two in Don, exploring the shops and hitting some of the live entertainment the bars provide. SFII had to depart to drop off a guest, who, by the way, had taken a fancy to the girls, especially Lucy. We took off in the morning to explore Le before all the tourists arrived. It's about a 3 mile trip to the "Beach". We picked up a mooring and dropped the dinghy. They--and I wish more places would do it--had a floating dinghy dock. The beach was nice, and we were early enough to avoid the crowds and the park fees. One group was filming some sort of commercial which was sort of interesting. After a bit of exploring, the crowds arrived and we took off to circumnavigate the island in the dinghy. Around the corner to the east was a large hong, which is a lagoon created by a collapsed cave. The first one was okay but loaded with tour boats, but as we proceeded north we came on another that was quite large and almost hidden from the water. There were also some caves which had locals there, which we later discovered were there to protect the birds' nests used in bird's nest soup. Apparently the saliva they use in making the nests has beneficial qualities. They even have an ad here for "Scotch, real bird's nest beverage". Yuk!!! Back to Don where we dragged and off to Krabi the next morning amidst threatening storms.
We thought for sure we'd get stormed on as we left for the 20 mile trip north to Krabi, another tourist destination, but we were running out of time for the girls who wanted to get off in a day or two to do the elephants and tiger temple up in Chang Mai. I'm sure the prospect of another weekend in Bangkok didn't hurt either. We managed to outrun the storm. Krabi, itself is up a river from the anchorages, but there are a couple of bays loaded with tourist stuff. We opted for a southeast bay called Railai. It's supposed to be a sand bottom but we had a hell of a time getting the anchor down, and the tour boats kicked us off the one mooring in the bay. The girls kayaked in and spent the night ashore. The weather wasn't that good so we hung out on board. Next day we moved over to Ao Nang, a mile or two away, as the girls, all three, were taking a cooking course the next day, Saturday with the pick up there. Railai is built at the base of giant rock cliffs and has no land access whatsoever. One of the resorts there caters to rock climbers. We explored again--same old, same old, but the tides are fairly high and we had a time getting the dinghy back in the water. The girls decided to go back to Railai for the night and meet Rose in the morning for the class. When I dropped them to get a longtail over to Railai, they both took a dive after disembarking as it appears the long tails must stir up holes in the sand. Unfortunately, Lucy's camera is now history, but Rose had the same thing happen the next morning and her phone was toast. While Rose's good camera also got wet, to date it is still working. Thank God for that; I was able to get her a replacement phone later for about $25, so not too much damage done.
Unbeknownst to me, it was a lot cheaper to fly out to Bangkok from Phuket than Krabi. All this time I thought the girls were departing from Krabi. Anyway, there is a happy ending sort of. After checking out all the alternatives they found a bus (13 hours) from Krabi to Bangkok for almost nothing, saving them megabucks from flying and the hassle of bussing it to Phuket. So the girls left around 3 on Saturday for the bus and Rose and I just hung out on the boat not wishing to drag the dinghy around nor fall into another longtail hole!!!
Now, left to our own devices, we decided to get back to Ao Po and get the work finished up so we could enjoy our remaining time in Thailand. There is a shortcut over there, through a channel between 2 islands. Saves about 2 hours, but the cruising guide warns "local knowledge" only. Well, we had the SunSail guide to Phuket that showed the way so we anchored off a fishing village at the entrance to the channel and, next day, Monday, made the delightful run 5 miles through, making it to Ao Po at about 10 or 11. First order of business was getting a car and the faithful Mr. Morn (Our RPM car guy) delivered one to us which turned out to be the same one we had before. Nice service. Did I mention the marina picks up our garbage and drives us around in golf carts? Anyway, we wanted the car as we're nowhere, and Rose's ailments are acting up again so we needed to see the doc. I ran a few errands and phoned up the workmen. I also called to get the rigging surveyed (looked at and checked). Next day we got Rose to the doctor.
So, to try to end this, it it now a week later and the new remote and rewiring are done for the windlass. The engine alarm is fixed; the freezer seems to be working, and the rigging has been checked. The only downside is the rigging ALL needs to be replaced. Still waiting for a final on the quote as one wire supplier went belly up and a fitting supplier was out of stock for something, but this will run 5 figures. Damn, but better than losing the mast. Ah, you say, but what about Rose. These guys seem to think her aches and pains all boil down to some kind of digestive problem but the good news is they have, at least prescribed some medication. We'll just have to wait and see. They seemed pretty familiar with her syndrome. Same place I took my physical.
