DANGA BAY APRIL 2012

As we said previously, on our return from Australia in January we set to work servicing engines that had sat largely idle for more than 16 months and although the main engine started and ran beautifully it seems the blasted fairies did not come around while we were otherwise engaged (flying off overseas) and fix the Kubota generator.  As you may be aware, we have had endless trouble with this little gem since it’s installation in January 2010 before we departed the Gold Coast for our trip to Darwin.  Money was well spent?  NO.  And of course, the person who built the generator has suspiciously disappeared from contact.  Hmmm.  Anyway, the work continues amid ho’s and hum’s and oooh’s and aaah’s from the skipper (you know I’m fibbing) and we will persevere. 

Marina life is somewhat slow as the weather at the moment is unbearably humid and most of the cruisers have moved on.  The air is very still and storms are intermittent so most of us hibernate beneath air conditioners and fans until the cool of the evening before venturing outside.  Some fellow cruisers are fair of voice and indeed have a fairly good show worked out and so one night a week they ‘sing for their supper’ at the bar here at Danga Bay.  A fun nostalgic night of sing-a-long and karaoke on the part of some other brave souls, ensure a very enjoyable evening.  

A storm brewing to break the heat

We also embark on ‘shopping discovery’ trips with friends which take us to parts unknown around Johor Bahru and on one occasion we visited what we understood to be a large warehouse-type supplier of world-based goods.  Yes, we did find some Australian cheese, lamb and beef products and also products that we have been unable to source in the supermarkets here, but we were expecting a ‘large’ warehouse that we could wander around and investigate only to arrive at a small office crammed with boxes of goods, while outside where the delivery trucks were being loaded, more boxes of tins and odds and ends stacked up against the walls.  We were not, however, allowed to enter the large fridge/freezer to inspect the meat and so had to rely on the friendly staff running in and out to show us the different cuts of various meat.  Fine in the end, but it made a simple shopping trip last way longer than we expected.  The best outcome was, that they delivered our second order to the marina.

March

Now it was our intention to leave Danga Bay in February……we are still here (it’s March).  One little impeller is giving us grief as we are finding it difficult to locate a replacement and our ‘back-up’ GPS has packed it in.   We will have to have another trip to specialist Singapore shops it seems.  (Oh darn, says the skipper)   (YAY, says the crew).

Our friends are also hard at it installing a new engine in their boat.  After months of waiting for shipment it finally arrived and so heads are down in bilges and tails up in the air to ensure we will have travelling companions on our northward sail.  

The sail boom comes in handy as an engine lift

Guess what?  It’s now April and……yes, were are still here.  Won’t complain, won’t get things done, we are pleased to report that the generator and outboard are now running and the dinghy has been emptied of water collected over the past year.  We have not had the dinghy in the water since we arrived in Danga Bay and wondered why when we tried to lower it to service and clean, the poor dinghy came down at an odd angle.  After a struggle to get it on the jetty we discovered that over the year water had collected inside the double skin via pinhole gaps and perhaps condensation and now weighed more than twice what it did when we lifted it.  

So, out came the tools as the skipper to and stripped the Yamaha outboard, not looked at for 2 years and a bit sorry for itself.  5 or 6 hours later after much !@#*! and away it goes, runs, tilts and turns like a new one. Now, where's that beer?

The girls looking good in our berths

Engines taking longer than expected to install (understandable), jobs and parts taking longer to source than we thought (understandable) and a trip back to Oz in the middle of it all just makes timing blow out altogether.  But we always love seeing everyone in Australia again even if it is only for just over a week - and there is always the bonus of restocking the crew’s Southern Comfort supplies at the Duty Free airport shop.

This is where the beer is.

So there we will sign off for this blog and pick up again on our return.

Cheers