On Board USS Carl Vinson

We sail with just 2 crew most times, so it was amazing to visit a vessel with a ship's crew of 3000, plus another 3000 "passengers" being the various air wing teams deployed aboard.  That's 6000 people on a ship that is 1000' long, and displaces 192,900 tons. 

Crystal Blues neighbour at Keppel Bay Marina was a very smart Riviera power cruiser that is owned by the US embassy in Singapore. Commander Paul Harris Wilt runs the boat, whilst his real job is Assistant Naval Attache at the embassy. Paul invited us to a reception on board the carrier when the battle group berthed in Singapore. The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is the third United States Navy Nimitz class supercarrier and is named after Carl Vinson, a Congressman from Georgia, in recognition of his contributions to the US Navy.

Onboard, we moved through an honor guard into a massive aircraft hanger, dressed with flags, where the reception was held.  Military music, food and drinks of course, on an otherwise "dry" US Navy vessel. 

The real fun began after the speeches and formalities - we were invited to ride the aircraft lift up to the flight deck and inspect the various aircraft up there.  An amazing site, dozens of aircraft of many types, positively eerie on the darkened flight deck.

Bound For Penang, Smoky Haze

We departed Singapore this morning on schedule, clearing immigration just after noon and turning westward across the bottom of the island.  By 15:00hrs we should will be turning north west, up the Malacca Straits. 

The smoke haze from forest fires in Sumatra is very thick - visibility is down to about 3 or 4 miles.  The haze will clear as we head northwards, aiming to be in Penang by Thursday.  The past week was highlighted by a succession of send-off dinners with many friends, the final one was being last night aboard MV Alfa Nero (Robin & Dianna Enlund) at Kepple Marina.  Consequently we're a liitle slow today, but very happy to be at sea again.

Escaping Singapore

Crazy Curved Buildings At The Marina

That's us on the right, so keen to move, sitting here with our mainsail up in the marina. Only two days to go and we'll be away - north from Singapore to Penang, and then on to Langkawi for haul out and yard work.  

This will be our (count 'em) eleventh passage through the Malacca Straits.  Never again, we said last time....

Crystal Blues has been neglected for quite a while, so we're putting energy into cosmetic and systems work.  The mainsail has been bent onto the boom, tracks lubricated and sheets rove. Tomorrow we'll hoist and furl the staysail, and she'll be a sail boat again.  Ley has been busy stocking the freezer and pantry, while supporting me with the polishing, hull cleaning and the systems work. She's also been repairing damaged covers with the sewing machine we carry.


 We've hoisted the dinghy on deck for a thorough clean and minor patch job.  Still need to service the outboard engines, one more job. 

On the systems side, we always voyage with dual Autopilots fitted, with a changeover switch to select the "in service" pilot system.  This year the oldest Autohelm unit died (23 years is fair service), so it has been replaced with a new Raymarine ACU400 with the fancy new EV1 sensor core.  This of course meant running new cables from A to B and from C to D and so on and so on for several days, removing ceiling panels and drilling and painting yet more holes in steel frames - lots of fun for all. 

We've also completed installation of an AIS Man Overboard alarm system (more on that in the future), updated the voltage regulator for the engine alternator and many other jobs.  However the autopilot system was really the big one, as it meant introducing new data networks to the boat and finding ways for the older systems to share information with the new ones.  So we now (stupidly) have six (count them) different marine data networks on board, plus extensive ethernet and wifi systems. We'll talk more about that in a future post.

Sarah, Shaun, Sam & Harrison

Today we went to sea for the first time in six months, testing systems and tuning the new autopilot.  More importantly it was also to be our last picnic sail in Singapore, so we left the dock with family on board - Shaun, Sarah, Harrison and baby Sam, plus my brother Peter Langford who was in town this week attending a conference.  It hasn't rained for weeks, so of course the heavens opened just before our scheduled departure time.  We waited for the system to move through and then motored out of the marina - what a joy to be afloat and moving again. A great day, swimming, fishing and enjoying good food.  Four year old Harrison said the boat was "cool".

