Diverging Wakes

Ceilydh anchored in Prickly Bay, Grenada

Crystal Blues and Ceilydh sailed away from Malaysia bound for Sri Lanka within a few days of each other, back in February 2015. Since then our wakes have crossed many times, across both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Onward we sailed, sometimes diverging, other times sharing anchorages, marinas, cultures and each others lives. Last week we sailed overnight from Charlotteville in Tobago to Prickly Bay in Grenada - our last passage together. What great friends and companions the crew of Ceilydh have been.

Crystal Blues anchored out the back in Prickly Bay, Grenada

Diane's work as a writer opened up many interesting opportunities in the countries we visited together. Evan is a naval architect, so there was always a lot of boat talk. Maia blossomed in the time we knew her - changing irreversibly into the beautiful and confident young woman she is today.

It did help that we are all passionate about live music, fine wine and good food. We shared the same simple pleasures when discovering a market where there were more than a few choices for foods we craved. Here in Grenada the five of us roamed around the two world class chandleries, like children in a toy shop, ogling over boat stuff that we had been looking for several countries back. We also shared the same culture shock when anchoring in Prickly Bay, Grenada - looking at the forest of masts in the bay, with even more spilling onto the crowded hardstand.

Most of all we just spent time together. Laughing, cooking, exploring, shopping, swimming, celebrating birthdays, helping each other out along the way. A fine and lasting friendship blossomed across two oceans.

Ceilydh sailed away yesterday to Curacao. Diane, Evan, Maia and the feline bosun Charlie are excited to be slowly heading home to Canada. Crystal Blues remains anchored in Prickly Bay, Grenada, waiting for a few boat parts, before we sail on to Trinidad and haul out. Next year we plan to explore the USA via the inland lakes and waterways.

We remind ourselves how lucky we are to have shared this special time together, for it was a bitter sweet parting. Our wakes may have diverged, but not our hearts - we'll meet these special people again.

Diane, Evan, Maia and Charlie preparing to depart Prickly Bay, Grenada. Maia, we are going to miss your Key Lime Pies!

Very Dangerous Fish

By Christian Grill (Own Work) CC BY-SA3.0                                                        

Returning home by dinghy a few nights ago, we followed friends who were in a second small boat.  It was a lovely moonlit night and very still, the water like glass.  Suddenly we saw fish jumping up ahead and immediately turned off our flashlight - these were Needlefish, (family Belonidae).  We've seen them throughout Asia - in Thailand they're called "Long Toms".  Unfortunately our friends had a red light shining above the hull, and one fish launched itself into their boat at high speed.

It speared into the leg of one occupant, right through his clothing, before launching itself out of the boat again.  The fish was possibly a meter long.  It created a very deep and ugly wound that at first glance looked like a gunshot, and certainly bled like one.

Fortunately an experienced nurse was at hand, who was able to treat the wound and administer the required anti-biotic and anti-inflammatory drugs.

Several deaths and many dreadful injuries have been attributed to these fish - check the Wikipedia link here.  When we shared this story with other cruisers, one young girl showed us an ugly scar on her leg where she was pierced by a Needlefish when swimming in Malaysia.  These attacks are more common than we thought !

We've had them land on the deck of Crystal Blues, both day and night, and many times had them jumping around the dinghy.   Now we'll be much more careful - dousing the lights when we see these guys around.

The Wine List

Photo by Jan Pitt

After a busy few weeks we are almost ready for our departure to Sri Lanka and beyond.

Friends Ray and Jan Pitt signed off the boat in Thailand, leaving us spoiled, relaxed and ready for the future.

Four weeks ago we sailed south (overnight) from Koh Phayam, spending four days in Phuket, provisioning and making ready.

Then another overnight passage, again hard on the wind, brought us into Kuah Harbour in Langkawi, our final provisioning stop before departure for destinations west.

Its here that we finally created "The Wine List"....

We've spent over two weeks now provisioning and finishing off various systems and "boat jobs".  We've had every power tool in use and every conceivable combination of electrical, electronic and mechanical work underway.  Even the paint pots came out again.

We're now down to a list that is manageable, in fact its entirely forgettable, as we're stocked up and anxious to go sailing.  But those lists can create there own problems .....

