Cruising Buddies

Selecting dim sum at a local cafe in Penang

Mike and Sue Powell, good friends from Australia and long time cruisers, visited Crystal Blues in June.  They have sailed the Pacific for the past 17 plus years on SV Yaraandoo II, a well proven Naut 40. After meeting first in 1998 we shared many anchorages in Pittwater and along the Australian coast for the next 7 years.

We parted ways in 2005, us to Asia, Mike and Sue later on to circumnavigate the Pacific, via New Zealand, Hawaii, Canada, USA, Mexico and back to Australia.  Our love our Asia tempted them to fly over for a visit.

Showering on the back deck after under water cleaning

 After first visiting friends in Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, Mike and Sue flew to Penang.  For 8 days we explored temples and feasted on local food from our base at Straits Quay Marina.  We also managed a road trip to the cooler Cameron Highlands on mainland Malaysia.  We left the marina for a couple of days to test the new Northern Lights genset under cruising conditions anchoring overnight behind Pulau Jerajak on the south east side of Penang Island - an excellent anchorage that is close to a major shopping mall.

During the day Mike gave Neil a hand by diving on the hull, giving it a clean whilst Neil used the hooka to clean the propeller.  Unfortunately the scraggy long tail "killer" jelly fish were swarming around the boat so the boat scrubbing was quickly curtailed.  Neil escaped, though Mike was not so lucky, with one long sting across his foot.  The joys of working on a boat in exotic locations.

Crystal Blues and crew are now in Puteri Harbour, Johor, Malaysia.  We're very close to Singapore, but missing the fine food and culture of Penang.

And for testing purposes only, here is a link from other cruising buddies Rolf & Irene in South Africa.