Singapore has changed regulations recently, visiting yachts now need to have a locally licensed captain on board - just to go for a day sail.  You can do an online license test, apparently a days swatting will get most people a pass. All private boats must also now lodge a voyage plan before every departure (only $20 at the marina office) and you must have AIS running as well.  Private boating is tightly managed here.  So today we had to hire a licensed captain to be on board for our daysail  ...  could not get a cruising permit without that.

Black Streaks Are Us

Escaping the grind of 12 hour work days in Manila, boat work seemed an attractive option and Crystal Blues has been ignored for some time.  Arriving aboard in Singapore twelve days ago, we were surprised how much attention she really needed.

 The acid rain here is (we think) the worst in the world - just one rain shower can have the boat looking zebra striped.

If the black is not removed quickly, it will eat into older gel coat and paint systems to become a permanent feature of the vessel.  

Our Awlgrip paint is five years old, but living in Manila for the past year we were simply not washing the boat often enough.  So we returned to a stripy hull and decks that resisted all attempts at conventional cleaning.

We really needed a solution.

Our Cruising Mantra - Retire Young - Retire Often

We first retired from our work in Australia in 2005, before going cruising.  For five years we stayed gainfully unemployed, before happenstance offered up a variety of interesting projects and challenges over the intervening years.

Since then we've been involved in making digital HD videos of beautiful villas in Bali and Thailand, project management at a zip-line ride and adventure park on Sentosa Island and consulting for a Singapore company, building an AV design team in Singapore and India.  These projects allowed us to experience the south Asia area in depth, and between the assignments we managed to continue our cruising life style.

Making Videos - Luxury Villas In Bali and Thailand

Project Management - MegaZip At Sentosa Island, Singapore

Building Systems - Axis Bank Mumbai, Video Walls & Multiple Meeting Rooms

Our latest contract has given us the opportunity to discover another country as we've been based in Manila for almost 12 months.  I've been working with a local company on a range of very large projects, including a museum, a luxury home and the largest temple in Asia.  Most recently I've been responsible for the design, implementation and commissioning of media systems for the new City Of Dreams Casino in Manila.

When the Fun Stops... Retire

Ley sends me off to work each morning with a consistent and clear message - have fun !  We both know that when the fun stops we will move on, returning to our cruising home.  

Retirement day now is now looming again.  On August 31 (in just one week), we'll be off again.  Yes, we are on a count down, there is water at the end of the tunnel and we are looking forward to sailing on it very soon.

Crystal Blues should depart Singapore in early October, calling in at Penang for a few weeks before hauling out of the water at Rebak in Langkawi (Malaysia) for some much needed under water anti-fouling paint. By January we'll be back to our old haunts around Phuket in Thailand.

Another Gemini Birthday

Friday June 13, Lucky For Some

Time flies when you are having fun and it flies even faster the older you get.  Neil and Ley celebrated another birthday on June 13.

Neil's work mates had a surprise for him when he arrived at site, at the City Of Dreams Casino in Manila Bay.  It was in the form of a luscious, super rich, chocolate birthday cake.

After the candle was blown out and the cake cut and shared there was still plenty left over.  We left it at the office as we were flying out that afternoon to another birthday celebration in Singapore.

Ray and Jan Pitt, aka Crystal Blues part time "deckie and galley bitch" were coming to Singapore to continue the celebrations.

They arrived bearing gifts of bubbles and good cheer and quickly settled into their cabin and started to chill out after a whirlwind trip to Bali.

A little bit of Singapore charm was also added to the night as we had starters and pre dinner drinks in Tekka Mall in Little India.  

Then we rode the MRT to the Sands Casino and enjoyed fine dining, Italian style, at Osteria Mozza.