Good Medicine In Penang

Crystal Blues had health issues, with "something" around the propeller.  So after a few days of rest and recuperation in Penang I dived on the propeller and removed an indecent chunk of rope.  What a pain - visibility in the marina was less that 12 inches, and cutting it away was a slow process.  I'm still amazed that we managed to maneuver the boat into the berth with this around the propeller.

In Penang we were medical tourists - we had our own schedule of tests and specialist visits (mainly dermatology), but we were surprised at the massive numbers of foreign visitors here purely for the medical facilities.  At Hospital Lam Wah Ee, the specialist surgeon who removed Ley's "lump" (a small BCC) said his business was directly linked to the number of Air Asia flights coming in from Indonesia.  Things have changed.

Penang is still a most attractive Asian city, one of our absolute favourites. It ain't perfect, but it is a shining example of racial tolerance and self awareness, welcoming visitors with a quirky sense of humor, great food and a multi-cultural social history that is alive and prospering. 

Our friends there made us welcome, celebrating our visit with embarrassing repeated dinners and seafood specials - what a great time we had.  It has been wonderful to watch Eileen and Gerome's children blossom into delightful , articulate teenagers who are now planning tertiary education.  It is also great to see how Onomichi Marine, their business,  has grown and transformed over the 8 years we have know each other.

We "Love" The Mallacca Straits

This was our eleventh Malacca Straits passage, and it turned out to be just like some of the others - a pain in the neck.  Keeping in mind that the boat hadn't been actively used for fifteen months, we started cautiously with a 40 mile passage from Singapore to Pulau Pisang.  A quiet night there was followed by a good 6 hours of sailing before the wind dropped and we started the Cummins diesel.  All systems were working fine and we spent some time on deck that day, completing the re-rigging - runners, preventers, down-haul and the like. The new Raymarine autopilot worked fine straight up and it was a joy to be at sea again.

With The Smoke Haze, It Felt This Black

That night things changed, with a decent 35 knot Sumatra (squall) coming in from the north west just after 21:00hrs.  It blew for a couple of hours and settled down gradually.  Our real issue was that I managed to receive a bad rope burn on the fingers of my left hand when releasing the traveler under pressure - substantial skin removed from two fingers and minor burning on the palm and others.  Yes it hurt like hell. After 52 years of sailing I felt like an amateur again - definitely out of practice.  We immersed it in ice water for 15 minutes, then cut away the loose bits, lathered it in Savlon and wrapped it (photo here if you're medically interested).  I have never been so glad to have good pain killers on board.  We call that Incident #1.

Ugly Raw Water Blockages - A Fouling Story

We're spending quite a bit of time in marinas these last few months, as I'm doing some contract work and Admiral Ley needs a safe home while I'm away from the boat.  

This means that our sea water cooled refrigeration and airconditioning systems are running frequently in estuarine waters with a very high fouling capability.

Coming from a relatively cold water background (Melbourne, Australia) I'm still amazed at how quickly an anchor, or chain, or in this case a raw water inlet, can become completely fouled by marine growth in these warm water areas.  The image at right shows the problem - the hose tail at left is almost closed with barnacles, and the hose tail at right has a decent oyster growing - just what we don't want.  

 
When we look at the hose, the situation is obviously worse. Large clusters of barnacles and yet another oyster are almost completely blocking the inlet hose.  Note this is 1.5" (40mm) hose, that feeds a manifold with multiple outlets for refrigeration, air conditioning, deck wash, genset etc.

To counter the problem we now place a chlorine tablet in our raw water strainer every other day, when we're in a marina.  We use standard swimming pool chlorine tablets, that dissolve in just a few minutes after placement.  These do a great job of stopping the growth from the strainer basket onwards.

Special Note :  You MUST NOT use chlorine tablets on a seawater inlet that feeds your R.O. water maker - it will destroy the membrane(s) !

Chlorine tablets also clean up the hoses really well,  but they can't help with the hose and fittings that are in the line before the strainer.  So now we replace that hose every twelve months - a half day boat project that keeps the systems running and my back and shoulders in fine trim (its a b**g*r to get at), and my knuckles suitably skinned.  Boat jobs.

Along the west  Malaysian coast, from Singapore to Langkawi and northwards into Thailand, this type of fouling is all to common.  In Kuah Harbour (Langkawi), the long term cruisers know that you must lift your anchor chain by 4 or 5 meters one day, and then lower it back again the next day, in a never ending alternating sequence, to stop the aggressive growth there from fouling the chain that is between the water surface and the muddy bottom.  This really does work, though nothing will stop the change to the chain galvanising caused by the very special mud in Langkawi.  But that's another story.....

