Pulau Tioman , the end of Ramadan and Hari Raya.

Chris' photobomb of my pano shot

We arrived at the southern end of Tioman at a tiny place called Mutuk. Anchored off in what seemed the best position in about 18m  with 50m of chain + 10m for the bridle,just off the fringing reef.
As it was Friday , the last one of Ramadan, I could see no point in racing round to check in at the main town on the west coast, as it was after lunch and unlikely that it would happen anyway. Went ashore and literally as we stepped ashore the phone rang , so we knew that despite the Digi (telco service I'm using) 'E' sign, we at least had communication by phone, even if no internet.

Asses Ears from Mutuk jetty

Had a look through the kampung and decided that if we were going to take the 10 minute walk to the waterfall at Asah, apparently used in filming for South Pacific and King Kong, that the early morning would be a better idea. Returned to the boat, having located somewhere that we could obtain a meal about 6pm, and went for a quick snorkel, before going ashore  again to eat. I had been watching an impending front for a while , and I guess the poor people in the restaurant must now think that Ozzies eat a million miles an hour, as we basically ate ,paid and left , so I could be back on board when the front came through. Poor Chris, had to take his dinner in a takeaway container, as time was of the essence. Our location at the southern end of the island meant we would be on a lee shore, if there was much in the front.
Come through it did. The calm flat sea turned into a malestrom. It always seems so much worse in the dark anyway, when clear  visual clues are removed. I had checked out the surrounding swing distance , after we had anchored and it appeared fine.

The charts here aren't entirely correct, and in no time we appeared , according to the chart, to be over a bit of fringing reef which is coloured green.

The track from the night before- over the dry bit allegedly, but we floated ok!

Months ago I stopped worrying about 'green bits' on charts  actually meaning they  dry, but of course by now in the dark it all seems a little more ominous. Had I sufficiently checked it out, what if we actually dragged a bit, had I taken that into account? Then there was the first grumbling rumble of the chain dragging across not sand but coral, or coral rubble. Then the depth decreased rapidly to 6m  as we sheared of in another direction.
So I was awake until about 0100, just checking that we weren't moving anywhere. I woke Jo and went to sleep myself, waking again about 0300 when I decided we weren't going to drag anywhere. The low water for the spring tides is occurring at night at the moment and we were now once again on a rising tide.

Next morning we decided against the wander to the waterfall, doubting that it would be as good as some of the ones we had seen elsewhere in the world. We cruised past the jetty, in the vain hope that , the internet might jump into life , as it was on the jetty that the phone calls had been made. Alas no!

Asses Ears as we departed having done a sweep past the jetty to try for reception

What is peculiar is that Digi E (emergency) is the only thing my phone indicates, yet intermittently Chris' phone, tethered to mine has allowed him to receive messages from his mates. A couple of random emails have arrived for me , but Jo has received nothing.
This state of affairs as it turned out would prevail for our entire time around Tioman. Jo eventually got her emails in the middle of the day a couple of days later, I clearly managed to get some messages out and Chris was happily communicating on a message app with his mates, pretty regularly, with  the phone indicating no service, yet every kampung, has whacking great towers with dishes on them and the kids are looking at phones???? An alternative telcom , hotlink, has its signs everywhere, so maybe hotlink owns the towers as far as data is concerned.

After our night at Mutuk we shifted around to Teluk Juara,  a beautiful sandy beached bay, with a couple of resorts at opposite ends of the crescent of beach. In between a few restaurants and cafes, mostly closed for Ramadan, but the weekend, in fact Saturday night was the last night of Ramadan, duly announced by the ever present call to prayers and then as the darkness descended the fireworks ascended, intermittently on and off for hours. Not just skyrockets but bungers, apparently being let off in bins, judging by the reverberations.
The snorkelling at the northern end of the bay was great. We did a drift snorkel from the outer point, inwards towards the beach. A couple of hours, of magnificent corals, plate and staghorns, brain coral, tiny fish, not too many seem to survive to adult hood around here, although we did see a decent size trevally and a medium barracuda, plus the ubiquitous tusk fish. No starfish or sea urchins.