The Last Party for the Geminis

Just a week back, Neil's Pinoy work team joined us for fun at our local bar, Senore Paquitos.  Neil sang, we danced and all had a lot of fun.

Our Singapore Family

Shaun, Sarah, Harrison, Sam & Ley

Seems like we can't keep away from Singapore.

Now, our eldest son Shaun, wife Sarah and two grandchildren have relocated there. 

So we recently sailed Crystal Blues from her berth in Indonesia, across the Singapore Straits to the marina at Keppel Bay.  It has been a busy few weeks, helping the family with unpacking and house setup and enjoying the time with grandchildren - a luxury for two old sea gypsies!

The Job List

H helping Nana Ley

Our new Karcher pressure washer arrived, so with help from Harrison we gave the dinghy cover a good scrub.  Singapore is a great place for boat jobs, as parts and materials are so readily available.

First on the list was to repair the air-conditioning, which stopped working a few hours after we arrived in Singapore (of course).  

With some email support from Stephane of Siam Cooling, Neil was able to locate and repair the problem.  Stephane was spot-on with his advice - we found a burnt AC connection wire, under a cover on top of the rotary compressor housing - probably caused by the low supply voltages on the dock in Indonesia.  Lower voltage equals higher current - not good for the wiring, specially at the crimped terminations.  We replaced the crimp connection and  cool air was pumping around the boat very quickly - a collective sigh all round!

Second on the list was the completion of the Ultrasonic Antifoul system that we purchased a few months back.  We had initially set up a temporary install, but now all cables are loomed in neatly and the system is clicking away, hopefully keeping all critters from attaching to our hull.  We plan to report on the progress of this unit in the future.

Finally, soon after departure from Nongsa Point in Indonesia, our Comar AIS stopped working.  It had been operating faultlessly for 6 years. Robin Kidd from OceanTalk replaced the motherboard and all is up and running again.  Sailing visitors to Singapore should note that local regulations now require that onboard AIS beacons should operate 24x7 for the duration of the visit, even while berthed in the marina.  We have had to re-wire the switchboard supply to achieve this.

Three jobs down, plenty more to follow!

Marina At Keppel Bay

Crystal Blues has been snugly moored here for three weeks.  The staff are exceptionally friendly, and with many live-aboard cruisers around there is always a party somewhere. We think we are going to enjoy our time here.

Dangerous Liferaft Servicing

Early this year we broke our own "boat rules" and could well have paid the penalty with our lives.

The Only Time We Want To Be Inside The Raft.

Our number one rule is to try to service and maintain every item on the boat ourselves.  Our number two rule is to always work alongside and supervise any contractor working on the boat.  

We broke both rules when we sent away our DSB / Secumar life raft for servicing in Bangkok. The last time the raft was serviced, in Singapore, we had watched the entire operation.

This time, under pressure to complete our refit,  we shipped the raft to be "serviced" by MSC, Marine Survitec Company near Bangkok.  What a dangerous and expensive mistake.

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.

Sailing 101

Sailing is all about Teamwork.    Last week Neil was an invited guest speaker at Space Matrix management conference in Singapore.  His topic was the power of teamwork, using Sailing as the example.  Sailing 101 is the title - what a buzz. The event was held at One Degree 15 Marina Club, our old home in Singapore.

While introducing sailing skills he challenged the audience with knot tying skills - and the results were hilarious.  How many architects does it take to tie a bowline ?  Actually quite a few got it right !

Of course our cruising anecdotes became vivid examples of teamwork in action, and the one hour presentation concluded with a marina tour.  The audience were able to inspect the classic cruising boat SV Sunrise (thanks to Robert Goh) and the hot shot racer Yoo Zoo (thanks Ludde Ingvalls) before admiring motor yacht MV Blue Steel (thanks Rod Steel).  25 people from Singapore, India, Thailand and Dubai had a hell of a time, and the party after the conference wasn't bad either.  Need a team oriented motivational talk ?  Call us !