Singapore Straits - Sailing From Malaysia to Indonesia

The Brightly Colored "Lego Barge" Came Over The Horizon This Afternoon - At 2 Knots

We departed Puteri Harbour in Johor, Malaysia at 11.00am this morning, and arrived at Nongsa Point in Batam, Indonesia, at 6.00pm this evening.   Its only 47 nautical miles by sea, but a world apart in many ways.  Our AIS target identification system was kind of busy - over 2000 targets (vessels) tracked in a single day must be some kind of record.  

Our Track Is The Black Line, With Destination Nongsa Point At Lower Right

You can get a very sore neck trying to keep track of all those ships from the cockpit.

Right now, from our berth in the marina we can identify over 420 discrete vessels in the Singapore Straits, all individually identified and tracked on the plotting system.  

The straits are very busy, and we find the AIS system essential for safe navigation here (see our AIS technology primers Part1, Part2 and Part3 for background).

Puteri Harbour had very few visitors, and lacks any useful services except fuel supply, though it is safe, clean and inexpensive.  But I've never been in a marina that was so ....... soul less.

When the wind came up we managed to sail for just two hours today, roughly a quarter of the 8 hour voyage, which is about average for this part of the world.  But the sailing was a delight, a reminder of why we chose this life style.

Here at Nongsa Point the welcome and atmosphere are completely different to Puteri Harbour.  Staff are more competent and confident, and there are active sailors and cruisers on many of the boats here.  The place has a nice buzz about it, with sail training yachts and dive charters moving about the harbour.  The attached resort provides a pool, bar and meals, and the local ferry terminal has regular services to Singapore.  We're impressed.  We'll be here for a few weeks whilst we prepare for the next phase of our cruising life.

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.

Penang To Johor Baru - Heading South

We departed Straits Quay Marina in Penang at 07.30 Sunday morning, motoring south through a sticky haze.

Day One - The Fishing God Speaks

Penang wasn't going to let us go easily though - after 2 hours of travel we pulled up with a fishing net caught on the skeg.  So into the water I went, once again the little Powerdive Hookah system earned its keep. Less than six inches of visibility, but I found the net had caught on the skeg, so the clearance was simple enough. 

By noon we had cleared the inshore nets and traps and were at 05deg 09.38 North and 100deg 12.84 East.  

We're testing the new Delorme inReach satellite communicator on this passage, so you should be able to track our movement by selecting the "Where Are We" tab at the top of this page, and clicking on the link provided.

Late afternoon the south westerly has "freshened" to 15 knots, despite a local forecast of 5 to 10 knots.  We plowed on (literally) through lumpy and confused seas, with a lot of water over the deck.  Beating to windward in the Malacca Straits is a very frustrating exercise - up to 2.5 knots of adverse current means that at times we seemed to be going backwards.   We settled in for a longer than usual trip.

Day Two - The Weather God Shouts ......

Penang - Its All About The Food

We arrived in Penang just over two weeks ago, with plans to complete our new generator installation before moving on south towards Singapore.  Here we found our good friends Dana and Susan onboard Villa-G.  A few days later Larry and Peggy arrived on Blue Star, so the gang was complete.

Food, Glorious Food

There are many reasons to visit Penang, stunning Buddhists temples to photograph, a cable car to ride, Botanic Gardens, World Heritage restored buildings, art galleries and many cultural events and religious celebrations....but for us, Penang is all about food.

The crews of Villa G and Blue Star enjoying the flavours of Penang.               

Indian roti canai and mango lassi or fluffy, soft pau filled with char sew pork for breakfast, Indian Biryani platter for lunch topped off with dim sum for dinner?  Then there is our favourite Buddhist vegetarian lunch stalls and the fabulous seafood from the Shade Tree Restaurant on Weld Quay and ever so much more.

If you would like to visit any of our favourite local restaurants click here to download our Georgetown food map.

Tanjong City Marina

Sad remnants of Tanjong City Marina

Over the past seven years we have spent quite a bit of time exploring Penang.  For us, the demise of the Tanjong City Marina is a very sad affair. This marina was within walking distance of Little India and China Town, covering many of our favourite restaurants and the old buildings that have made Penang a World Heritage Town.