Following the end of Ramadan is Hari Raya- more public holidays, three it would seem, but maybe one was to make up for Hari Raya falling on a Sunday. How did this affect us, well just a bit of an issue finding somewhere to eat. Where we had lunch the previous day was open, but only for family members, as were the next two places. Eventually we found somewhere doing a buffet, rice ,chicken ,veggies, something unidentifiable,possibly fried tofu and catering to mainly Chinese tourists.
Further intermittent bungers on and off all day. The kids were having a great time especially those at the end of the pier, with a rather large can, who appeared to be practising depth sounding techniques. The thunderous echoes really reverberated around the bay.
A tremendous few bolts of lightning , relatively close, certainly within the bay we were in occurred about 10pm, with rumbling thunder and accompanying wind, but it passed through within about 20minutes, and peace returned, with the bunger addicts obviously astutely calling quits as well!

Shifted to the western side of the island to an anchorage in Monkey Bay. The recommended anchorage position, now with a mooring buoy, which looked sturdy enough ,but a tad to close to fringing reef, with the predicted 0.4m low water which was due at 0500.
A lovely bay, quiet and relatively secluded until the afternoon when a couple of local boats appeared for a short time full of passengers, and then it became apparent why when we had snorkelled earlier in the day we had been mobbed by the tiny fish. We suspect it was a fish feeding stop for the the beautiful multi coloured we fish. So tame were they, that Jo literally closed her hand on one of them. The difference being we were in the water ,whereas the tourists (Chinese and Indian) mainly stayed in the boats looking down. Another boat came in for the night, an Australian registered vessel being delivered from Pattaya to Fremantle, with half a dozen nice young Aussie gentlemen on board, who dropped by for a chat.
That night the wind hit 26kts about 0130, but we sat as snug as a bug on our 60m of chain in 15m of water. One huge grinding rumble of anchor chain on the bottom, as the wind hit and that was it, we sat tight as spider on its web. At the low tide at 0500, the sound of surf- literally, awoke me again. Astern of us where yesterdays beautifully inviting, picturesque, clear sandy bottom had been a good 3m underwater , was now as dry as could be . We were still in 13m of water but  200m astern of us was dry as a desert.

safe in our very own "waggon train" camp

After the sleepless night at Mutuk, I have now devised the perfect system for making sure that I know if we drag or not , when using charts that aren't quite accurate. It's  a bit like the waggon train circle concept.I place waypoints around my anchor let go position, equivalent to how much chain I have put out, plus a margin and then anybody on board can simply check to see if we are within, or outside, the safety of the "waggon train " of virtual buoys I have laid out.

Decided that Tuesday morning was the day to check in and out of Tioman, but it was in fact the third of the public holidays for Hari Raya. The Jabatan Laut was open, although seemed a bit concerned that we were checking in and out on the same day, he didn’t seem to understand that we had been working our way around the island anticlockwise for a few days. Next was Kastams, although part of Malaysia, Tioman is a duty free island and has its own slightly different rules, which apparently meant that we in fact needed Imigresin as well – still not sure why exactly, but I have a meticulously stamped piece of paper now- seven  perfectly executed stamps and  appropriate signatures, which states that upon arrival in my next Malaysian port , I do not have to fly the Q flag, as long as I haven't exited Malaysian waters in the process of arriving in my next Malaysian port! Knowing what this piece of paper would have cost in Oz on a public holiday, I'm thankful that despite the fact that Kastams had to phone Imigresin and drag him in from home, there was in fact no charge!

However the somewhat drawn out process of checking in/out, made me completely forget to stop by the df shop on the way back to the boat! Fail!!!! Instead we were focused on seeing what the general store had- answer not much after 3 days of public holidays and two days before the next delivery. So we settled for a loaf of bread, two lemons, two packets of minced chicken, 5 apples, and four packets of pringles for the outrageous sum of 50RM.

We had just cleared the tiny marina, in the dinghy, when we ran out of juice! Luckily it was not far to row/paddle back to K'Gari. This trip both Chris and Jo have been driving the dinghy, not just me, so lesson learnt ,whoever starts it up, needs to check the juice.