Never Leave Port On A Friday - With Bananas Onboard

And never sail with a woman onboard - well we won't go there.  So we broke all the old rules last Friday and were severely punished!

We cleared out of Singapore heading for a 4 day break on the Johore River in Malaysia.  We anchored over night and departed just before dawn with favourable light winds and current.  Then the dawn peace was shattered by an engine alarm - coolant temperature was high.  Despite having the necessary parts on board we soon found ourselves limping back to Singapore under dinghy power.

Crystal Blues Uses Dinghy Propulsion

 When the alarm sounded we shut down, quickly hoisted the sails and slowly made our way through one of Singapore's big ship anchorages.  As we sailed we started stripping the engine cooling system, starting with the gearbox oil cooler - if the impeller had failed the parts would be pushed through the system to that point.

A handfull of rubber bits confirmed our assumption, so we then started removing the seawater pump.  We kept sailing, letting the engine cool down and when the breeze stopped we dropped anchor just east of Changi airport.  The water pump location on the Cummins is tucked well forward, where access is mainly by feel, not sight, through a small opening under the galley sink.  Our 11mm ring spanner was too long for Neil to use in such a confined space, so on the back step we used the angle grinder to cut it down.  All was going well until the last bolt head sheared off as we released it.  Now we had no wind, no motor and 9 nautical miles to return to the marina.

Dinghy Propulsion

A handful of impeller blades

With the dinghy sprung with long lines, just aft of midship, we hung all our fenders overboard to protect the hull.  Well smothered in sunscreen and holding an umbrella we did shifts in powering forward, sitting in the dinghy.  Steerage was via the autopilot as we moved at 3.5 to 4 knots back to the marina.

Half way back the 18hp Tohatsu outboard motor started cutting out.  It would start again after a few squeezes on the inline priming pump, but it was quite stressful as we were drifting in a ship anchorage.  We were sun burned, dehydrated and not having much fun!  Fortunately our good neighbours, Peter and Somkuan of MV Inn Lieu came out in their large RIB dinghy and towed us the last few miles home. Once inside the marina we maneuvered under dinghy power and quietly slipped into our pen.  Now the "holiday" can begin again.

We passed two Dockwise boat / yacht transport  ships in the anchorage - maybe we could have asked for a "lift" home?

B.O.A.T Day!

We had a B.O.A.T (bring out another thousand ) day, yesterday.  Fortunately these don't come around too often, but when they do they are nasty.

1. The Genset Saga Continues

Our dear Onan - a love hate relationship

Ley had noticed that there was a light grey, dusty film in the lazerette.  Installed here are a myriad of pumps, washing machine, genset, watermaker, inverter, charger and house batteries - each and every component could be guilty......so we checked everything.  Two Jabsco pumps and a magnetic (refrigeration) pump were recently replaced, the washing machine just over a year old, the batteries were clean and dry, so we pulled off the cover of the genset......a light grey film of dust had delicately settled over its innards, not good.  We started the genset up and saw a puff of grey smoke waft out from the back of the Onan.  Why is it that when something fails the problem is always at the back of the machinery, deeply hidden?  We have pulled this genset apart too many times to count for other problems, see here, the exhaust system will be a new challenge.


2. Followed by the Battery Charger

Mastervolt Mass Charger on the right

But this was just the icing on the cake.  Early in the morning we started the genset, and if you are wondering our latest impeller (30 hours of use) is doing fine, but we didn't seem to be charging our AGM house batteries via the Mastervolt Mass 12/80 battery charger.  We could see spasmodically just a few amps of charge, not the 60 plus amps that are normally thumped in.  The 240 volt refrigeration system was working fine, so we knew the gentset output was okay.  After checking the Mastervolt service book, Neil pulled out the giant tool box and other stuff that is stored in this section to make a pathway for him to lie side-on, over the house batteries and the look at the charger.  The Mastervolt charger was bolted in position when this aft section of the boat was not fully populated with stuff, and as it is a low maintenance piece of equipment, we thought this location was okay. After a few hours of observation and testing we decided that the charger was faulty.

