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If
you would like
to read about any of our adventures click on the relevant link below: January/February 2008
March: We ended up on the East coast of Middle Andaman for the rest of our stay. Water clarity was alot better and there was a better fish life. We did heaps of diving here and really enjoyed it. However its not what everyone raves about. We caught alot of Mangrove Jack rod fishing in the mangroves. So that kept us nicely fed for our time in the Andamans. We spent four days in Port Blair on our way out. We didn't anchor in the harbour we anchored off Ross Island and only came into the port the night we were leaving to clear immigration. Ross Island is a gorgeous island. This was the original settlement of the Andamans and has a great view of Port Blair. From here we used to bring our dingy over to the ferry terminal and pull it up the boat ramp. We were a bit of a spectacle for the locals. From here its a short walk into town whereas if you go and anchor in the port you have to pay for a dingy boy and also a cab or tuc tuc into town(not much). Clearing out was very easy and is done in the opposite way to clearing in minus the Coast Guard. We left at 8.00pm at night. We ended up motoring for the first night until about 9am the following morning where the NE wind came in and we had a very very easy sail the whole way to the Surin Islands. We arrived to the Surins well rested. There were no other yachts around when we arrived at Koh Surin Nua. The water clarity was excellent, far better than anything we saw in the Andamans and the corals were brilliant. We loved it here and spent more time in the water than out. We spent a beautiful five days around the islands. We met the local 'Monken' people at the sea gypsey village and traded some of the extra clothes I had onboard since Indonesia for crafts, fish and papaya. During this time our second bilge pump in our engine room died.(The first died in the Andamans). We now had no bilge pumps and weren't feeling very secure about it so decided to start heading South for Phuket. We also hadn't checked into Thailand yet. It had now been 8 days. While in the Surins all wind had pretty much died and the days started to become very humid, the nights also. Top April: With not much wind we made our way down the coast to Phuket. On the way we caught up with our good friends Koru. We checked in after 13 days MIA and no questions were asked. This time checking into Thailand we weren't charged anything so it will be interested to see what happens when we check out. They were building a marina at Ao Chalong where immigration customs and quarantine are situated. They used to charge us 300baht(11AUD) for check in and again for check out. We were told this money was going to the new marina. The building of the new marina has now stopped for some reason and so have the charges for check in! The weather pattern has now started to change and the time for anchoring on the West coast is just about finished. The locals are getting ready for the surfing season. Most yachties are either getting hauled out, tieing up to a marina and flyng home for the wet or moving further South(like us). We had been anchored on the West coast for a couple of nights until it started to blow westerly and the anchorage got decidly nasty. So we moved around to Ao Chalong. When we went back a couple of days later to Nai Han where we had been anchored one of the boats had dragged its anchor and ended up on the rocks. So we went immediately over to help the poor guy who was still in a state of shock. Between Ric and this other pommie yachtie within five hours they had the boat floating again. They were very lucky with most damage been done to the keel and a totaled rudder but the hull was ok. We spent five beautiful days around at Panwa Cape. We installed new bilge pumps, fixed our water pump and general maintenance on the boat. We still had our bike so we did a few touristy things as well. Due to the tides been quite big and making it hard to get in and out at the beach we moved back over to Ao Chalong for our last few days in Phuket. With very sad farwells to Serenade our good Swiss mates we started to make our way South to Langkawi. One the way down we stopped just North of Taratuo island where there are croc caves. If you dingy up to the end of river you will come across big limestone caves. Huge platforms of styrofoam are piled up ourside the entrance to the cave. We arrived at low tide which was the best time, otherwise you'll do some serious damage to your head. The locals have tied a rope about 20 metres long which dispears into the back of the cave. Throw a piece of styrofoam into he water, jump onbaord and you pull yourself along with the rope in pitch darkness with only the bats for company. It was really cool! Back to Telaga for a couple of nights while we did some work on the boat. Then we booked ourselves into Reeback Marina for two nights as we needed power in order to do some more work. This marina is great. Lovely pool, huge big resort that is completely empty just about except for the yachties who have free run of all the facilities. Here we caught up with our Dutch friends Aju just before they flew back to Holland for six months. Leaving Reeback we got a call on VHF our mate Kelvin on newly acquired boat 'Island Sonata' was just approaching Telaga Harbour. So back we went to catch up with him and his crew(from cat Duality anchored on the East coast of Oz). We spent three great nights with them and one really wet day where a low pressure was hanging over us and its just rained solid for 24 hours. Kelvin then contined on further south heading back to Oz and we slowly meandered our way over to Kuah where we caught up with good friend Gary on Tasman. Then off to Penang for the World Music Festival. Top May: We had planned on staying three weeks at Penang while Ric flew back to Oz but with a fairly decent size SW swell rolling into the marina it was a nightmare. Boats had cleats ripped off and numerous mooring lines were snapped. Thankfully we only snapped one line. We stayed for the Music Festival which