That was Tioman. The water clarity was excellent on the south and east sides but no so good on the west side. All in all a very reasonable place.

Heading for the Tioman Group

After transiting the Straits, I hadn't really considered where we would  anchor for the night as that was dependent on how long the transit actually took.
Having cleared the no anchoring section by 1542, I started to look for somewhere for the night. There are some small islands just off the SE tip of Malaysia, about which I could find very little information. Understandably I would suggest, as once we got there, there appeared nowhere to feasibly anchor. There was a good knot and a half of current gurgling south and the islands were uninviting lumps of rock above the water , so I had no idea what would be below, and the water was murky, so they were discounted as a place to spend the night.
We dropped anchor on mud  about 1830, having done 79miles for the day, at the southern end of  Teluk Punggai (Punggai Bay).

Next day we sailed to Pulau Sibu a nice 54nm run, eventually with  a breeze which allowed the MPS to set. We had done a practise set earlier in the morning but the wind then, had not been quite enough, so we stowed it away until the wind became more obliging.
 Arrived off the position I was making for, once again in no visibility, as it was the afternoon /evening  deluge. Looking at the guide book afterwards we obviously passed a very photogenic ( on a nice day) potential anchorage , which just hadn't looked quite so inviting on the radar!

Sultan of Johor's kelong

Next day made our way out to and past Pulau Tinggi, maybe a potential stop on the way back south.
The most notable thing we saw here is the Kiwi equivalent of a “fishing batch”. Here they are called
Kelongs. The one we passed off Tinggi just happens to be the most upmarket one in the region , being well over a thousand square meters and on concrete poles instead of the usual 'thin trunk tree pilings bound together with polypropylene lines'. Belonging the the Sultan of Johor , explains the magnificence of the one we passed.


Crossed over to Pulau Aur, passing through the channel between it and Pulau Dayang , just as a another squall came through. We had in fact just dropped the sails in anticipation of anchoring here, when the wind blew in with such ferocity, that we decided to pass through and found a bay just around the corner on the east side.

Sat here for the next  day. The snorkelling was good, water clear, but a noticeable dearth of fish life.
A small beach at the head of the bay was completely littered with every piece of plastic detritus mankind manages to manufacture. The beach and bay would be totally exposed to the NE monsoon, hence the accumulation of garbage. Sad to see, and hard to comprehend until you have actually seen it.
All the islands around the Tioman group are national parks. Apparently this means its open slather for the locals to fish. In the afternoon just as we were about to go ashore to check out the beach, a small local dinghy appeared ,with three on board. They went to the head of the beach and one of the guys hopped over the side. The boat then moved across the head of the bay and stopped. As we tried to approach the beach ourselves , we realised what they were doing. They had completely strung a net across the entire beach. A couple of hours later they hauled it in and disappeared with the collection of, I imagine, minnows.

Next morning we went for a snorkel and in the afternoon I used the opportunity to clean off the last of the fuzz from the 4 months in Port Dickson Marina in the beautifully clear water. Everything looking pretty good underneath. The anodes look fine and I knocked off the few barnacles that I had missed in the gloom of the water in Port Dickson.

Next day we awoke to find an oil slick heading our way on the current. It looked suspiciously like a tank cleaning exercise had taken place some where offshore.
K'Gari now has a particularly unattractive slick mark on the hulls. So we upped and offed , headed to  Pulau Tioman

The Straits

We made good time over the next two days.

A 42 mile hop to the Water Islands on the first day, mainly under sail, with only an hour or two of motor sailing.

We didn’t get away quite as early as anticipated as there were still a few “last minute” things to do. Top up the water, bend on the jib- (stay tuned on that point), pay the marina, dump the rubbish, disconnect the power- one of the pins in my plug was seized and a tad corroded after 4 months and is now looking the worse for wear**, buggered in fact, comes to mind, despite being wrapped up in plastic bags etc initially, run through the engine checks, again and then we were off. Departure time noted as 0945.

That night a tremendous thunder storm and lightning bolt display reached us at 0200, having been visible for hours as it approached. Torrential downpour which lasted for hours, not the usual short sharp torrent. Then the tide changed at 0400 and that made the anchorage less than delightful, so we were up and under away a little before first light, as it was a long day planned.