The burnt electrical socket.

3. Seriously Sad Wiring

As Neil was lying across the batteries he noticed that the 240 volt plug from the air conditioner was loose in the GPO socket.  He tried to push it back in, but found out that the plastic fitting was melted, brown and deformed -  a very lucky discovery.  So we totally removed this piece of wire, reinstalled and terminated the connection from the GPO plug to the air con unit.......this was the only bit of wiring on our boat that we had let a contractor do.  We supplied the wire, double insulated, the black cable protector and the Australian approved 240 volt plug, sloppy workmanship was provided in Thailand.

On Monday we talked with Bob Wisniewskii from Power Protection Solutions in Australia and ordered a new battery charger.  We have also sourced Onan manifold and exhaust gaskets locally and from Australia for the genset.

Practice flag carrying for National Day

Ah, a Long Weekend

Of course none of this would be so urgent as most of the time we are tied up to the dock, but next weekend we have a four day holiday to celebrate Singapore National Day and we hope not to be tied up for a few days.  Instead we want to be anchored off Telok Sengat and Sebana Cove in the Johore River in Malaysia.

B.O.A.T.......

Milestones

A Different View

View from the cockpit at dusk.

This month the Singapore Yacht Show came to One Degree 15 Marina on Sentosa Island, and wouldn't you know it, quite a few of the resident "super" yachts had to vacate their berths for a month.  Crystal Blues was moved to a temporary berth and although the change of view was great, the long walk along the dock was not appreciated.

When we first arrived in Singapore late in 2005 there was not a single building around the One 15 Degree Marina pond.  Now the whole basin is surrounded by apartment blocks, a soon to be finished "W" hotel, a multi-story car park and the One Degree 15 Marina Club.  Back in 2005 the marina was "occupied" by international cruising sailors (paying peppercorn rents), and then we had a lot of fun .... now it is a floating parking lot full of large white motor boats which are maintained by permanent crew. We're glad that cruising yachts still visit on a regular basis to enjoy the luxury of One15, and the ease of shopping and provisioning in sensational Singapore. It is still great value.

OMG - My Younger Brother is 50 !

Happy Birthday Pete!

Peter turned 50 in March, and we flew back home for ten days. 

What a party that was - the time flew by - only my brother Pete could have three different parties on three different days at three different locations, for three different groups of friends - and every party was great ! 

Here is a link to Pete's birthday photos.

We still found time for visiting our friends, some shopping and of course playing with our gorgeous grandson, Harrison.

Happy grandson

Ain't he cute....

Harrison is now 6 months old.  He wakes up with a smile on his face and it lasts the whole day through - such a joy for all  his family.

His first tooth was cut whilst we were in Melbourne and his mum Sarah tells me that the second one is on its way.  Harrison is moving backwards, a precursor to crawling forwards ...another milestone soon we hope.

Although he's challenging his parents with his sleeping habits, Harrison's wake up cuddles and smiles just melt your heart.

Celebrating Life, Boats & Women

13 Roses

Valentines Day and our wedding anniversary

Valentines Day and our thirteenth wedding anniversary was celebrated Singapore style this year.

Neil arrived at the boat with a beautiful bouquet of 13 roses and after dark we celebrated at a seafood restaurant that is famous for its live crab and fish.  We were joined by Steven Shaw, who was Best Man at our wedding, and his wife Carol, along with several other local and international crab lovers.

The beer was from Singapore and the live crabs were from Sri Lanka.  Those crabs, plus a large Grouper fish, were selected from huge glass tanks, scooped out and dispatched to the kitchen.  We patiently sat and waited for the feast to begin, and we were not disappointed.

Mumbai Boat Show

Just what we need - an on water couch!

