Roti- the best breakfast.

One of the things I really enjoy, after spending time in this neck of the woods, is the food.
I still don't do chilli in anything other than moderation, but there is much that I have taken to.

Breakfast for instance, nothing beats roti canai and tea tarik- and I didn't drink tea 18 months ago!

Tea Tarik is "pulled tea" , or tea poured from pot to mug over a distance of a foot or so. It's sweet, as is tea panas- hot tea, which is tea and condensed milk. About 6/8ths tea and 2/8th condensed  milk!

Roti Canai

Roti Canai- indian pancake, is served with curry sauce and dhal, into which the roti is dipped.
They come in a variety of forms, Roti canai- plain.
Roti telur, with egg,

Roti Boom, a little bit sweet I was told- its like white death- loaded with sugar inside- to the extent, that the sugar dissolves with the heat of the roti.  .

In the west it would come with health warnings on two counts- risk of developing diabetes2 and as most people know dissolving sugar is HOT . An interesting taste when eaten with the curry sauces.

Roti Boom

Roti Pisang- (banana) - no photo! This however was the choice in Thailand! Roti in Thailand is  slightly heavier in consistency than the Malay version with banana in the middle and don't forget the condensened milk-it looked pretty similar to the roti boom.

Roti Tisu

Roti Tisu- more of a dessert, not usually served with curry sauce. Its thin and crispy and dusted with sugar and served in a towering cone.




We found a nearby establishment to the marina, RZ Bistro, a 12 min walk away ,which we frequented for breakfast and over the next week I tried all but the roti sardin.Roti sardin, guess ? and no I haven't tried it, so no photo!

Tosai- soft version

Paper Tosai - crispy version.

 I also ventured off piste to another column of the makanan (menu), and tried tosai. Tosai is a pancake made from rice flour , yogurt and milk. It can be either soft or crispy. I prefer the soft version. More like a mexican tortilla, but you can definitely taste the yogurt, in the mixture.

 My favourites in order; Roti Canai, Tosai, soft version, Tisu, Pisang.
 Boom and Paper Tosai, interesting, but either too sweet or too crispy.

Can't wait to get back , for brekky.

That's it for now - check out the blog again towards the beginning of May........

Langkawi to Port Dickson

So back down the West Malaysian coast, in a couple of easy day hops, and this time with a partially  favourable  wind, enabling us to actually sail parts of  the West Malaysian coast.

We sailed, and (motor sailed for 4 hours) from Langkawi to the SW corner of Palau Penang , anchoring at sunset, having averaged 5 kts. A distance of 60 odd miles.
Next leg was Penang to Pangkor 71 miles.Again a couple of hours of motoring in the morning and then the wind came away about 1300 and we hot footed it until sunset, averaging about 7-8kts with just the MPS. Spent a beautifully comfortable night anchored in a bay on the west side of Pangkor Island. Friends of mine I was hoping to catch up with in Pangkor weren't there, so onwards onwards.

The next morning we departed early, as we had 95 miles to Port Klang, the greatest distance we needed to cover.
The forecast wind didn't eventuate, and we basically motored the entire distance to Port Klang, with the exception of a very short lived run with the MPS -tedious indeed.
Then that night at anchor, the wind did come away, from the SW, which made the anchorage rubbish when the tide started to ebb. Never mind , win one, lose one!

Next morning we were Port Dickson bound, initially in light rain and no wind, which apparently gave Steve the perfect opportunity to go aloft to try to work out why the previous days short lived MPS deployment, had ended in a "sticky halyard" moment. We did have a slight roll in the swell, but I hoisted him aloft at his insistence.Nothing could be seen, that caused the "sticky halyard" moment.
We managed a huge 3 knots under motor against the tide, as there was no wind. Finally the wind came away and with the MPS set again, we hit 11.2 knots, in the increasing afternoon breeze.
That made a huge difference to our ETA and we were alongside by 1700 in the marina .

Decisions, decisions.

Do I stay, or do I go on ?

Decision made.
K'Gari is berthed in Port Dickson until late April, when I shall return to carry on the adventure.

Over the last four months I have learnt masses. Everyday my knowledge base has  increased. Some of the experiences  I could have lived without at the time, but with Steve's more than able assistance- let's face it, assistance isn't exactly true, he did what was required whilst I watched and learnt, or quite often just left him to it to resolve. The two weeks out of the water was eight days more than I was counting on, but things are on the up and up thanks to Steve.

Thanks Steve - hugely appreciate your being there!

Coral Crushers Part 2

                                               The French effort


So this is what happens when you have a 10 tonne plus steel yacht and you motor it at full tilt into depths which are less than your keel draft! You just smash a bit of coral, stop for a bit , raise your keel to free yourself and continue to bounce your way across.
Less disastrous on the world scale than Moruroa  Atoll admittedly, but still ignorant.
                                                         Vive le corail !

https://youtu.be/G5CuYL12UCQ

lets stop here for a while!

wind the keel up a bit

whoops not quite far enough- never mind

Coral Cushers Part 1

So this is what a coral bombie looks like after 10 T of fiberglass hits it  at about 5 knots.