I was hoping to making it all the way to the SW tip of the peninsula just under 90miles and anchor for the night at Kukup and then run with the current through the Straits.

The wind, or lack of it, with the current against us, precluded this and in the end we were anchored some 20miles short, at Palau Pisang, which I think was the better choice, when the next morning I identified the anchorage I had been aiming for. We anchored , predictably it would seem, in the middle of yet another glorious display by mother nature, lightning, thunder and heavy rain, but most importantly it was a lovely quiet night at anchor allowing a good sleep before the awaiting Straits adventure.

Leaving just before daylight again, we sailed towards the Straits. Identifying the mass of vessels at anchor just west of Tanjung Piai, my planned contra flow courses looked ok.

The Straits have a traffic system. The West bound traffic passes closest to Singapore, the Eastbound traffic passes closer to Indonesia. There are various sections along the way for traffic to cross at 90 degree angles to access the ports and pilot boarding grounds as required.

I wanted to stay on the Singapore side, as at the Eastern end of the scheme I then would not have to cross both lanes of traffic, to be able to duck into an anchorage for the night. So I had laid off my intended courses, so that I would proceed from west to east , just to the north of the west bound traffic lane, (hence my contra flow term) but definitely outside the Port Limits of Singapore, ( after my stunning arrival in Singapore waters last time, I wanted no repeat of that!). There is a gap of up to about a half mile between the West bound lane and the Singapore Port limit. Using these courses I would only need to be on the alert for the obvious oncoming traffic and anything crossing at the traffic crossing sectors.

The excitement begins- first of the obstacles

Arriving at my first waypoint of the 42miles of excitement that was to fill most of the rest of the day, everything was looking fine , we were about an hour later than I had planned so by now we were motor sailing.

Then the first of the sandwich manoeuvres as Jo called them began to unfold. An anchored vessel, had just heaved up and was making its way to somewhere, that I hadn't registered whilst listening to the vhf ,so we took the option to pass it down the leeward side, which with the wind, meant her port side. Yes folks you read that correctly, we were PASSING it, as it had only just got under way. So, target one, under control. Wind increasing a bit and we were hitting about 7.5 kts speed. Wind increasing more, within minutes, oddly, and for no obvious reason, no rain coming, no visible squall. The wind went from a gentle and manageable 10kts to 22-24kts and I was under full sail manoeuvring through a fairly packed anchorage.

Thinking now about putting a reef in the mainsail and so identifying the next anchored ship, I was planning to pass around its stern , into its lee and drop a really quick reef into K'Gari's mainsail.

Possible question might be raised in your minds by now, why was I even under sail?

Answer , the wind was in the right direction, we were a bit behind my schedule and I was trying to carry the maximum effect of the current as long and as far as possible before the notorious tides changed, and finally, it makes me far more visible, with sails up, than with bare poles.

So we ducked into the lee of the obligingly anchored ship and dropped two reefs into the main. Bore away, and started on our way again. At which moment Chris, who was tightening the jib , announced “oh oh Lizzie look”. The clutch housing for the jib sheet was looking extremely ordinary! In fact not healthy at all. The back edge of it had busted completely at the point where the sheet left the clutch housing. The clutch itself mercifully was still working and holding the jib sheet.

My first thoughts were bugger, bugger, bugger , don’t tell me the sun was so fierce in this part of the world that the housing had perished? Never mind it was holding and we would deal with it later. My greater concern right now, was another vessel heading right at me.

sandwich manouvre 1. Apologies for poor photo.
The red vessel is Snow. At 338m long and 60m wide (5times wider ,than I am long)
she wins in the might s right stakes!

With a few things going on all at once, it had became clear that a tanker (Snow) had also just got under way and was in fact departing the anchorage , right ahead of us. She had done a slow round turn to port and was heading for the same bit of water I wished to occupy.

To my starboard side and upwind of me and now overtaking me, was the original vessel that had got under way. Ahead of me and slightly off my port bow and now sounding two blasts , (altering course to port, and thus closer to me ) was the rather larger than me, tanker Snow. I think my crew were getting agitated about now, but knowing that he couldn’t get us as he was hardly going to alter course into the ship beside me who was now a guardian shield really, I told them it was ok, he couldn’t really get us, it was just going to look a little close. 