Other news before I end this. There was a "pirate" attack south of here and the captain was killed and thrown overboard. (Rose is holding out hope they will escape for our return to Langkawi). We think it was a "one off" as they caught the guys who were 3 Burmese teenagers who claimed they were enslaved on a Thai fishing boat. Most of our friends here have left for Malaysia as their visas expired. We're thinking of following soon as this is the transition period for the monsoon and we've had some wicked storms pass through with up to 50 knots of wind. Rose is in the process of booking her flight back to the UK and it looks like 3 or 4 weeks from mid July on. So, right now, we're waiting around for a decision on the rigging, Unfortunately, today, Monday, is a national holiday. It's much easier for them to do the head stay while we're on the dock so, hopefully, we'll get that done in a couple of days and then head back down to Ao Chalong for he rest of the work assuming they can get the stuff in a timely fashion. Then off to Phi Phi and back to Langkawi and Penang. We've hooked up with a travel agent in Penang who is working on our plans for land travel.
A couple of personal notes. Joey has broken up with Olivia and is heading back to the states tomorrow to try to pick up work in Fort Lauderdale. He has a coastal Yachtmaster and still needs to do a "practical exam" to get his offshore, but this should be enough for him to get a job. Can't say Rose and I are disappointed about this development. My fashion consultant, Rose, has made me change my wardrobe from what I consider normal shorts to the very fashionable, below the knee version. Probably just as well as I'm getting too fat for the old ones, and clothes are cheap here in SE Asia!! Finally, in a major change and late breaking news, I have been bullied into changing my hairstyle from what I've done for the last 50 years--i.e. combed left to right with a part. Suffice it to say Lottie started calling me Ming (after Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon) and I told Rose I look like Mike Ditka (she asked, gasp!!!, who's he?). Anyway, combing my hair straight back isn't so bad except now my rapidly thinning Ming widow's peak is more evidently thinning. How can this be? I'm not that old yet. Must be Morgan Stanley's fault (just kidding Joe).
That's the latest and greatest. Sorry it was so long but we are SOOO interesting.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
We left you on our way up the west coast of Thailand with our friends on
Scot Free II (SFII). Our initial stop was a nice bay near the Phuket
(pronounced pooket, by the way) The rainy season is starting, and there are
about 10 foot tides so, needless to say we have been getting a bit wet going
in and out and dragging the dinghy 50 feet back to the water when the tide
ebbs. This was a very nice bay with a few resorts and we stopped at a few
more scenic, but shoreside uninteresting places, on our way up to our ultimate
destination, a little island called Phayam, which, according to a few people,
was like Eden. From there Lottie needed to make a "visa run" to Ranong and
then Burma to get another 2 weeks. Well, the island was nice, but we've
seen a lot nicer. Had some good meals and a great massage, but the surf was
coming in, making dinghy landing and launching difficult at best. One day
we went in around low tide and tried to anchor the dinghy so it could come
in with the tide. No dice. When we all returned, including SFII, it was
about 1/4 mile offshore and it was dark, etc. Discretion is the better part
of valor. After Gerry made an attempt to swim out--too far, too deep--we
had to borrow a local boat and paddle out. It was a circus getting the
girls in and we all got soaked but finally made it. In Thailand--must be a
Buddhist thing--they have these very cool hot air balloon things which you
use with some kind of solid fuel circle, light, make a wish and let it fill
up with hot air, then release it. Made of paper. We got one done before the tide wrecked
the other two, so Rose got her wish made, but the rest of us lost out. The
things go up about 200 feet and it's really neat at night with the light on
the white paper balloon. Later that night--about 3 AM--I awoke to some
serious rock and roll--sort of like Cane Garden Bay when the wind is wrong.
It was full moon so the tides were large and we were broadside to the inflow
and only about 100 feet from the surf break. Okay, no problem. A bit
uncomfortable but we had about 2 feet under the keel. We were rolling quite
a bit so I stayed up just in case. Figured as the tide came in, it would
get more comfortable. Worried a bit about SFII, though as they are a keel
boat and were really rolling. Sure enough, about 4:30, they moved---turned
out they bounced off the bottom. I waited another 15 minutes with no
improvement, woke Rose, and we moved as well. Okay, nice or not, who needs
that aggravation, so we all took off for the Surin Islands, about 50 miles
south--national park. Would have liked to stay for another massage and the
Full Moon Party, but it just wasn't in the cards.