The Russian effort.

https://youtu.be/ZLAiOF1IVfQ

Underwater world of Koh Rok Nok

Christmas tree worms

Mr Cutie?

Scorpion Fish

Nemo- Thai style

and this is Nemo's home

Nemo's home preparing for the night shift.

Clam

Crinoid

https://youtu.be/v8CxnxF-PAY

The underwater world of Koh Hai Yai .

swim through from water level

the swim through

and again

longtail from astern- that's one mean prop!

Jaws!- one of two in the Andaman Sea

   

Phuket to Langkawi Jan 2017

   Phuket to Langkawi Jan 2017

Having cleared out at Ao Chalong we set off the next day to Koh Lanta, over the eastern side of the bay and very near the mainland.
Early in the morning the wind seems quite good , fading away about midday and then a couple of hours later the afternoon breeze kicks in. So good was it in the  morning, that we had two reefs in the main a we trekked towards Koh Lanta. Wind against tide made it interesting for a couple of hours but we still made good speed , then the wind died ,but did not return, so I grudgingly opted for Phi Phi Don. Steve had no idea of the delights of Phi Phi , but twigged to it after about 30 seconds of being anchored. Continuous longtails and passenger ferries. We anchored much further out than the previous visit- half a mile from the beach to try to avoid the worst of it. This in turn meant that we were serenaded to sleep by some really bad karaoke tunes, that I could almost recognize, but not quite ,however I feel the original artists may have been turning in their proverbials, to have heard the renditions that emanated from which ever vessel it was.

I realised later in the evening that I had entirely wuzzed it on both of my visits, in my selection of anchorage positions. We went ashore for a meal and I was surprised to see 6 catamarans all anchored up about 20m off the beach. Now the book does say go as close in as you can, but that seemed ridiculous. However they were there in the morning. They all appeared to be charter boats, so perhaps they didn't know or care if that they actually sat on the bottom at the low water!

We left Phi Phi and had a beautiful sail down to Koh Ha Yai, where we stopped for a couple of hours. The water was clear- possibly even clear than the Surin's. The location is truly beautiful. A “floating” island, affords a great swim through, at certain stages of the tide and the place was relatively under touristed when we there. Only a couple of live aboard dive boats and one day boat.

Finally saw a shark- a tiny black tip reefy-well two actually . I had to chase them  , to get the photo for Jo just to prove there really are at least two sharks in the Andaman Sea, so she was in fact correct to be wary of these "man eating" midgets!

https://youtu.be/992fDgchu3s

After a couple of hours we continued on to Koh Rok Nok, arriving to pick up a mooring just after 1600.

Having stopped there on our way north, I knew my way to the mooring buoy which I had used on the previous visit. We had admittedly on the first visit had an attempt at another, which had resulted in a very rapid astern movement when Lynne kept asking for the depth,from her position up forward, as she could see the bombies very clearly below. The shelf here rises from 35m to, as it turns out less than that, by about 34.9m! We had not been going fast and had the sun in as good a position as possible and Lynne knew what she  was looking for , so when the depth indicator hit 1.7m, that was escape time for me.
We had then picked up an alternative mooring buy which was in about 18m of gloriously clear water and sat there happily.

So here we were again on the same buoy.

18m -clear!

We had followed another catamaran in from the north, which was in the process of attempting to anchor in the channel between the two islands- a recommended anchorage, if there are no moorings available, as its on sand. There were about 10 boats anchored there already, which seemed odd as there were at least 6 moorings available. Perhaps those at anchor were hoping to avoid the National Park fees- not the case by the way!
So the newest arrivals, were being given the hurry up by the incumbents as they were attempting to anchor too close- they were a charter boat by the way!

About 30 minutes after we had passed them and gone to  pick up our mooring, we saw them approaching, at a fairly good speed from the west- (sun behind them). We had just commented that “oh well they had better information than we did about the depths”, when they came to a grinding halt about 30 m astern of us. Well obviously they didn't have better information! Nor did they have a clue about manoeuvring a twin screw boat. From where we were, we could see and knew there was deep water if they came towards us. They had had a guy on either bow, dutifully looking into the water, for ??? , doubt they could a) see anything with the sun behind ,b) nor would have an idea of what  exactly it was they were looking for.

from Russia with love 

Having ground to a halt with full sound effects and the starboard hull being lifted about 20-30 cm out of the water for a moment or two until the coral obviously collapsed, they then eventually figured out how to go astern. Then we realised they were going to back out all the way. Unfortunately the direction they were now going, it was going to end in further tears, as it was even shallower!
Attracting their attention with “Oi! Come to us, directly to us”, and using international “aeroplane parking signals” of parallel hands and arms going slowly up and down, indicating a straight line-  my Russian failed me completely- it not being one of the phrases I learnt when I was in Russia in 2008!

