WEEK 17: 29 May – 4 June – Singa Besar to Rebak Marina

DAY 113 – Saturday 29 May – Singa Besar, Langkawi, Malaysia
Happy Birthday Bill – sorry we missed it – hope you had a wonderful day
It was such a lovely place we decided to stay a day. Went to shore in the afternoon. There was an awful lot of rubbish on the beach and there obviously used to be facilities but they were all in ruin. We could see some monkeys and there was supposed to be a walk right across the island. We went through some muddy bits in our thongs – got stuck a few times! Walked along a bush track till we came to a gate and a wall and there was a billabong and saw a huge water monitor. Peter saw another one crashing through the bush. Apparently there are supposed to be deer and pigs there as well but we didn’t see any. The track didn’t seem to go anywhere after that so we went back to the boat for a lovely sunset.

DAY 115 – Sunday 30 May – Singa Besar to Kuah
We left at 8am and motored to Kuah dodging a few nets. We arrived about 10 and there was Kristie so we anchored beside them. We went to shore to check into Malaysia. We then did some shopping and back to the boat. Kristie called by about 3 and came aboard and at 6 we went ashore to the Indian restaurant and had a lovely meal.
Miles: 9 Total: 6,837

DAY 115 – Monday 31 May – Kuah
Went to shore to buy some backpacks. Started to pour rain about 11 and even though we had umbrellas we got soaked and our shoes got soaked. Took ages to find a backpack each. Each one seemed to have one thing missing so it was a bit of a compromise in the end. We bought the antifoul for the boat and took it all back. Got a text that Cilantro was on the way down. Dell went for a haircut and Peter went to buy some fresh fruit and then Cilantro came in so we adjourned to Kristie for a chatchup and sundowners and then we and Cilantro went ashore for dinner. We went to the Asian restaurant across the road which we had heard good things about and the meal was lovely.

DAY 116 – Tuesday 1 June – Kuah to Rebak Marina
Left at 7.30 and motored to Telaga to get some diesel. We could see storms threatening all around and rain was heading towards Telaga. We were there at 11.30 with a slight sprinkle of rain. When we left at 12.30 and looked back it was raining quite heavily. Had a bit of a sail on the way to Rebak. Called in and were allocated a berth and by 2pm we were in and tied up. Greg from Wind Chimes came to help with our lines and there is always a marina worker to help as well so it is not so stressful! We had a real shower then went to the restaurant for dinner. But the menu had changed. We were informed by another yachtie that it was a huge improvement but we didn’t thinks so. It is more expensive and mostly western meals – only a few Malaysian dishes
Miles: 25 Total: 6,842

We will be here now for three months at least so there will be no more sailing news for a while.

DAY 117 – Wednesday 2 June – Rebak Marina
Happy Birthday Judy
A day of catching up with chores – heaps of washing, accepting quote from Mr Samaran, getting electricity put on at home, cleaning and stowing Zed. Peter saw five large otters when he came back from the shower. We have heaps of food in the fridge and freezer we have to use up so we ate on board.

DAY 118 – Thursday 3 June – on the hard - Rebak Marina
Saw a boat hauled out of the water yesterday and the woman was so stressed and shaking and Dell though that’s how I get so told Peter to get someone else to do it! We were supposed to get hauled out at 9.30 but at 9 it poured down rain so they called us on the radio and said 10am. Greg from Wind Chimes came round to help so Dell stayed on shore to hold the line to keep the bow in then off they went. Peter had to reverse in then they threw them lines to hold the boat steady. They send a diver down to make sure that the straps are in the right place. He just has goggles and flippers. They washed off the bottom of the boat and removed the barnacles and had us on the hard by 12.30. We spent the afternoon scraping and cleaning and chatting to other people on the hard. The monkeys came down in the late afternoon and we watched two climb the ladder on to a boat and have a look around and climb down again. For the first time we closed our boat down against intruders – not people – monkeys!!! Ate at the restaurant with beach House and it was a lovely night.

DAY 119 – Friday 4 June – on the hard - Rebak Marina
Happy Birthday Jean E
We got up reasonably early and commenced cleaning the boat and scraping and washing etc in preparation for painting. One of the chaps in a boat on the side near the jungle awoke to a monkey tail hanging through the hatch above his bed! Luckily we are on the water side of the hard. We ate at the restaurant with a few other cruisers and met Rick off Hard Yakka. Dell actually has printed stuff off his blog on land travel so its interesting to meet people who have given us helpful information. During the day Dell watched the monkeys come down at lunch time into the bin and one big one went into the workmen’s place and got on top of the cupboard trying to open it and then got down in front of it and tried to open it but luckily it was padlocked. A storm came up through the night and it rained solidly all night.


Finally up to date with this!! Hope you are all well. Still anxiously awaiting baby news!!

Best wishes

Dell and Peter