PENANG TO LANGKAWI

Penang is a picturesque island, the city is like a lot of other cities however the lush dense mountains give the main city, Georgetown, a beautiful backdrop no matter from which direction you approach it.  The people we found to be very friendly and we would be happy to spend time there again.  Our visit was short but we wanted to get to Langkawi now that Lupari 2’s crew had returned from Australia.  Congratulations on their new granddaughter.

Around 8am one morning the tide was in our favour so we weighed anchor (silly expression, we know how much the anchor weighs) and headed north once again.  Motoring is the norm up here in the tropical belt as the only good winds accompany sumatras (storms) that whip through briefly bringing rain and thunder.   Sumatras are also the norm.  We are used to it.  However there were no Sumatras today as we head to the island of Bidon (Pulau Bidon) to anchor in calm waters between the mainland and the island for the night.  There was however, a large swell which accompanied us from Penang and we were a bit skeptical that we would not be able to escape it even behind the island.  To our delight the anchorage was calm and although we did roll a bit through the night we managed to stay put until next morning and were even able to stroll on the sandy beach.

Anchored at Pulau Bidon

Always wondered how palm trees grew on the beach

Unfortunately the Maritime Malaysia craft that also attempted to anchor near us just could not get their anchor to hold try as they did.  We watched with some trepidation as they attempted several times to set the anchor and eventually after a couple of hours, gave up and departed.  By then the wind had picked up and the calm anchorage became a roly one. After their 3rd or 4th attempt at anchoring the skipper wanted to go and give them a brochure on the SARCA anchor. Truly, if you have boat, use a SARCA. We could write volumes on the people we speak to who have anchoring problems.  We have spent most of the last 5 years on anchor, in mud, sand, weed, reef, rock and lord knows what else, and we have come to love our SARCA. Put it down, pull it in, go to sleep.

Our plans were to anchor a couple more times before reaching Langkawi but it was only a day’s motoring away and with fair weather we kept going to reach Kuah harbour around mid afternoon and anchor with several other boats already there.  

The Brahminy Kite is Langkawi's mascot

Langkawi is actually a group of 99 islands off the very northern tip of the Malaysian/Thailand border.  Absolutely beautiful, steep, dense green islands greet you as you arrive and naturally it is a tourist haven.  It is also a Duty Free haven – YAY cheap alcohol.  A heavy duty is put on alcohol throughout Malaysia as they frown on the consumption of any form of alcohol. 

So Langkawi is the place to restock the lockers with beer, spirits, wine and champers YES champers again.  Oh lovely.  We soon find an enterprising woman who will deliver to our dinghy jetty any number of cartons of beer and fill our diesel jerry cans too, all for just a small personal profit.  Worth it for her and for us as it is very convenient.  We take a walk to the night market and visit many duty free shops and also another good Chinese restaurant.  The skipper cannot believe the price of beer here is around a ¼ of what we were paying in Johor.

After a couple of days in the main harbour we leave to explore quieter anchorages.  There are any number of idyllic places to anchor and we really feel like we are cruising again.  Our first anchorage is behind the island of Bumbon and a good place to escape windy storms in Kuah harbour as Kuah is quite open and exposed.  We find a handful of cruisers already anchored at Bumbon and join them to enjoy our surrounds for a few days.  Now the wind I was telling you that is quite elusive here in the tropics somehow found its way to Langkawi all at once and we are glad we anchored in Bumbon as a few days were spent rocking about during strong gusts coming in from the north west, so much so that our shade covers were lashed to the masts for a few days.  We console ourselves with visits for morning tea to our new found friends and also a bbq on the beach one calm evening.  

Meeting our neighbours

Large fishing vessel with heavy nets

Our next major port on Langkawi is Telaga harbour and we book into the marina for a short while to top up our water tanks and explore the area.  The marina staff are very willing to assist us, happy and helpful, making our stay extremely pleasant.  We were informed we could hire a car at the marina office and as we were a little isolated at this end of the island we decide a sight-seeing and shopping trip is in order.  Our car, a Black Proton (why black in this climate?) with no air conditioning, only two windows that wind down, no fuel and a huge scrape down the passenger side takes us on a circumnavigation of the island – after we stop laughing that is.  Such is life in Langkawi.  The car is legal though as it does have ‘P’ plates, lots of registration AND seat belts.  More laughing.  It is obviously a staff member’s car who is trying to gain a little extra cash on-the-side.

Telaga Harbour Marina - this marina suffered severely in the 2004 Tsunami but is shipshape now

Devastation during the Tsunami.