The marina started to deteriorate just after it was built in 2005.  Through lack of maintenance, storms and ferry wash all that remains today are a few poles and a walkway that leads to the murky, muddy shallows....though there is talk that it will be rebuilt!



Straits Quay Marina

Crystal Blues along side the service dock and sea wall at Straits Quay

Fortunately for cruisers a new marina in Penang has been built, with a solid sea-wall protecting the 40 floating pontoon berths. Straits Quay Marina is professionally run by John and his magnificent team.

The berths, power supply, amenities and cruiser's room are managed on world best practice for marinas, so don't miss visiting here, though you certainly need to book ahead as spare berths are very scarce.

There is a large shopping mall with Tesco as its main tenant, and access to public transport all within walking distance, it is a delight to stay here.

A Night to Remember!

Lucky us!

Silence

I was off watch and woke to hear the engine being shut off.  I listened for the sheets  to be released and the mainsail raised, but only heard silence, not good at 4.40am.  We were drifting with a fouled propeller, with Neil sitting in the cockpit locating the fishing boats on radar.  The pitch black predawn and an oily black sea  surrounded us, and we decided to wait the few hours till dawn before diving under the boat.

The PowerDive Hooker was set up on the aft deck.  Neil donned a pair of leather gloves and armed with a very sharp knife he dove overboard.  Five minutes later he hoisted up a floating fishing net that he cut from around the propeller.  We were on our way again....

Exactly two hours later the engine came to a screeching stop again,  but this time we could see the culprit.  We were trailing 6 metre loops of thick rope, which also wrapped around the propeller.  Fortunately we had the hooker set up, so Neil went for his second swim in the Malacca Straits, off Pangkor Island, Malaysia.

Strikes and Boom

Just like this!

The net and rope fouling on the prop was really just a minor annoyance after a bad night of electrical storms.  Around 20.00  hours Neil was preparing to go to bed  when we noticed a large storm on the radar.  Lightning and thunder was  focused on the mainland  and we continued to move ahead of it.  Or so it seemed at the time.  As the storm slid behind us it moved out to sea and then began spawning storm cells all around us.  Soon we were at the storm's epicentre , the lightning  was spitting and hissing all around the boat, lighting up our world, the thunder booming overhead.  Luckily we had just managed to weave through a fleet of anchored squid boats and could see them eerily highlighted with each flash.

We searched the radar looking for an escape route but the storm was traveling with us and growing in momentum, so we decided to turn tail and run away.  The rain pounded down  and with each lightning strike  it illuminated the white-out conditions that surrounded us.  We were not having much fun, but were relieved that we had an escape plan.  After 3 hours the storm moved out to sea and we turned back to our original heading.  Neil went to bed, and for the next few hours I watched the storm angrily boom and flash out towards Sumatra.

 

The Great Escape

At the Shade Tree Cafe, Penang

Apart from rope, nets and storms we had a dream run  up the Malacca Straits! We are heading, via Penang and Langkawi, to Phuket, where we plan to base ourselves for awhile.  With positive current and tide for most of the passage and no wind at all, we were really looking forward to a change of scenery.  We stayed at the new Straits Quay Marina in Penang, for 4 days and caught up with Kathy and Mark on SV Catchastar.

Crystal Blues is now berthed in Rebak Marina, Langkawi.  Neil has flown to India for work for the next two weeks.  Ley has been challenged to stock the boat with all things duty free in his absence.

The Tempting Tiomans

View from Crystal Blues in the channel between Pulau Aur and Pulau Dayang

Easter holidays offered us a few days away from Singapore, so we decided to explore the Tioman Island group.  After clearing out with Singapore Immigration at dusk we motored east through the busy Singapore Straits and then continued on north overnight.

Crystal Blues arrived at beautiful Pulau Aur just in time for breakfast. There are three low key dive resorts here and a small Malay village spread along the two sides of the channel.  The anchor dropped between the two islands and we went for a swim in clean, clear water.  The cooling breeze, the towering rock escarpments and swaying coconut palm vistas enthralled us.  Hard to believe that such pristine beauty can be found so close to Singapore. Early next morning our neighbours and friends from Singapore arrived on MV Saraburi, so the partying quickly began - oh we really miss the cruising life....

Sweet sailing - Photo by Rod Steel

Sunset Sailing

Next day we moved on to Pulau Tioman.  Flat seas and a steady beam breeze of 10 to 15 knots showed Crystal Blues off at her sweetest point of sail.  Lucky for us there were a few avid photographers on the top deck of Saraburi. It wasn't long before Crystal Blues was sailing off into the sunset, with the log reading 8.5 knots for the next few hours.