Last Saturday we happened to be in Mumbai and so we just had to visit the 5th International Mumbai Boat Show.

Although India has a long maritime history, recreational boating is a fairly new concept there, so the show was low key.  It was focused mainly on new power boat owners, boats available for charter, a few stalls with marine bits and bobs and two marina design and construction companies.

There are many marinas planned for India, but until a few more are built India will be hard pressed to grow a pleasure boating industry.  We did chat with the builders of the Cochin Marina.  This new marina has proved extremely popular this year as a stop over for cruisers heading towards the Red Sea and the Maldives.  With at least three sailing rallies using Cochin as their Indian base, this marina is planned to double in size as soon as the paperwork and permits are granted. With the recent unfortunate turn of events in the Gulf of Aden, their planned extension may be lacking in visiting International sailors until the Somali pirate issues are contained.

Women Working In India

Our most recent trip to India included both Mumbai and Hyderabad.  With two major AV projects underway for Space Matrix, Neil's time was spent on building sites, co-ordinating services and AV installations.  Both of these projects are fascinating in their scope, budgets and expectations.  Being on-site is like being in the middle of preparations for an Indian wedding - or the Delhi Olympic Games - with its "it will be alright on the night" attitudes.  However the headaches along the way are of migraine proportions!

How do all the building supplies get delivered  - on women's heads, up the back stairs of course!    Such a contrast to the mega$$ high tech video wall that Neil is building.

Of course the biggest headaches are probably felt by the women on site, like those in this picture, who carry all the building supplies and construction materials up the stairs (all day long) on their heads.  The women in this image had never had their photo taken - ever! Seems appropriate to view the James Bond video here, in support of International Women's Day.

A Story With A Sting

MV Saraburi, photo by Brendan Pollard

 Our favourite weekend anchorage is St John's island, a short 15 minute journey from One Degree 15 Marina in Singapore.  Most weekends you'll find MV Blue Steel, MV Saraburi and SV Crystal Blues anchored in this bay.

Late Saturday afternoon, two weeks ago, our friends Rod and Angie, (Blue Steel) and Al and Mel, (Saraburi) decided to go ashore in their tender, planning to swim and walk the beach at St Johns Island.

They had just got out of the tenders for a swim when Al unfortunately stepped on something in the shallows that sent an immediate searing pain from his second smallest toe up his leg.  He hobbled to the beach, expecting to see a major laceration to his foot.  Mel and Angie could only find the tiniest puncture wound in his toe.

Al's swollen leg, 3 days later

Because of the intense pain they immediately sped back to the marina and soaked Al's foot in hot water whilst preparing for the drive to A&E at Raffles Hospital.  Al tells us that by now the pain was excruciating and all he could do was hold his leg up on the dashboard, squeezing his leg to halt the advancing pain.

Stonefish Envonomation

Very quickly he was admitted and the doctors diagnosed Stonefish envomation.   After 3 pethidine injections the pain started to subside - all the while he was soaking his foot in hot water to break down the protein in the venom.  Al's foot was x-rayed and then he went under a general anaesthetic as the doctor wanted to lance the puncture site and thoroughly clean out the wound.  Laden with antibiotics, antihistamines, pain killers, a very swollen leg and a hefty bill, he was discharged the following morning.

Mean Looking and Dangerous Too !

Google Images / Peter Verhas

The Stonefish is from the family Scorpaenidae, which includes a large variety of fish characterized by the ability to envenomate with various types of specialized spines.  LionFish, Zebrafish, Butterfly Cod, Scorpionfish are also in this family. Stonefish are well camouflaged bottom dwellers and like to live near rock, seaweed and coral.

A quick search on the Web revealed a recent study conducted by Singapore General Hospital on Stonefish stings in Singapore.  Its a common problem here it seems.   For a detailed treatment regime for either a Stonefish or LionFish envonomation see the link here.

Two weeks later Al is still in pain, and his leg is still puffy from a single puncture wound.  We'll all be more careful on the beaches around Singapore from now on.