The guides to the Surins weren't much help and the first place we tried to
anchor just wasn't working so we headed over to a gap between a couple of
islands. At one beach was a village of "sea gypsies", the other a Park's
office and restaurant. We went to try to get to the village and saw several
"longtails" (those native boats you see in the movies with the engine
mounted on a 25 foot shaft) go in. However, the captain ran aground several hundred
feet offshore; the admiral said I was going too fast. We tried to wend our
way through the reef, but it was impossible. Decided to check out the
ranger station--going a lot slower this time--but couldn't get in there
either. As a result we had sort of a pot luck on Rendezvous and left the
next day for the Similans, another 50 miles and national park. SFII decided
to stay another night and we didn't catch up with them for several days as
we were just ahead and had to get back to pick up Lottie's friend, Lucy.
The Similans were great. There are basically two islands you can take the
boat to overnight and we did both. The north island is quite a dive and
tourist destination, and the anchorage is in a mini fjord with mooring balls.
The water is crystal clear--the first we've seen since Australia--and we
were greeted by a pod of dolphin on our way in. The water is also warm
enough for the captain to swim, which, hold on to your hats, he did four
times in 2 days. Lots of fish, good snorkeling and we even had sea turtles.
We had just missed the whale shark season but it was still nice. Surprise,
surprise, our friends on Freebird pulled in that afternoon. They'd spent 2
weeks there and were just heading north where we'd been. Had cocktails and
caught up. Couldn't believe with all the tourists, there wasn't a
restaurant. Rose and Lottie kayaked ashore to reconnoiter. You simply must
see the pictures of that event.
Well, with no restaurants and our friends gone, we headed to the next
anchorage south--only about 6 miles away. It was beautiful as well with
lots of tour boats during the day. The parks had a backpacker tent city
going and, halleluiah, there was a restaurant. This restaurant brought new
meaning the the term "fast food". We went in around 6 planning on a few
beers and dinner before returning to the boat. Got our beer, ordered some
local fare and went to get a table. Before I could get the 10 feet to our
table, the waitress paged me and there was our food. Lots of mozzies, so we
ate fast as well and hightailed it to the boat.
The original plan was to head back to Ao Chalong, get the windlass wiring and the freezer done, pick up Lucy and head out cruising in Phangnga Bay, between Phuket and the mainland. As it was closer and had been nice, we decided to go back to Nai Yang. As it turned out this worked out well because Lottie decided to fly to Bangkok for the weekend and hang out with Lucy there while we, presumably, were getting work done. Anyway, it was too rough in Nai Yang and was a mission just to drop Lottie off, so we hightailed it back to Ao Chalong on Saturday. In terms of work getting done, we pretty much had to wait until Monday, so we just hung out a bit, got massages and hit the local market. On Monday, the electrician came out and I asked him to see if he could get a new radio unit for the wireless remote control for the windlass which has mysteriously disappeared. We also needed it completely rewired. Gerry and I (mainly Gerry) had done some work at Phayam having to replace a fuse holder and just disconnect another wire (we think it had something to do with the remote) Later on, the down stopped working, and I found another loose wire so it was time to get things done professionally!!!! An errant engine alarm has also been chirping, and I wanted him to fix that, but, of course, it stopped doing it when we arrived. Well, he couldn't do any work early in the week but promised to look into the remote. We were to call him on our return. Same deal with the freezer man. He found a small leak and fixed it but didn't want to get into replacing the expansion valve. So our plan was to get the girls on board, cruise around and then return to Ao Po on the dock after their departure to get the work done. In the meantime, the icemaker still wasn't turning out cubes at an acceptable rate. Yesterday, we concluded it was the thermostat but it uses a special one which I have now inquired about with the manufacturer.
After what must have been some hardy partying, the girls arrived not Monday, not Tuesday, but Wednesday!!!! and we headed north to Ao Po marina which is really nice except it's in the middle of nowhere. Their water is drinkable and they are about half the cost of RPM. We stopped there for the night and to fuel up. The girls went up to the local resort's pool. Next day, we fueled up and took off for the short trip to James Bond Island. The idea is to get there on the early side before all the tour boats come in. A longtail came over and we hired him for a few hundred baht to take us ashore and then circumnavigate the island for us. Well worth the money with the crowds of boats and hassle of launching the dinghy. Well, it's just like the movie, which we confirmed by watching that night, except for about 50 identical stalls selling identical crappy souvenirs. Lot of photo ops with the big pillar in the bay in the background. After a night at a nearby bay, the next morning we went just a few miles around the corner to another tourist area--a sea gypsy fishing village on stilts. Same deal, a longtail came along and took us on a tour of the river which was pretty cool, with lots of mangroves and a rather large cave/tunnel along the way. Another branch had some prehistoric drawings on the rocks. Back down the river to the stilted village for shopping and lunch. Food was okay. Shopping was only slightly better than James Bond.