Pulau Tioman

Sailing under the dragon's horns of Pulau Tioman. Photo by Mel Dow

According to local legend a Chinese dragon princess flew over these pristine waters on her way to visit her prince in Singapore.  She stopped here for a rest, fell in love with the beauty of the area and took on the form of an island.  Her horns are the peaks rising up through the mist, her scales the luxurious, green, leafy foliage and her claws are the grey boulders scattered along the shoreline.  She also vowed to give shelter and comfort to passing travelers.

Like the magical Chinese dragon, we too were cast under the Tioman spell.  As always Malaysian check in and out procedures were quick and easy.  We anchored off the marina and dinghied into to have lunch and explore.  The main town is a sleepy village beside the (tiny) airport runway.  A host of small cafes and duty free shops were spread out down the single central road.  As we walked a passing motor bike with side car stopped and gave a lift to a Chinese cafe.  We decided to taste a few bottles of duty free wine with our lunch and the cafe owner freely brought a bucket of ice, glasses and a corkscrew to the table.  Malaysian hospitality is really hard to beat.   Dinner time saw a regrouping of the crews and we headed for a Chinese Seafood feast.  After a late start on Sunday morning we headed back to Singapore.  The wind was there for us again and after 18 hours we were back at One 15 Marina and soon fast asleep, dreaming of cruising.....

Keeping Busy

Boat jobs in exotic places......

Work

In 2004 we installed an electric macerator to our marine head in order to comply with Australian boating standards.  After much research and talking to other cruisers, we purchased the Jabsco Quiet Flush Conversion system.  We also fitted a Y valve between the fresh and salt water supply and mainly run the system on freshwater, when it is plentiful.

For just over 6 years the toilet has been maintenance free.  It has happily flushed and macerated its way around Australia and Asia.  A few months ago we noticed that the pump was making unusual sounds - time to source a new one.  A replacement Jabsco macerator pump and seal kit was supplied by Jessie at MarineTech in Singapore for 1/3rd of the price that was quoted to us in Australia (how can there be such a huge price difference?)

The whole change over took less than an hour and the system is working perfectly again.  Six years maintenance free, for a marine head rates to us as exceptional service - given that we have been living aboard all that time!

More Work!

Wow another long weekend!  We quickly made a plan to go back to Telok Sengat, on the Johore River in Malaysia, so we could relax and tick off a few more boat jobs.  There are still quite a few incomplete projects from our 2009 refit and we planned to tackle  the control side of our refrigerator and freezer system.  Running the 12 volt power cables over and under and through the boat was fairly painless and we are much closer now to completing this project.

Another impeller bites the dust!

Closing the valve on the salt water inlet manifold.

Unfortunately our genset demanded our attention, by shutting down as it devoured yet another water pump impeller. Okay, it was time for an oil change, so we stripped down the genset, lavished TLC in the form of new oil and a fresh impeller.  The genest ran for just over two hours on Sunday and when we started it this morning it ran for a whole 2 minutes - yep chewed up and spat out another impeller.  We spend way more money and time on maintaining this genset than any other piece of machinery or equipment on the boat.  Although Onan were extremely generous and helpful to us initially ( they took away our first lemon and gave us a new genset for free after 2 years of continual problems.)  Yet here we are still pandering to an insatiable beast!


and Play

Good food, friends and fun in Penang

Ley's high school girlfriend Judi Scott, decided to have a pre 60th birthday bash in Penang, Malaysia last week.  Neil had work plans to be in India so Ley flew north for a few days.  Luckily for us there was a wonderful Indian festival happening so between temple visits, partying in the street in Little India and fine dinning at the local cafes, we all had a ball. Here is a link to some of our favourite eating places in Georgetown.

Happy Birthday Judi!

A Month In Borneo

I Must Be Dreaming

Birthday surprise.

Crystal Blues is anchored on the very peaceful Sungai Tulai, and the sun is just peeping through the open hatches.  I'm still sleeping when I hear a choir of sweet young voices singing (very quietly) "Happy Birthday."  Of course I think I'm dreaming, so I lay in bed, sleeping, drifting off.  Then the choir starts up again, a little louder, and through the fog I realise - this is for real ! The singing is coming from the cockpit !  I stumble out of bed and through sleepy eyes I see nine children, a stack of gifts and a beautiful cake with candles burning.  After blowing out the candles, and opening the gifts, the children paddle home in their canoes.  What a fantastic way to start our birthday !

