At last... Out at Anchor & Island Hopping

Friday, November 14, 2014

Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia

At last we're out of the marina, Drew and I are high as kites, so much hard work completed, now it’s time to get out exploring and actually use the boat the way we should.  However I have to say after such a smooth entry to the marina, the exit was the complete opposite.

Drew may not like this being in my blog but it’s just my memories and stories of my traveling.  All was set, everything stored away, the engine running beautifully, Tony and Neil came to give us a hand throwing the lines off the dock and there the trouble began!  I got the lines in, we were in reverse, Drew put her into forward and... Nothing... We’re still going back and I can tell you with a 47ft boat there’s not a lot of room to maneuver!  .  We were lucky that although there was a boat directly behind us, the next berth was free so Drew amazingly managed to steer her towards the empty berth.

Still playing with the gears he managed to get it kicked into forward and dived back to help me fend off from the boat that was now alongside us and thankfully we managed... Just.  We broke a pipe at the back of our neighbors boat and took a chunk out the back of Malmuirie as she caught on a cleat.  While he had forward momentum he decided to keep going and get out the marina, gosh what a start.  As it was mid afternoon we were just going out to anchor at Kuah and we breathed a sign of relief once we got there and got the anchor down.

There’s something really special being back out at sea, the rolling of the boat in the waves and when you need to go ashore you need to jump in the dinghy and go, we bring our shopping in this way, our water, take the rubbish out etc. And as we can only carry a certain amount of water your routine changes from having a shower inside to standing at the front of the boat with the hose having a salt water shower then a fresh water rinse off, even doing the dishes and washing clothes is now all done out on deck.

Sitting under the moonlight with no close neighbors is beautiful and peaceful, you really feel the difference.  After a few days at anchor the swell really picked up which meant we were smashing into waves making it impossible to get ashore by dinghy, instead of being uncomfortable we move to the fish farms past the marina which gave us shelter out of the wind and swell.

We only stayed a day then traveled round other islands and stopped at Awana Porto Malai which is near Pantai Cenang and only a 5 minute taxi ride away.  There is nowhere really to leave the dinghy without costing a fortune but me manage to anchor off and go to Cenang for the night.

Friends of ours are here James and Cat, who work on the Crystal Yacht Sunset Cruise which I had been on before, and their yacht is anchored here too and are our first visitors which was great, James jumped on for a wee coffee in the morning and congratulated us for getting out of the marina.

The cruise ships that visit Langkawi all berth here so there’s always plenty of coming and going, Drew and I enjoy our time round at Cenang, having a sun downer and not having to do more jobs on the boat and we finally relax.  When we feel like it we move onto another spot which for me is what it’s all about, go wherever, whenever, this is all your back garden so to speak as this is Drew’s home.

Next we headed off to the Besar group of islands and anchored in between three islands which provided great shelter and fab beaches all to ourselves.  We would take food and drinks down to the beach and build a fire for cooking, BBQ chicken mmm...strange how this always tastes the best food you’ve ever had, no-one around, beautiful beach to yourself, sitting looking out to the yacht, or lying under the moonlight just enjoying the sounds of the jungle on the island behind us, life doesn’t get much better than this.

One of the beaches we came across a dozen otters, they were swimming all around the dinghy and even when we got on the beach they were close but got out of sight.  We spent time doing a bit of beach combing seeing what we could find and generally exploring which I love.  Heading over to another beach we explored the island as much as possible climbing round the rocks as far as we could go, following the otter prints on the beach to see if we could see any more.

Coming back to the boat we toured the rocks of the island behind us and were delighted to see more otters, they were checking us out, swimming about then jumping on the rocks and hiding, i love the wildlife here.  You can here all the monkeys in the jungle who sometimes come down to the rocks also, plus you have the locals fishing or on the rocks for oysters, it’s been a real interesting place to hang out for a number of days.

Drew and I love cooking on board too, we've made some great meals while we're out from Drew's homemade pasta with bolognaise, garlic bread and a wee glass of red wine to bangers and mash to homemade pancakes with butter and jam

We end up heading back to Kuah for a few days as Drew wants to change the engine oil and we end up hanging out at anchor for a few weeks.  We’ll spend time in Kuah town, have easy access for shopping, take a wander down through the park to the marina for a catch up with everyone or go to the Pier for steak dinner.  Cappuccino is another good stop for internet access which we can walk down to from the boat and Ray’s Bar, we love Ray she’s an absolute gem.

So few bits to do then we’ll head back round the islands, some of the photos are fab.

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