Once the traffic sorted out, it was time to do something about the jib sheet. Obvious immediate solution was to re rig it through the currently unused clutch which is for the MPS , when we have it up.

Oh dear! The initial excitement and the busted clutch seem to have revealed a somewhat nervous disposition!!!!

Easier said than done, the clutches are designed for 8-10mm sheets. The sheet in question was a10mm one. To feed it through the clutch mechanism is a bit tight, fiddly in fact, if the end is not perfect. Guess what, the end wasn't perfect. Jo tried , I described where the paraphernalia that has been devised for re rigging the sheet was located. Steve had made a small wire hook,which we use to grab a tail made of sail twine or stronger which has been sewn through the end of the sheet . This is guided through the clutch and then “simply” pulled on and the sheet passes through..if it has a perfect end that doesn’t catch on anything....

whats wrong in this photo???

Having broken the sail twine twice, the next best option was to create the “perfect end”. So now Jo had to locate the hot knife, the cutting board , the welders glove and we created the perfect end. Hot knifing it, cuts away the damaged part and seals the rope so that it should no longer fray. The welders glove, I use for rounding and smoothing the molten end into the best shape possible. All of this whilst , keeping an efficient lookout,dodging the traffic and bouncing along in the 20kts plus breeze. Instead of sail twine I sewed an end of fishing line through the rope, as it was going to be more substantial to heave on, in case the end still wasn’t “perfect” . That worked. So we now had a fully functioning jib sheet clutch, and we could re set the jib. That along with two reefs in the main , gave us far better control and we were still on our way.

Later we encountered the Gaslog Salem wanting to alter her course to starboard at Raffles Lighthouse, at almost the right time for us to alter to port.

 A couple more minutes would have been perfect, but as it was, I took the option of taking a round turn, as soon a she indicated her intentions, as had I altered early, I would have crossed in to the Singapore Port limit. Then a second round turn for the Pink Diamond, did in fact, I see in the photo, have us crossing ''the line”. Never mind it was only briefly. 

The only other bit of passing excitement for us was off Eastern Pilot boarding ground Alpha , when the MSC Susannah was clearly trying to get there for her pilot boarding, so I actually entered the West bound traffic lane to let her clearly see that I was aware of what she was trying to do and where she was trying to get to.

Split the difference! MSC Susannah on left, LNG v/l on right and we are are going 'contra flow' IN the west bound lane

All the way through we were listening to the Singapore VTS operators clearly directing the shipping, identifying the transgressors, stopping them from entering the port limits without their pilot on board, clearly instructing vessels not to approach their pilot boarding ground early and where they should wait to kill the extra time that their early arrival meant they now had to waste.

We witnessed only one vessel the Kelud who got himself into the wrong scheme, he was advised of this and told to re-enter the west bound traffic lane, which he immediately tried to do to the obvious annoyance of the also west bound vessel who spent the next 10 mins sounding his whistle at very regular intervals as he could see the Kelud merge was not going to work. Eventually the Kelud increased to 18kts to jump ahead, at which point I lost interest in them.

Right at the beginning of this post I said stay tuned on the bending on the jib.

Upon mature reflection as the day wore on and as we had re rigged the sheet through the spare clutch it had become apparent to me why the clutch had apparently failed. It was my own fault, I had rigged the sheet incorrectly the first time when putting everything back prior to departure. I guess the relief at finally getting the sheet through the clutch and the fiddling about that had taken, I then had totally failed to run it further down the deck to the sheave it needed to pass through before going to the winch. Simple mechanical advantage , and I had failed to notice the mistake. The incorrect angle of the lead from the exit of the clutch to the winch, was what had destroyed the clutch housing. Young Mr Strong Man had complied completely when I said , give it a bit more, he did, and kasnaffu went the clutch housing!

I’m not having a lot of luck with that starboard side, so far I have mangled a winch fitting and now a clutch , through my own ineptitude.However nothing makes a better lesson in how to do it properly than breaking it and having to replace it. That now wont be happening again with either the winch or the clutches, I might be slow, but I do remember!!