Then I turn on the computer.  As soon as Skype loads birthday messages and calls come flooding in.  Gary and Sue on SV Yaringa made a quick video call from Japan, just before they depart on passage to Alaska.  Our Seirra Wireless modem and the Celcom data card is provividng excellent service up here in the jungle. I quickly emailed some of the birthday images to Neil, who is still in Singapore.  Our birthdays will be spent apart, as Neil flew back to India and Singapore for a week of work.

Jungle Barbecue

Kikki and Betty preparing the middin fern

Jabu and Chanda suggested a barbecue in the jungle one afternoon and invited all the cruisers.  A children's committee was formed, menu and costings were calculated.  Coconut rice in bamboo, hot dogs, marinated chicken wings, fish bits, sausages and midden fern were on the menu.  I added an Aussie touch with potatoes in foil, cooked in the coals.  Next morning we speed off in the dinghy to purchase the supplies and others prepared the barbecue area and cut down the bamboo for the rice.
  

Two fires were prepared, one for the grill, one for the bamboo rice and potatoes.  While the food was cooking Jabu, Beretin and Dominic took the cruisers to explore the jungle.  The boys showed us large Nepenthes, (insect eating Pitcher plants), hanging orchids, birds nest ferns and many tall native fruit trees.  We arrived back as the food was being served on large green leaves.  Everyone agreed that it was a great adventure.

New reading glasses and big smiles!

Reading Glasses R Us

Kikii from SV Endelig and we on Crystal Blues had been collecting reading glasses and sun glasses.  One evening whilst visiting the long house we asked for a book and distributed the glasses.  Then we sat back as glasses were tested.  Eventually all those who needed new reading glasses found a suitable pair.  Our Iban friends will often "go without" with no complaints, but are happy to accept when the spirit is right.

Rubber Tapping Iban Style 

   

Jampie collecting the latex

Although this was our fifth visit to the longhouse, we had never visited a rubber plantation.  This year our good friend Jampie asked us if we would like to go and watch him tap and collect the white, silky latex.  Robert and Elaine (SV Sunrise) joined Ley and the kids early one morning to watch Jampie.  We saw the simple tool that is used to just skim open the the bark each morning.  He carefully poured the collected latex into a bottle and then turned over each cup so that the mosquitoes could not breed in them.     

Jentang and Asat rolling out the rubber.

The latex is then taken back to the long house and mixed with a coagulating chemical (an acid), left to firm up and then pressed out into rubber slabs.  These are then dried and sold off to the traders in town. Even after four years of visiting Rumah Lidam, we are still amazed by their culture and life skills.

Borneo River Action

Our Caribe "car" with a load of Iban visitors

We always think of our inflatable dinghy as our "car".  Here in Borneo, on the river Sungai Tulai, it is the quickest way for us to get to town, and really the only way to move around - visiting the long houses or bringing visitors to our boat.  Built by Caribe in Venezuela, it's now ten years old and still going strong.  On our last visit here the Caribe carried a mother in labour to hospital - and that child was named after Ley.  Last week it carried a badly injured young man to the same hospital, after he was involved in an accident in the longhouse.  Bleeding badly, he was carried from the longhouse in a woven sling under a stout pole and loaded onto the floor.  We hear that he survived, but may not have use of his fingers.

Local Boats 

Our Iban friend Jampie made his own boat 5 years ago.  He went into the jungle, cut the tree down and then cut the timber into long planks.  These were left to dry out and then he built his boat.  That tradition continues, though this year we were surprised to see new styles emerging - boats clearly built for speed.  This year, the young men are building small racing boats, practicing for a competitive regatta to be held on the river in July.  Though the designs are new, they're assembled with the same skills used by their fathers.  