The next day we had planned to go to "Pearl Island" for a tour of the pearl farm and lunch. As we approached, the skies opened up so we opted to head on back to Ao Chalong because, that Monday, Lottie needed to hit immigration again for another extension. We also got a call from SFII that they were down there. Once there, I did a little research on windlass remotes as Lofrans apparently cannot replace the sending unit--only sells the remote as a matched package tuned at the factory. This was distressing as the US price for this thing is $600, meaning it would be about $1,000 here. Fortunately, Lewmar has come out with one for $140 which is now installed and working. Of course it was $240 here!!! So we hooked up with SFII for drinks and dinner Sat night and, Sunday, hit Patong for shopping and lunch with Freebird who had called to let us know they were back at RPM. On Monday, first thing, Charlotte went off to immigration. What a rip-off! It costs the same 1,900 baht (about $50) to get the 1 month renewal Rose and I did, or this one week deal which is all you can get on the kind of visa Lottie had. Done with the visa by 11, off we went to the Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee--I'm not kidding) group, one of Thailand's premier tourist destinations, especially for the backpacker crowd.
There are basically two islands there--about 20 miles east of Ao Chalong. The larger, Phi Phi Don, has the hotels, shops, etc. and the bay with all the commercial boats, ferry dock, etc.. The smaller, Phi Phi Le, is a park and has the "beach" where the movie of the same name was filmed. Lottie bought the movie and it sucked, but the beach was nice. Both islands were seriously wiped out in the tsunami, but have rebuilt. Judging from what we saw, the tsunami destruction, from an aesthetic viewpoint, was probably a good thing. Nonetheless, Don, just off the beach, have miles of "alleyways" with shops, bars, restaurants, hotels, dive shops, travel agents, you name it. SFII had pulled in just before us having spent the prior night at Le, and sort of talked us in. There are public moorings there, but beware!! That afternoon, the first one started dragging; we noticed and moved to a more secure location, but a couple of days later, we awoke in the middle of the night as we had dragged (this was a different ball we picked up on our return from Le) and were banging into 3 fishing boats rafted together. Fortunately, the only damage was a 1 inch scrape at the stern but we've RE-learned to back down on moorings like you do when anchoring. Had a nice night or two in Don, exploring the shops and hitting some of the live entertainment the bars provide. SFII had to depart to drop off a guest, who, by the way, had taken a fancy to the girls, especially Lucy. We took off in the morning to explore Le before all the tourists arrived. It's about a 3 mile trip to the "Beach". We picked up a mooring and dropped the dinghy. They--and I wish more places would do it--had a floating dinghy dock. The beach was nice, and we were early enough to avoid the crowds and the park fees. One group was filming some sort of commercial which was sort of interesting. After a bit of exploring, the crowds arrived and we took off to circumnavigate the island in the dinghy. Around the corner to the east was a large hong, which is a lagoon created by a collapsed cave. The first one was okay but loaded with tour boats, but as we proceeded north we came on another that was quite large and almost hidden from the water. There were also some caves which had locals there, which we later discovered were there to protect the birds' nests used in bird's nest soup. Apparently the saliva they use in making the nests has beneficial qualities. They even have an ad here for "Scotch, real bird's nest beverage". Yuk!!! Back to Don where we dragged and off to Krabi the next morning amidst threatening storms.
We thought for sure we'd get stormed on as we left for the 20 mile trip north to Krabi, another tourist destination, but we were running out of time for the girls who wanted to get off in a day or two to do the elephants and tiger temple up in Chang Mai. I'm sure the prospect of another weekend in Bangkok didn't hurt either. We managed to outrun the storm. Krabi, itself is up a river from the anchorages, but there are a couple of bays loaded with tourist stuff. We opted for a southeast bay called Railai. It's supposed to be a sand bottom but we had a hell of a time getting the anchor down, and the tour boats kicked us off the one mooring in the bay. The girls kayaked in and spent the night ashore. The weather wasn't that good so we hung out on board. Next day we moved over to Ao Nang, a mile or two away, as the girls, all three, were taking a cooking course the next day, Saturday with the pick up there. Railai is built at the base of giant rock cliffs and has no land access whatsoever. One of the resorts there caters to rock climbers. We explored again--same old, same old, but the tides are fairly high and we had a time getting the dinghy back in the water. The girls decided to go back to Railai for the night and meet Rose in the morning for the class. When I dropped them to get a longtail over to Railai, they both took a dive after disembarking as it appears the long tails must stir up holes in the sand. Unfortunately, Lucy's camera is now history, but Rose had the same thing happen the next morning and her phone was toast. While Rose's good camera also got wet, to date it is still working. Thank God for that; I was able to get her a replacement phone later for about $25, so not too much damage done.