Even my highly refined electrical skills tell me something looks odd!

** Days later when I actually got around to looking at the plug again, I suspect that the pin is loose as it has melted its surrounds for some reason. There seems to be a definite hole that looks like melted plastic to me ( in my official electricians role). Lightning? Power surge? I dont know, but it's still not looking healthy. I have a spare and reckon if I ask nicely at the next marina perhaps they will have someone handy who can re wire it for me. Electricity scares me ,as you can't see it and I dont want to destroy either myself or the boat with dodgy wiring.

The crew arrive with the all important spares.

Friday 16th June.

My crew arrived last evening. Not quite as smoothly as my arrival , as Jo was unable to contact Sashi, our obliging driver, once clear of Customs and Immigration, however she got a message to me and I managed to relay the fact that they were ready and the location they were waiting at.

Amongst their 7kg per person 'hand luggage” they managed  a total haul of 22kg, which was pretty good going. It appears that if travelling only with a bulging hand luggage only, the bags are weighed at check in- this has happened now to three people  know travelling without check in baggage, whereas  my bulging “hand luggage” was not given a second glance and nor must be the bags  of those travelling with the entire contents of their homes in the cabin baggage. They must have checked in bags as well.
Both Jo and Chris's hand luggage  bags weighed in at the required 7kg, and then as one is required to empty all pockets of metal and electronic equipment at the x-ray machines, the bags apparently weighed more after being x-rayed- amazing!

So what goodies were there for me? A kilo of coffee, 3 more packets of yogurt, one of the spare batteries for the drone, the toilet service kits (weight only about 30gms), spare cup and lid for the nutri bullet, I cant really see what the issue was!

Today we checked out at the Jabatan Laut,(harbour master) they are I think, still bemused by the fact that once again,I'm setting off  with no apparent older male than Christopher on board! Last time it was Lynne and myself who checked out of Port Dickson. However this time, Mohd, the official who has checked me in and out previously wants to be  a friend on fb. I must answer that request.

Did the supplies shopping and we were back on board just after   1 pm so achieved the first part of the mission as Friday is prayer day in much of the country and that means nothing official really happens after 1pm, although its only supposed to be 1-3pm,  but very little seems to start again, especially during Ramadan.

Next it was the close encounter with the malfunctioning  “quiet flush” toilet system. With my trusty T.A (Jo) reading the instructions  and photographing each stage of the dis-assembly, one quick visit to the boat next door for clarification on one point, the entire job was completed to my immense satisfaction. I am now, far more intimately acquainted with the flushing and macerator mechanism of a boat toilet than I was before. I've got to tell you folks, it a tiny little blade in there, doing the work. No wonder it can't cope with anything that hasn't been through your digestive system  first , other than minimal toilet paper of course !

the teeny tiny macerator

So what was the issue? A completely destroyed seal, thus causing the water to leak.
 Interestingly, yes I know, not everyone finds this as absorbing as I do, but bear with me as its my very first plumbing foray and it ended in victory, so I need my 'moment', the culprit may have been the cleaning product . Clearly everybody would read the instruction manual, for light entertainment. Amongst all the other instruction manuals I had to wade through, I obviously missed the line on page of 4 of 8, about the destructive effect that some products may have on the rubber seals, causing them to swell and deteriorate  prematurely. Ah ha! So the toilet duck has been disposed of and future cleaning will be with nothing more than vinegar.

the black bit is the offending failed rubber seal

                                                          https://youtu.be/uoxWRmnRBEI


The AIS dilemma was resolved yesterday , with the complete replacement of the unit, luckily still under warranty, and so now we are ready for departure, and in a couple of  days it will be the exhilaration of 5 or 6 knots meander through the Singapore Straits. Jo and Chris will never have seen anything quite like it!