 Each boat uses a small (standard) chinese manufactured petrol engine, air cooled with a single cylinder. Propeller selection and hull shape seems to be up to the builder.  Every day this week they've been carried down to the river and tested, sometimes with dramatic results. Iban boats are usually steered by a single paddle, held over the side.  These new boats have rudimentary rudders with a basic rope steering system.  These afternoon practice sessions are great entertainment for the locals - big and small, old and young, the community crowds the dock, offering words of encouragement and helpful suggestions. There is always alot of laughter. Neil uses our dinghy as the "crash" boat.  He has towed a few boats back to the dock and was instrumental in one rescue where the driver flew out of his boat whilst turning too sharply.  The boat sped off into the jungle along the riverbank.  It was totally hidden in the undergrowth and a machete was called for to hack a path into it.  All the time the engine was roaring away - no safety cut out switches here. 

Glamour For The Girls

There are three yachts now visiting the longhouses here on Sungai Tulai for the Gawai festival.  Yesterday afternoon the three cruising women decided to add a bit of glamour for the local girls.  They gathered up nail files, polish, polish remover and a splash of perfume, and headed into the long house.                                                                        

Ley gave a quick talk on  manicure and nail polishing techniques.  Nails were cleaned and filed, cuticles pushed down and then the painting began. One coat of clear base, two coats of colour and then two top protective coats - all in fairly rapid succession.  Extreme speed nail painting followed, but we all had a great time and many beautifully manicured hands were seen in the long house that evening. Many thanks to Kikki from SV Endelig and Christina from SV Roxy for helping hands and the perfume.

The Painting Blues

Okay, we have been very slow in updating this blogsite - but right now we're wondering just where did June and July get to ? It seems we've been working even harder, with only occasional stops to smell the roses.

The Painting Blues

After deciding to re-paint our decks, the painting crew faced many challenges right through May, June & July. The rainy season arrived early, high temperatures, strong winds and high humidity all contributed to repeated delays and failures as they repainted our deck.

But other issues were also lurking ...... contamination in the finish. The contractors (Pro Yachting) replaced the air lines, the compressor filters, the spray gun, insulated the tent lining and even brought in an air conditioner, but still no-one was happy with the paint finish. We went through the spray the paint on/sand the paint off cycle more times that any of us care to count.

The head painter (a Thai Buddhist) was so discouraged by all this that he decided to stop eating pork, on the basis that we were located on traditional Muslim land. Superstition runs deep over here.

In the end they purchased a new tin of paint - SUCCESS - really glossy paint on the deck, and no corruptions ! The painting team was so happy that after a really hard night celebrating, they all forgot to come to work the next day. No-one is sure how the original paint became contaminated, but it was an emotional and expensive time for all.

Visas & Birthdays Every three months we need to renew our Thai visas, which can only be done outside of Thailand (go figure) - so in June we flew to Penang to celebrate our birthdays and renew our tourist visas.

Visiting Penang is like going home for us - its like putting on an old (well worn) coat. We rent a motor scooter and ride everywhere, enjoying breakfast in Little India and lunches in our favourite Chinese vegetarian restaurant, where lunch is self-serve from fifty plus trays of delicious curries and mixed vegetables, with "chicken", "beef", "prawns" and "eggs". There are many of these Buddhist vegetarian restaurants in Penang and all the protein served there is made from tofu.

Penang must be the greatest food city in the world - sorry Singapore ! So many choices - and we shared Yum Cha with Bruce and Audrey from SV Envy. Neil chose dinner from trolleys stacked high with bamboo baskets of dim sum - translucent rice pastries filled with scallops, prawns, pork and vegetables.

If you would like to see where our favourite eating places are in Penang, click here.

Downsizing Way back in March we imagined that our boat would be near completion by the end of June, so we found new tenants for the house we were living in. Wrong move ....

Of course Crystal Blues was not ready by the move out date, so we had to downsize from a house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and garage to a very small one bedroom apartment plus a four metre square storage shed, both located close to Crystal Blues here at Boat Lagoon, Phuket.

In typical fashion, our Thai friends all helped out with the move - "Aon" loaned shelving for the shed and a desk for the apartment, whilst "Ai" stored a pile of clothing and the barbeque in her spare room. "Kaew" fed us countless times during those frantic weeks - its the local people that make Thailand so special.

Recycling As part of our re-fit we replaced the genoa furler and some rigging, plus the pushpit and pulpit railings.

Gradually our stockpile of old stainless steel and aluminium built up.

Neil eventually cut all the metal into smaller bits, loaded up the back of the truck and we went out to haggle with the local junk yards. The dealers here are pretty tough - they use super strong magnets to asses everything you offer them - the small amount of residual magnetism in our old rigging wire was enough for them to say it was not stainless - sure was news to me. We tried several places but they all played the same game - in the end we managed to dine out for a few nights on the proceeds.