Fun and Games

Mussel Man

Nephew Brendan's Awesome Visit

Neil's nephew, Brendan Pollard, came to Singapore for 10 days in early January.  We shopped, partied, cooked, listened to good music and were completely zoo'd out during this time.  We were also able to listen to Brendan practicing on his saxophone most days  -  a private sax player in the anchorage.

Widening Brendan's horizons was fun - he can now make mean Margaritas and Mojitos, and he applied himself to other cooking skills.  He baked bread and then moved onto scrambled eggs.  In return Brendan cooked his fabulous French Toast.

Neil and Brendan spent a lot of "geek" time together, shopping and eating in Sim Lim Square- the Singapore temple of all things electronic.

But the most interesting thing we shared was our mutual love of mussels...just how many kilos did he eat?

Sailing In Singapore

Akhil Paul and Jason enjoying the sail.

Last Sunday eight of us set sail for a Sunday picnic at St John's Island.  Five were novice sailors from the Bangalore and Singapore offices of Space Matrix. With a good breeze and friend Rod Steel at the helm we enjoyed a few hours of sailing before anchoring for lunch.  Akhil Paul and Jason Aung (both complete boating novices) spent most of their time at the bow, reveling in the salty sailing. 
After a very cosmopolitan lunch including two traditional and delicious Burmese salads, most of us opted for a swim.  For once the water was cool and refreshing. With our visitors eventually free of inhibitions, Neil and Akhil were last seen jumping off the bow of Crystal Blues.

Strange but True

A few years back a large silvery white fish jumped out of the ocean and danced along our foredeck.  It skidded into the side of the open hatch over our bed, but didn't go through, leaving a trail of silver scales along the deck before flipping back into the sea.  On Sunday a similar fish leaped from the water at midships and whacked into Ley's calves.  We heard the whack and the splash but did not really "see" our fishy visitor, just the scales in the gunnel and Ley rubbing the bruise on her calf.

A work in progress!

Crimping Again

Our refit in Thailand wasn't quite complete when we departed there last year. So last week Neil started work on the new 12 volt control system for our refrigeration system.
For the first time in many months we had the tools out and the boat looking like an electronic workshop.  With the Eliwell controllers, plus many switches, diodes and Blue Seas terminal blocks, there has been a lot of soldering and crimping.  This is all being fitted to a custom stainless steel panel that was cut and engraved in Australia.  A work in progress to be completed....soon.

Christmas Cheer

Even though Neil was in between hospital visits over the festive season, we did manage to celebrate Christmas together with good friends.

On Christmas Day Crystal Blues and MV Saraburi  rafted together at St John's Island, Singapore.  Our friends Richard and Susan, SV Sea Bunny joined  Al and Mel on Saraburi and their friends Maria and Nick, for a shared feast. 

Christmas Day on MV Saraburi, photo courtesy of Richard Kidd

Our grandson's first Christmas! Photo courtesy of Sarah Gatter.

We spoke with both our families on Christmas Day over Skype. As the phone was passed around the tables in Melbourne, we managed to share in the Christmas cheer.   Looks like grandson Harrison also enjoyed his first Christmas!

Incredible India

Bolgatty Marina, Cochin

Although Neil has spent a long time in India this year, very little has been spent relaxing.  So early in December we flew to Cochin in the state of Kerala, "God's Own Country".  Located on the south west coast of India, we explored the ancient town of Fort Cochin and the marina at Bolgatty Island.  We were not disappointed in the food, the friendliness and the wonderful sights.  We stayed at the Fort House Hotel with a wonderful view of the extensive waterways leading into Cochin's backwaters and lake system.

Ouch!