Preparing for departure

Firstly the most obvious issue once I arrived back on board, was what I'm guessing (hoping),  is a leaking seal on the toilet in the main bathroom. I had left the toilet bowl full of fresh water and the bowl sealed over with gladwrap- not for party night tricks, but to preclude evaporation. Toilet bowl was now  completely empty, and a tell tale water mark was a dead give away. Oh joy! I knew it would come to pass to one day. Good ole Google came up with the manual for said model of 'quiet flush toilet' flushing mechanism, and my darling sister will arrive with the required service kit bits next week. Until then I have just decamped to the other hull and will use the the other toilet! Can barely wait to get into that job!

Secondly and of far more concern is the AIS (Automatic Identification System) is not talking to my chart plotter system and therefore I can see no target ships and nobody can see me. I know that Magellan and Christopher Columbus and even Cheng Ho, didn't have such mod cons, but it sure is handy , not to mention mandatory these days, in many countries. So that will need to be resolved.
It appears to be working, correct lights flashing, but patently isn't.

Thirdly, starboard electric bilge pump not playing nicely. Dr Google and Youtube  to the rescue again, to find a manual and see how it comes apart. That done, still not working. Skype a friend- ( Steve)- and he suggests that I have done what he would do, so before investigating the pipes etc , just try submerging it totally in water and give it a whirl again. Success! It just needed a real drowning to make it realise what it's true purpose in life was!
,
Next , change the charcoal filter in the water maker and fire up water maker , for future use. All good no leaks drips etc.

Talking of leaks, there is no sign of water anywhere. Which is excellent, the 'usual' suspects are all completely dry. Either it really is fixed or there has been no rain, and definitely haven't been using the fresh water deck wash, which is totally taped up and secured. I do have a replacement one for that, which I flew up with, in my baggage (20.35kg, plus 'cabin' baggage weighing exactly 7kg, plus every pocket on my multi pocketed cargo pants and my fleece stuffed to capacity (1 kg ), although why I bother to be so meticulous about the weights of my cabin baggage, when you see that some folk arrive with apparently the entire contents of their house as permissable "cabin baggage”)- anyway, just need to fit  the new deck wash hose at some stage. Probably an easier plumbing task, than the toilet!

Tested the EPIRB, Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon- all good.

Turned on the HF radio- can hear radio Australia and the BBC- wouldn't mind finding someone to actually talk to though, so that I can see it transmits ok. Trouble is I dont really know many people up here or if they are sailing or in port.

Re ran all the sheets and halyards which had been totally derigged and secured away in the sail bag out of this incredibly vicious  equatorial sunlight.

That folks, has taken the best part of the last three days. Also watched  a gentleman, Mark, as he investigated the missing AIS, by using a diagnostic program on a computer- Stay tuned for the outcome on that front. Sooner rather than later I hope.....also getting feed back from back at home as Peter and Peter from the Vietnam delivery trip, are googling up information as to possible causes of the lack of AIS.

Then yesterday, amused myself by debagging the props and saildrive legs, a task not made particularly easy by the murkiness of the water, due to a heavy downpour on Saturday , complete with spectacular lightning display, which always make me nervous as they get closer. Couple of definite cracks exploding  over the marina, but everything electrically significant checked out ok again, after it had  passed- except of course the AIS. The lightning didn't scare it back into life  unfortunately!

This morning it was time to do all the engine checks, and start them up. All appears good and functioning as expected, which is excellent. Got 100lts of diesel (spare) , so now at capacity of diesel,with both tanks full, plus a total of 125 lts spare for the engines and 30 litres of petrol for the outboard, which should last a while! Not sure where or how easy or how clean the next fuel might be, as not entirely sure where I will be re fuelling next.

Major tasks left are  bending the jib on again , uncover the dinghy, clean the couple of extra lines which were run on my outboard side to hold me off the wharf  for the last few months, which have a small build up of slime on them, give the bottom of the fenders, which have 'just' been sitting in water for the last 3 months a clean off and await the outcome of the AIS saga.

K'Gari turns two .

Last week as K'Gari sat all alone in Port Dickson , she officially turned two years old.

Some stats follow for those who are remotely interested;

Distance traveled in last 12 months, 1992 nautical miles.
Engine hours 317.2
Fuel consumed  573 litres
Which works out as 1.81 litres/ per engine hour, and 0.287lts /nautical mile. When motoring , or motoring with sunshades, sometimes also known as sails, I try to keep the average speed at 5 kts.