was brilliant and not been biased but the best band there was Irish! We hightailed it out of Penang the next day Sunday 3rd May. Very little wind saw us motor sailing the whole way to Pangkor Island and further on down to Klang. We were on our way to Pt Dickson where we had changed Ric's flights so he could leave from here. We ended up spending two months in Port Dickson marina. Two weeks while Ric flew back to Oz I worked on the boat and got some jobs done that we've been meaning to do for ages. Ric got back on the 28th of May and we flew to Bangkok on the 29th for our six weeks of backpacking through Northern Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Top June: We traveled light with one sports bag and a small backpack between us. We spent two nights in Bangkok travelling by ferry and local bus around the city. Then we took our only minibus the whole trip to Kanchanaburi to where the bridge on the River Kwai is located. Gorgeous quiet town. We stayed in a raft room on the river. Hired a motorbike for a few days to have a look around. Went to the Tiger Temple, Bridge and had a look around the area. From here we had to back track to Bangkok stayed one more night. Ended up in the red light district buying dvd's and before I know it we are sitting in a seedy little bar watching a ping pong show which was so pathetic I think I could have done a better job myself. We got a night bus out of Bangkok to Chang Mai. Stayed one night hired a bike and drove up the mountains to Pai. Fantastic laid back town in the mountains we ended up staying three days and doing a Thai cooking course. Unfortunately we had too keep moving. Stayed one more night in Chang Mai and then got a local bus to the Thai/Laos border. Top July: Crossed over to Huay Xai and stayed a night. Jumped on the slow boat ride for two days to Luang Prabang. Gorgeous ride on the Mekong river. Spent 4 nights in Luang Prabnag soaking up the French architecture and cycling around the area. Its against the law to rent a motorbike to a tourist so you end up cycling but its a perfect way to see the town. A bus ride to Phonsovan saw us taking a tour of the Plain of Jars and witnessing all the craters from the American bombs during the Secret War. A highlight here was visiting the MAG centre in the centre of town. Another bus ride South saw us in Vang Vient. Party centre of Laos. We spent two nights and enjoyed tubing down the river drinking lots of Lao beer. Vientiane was next on the list and a little disapointing. We stayed two nights and that was enough. We got a bed bus to Pakse where we spent 3 days exploring the Bolaven Plateau. We crossed into Cambodia just South of Pakse and made our way to Kratie which lies on the Mekong river. Bustling town but we only stayed one night and got a bus the next day to Siem Reap. We bought three day passes to see the Angkor temples and stayed 5 nights here soaking it all up. It absolutely blew our socks off. 8US got us a bus ride to Phnom Penh which we loved. Except for a night in Kep and another in Kampot we spent the rest of our time in Phnom Penh before we flew back to Port Dickson. We spent four days getting the boat ready for our trip South. We opened up our main sail the day we were leaving Port Dickson to find a meter long rip in one of the seams. It looked like the stitching had just come away with the heat and moisture. We patched it up as best we could with the help of Mike from yacht Capricorn and headed off down the Straits. We used the main the whole way to Malacca and got it repaired at Qantum sails by Steve the following day. No hardship really because we wanted to spend a day having another look around Malacca. We anchored just off the river mouth near customs and the water police. Every night we went out and anchored behind the island. We had to get out skates on however as we were meeting my friend Caroline in Singapore on the 18th. She was flying in for a months holiday and was going to sail with us to East Malaysia. We didn't check into Singapore this time but went directly up the Johor Strait and anchored off Denga Bay about 2miles from Johor city. A fantastic spot to anchor with a private marina that has 24hour security so your dingy is very safe. Across the road you can catch a bus into the centre of the city and from there its an easy if not time consuming hop across the causeway into Singapore. So when Caroline arrived and I went and grabbed her at Changi and brought her straight across the Causeway. The first night Caroline was onboard a local man got thrown out of his dingy about 100m off the stern of the boat. We went to help him but he had got hit on the head by his out of control dingy and had disapeared. Very sad and a little scary for Carolines first night onboard. We headed back down the Straits with the current and spent our first night anchored on the Malaysia side of the Straits. Second day we caught the current only as far as St Johns island Singapore and snuck in and anchored there for the night. No visits from the police! We left at 4am the next day and in pretty shite conditions motor sailed 50nm to Singi Bay. Huge big bay with great protection and a muslim fishing village on one side. We had clear sunny weather for the next few days and island hopped up toward Tioman Islands. We spent three or four nights around these islands waiting for the weather pattern to change from the SE. We had one night at Tolie island where we got hit by 40knots and the ever present thunder and lightening. By the end of the storm we were the only boat that hadn't budged and the only vessel left in the bay by the following morning. The day after the wind changed to the South so we were off. We sailed the first day and during the night we ended up motoring. We had to do a few 360's crossing the shipping channel as it was very busy. By the next morning the wind was back from the S and we sailed the whole way to the Aerobus Island, which belong to Indonesia. We anchored off this beautiful tropical island for the day. We had the pick down 5 minutes and we were boarded by the Navy in all their finery. We produced our CAIT which wasn't even in date yet and they were