This manouvre ultimately proved impossible for them to achieve, as the chap manoeuvring just couldn’t quite work it out. They did eventually make it to deeper water, at least they drifted to deeper water, as I think in the end the use of the engines was just too confusing for them.
Barely had I  had time to pour a G n T ,when thundering past the window, came a privately owned French steel hulled mono, who also spectacularly came to a halt- sat there stationary for a few minutes, we figure they may have had a drop keel , which they wound up and then continued on their reef crushing excursion to deeper water! They didn’t seem that phased, perhaps that is why they have a steel boat!
Unbelievably, they were almost not the last! Having eventually poured that GnT and retiring to a shady spot down aft, what do we see, but another catamaran motoring in from the East. This one also attempting to pass astern of us. They were motoring directly into the last 10minutes of the setting sun. They also had people posted on each bow , with frothy comestibles in hand ,the chaps with beer and the ladies with white wine. We could see the tips of the bombies breaking the surface , they could not, however they did notice and did pay attention to the frenzied gesticulating and shouting which emanated from K'Gari. The stopped, listened and altered course around us, passing ahead of our bow,into the safety of the deeper water.
Having not seen any really major excitement to date, we were stunned to see two coral crunching events and almost a third in the space of 35minutes.

We stayed the next day, as it was a beautiful spot. Did the washing and whilst it dried went for a snorkel for a couple of hours. I couldn’t resist another snorkel in the afternoon. It was just beautiful.

washing day

Needs must however , and with the expiring visa issue, we moved on the next day, a mainsail and MPS run to the Butang Islands.
These islands  are just  27 miles from Langkawi, and the following morning we firstly motored 6miles further south to Koh Lipe to check it out as a possible return destination, depending on what I decide to do next.

We crossed into Malaysian water about 1130/31st January.

from the beach at LW at Koh Rok Nok

Koh Rok Noi and Koh Rok Nok

January 2017- Haulout and departing Thailand

January 2017

Well what surprises January held!
Apart from otters which came to dinner at one of the local restaurants!

not my feet- cant be they have nailpolish on the toes!

Jo and Chris left and on the 4th January we hauled out at Premier Boat Yard Phuket for a simple clean off , and re- anti foul paint job. I had planned five days for this, which allowed enough time for what we knew had to be done.

The haul out was excellent and professionally and safely done. A very narrow shallow (literally dries at LW) channel , clearly marked by some bamboo poles, leads into a small swing basin, which is pretty well protected from any wind and there is no discernible tide run. Just as well, as we of course were doing it on a day that it was gusting to 18kts! If you need it, and I did, as I had never been there before, the yard runs out a guy in a dinghy who jumps on board and using hand signals guides you firstly under the high voltage power lines with clearance height of 24m (if you pass under the correct part of the span- in the middle there is only 18m clearance, which is a no go for even me!)

bamboo channel at LW

Then up the bamboo channel, round the corner and he indicated where I needed to stop and then 4 lines appear from the shore, one on each bow and stern , the boat is held in position, the lifting trailer backed down towards the boat.

the basin- also at LW!

https://youtu.be/D9dEADx2YVI

 The boat is guided onto the lifting device, by the shore men walking it forward on the lines. Once in position a couple of chaps hop in the water check out the positioning , using a tape measure and tapping on the hull to find the strong points. When they are happy, and amidst a whole lot of directions coming from the head serang, we are hauled out. The whole exercise taking about ten minutes from the time the first line comes on board.

At the top of the ramp, K'Gari was water cleaned , and then driven further through the yard to its position. The keels were supported and a couple of props at the bow and just forward of the rudders and the yard's job is done, until its time to launch again.

https://youtu.be/aosYPwuFXMU

https://youtu.be/fDyg2AyiaNs

Then the fun began!

The yard provides only the facility and the haul out , plus water and electricity , props etc. I either do the work myself or engage someone to do it for me.

Guess which option I took?

 Apart from dealing with anodes on the saildrive legs ( the propeller parts) and re anti fouling them ourselves, I had on the recommendation of a couple of people I had met at the marina , engaged  a chap called Pae to do the anti fouling work.
Pae had done a small gelcoat repair for me, after an incident way back in Vietnam , before the boat was actually mine. He sat on the wharf and mixed the gelcoat by eye until happy that he had the perfect match. When he had finished, despite me knowing where it was- I couldn't see any sign of it. Figuring that if he could paint as well as he gelcoated, he would be an excellent choice.