On board I have had, my sister Jo, nephew Chris  and Steve for run from Langkawi to Port Dickson.
Lynne from Port Dickson to Phuket, which unfortunately for Lynne, rattled up most of those engine hours.
Then Jo,Chris and Steve around Phuket and out to the Similan and Surin Islands- beautiful.
Steve for the haulout and re-antifoul in Thailand and back to Port Dickson, for which I am eternally grateful.

Far more importantly, three fish were caught, the mahi mahi with Lynne , released because I just wasn't sure. The mackerel which did for Christmas dinner and a barracuda which was released as “not required on board”.

Visited only two countries this year , Malaysia and Thailand.

One haul out :
One coat of primer, three coats of antifoul, a new set of anodes, a new set of flexible bushes for propellers ( thank you – not , to whoever filled them with grease during installation!), a new antifoul job on the saildrives – serious thank you Steve, a load of stress and we were back in the water and out of Thailand the day the visas expired!

Finally found some wind and managed to get the MPS set a few times whilst in Thailand and on the run back to Port Dickson. Even got the photo to prove it, courtesy of Ray and Shaunnaugh on Parlay.

I'm back!

Yes it's true I'm back in board,

Everything looked good upon my first squizz, when I arrived back on board late afternoon of the 6th.

It wasn't  too bad a trip back .
Flew from the Gold Coast, as it was still considerably cheaper, than flying from Brisbane, inclusive of the hotel and if I hadn't been driven down by my darling sister , the bus fare I would have needed to get there.

So having left home about 0900 on Monday morning, driven to the Gold Coast and checked into the hotel the afternoon was mine,
The reason in the  end I asked Jo to dive me down,  was due to the difficulty I was having in getting a concise answer to a query that I had, about lithium batteries- carriage thereof.
Everything I had read indicated that it was possible to carry them, as long as they were not  checked in as hold baggage. I had seven with me, of various sizes for different things. Radios, the drone , a man overboard device and an electronic flare. The last two being gadgets I had picked up at the boat show the previous week.
So having emailed  my Asian based discount airline, I eventually, after several automated responses, received something along the lines of, medical equipment could be carried as long as it wasn't in the baggage hold, unless it was a wheel chair with a battery which would need more information supplied........As at no time had I mentioned that my request was about an electronic wheel chair and I had specifically listed out the sizes and use for each battery,  I gave up. Then dreamt up the cunning plan, that if I was driven down, we could go to the airport , I would be able to ask the question and get a specific answer. If there was a problem , Jo would be able to take the batteries home.
That very  morning it had occurred to Jo, that unlike Brisbane International , the chances of anyone being at the airport unless at flight time was highly unlikely, so  in the end we scrapped the idea of going to the airport and I would just take my chances, so she just drove me down anyway.

Next morning , checked in no problems and yes no problems with the batteries at all, as long as they are not checked in.
Managed to leave my laptop at the first of the X-ray machines and didn't realise until I had passed through the second screening for the International flight, including a full body scan - lucky me,  passed through Immigration and was  in the "sterile" departure lounge. So back out , confusing everyone ,but I was escorted out by a customs agent, who then disappeared and that meant I had to explain my way back in to the sterile area........
Went to do a claim back on gst for goods that were leaving the country with me, failed on one count, due to not having original receipt - photocopies won't cut the mustard, folks.

Had a coffee,  and it was boarding time. Things were looking up as I sat and waited for my seating companions ,finally  when the door closed , yes, I had scored all three seats to myself .WINNER.

 Having been told by  Jo that the flights were cold and as it was only  11 degrees that morning,   I had arrived with several layers , shirt, windcheater and sleeveless fleece. Needed all  of it and a woolly beanie wouldn't have  gone astray either!
Stepped out into 30 degree  and probably 85% humidity.
Sashidse my friendly previously arranged driver , once again  delivered me safely  down on board within an hour of jumping into his car,
There waiting, exactly as I had left her was K'Gari. Hopped on board and the first task was to check the seawater filter on the airconditioner and start  it up.......