happy. They did ask for whiskey which we didn't have so we produced some ciggies for them. They wouldn't take them though as they were from Malaysia. I could'nt believe it. Next day we had fantastic wind 15-20knots from the SW so what we thought was going to take 48 hours only took 24 and we hit Tanjung Datu by the next morning. However we didn't come away with out a few scars. We blew out our Screecher about 30nm off the Borneo coastline and the evening before we hit something that was submerged (we presume a tree but we couldn't see anything) and did a good bit of damage to our port bow. Top August: First stop in Sarawak was Tanjung Datu one of the national parks. We stopped for one night and the next morning went exploring the beach where we found lots of turtles had laid eggs. The eggs are then dug out of the sand and put in a protective cage with the date they were layen so nothing can get a hold of them including the locals. Two fresh water streams came out to the beach and the one furthest along had some quiet deep pools so we went for a morning swim. With little wind we sailed to Pulau which is only from the Santebong River. Here with the fantastic help of Ian and Mona (a local couple who own a sail boat moored at Santebong) we found a Chinese guy to repair our screecher. Well just the big rip. It looked as if the whole thing was going to fall apart but it would have cost too much to patch it all up. Our stoppers failed again and broke off on our Port prop so they had to be replaced. This time with alot bigger stoppers so hopefully it won't happen again. We also beached the boat the second day there. Fantastic place if you have a cat to do any repairs. Flat beach, free from stones and hard sand. But we were in undated with curious visitors from the local villiage - all very helpful and friendly. We dug out the collapsed foam in the bow and tried to dry it out as best we could using our new generator(we are so glad that we purchased one) and the hairdryer(that only ever gets used during times like these). We then filled it with glue. A temporary job that will hopefully be fully fixed once we get back to Australia. Myself and Caroline produced a mommoth effort and climbed Gunung Santebong. A hard climb and in places a little dodgey but we did it. It took us about seven hours for the round trip. But an amazing view if not a little hazy at the top. After a few days in the river we sailed out to Pulau Lakei which is an island off Bakao National Park one of the most famous parks here in Sarawak. Weather was miserable but that didn't stop myself and Caroline going hiking in the park. We walked about 6km all up and decided that was enough. Pulau Lakei is small with a nice short walk to the other side of the island which gives you great views of Gunung Santebong. There is also a little pool with a tiny waterfall where you can have a dip to cool off. We saw macaque monkies here but no probiscus. There are supposed to be some here. We had to eventually head back because Caroline was flying out of Kuching for Kota Kinabulu. The day she left we headed North. We day hopped up the coast taking the inside route through the oil fields. Nobody objected. We sailed most of the way which was great as we had bugger all fuel. We spend one night in the marina in Miri and ended up signing up for the 5th Borneo International Yachting Challenge that was starting in Labuan on the 23rd. On our way to Labuan we stopped for one night inside the breakwater of Muara Harbour, Brunei. We didn't check in but got permission from the harbour control to anchor for the night. 1am i heard a thud on the side of the hull. Ran up buck naked on deck to find three police boats trying to raft up to us. They wanted to know what we were doing there and why we hadn't checked in. They took all our details and eventually buggered off. We made it to Labuan on the 22nd and anchored among the most boats that I have seen for awhile. We had a fantastic few days here catching up with other yachties. We ended up staying in the Waterfront hotel for two nights with breakfast and dinner included. And on the Sunday the first of the races began with the Labuan harbour Regatta. We came third in the multihull division and ended up winning a trophy. Unfortunately we couldn't do the Labuan Miri leg as Ric had to fly out back to Australia. So we headed for Brunei on the Monday. Just 15nm away we anchored off the Royal Brunei Yacht Club. We checked in with immigration and customs. Ric had to buy a multientry visa for 30BND as he was flying out and for me I got a month single entry visa which cost me nothing. We organised our visas for Indonesia which only took 24 hours and tried to get some fuel but that didn't come to pass. Ric flew out on the 29th so it was just me, Hard Yakka and the thunder and lightening which came every night. I deffinitely wasn't going to be short of water with rain every night. September: So two weeks in Brunei...ahhh...its enough I think. Nice place, very friendly people. Good anchorage and great facilities at the Royal Brunei Yacht Club. Staff there will go out of their way to help you in anyway. So I got the biggest log caught in between my hulls at 2am one night and had to inlist the help of the only yachtie in the anchorage to come and help me. But apart from that all was well. Not much wind or sun so had to use the generator to get some power in the batteries. When Ric got back we went to Labuan to stock up and instead of heading North like we planned we turned right and started heading South toward Singapore. Ric has an interview in Singapore for a job in Indonesia which looks like it will happen. We had a good sail across to JB it took us two days two night with SW 15-20 until half way across and then it swung to the S 15-20 so we made it easily. Now we are anchored one side of the causeway between Singapore and Malaysia. Great anchorage and brilliant access to JB. October: Still in JB and looks like we're going to be doing some land stuff for awhile. So webpage might not be updated for awhile. But still stay tuned as it will be updated again one day.
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