The beautiful Oriental Village on Langkawi

Atop Mt Gunung Raya

We drive through typical Malaysian countryside dodging monkeys at the roadside (they have no fear of vehicles), and villages, stop at the Kraf Shop (craft shop) to view Batic painting and lots of typical and non-typical Malaysian crafts.  Some ‘kraf” was 'made in China'.  Go figure, they must be too busy here.  They did have quite a good museum however.   Then it’s on to PL Soon Huat supermarket for some groceries.  Surprisingly, there is a very good variety of US and UK tinned goods.  We just love the laid-back lifestyle – we get to the counter with our basket of goodies only to find we are a little embarrassingly short of cash (they don’t do credit/debit cards).  “No problem, ATM just across road at petrol station – you take shopping, come back, pay.”  No problemo. Well actually, the crew stayed put with the shopping while the skipper nipped across to top up the wallet situation. 

Cooling waters at the waterfall

We had heard of a couple of South African cruisers who have now settled here on Langkawi and import good quality meat products – not surprisingly their brand name is ‘Sailors’.  They make their own pies (PIES YUUUM strange what you miss) and everything is Halal ie. In accordance with Muslim traditions.  Luckily we stumbled on their bakery/factory and stopped for a chat and to buy some fresh beef on the way back to the marina. 

Halal and non-Halal:  In Islam, some forbidden items include: alcohol and food prepared with alcoholic ingredients (whether or not "cooked off"), pork and all products prepared using swine (ex. mashmallows, gelatin); 'animals improperly slaughtered'; carnivorous or omnivorous mammals (only herbivore mammals are allowed); birds of prey; and any food contaminated with any of these.  Limits your choice somewhat, although chicken and fish products are abundant.  Good thing we like chicken and fish.

Anyway, the following day we had the opportunity to catch up with some fellow cruisers we had not seen for some months for a delightful Tapas lunch and a very lazy afternoon chatting. 

From the marina we can dinghy out to the anchorage fondly known as ‘the pond’ to take a swim from one of the man-made islands therein.  This anchorage, at the entrance to the marina channel accommodates around a dozen or more yachts comfortably who can also access the marina facilities and top up with fresh water for a minimal fee.  At the end of our marina stay we also anchored in the pond for a night before we headed off to circumnavigate Langkawi and explore more of the idyllic anchorages.  

The weather had been extremely kind to us over the weeks we were safely tied up in our berth, until............you know it, the day we were due to leave.  A short-lived suspicious wind and low clouds blew softly through during the afternoon and we just had that nagging in the back of our minds, you know how you do?  The evening passed quietly although was a little roly from an equally suspicious swell but we convinced ourselves it would pass.  The morning of our departure dawned still, grey, cooler than usual and with some low cloud hovering around the surrounding hills.  But we would leave as planned as we didn't have far to go and it didn't look too threatening.  By the time the anchor was completely up and we were deciding which way to turn once out of the protection of the pond, the sky was black, it was bucketing, thundering and blowing.  Great!  We need to keep going now as re-anchoring could be filled with mishap.  Great!  The crew was not happy and the skipper was soaking wet.  

A couple of choppy, blindingly wet and miserable hours passed as we reached our new anchorage and shortly after digging in the anchor, would you believe, all the nasty weather cleared and we were able to dry off and decide who was going up the mast to untangle a halyard that had wrapped itself around the headsail preventing us from properly furling it at some stage during the BLASTED BLOW !  Deep breaths.  Isn't this fun? 
(Skipper says: beats 9 to 5 though.  Crew says: thththwvpth!).

So, the weather clears enough for us to cruise around to the Kilim Geoforest Park (affectionately know by cruisers as Hole-In-The-Wall) for a week of quiet calm and very interesting dinghy exploration of the amazing waterways through mangroves, the bat-filled caves and along beside sheer rock cliffs.  

A gorgeous anchorage (the sun did come out eventually)

We are fortunate to be the only occupied anchored vessel there and so we had the place to ourselves at night.  During the day, a different matter.  Lots and lots of tourist boats speed through the waters to see the caves, feed the birds and monkeys and in general sight-see.  Of course, the occupants all wave and call out as they go past enjoying their speed boat experience.  The women in their full black burkha outfits looking like Ninja warriors, or some masked avengers, hanging on for dear life don't look quite as impressed as their husbands but then it's hard to tell with their faces covered.  

Through caves....

and ravines.

The nights, oh the nights were amazing.  Still, quiet (quieter, than quiet) warm, romantic...true...romantic, star-studded nights.  The reflections of the surrounding hills on the still water making us feel like we were floating in space.  Sensational.  A definite highlight of Langkawi, and indeed Malaysia, for us.   

The local restaurant

 

Sensational cliffs

Idyllic hideaways

The intrepid cave explorer

Yep, the dinghy is still where we left it

Caves everywhere

We so wish we could share ALL our photos with you just to show you how wonderful these cruising grounds are.  Mother nature is fantastic and the ocean is a wondrous and sometimes perplexing place and we are grateful for every minute -  well….. maybe not EVERY minute I remember the Gulf of Carpentaria crossing  Aaargh.  But we do consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to see the parts of the world we have seen including the Australian coastline.

All too soon we leave to again cruise to another anchorage and re-stock for our sail back down south.  We have decided to head back down the Malaysian coast to spend some more time in Indonesia. 

All our love