Three days prior to this Neil was working in Hyderabad.  He was bitten by an insect whilst in a car on the way to see a client.  The bite instantly became red and angry.  By the weekend in Cochin the bite area was infected.  Neil started on a course of antibiotics and after a few more days he contacted the company's International Travel Assistance Service.  New antibiotics were prescribed but the relief was only temporary, the bite site began swelling and in a few days was the size of a half a golf ball.  Neil immediately flew back to Singapore and was at Singapore General Hospital an hour after landing and admitted for surgery later in the afternoon.

Cleaning the wound site - not much fun.

One more scar added

The surgeon excised the infected area, leaving a 3 cm by 1cm wide and 1cm deep hole in his arm (only click here if you want to see the wound). He was immediately put on a course of intravenous antibiotics. The wound site was kept open and cleaned and packed daily for the four days Neil was in hospital.

Visiting Boat Nurse

On discharge a nursing service was organised to come visit Neil on board and continue with cleaning and repacking the wound.  Gradually the new grainy tissue and blood vessels began to fill in this hole.

Excellent visiting nurse service

After Neil visited his surgeon for a followup visit, Ley took over the cleaning and wound packing.  With a week off between Christmas and New Year we planned to relax and hopefully find time to finish off the 12 volt control side of our refrigeration, still not completed from our refit.  But this was not meant to be....

One more time....

Happy New Year!

A few days later Neil was back in hospital.  Another infection had flared up, this time in his nasal and sinus area.  More blood tests, more IV antibiotics and bed rest at Singapore General Hospital.  The infection appears to be retreating and Neil no longer looks like Rudolf's brother!  But the bad news is that he will be seeing in the New Year from his hospital bed.

Wishing all our family and friends a very healthy, happy and peaceful 2011.

A Month Of Challenges

Neil continues with his "other" life, working mostly in India, with ongoing AV projects in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.  He had quite a few health issues over the last 2 months, but he seems to be on top of it now.  But not even a red-eye flight from India to Singapore was going to deter him from his latest challenge.

Getting Knotted

Bowlines.....up the burrow, around the tree, down the burrow, back to me!

Close friend Carol Shaw is "den mother" to a group of Cub Scouts here in Singapore.  The pack, 120 plus boys, were having a camp-out in a National Park and one of the planned experiences was knot tying.  Being an "old boy scout" in Australia, and a sailor, pre-qualified Neil for the teaching task.  But he still had to pass an online test to permit him to instruct a scouting group.

With his new certificate and a basic out line of available equipment and expectations, off Neil went to the Singapore camp out.  Both the parents and the boys had a fine time learning how to tie knots, coil line and the understanding of which knot to use when and where.

Kris and David departing from One15 Marina.

Hello....& Farewell

In early Novemeber our friends Kris and David on SV Taipan docked here at One Degree 15 Marina, Singapore, just two berths away from us.  Wow  - "real" cruisers to do real boating things with !  David, Kris and Ley shopped till they dropped, chasing boat bits, including webbing, alternator parts, and batteries.  A little food, clothes and shoe shopping happened as well.

We enjoyed  many great meals and good wines, until they finally cast off their dock lines, heading for Sarawak (our favourite Asian destination).  They are slowly heading northwards and our paths may not cross for many years to come, leaving us the challenge of saying farewell and safe sailing to great friends.

Continuing the Tradition

When we were based in Sydney we celebrated Thanksgiving with our American friends, Steve and Carol Shaw.  After the annual Saturday feast we usually loaded all the leftovers and more friends aboard Crystal Blues for a peaceful picnic on Pittwater.  We're pleased to say that this year we continued with our Thanksgiving tradition, celebrating again with the Shaw family and friends.  True to form, Sunday saw us sailing with delicious leftovers, plus a bunch of hangovers.  Crystal Blues sailed to St John's island, a challenging journey of at least 2 kilometers.  Our taste buds and waist lines were again challenged with turkey, mounds of stuffing, plates of vegetables and Carol's fabulous pumpkin and sweet potato pies.

Allen and Neil enjoying Thanksgiving!

Steven Shaw carving the turkey.