I was not disappointed with Pae and his work at all. In fact I was so happy with his work , that I basically doubled the original quote by getting him to polish the boat as well. ( that took 3-4 people two and a half days).  K'Gari looked like new when he and his team were finished. A beautiful and professionally carried out job, which I am really pleased with.

port side half way to shiny

To quote George W , "mission accomplished"-altho in this case no one died!

The five day anticipated timetable, blew out to 13 days, due to a series of other issues, with which I am not going to bore anybody with – yet!
Suffice to say, that I know my way around all the chandleries at Boat Lagoon (an hours round trip by car) quite well now ,and the staff at AME marine supplies, will probably be missing me and  my visits, as their gross profit will have taken a plunge since we left!

Back in the water on the 17th, just one day before we would have been neaped  (stuck without enough tide) until the 26th, only to find that there was “no room at the inn”. The marina was full, with rally boats and other cruisers who have arrived after the New Year festivities. The place was heaving, so we anchored off for a couple of days awaiting a rigging inspection. This completed we were free to go, however there was a 'social soiree' at the marina on the evening of the 24th, where it may have been possible to glean a bit of information about the rally, Sail to the East, for 2017. The rally is the safest way to traverse the east coast of Borneo- about 60 miles of it is a known “pirate” hotspot where the aggrieved have decided that the odd kidnapping is relatively lucrative, (or not in which case they just behead the kidnapped, which is probably cheaper than feeding them I guess...). So the rally gets an escort from the Malaysian and perhaps the Philippines  security forces. The anchorages at night are specified and a secure as they can be  and  radio contact etc maintained. So if I choose to go that way back to Oz, I will only do it as part of the rally group.
Did I also mention that at the 'soiree' there would be tea and tab-nabs, which is actually free food and drinks. The place was heaving, like moths to a candle do yachties go, for free food and drinks!

I did speak to Sasli, the rally organizer, before the volume of the music got pumped up to levels which made speech impossible, and yes ,he appeared very relaxed with my intention to possibly only participate in two parts of the rally. He just needs to know in advance  for the paperwork.

https://youtu.be/zYFVSDrOdhM

So betwixt and between, with not much to do for a few days, we went for a shake down sail to test the rigging. Three nights around unexplored parts of lower Phang Nga  Bay, across over towards Krabi on the mainland and Steve even managed a kite surf one afternoon, when the wind had been a steady 15kts + all day. Of course by the time he got into it and possibly as we moored between a couple of rather imposing bits of granite, it was a bit gusty, occasionally dropping below the 15kts he needs. However he gave it a red hot go for a while.

Back to the marina to anchor off again and Steve being unable to sit still for more than three minutes finished off a fairly major repair to the anchor winch which we had discovered, amongst many other things, whilst out of the water, needed some attention! He is a very talented chap, and can turn his hand to many many things. In this instance it was finding the stainless steel we needed and a hunting around the local workshops, he found not only that, but a lathe he was 'free' to play with. Next day after the 'soiree', he was back there  to use the bench press drill as well and after only a few more hours mucking around  a major issue resolved!

So we departed late in the afternoon of the 25th to sail to Ao Chalong to clear out with the authorities on the 26th.

Flying on the way to Ao Chalong- all shiny and clean and we hit 9kts .

Clearing out is easy it just entails going from room to room in the same building ,collecting a multitude of papers and stamps paying 100 baht to the harbour master office, 200 baht to the Immigration department and finally 200 baht- and I note the only department to give a receipt- to the customs department in exchange for me 're-exporting' my boat from Thailand. Yes this time I actually had my glasses on- it helps!

 Hey ho and away we go. Our visas  both expire on 1st Feb, so I assume I have until then to clear Thai waters.

Thailand has been great. The best sailing K'Gari has done. Even got the MPS a couple of times. Met more really great ,friendly, cruisers, and caught up with some old friends from earlier in 2016. The Thai people are gentle and friendly and very forgiving of my appalling attempts at their language, which after 3 months I can still only manage 'hello', 'thank you' ( and I'm still not sure I’ve got the Ka (kaaarr) part right yet, and 'bill please.' I find it really hard. I guess I need a phonetically written language guide, but of course hanging around the marina, everyone speaks English which doesn’t really help you to learn.
The snorkelling has been spectacular, as has the scenery. It's not quite finished yet, a couple more nights and we will be back in Malaysia.
Couldn't have done it without my “crew” - thanks to Lynne for helping me to get there,(sorry there was no wind). Jo , Chris and Steve for coming on a fabulous trip to truly beautiful locations, even though I know it's not Chris' idea of the best holiday- being computer-less a for a month, and Steve for staying and being 'pressed ganged' into the slipping- without you , I would have had a major meltdown , instead of the series of  minor consecutive ones!

Three months and some 850 odd miles in Thai waters, more sailing than motoring  for a change, fabulous snorkelling in crystal clear water with great company, and K'Gari looking brilliant again. Thanks Thailand, it's been fun