Pangkor- Penang -Langkawi

Leaving Pangkor  Island before sunrise, we set off for the island of Penang.

One thing about sailing (aka motoring with shade sails) in this neck of the woods, that no one really dwells on, is the unrelenting heat. So apart from showering in cold water, here are some other ways of relieving the heat....

Take one umbrella whilst dangling legs elegantly in the wake

Open umbrella (or more elegantly, parasol), continue on voyage, dangling legs, avec deployed parasol

https://youtu.be/-qBZ-P5g01U

 Actually managed a pleasant sail during the afternoon.
Anchored just south of Penang Island, at Rimau Island, so that we could use the tide in our favour to transit through the harbour.

The tidal flows are a little different to what I'm used to home. At home on the east coast of Australia the tabulated times for high and low water generally pretty well reflect the change of direction of the ebb or flood. In the part of the world I now find myself, the tidal flow direction actually seems to change about 3 hours after the high or the low tide The flood tide runs to the South and the ebb runs to the North. As it runs at a couple of knots of speed it definitely pays to sit and wait a while for it to be running in the direction of intended travel. Hence we anchored for the night to make a daylight run, under the two magnificently imposing bridges that connect Penang Island to the mainland through to Georgetown.

Approaching from the south (Rimau anchorage)

Made it! For the record this one, the new bridge 24km long , has a height clearance  of  33m,  not easily found except on internet
certanly doesnt get a mention on the chart!

Unfortunately the marina with the easiest access to the UNESCO protected old quarter  of Georgetown was destroyed by the Tsunami. This marina was located minutes from the city.Only two other smaller marinas exist and both were full. Anchoring off, seemed pointless as dinghy access (or more correctly somewhere to leave the dinghy whilst ashore) seemed to be  non existent as far as we could determine.
Solution- on to Langkawi  60nm to the north and return by ferry to Penang on a future date.

Having decided on the plan, we left Penang at 1000hrs for Langkawi.  The morning breeze predictably then died away, but came back a couple of hours later giving K'Gari a really pleasant sail, until the evening sumatra arrived with avengence, about 10nm short of our destination.

On the way we encountered yet another type of fishing device ( or fish attractant, or storage net, depending on who you talk to). Had seen none of these to date but they became a common fixture for the afternoon

Sails stowed before the sumatra hit , and our arrival into Langkawi was not only in the dark (just for a change) but for the first few miles through torrential rain and considerable wind. Not only was it some what damp and windy but there was eerie green glow emanating from somewhere up ahead of us.

https://youtu.be/qjfQttkH19M

 None of us could work what was causing the green glow. It could almost be imagined that the shore of Langkawi was being guarded by multitudinous  green eyed monsters.
However, before being led astray by wild  imagination, we were in fact all  focused on looking for a couple of yellow flashing buoys marked on the chart- neither  of which we could see either visually or by the radar- as it turns out, they dont exist. As we approached the mystery of the green glow was revealed. Dozens of small fishing boats with the most amazingly bright green spherical lights rigged at the prow of each boat, all heading out for their nights work. I guess they were after squid.

We anchored off the town of Kuah and the next morning shifted into the marina at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club. Mission accomplished.