Unbeknownst to me, it was a lot cheaper to fly out to Bangkok from Phuket than Krabi. All this time I thought the girls were departing from Krabi. Anyway, there is a happy ending sort of. After checking out all the alternatives they found a bus (13 hours) from Krabi to Bangkok for almost nothing, saving them megabucks from flying and the hassle of bussing it to Phuket. So the girls left around 3 on Saturday for the bus and Rose and I just hung out on the boat not wishing to drag the dinghy around nor fall into another longtail hole!!!
Now, left to our own devices, we decided to get back to Ao Po and get the work finished up so we could enjoy our remaining time in Thailand. There is a shortcut over there, through a channel between 2 islands. Saves about 2 hours, but the cruising guide warns "local knowledge" only. Well, we had the SunSail guide to Phuket that showed the way so we anchored off a fishing village at the entrance to the channel and, next day, Monday, made the delightful run 5 miles through, making it to Ao Po at about 10 or 11. First order of business was getting a car and the faithful Mr. Morn (Our RPM car guy) delivered one to us which turned out to be the same one we had before. Nice service. Did I mention the marina picks up our garbage and drives us around in golf carts? Anyway, we wanted the car as we're nowhere, and Rose's ailments are acting up again so we needed to see the doc. I ran a few errands and phoned up the workmen. I also called to get the rigging surveyed (looked at and checked). Next day we got Rose to the doctor.
So, to try to end this, it it now a week later and the new remote and rewiring are done for the windlass. The engine alarm is fixed; the freezer seems to be working, and the rigging has been checked. The only downside is the rigging ALL needs to be replaced. Still waiting for a final on the quote as one wire supplier went belly up and a fitting supplier was out of stock for something, but this will run 5 figures. Damn, but better than losing the mast. Ah, you say, but what about Rose. These guys seem to think her aches and pains all boil down to some kind of digestive problem but the good news is they have, at least prescribed some medication. We'll just have to wait and see. They seemed pretty familiar with her syndrome. Same place I took my physical.
Other news before I end this. There was a "pirate" attack south of here and the captain was killed and thrown overboard. (Rose is holding out hope they will escape for our return to Langkawi). We think it was a "one off" as they caught the guys who were 3 Burmese teenagers who claimed they were enslaved on a Thai fishing boat. Most of our friends here have left for Malaysia as their visas expired. We're thinking of following soon as this is the transition period for the monsoon and we've had some wicked storms pass through with up to 50 knots of wind. Rose is in the process of booking her flight back to the UK and it looks like 3 or 4 weeks from mid July on. So, right now, we're waiting around for a decision on the rigging, Unfortunately, today, Monday, is a national holiday. It's much easier for them to do the head stay while we're on the dock so, hopefully, we'll get that done in a couple of days and then head back down to Ao Chalong for he rest of the work assuming they can get the stuff in a timely fashion. Then off to Phi Phi and back to Langkawi and Penang. We've hooked up with a travel agent in Penang who is working on our plans for land travel.
A couple of personal notes. Joey has broken up with Olivia and is heading back to the states tomorrow to try to pick up work in Fort Lauderdale. He has a coastal Yachtmaster and still needs to do a "practical exam" to get his offshore, but this should be enough for him to get a job. Can't say Rose and I are disappointed about this development. My fashion consultant, Rose, has made me change my wardrobe from what I consider normal shorts to the very fashionable, below the knee version. Probably just as well as I'm getting too fat for the old ones, and clothes are cheap here in SE Asia!! Finally, in a major change and late breaking news, I have been bullied into changing my hairstyle from what I've done for the last 50 years--i.e. combed left to right with a part. Suffice it to say Lottie started calling me Ming (after Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon) and I told Rose I look like Mike Ditka (she asked, gasp!!!, who's he?). Anyway, combing my hair straight back isn't so bad except now my rapidly thinning Ming widow's peak is more evidently thinning. How can this be? I'm not that old yet. Must be Morgan Stanley's fault (just kidding Joe).
That's the latest and greatest. Sorry it was so long but we are SOOO interesting.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
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
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