Our boat work is now proceeding at a great pace, and we can see the changes every single day. The freezer box had been re-installed, the mast is almost completely rebuilt and another two days will see the reconstruction of the forward hold completed. We're also still juggling our time between the boat and our video work, which we'll tell you about in the next instalment.

Coastal Internet Update - Google At Sea

We continue to receive questions about internet access afloat, so an update seems appropriate. To my delight, our Sierra Wireless 3G/GPRS modem continues to provide amazing service. With a DiGi sim card installed we had perfectly reliable internet access for more than 70% of the voyage from Singapore to Langkawi. Service dropped out at One Fathom Bank, north of Port Klang, but came back in again as we approached Pangkor Island and held the coast to Penang. It dropped again for a few hours between Penang and Langkawi, but we have seen the service running quite well more than 16km offshore. In Malaysian waters we certainly don't bother with wi-fi anymore. Whilst true 3G and/or Edge service is hard to find, the DiGi GPRS is fast, stable and incredibly widespread. At about 2 ringit (70c) per day, we love it. The Sierra Wireless modem will work anywhere in the world, though costs will vary in different countries. For more detailed information, click here & here.

1000 Miles To Phuket

Latitude 06 degrees 32.31 North, Longitude 099 degrees 25.16 East. The Southern Andaman Sea

Its 1000 nautical miles (just under 2000km) from our long-house anchorage in Borneo to Phuket in Thailand. Right now we're just 90nm from Phuket and should arrive there tomorrow morning. Then we start work in earnest, as Crystal Blues will come out of the water onto the hard stand for a six month intensive refit and paint job.

We departed Sarawak, Borneo, on July 23rd, and paused in Singapore for a 4 day break that (typically) turned into a 2 week layover. Why does this always happen to us ? Catching up with friends is part of it, and being thoroughly entertained by the Stonham family (we call it being "Stonhamed") also took its toll. However we did spend a lot of time checking out equipment for an upcoming video shoot, completed our AIS transponder installation, re-installed our wifi antenna system to the davits aft and purchased a lot of the materials needed for the refit.

Our good friend Robert Goh, who lives in Singapore, is a newly initiated cruising sailor. He's also a 1st rate alpinist and mountain climber. Unfortunately he was caught up in the sad disaster that engulfed the climbing teams on K2 in Pakistan this season - Robert wasn't hurt, he was below the ice fall and he returned to base camp safely. Check his website here. His summit attempt has now been cancelled and he's naturally very disappointed. Robert's partner Elaine spent time with us as the disaster progressed, and is naturally quite relieved that he's on his way home.

We escaped from Singapore on Wednesday August 13, heading north up the Malacca Straits and arrived in Langkawi (Malaysia) exactly 2 days and 11 hours later. Every hour of that passage was on the engine - the "new" Cummins engine has now clocked over 2000 hours. There was no useful wind for the entire trip. The even newer Comar Automatic Identification System also proved its worth - more on that in a future story. 36 hours anchored at Kuah town in Langkawi let us abuse our credit cards whilst stocking up on essential duty free "beverages" and adding further to the collection of refit materials now clogging the boat.

Stashed below are 2 sheets of Dow RTM Styrofoam insulation for our new freezer box (each 2.6m long), plus a roll of vinyl marine hooding for Ley to make new covers. On deck we have a new aluminium extension ladder for access to the boat on the hard. A deck mount air-con unit loaned by SV Tweed fills the salon, thanks Jon & Pam (thats the Tweed crew in the image at left, breakfasting on Roti in Langkawi). Our aft cabin is full of grog, hardware, stainless steel angle, paint and spare parts. Its now a big floating hardware store, and it all has to come off the boat and go into storage when we arrive, along with everything else on the vessel - food, clothing, utensils, parts, tools, mast, rigging etc. This will take a while, though we hope to complete the transfer before we haul out on September 4th.

We departed Langkawi this morning and have a fine weather forecast for the next 24 hours - a little wind this time, so we're now motor sailing with 7 knots of breeze just aft the beam. Flat seas and sunny weather, little rain, its unusually mild for the South West monsoon. Ley and I expect to be in Thailand for 6 months, and will be renting a house for the duration, somewhere close to Phuket Boat Lagoon. Friends and family are always welcome, so please email or call us if you'd like to visit.