Posted: 29th June 2012.
So folks 12 days have passed us by and we made it out of Danga Bay…well just…a very slow 1 knot even with the tide heading us in the right direction!! There was so much build up on our props and hull that we only made it 10 mile up the strait to a little island anchorage point just past the second link bridge. Next day Cam donned the scuba gear and worked on scraping the barnacles off the props while I spent the same day scraping down the hulls…always such a pleasure especially with the sea lice!! Nasty little biters!!
Next day we made it to our intended destination Pisang Island where we enjoyed the next couple of days getting in a swim and exploring around the little group of islands…not much to see really but Cam did go a little tribal on me and headed into the scrub with his machete and scored a bunch of bananas. Pisang is of course the Malay word for Banana!
Our next anchorage was a little roadie a way up the coast. We arrived about 3 in the afternoon and set up our flashing lights to ward off the fishermen etc etc only to have some silly bugger set up his drift net in the middle of the night right next to us which we found wrapped around our rudder and prop the following morning…Wasn’t he an unhappy camper!! Came up to the boat waving his arms about(not a word of English) with Cam trying to explain that we had been there all night and he was pretty silly to set his net there! Anyhoo to cut a long story short …Cam ended up in the water untangling his torn net and we paid him 50 ringiit (he demanded it) to keep him happy (yes we know it was his fault, but when in Rome)..Amazing what $17 can do to put a smile back on a poor fisherman’s face!! Couldn’t stop thanking us and waving bye!
So after a later than expected start due to entanglements, we made our next anchorage Pulau Besar, a part of the Water Islands group off Melaka, late in the afternoon. Cam went and spoke with the owner of a Catamaran that was anchored nearby called “Seashell” a 36’ Fontaine Pajot, Mahe on its way to Singapore after being shipped to Langkawi on a transporter from France. They were off early the next day so we never got to really know them.
Spent the day walking over the island which is quite beautiful and has an abandoned resort on it, ate an amazing lemongrass curry chicken for lunch at the little eatery on the beach. A really nice little stop over, until the next morning, when at about 4am a localised storm called a ‘Sumatra’ blew up and our mast was struck by lightning while we were out trying to zip down the clear screens in the pelting monsoonal rain. It was awesome (not in a good way)! Blinding white flash in conjunction with the biggest crack of thunder…Totally crapped myself and screamed like a girl!!! The strike left the tip of the mast glowing which was awesome (in a very cool way). Later that morning after many phone calls, deliberations and Cam trying to work out what exactly we lost, we discovered we had lost our auto pilot, wind instruments and AIS.
We mulled it over and decided to keep going and hand steered our way to Admiral Marina in Port Dickson where Cam was able to run more concise tests in a stable environment. After isolating units and checking voltages we found it was not our auto pilot which is now fine (phew) but we will have to replace our wind instrument (top of the mast) and our tri-data (depth, speed, trip meter).
The AIS will have to wait until we have access to a technician as we have to buy a completely new unit (ours is now discontinued) and get it fitted/programmed. Not essential at the moment though as we are only day tripping. We met a lovely Swiss couple (Rolf and Eva) in the marina from a little Sailboat called ‘Present’, who we had planned to sail to Pangkor with over the next 3 – 4 days but they had to turn back this morning with propeller shaft problems. So today we find ourselves nearing Port Klang where we will anchor overnight enroute to Pangkor (Marina Island). We have organised an earlier lift out in Pangkor (July 2nd), so we will order parts and do the antifouling as well as fit new instruments sooner rather than waiting till July 15th as planned in Rebak. It will mean we won’t be stopping at Penang, but we can always catch a ferry from Langkawi.
Our plans are to be in Langkawi end of July and we have booked a berth at Telaga Harbour for July 30th – August 13th. So folks not much more to say…we’ve had our fair share of dramas this far, but we are still smiling!
Stay tuned,
Cam and Nikki
SV Dreamer