Passage Report 21

Langkawi to Phuket

December, 2008

One of the joys of the sailing lifestyle is meeting up when least expected, with crews from past voyages. Lindsay on Avolare, came aboard after Sahula anchored off Kuah, the main town of Langkawi Island. He was last met in the Goldsmith Islands on the Great Barrier Reef. Since then he's cruised to Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Indonesia. His boat is same Van de Stadt design as Sahula.

A seasoned Asia cruiser, his visit provides a mine of information on Langkawi and Phuket.

It seems myths are fact or fact is a myth. A myth is that Asia is cheap. The Asian Tigers have gained western economies. Boats planning to use haul-out facilities are finding Australian level costs. A fact is that food and fuel remain inexpensive.

A myth is that crystal clear waters abound in fish. Fact is that the waters of Indonesia, western Malaysia and Thailand are fished at an unsustainable level. They are well underway to being oceanic deserts. Waters are rarely crystal clear. Coral reefs are largely destroyed by fish bombing or nets. Plastic pollution is rife. The rivers, seas and oceans exhibit the community sewers. A fact is that the seas and oceans are in dire straits.

Sahula planned to move quickly onto Thailand seeking clear waters. Thailand's inshore waters repeat Malaysia's. Clearer waters await in the islands well offshore away from rivers, streams and cities.

The untrammeled natural oceanic world is receding into almost mythical pockets open only to adventurous yacht cruisers.

Kuah, Langkawi's largest town, supplies most needs yet missing Penang's incessant traffic and noise. Its shops reflect that Langkawi is Malaysia's only duty free region. Amongst yachties it has supplanted Phuket as the restock port. Sahula is anchored off to have Tanya (engine), warranty serviced and to restock. A French engineer, Jean Pierre Dortz, does an excellent service. Tanya is smiling. An extra present is four new batteries. She is ready for India, the Red and Med.

A feature of Kuah is the Pier Bar. A welcoming and pleasant place. It is a magnet for sailors seeking common company. It's a western "island" in a sea of Asia. Beer reflects the world's breweries. Components of its customers are single, Asia-phile males. Refugees from life's travails. They embrace the warm weather. They reject western economies. Their boats, mostly small, reflect their income. Conversation is boating, boating and .... and their Asian nirvana. Travel outside Asia is incomprehensible.

Skipper receives news that a friend and relative has been killed in a fall while climbing Mt Aspiring in NZ. The accident recalls Skipper climbing days in the region and intense sadness for his loved ones. However, while the result is not one anyone would seek, at least in retrospect there would be an adventurer's satisfaction of knowing, that in accepting all the risks of adventure (mountaineering, sailing) a life has been lived to the fullest.

It seems to an outsider, that generally, one part of society here, women, do not lead "life to the fullest." Their religion dictates that every day, hot or cold, their round faces peek out of a head covering and that they wear long clothes. They do so with considerable elegance. Even at the beach, they swim in the same clothes alongside males in togs. It seems to be a male world. In response to a comment that women didn't seem very happy or welcoming, the reply was that women don't engage in casual

eye to eye contact with males. Generally, there is none of the spontaneous smiles and greetings so prevalent in all levels of Indonesian society. It seems to confirm that life there is more in balance and that prosperity and a dominant politico-religion, struggle to provide the full life. A cause for some hope is that the local newspaper evidences the substantial contribution women make in local and state politics. The same newspaper reported a controversy over a fatwa directing the faithful to abstain

from yoga. The role of religion in politics seems to be in evolution.

Obesity is a major issue in this part of the world. If the supermarkets, large or mini, are any guide the solution is obvious. Row on row contains highly packaged "junk" food. Health food seems to be non-existent or costly.

Sahula departs Kuah for the Fjord anchorage and Teluga Harbour on Langkawi Island. Skipper is told that departure can be processed at Teluga. However, the information did not include that officials would be taking a two day public holiday. A lesson learned to cross check information. It is a pleasant if not odd place. Sahula is anchored outside Teluga marina. The marina is another example of a dream gone wrong. At one end are moored huge private, glitzy, "white" ships, at the other a motley array

of international cruising yachts. The newly painted "harbour village" is largely untenanted, the restaurant's deserted and alongside, a half built, too large, European design, multi-story hotel. A cable car (and summit restaurant) climbs the otherwise spectacular mountain backdrop.

Skipper decides that hiring a motor bike is too confronting on busy holiday roads. Nevertheless, wait has its benefits. Sahula is refueled (approx 80cents a litre at Service Station [ not marina)), re-watered and made ready to depart. A bushwalk then swim and peaceful read on a small island beach take up the sunny day.

Early morning finds Sahula finally heading to Thailand. It's a fine day with a moderate NNE'ly. Sahula is in company with Malin (Erling and Kari), a Norwegian yacht. Tanya's retired, sails up and skipper enjoys some of the best sailing since Australia. It only lasts an hour. Skipper has received the superannuation funds annual report. Not good news. Sailing is in, motoring is out. A few tacks and Sahula is anchored off Tarutao Island.

Another day sailing. Mollie (spinnaker) is flying. Wind pumps in, drops, dies then rises in another direction. 100's of fishing buoys play Russian roulette. There are few sea birds and most notably much less plastic pollution.

It's a marine sculpture "park of great beauty. Sahula passes some of nature's most spectacular works. Limestone peaks (karst), rise some hundreds of meters to drop in spectacular cliffs adorned in hanging jungle. Ko Phedra is exhibit one. A knife edge, the "ko" extends half a mile. Sahula's mast almost touches the cliff towering above. Two eagles soar over the tops.

Sahula anchors at Ko Muk to view the "emerald" cave. The entrance is inauspicious. A low oyster encrusted hollow in amongst many apparent caves. It's marked by buoys. Skipper in ANE (dinghy) rowed in. It is 80 metres long. Daylight soon turned to inky blackness amidst much hissing and grumbling from seawater surging through the cave.. It was not for the faint hearted. A torch revealed the tall roof lined with bats, stalactites and limestone curtains. Light was gratefully seen which soon revealed

a perfect beach surrounded by sky soaring cliffs adorned in hanging jungle. It was indeed an inner world, a hidden emerald garden.

This jewel has been used by locals for taking the swallow nests. As well pirates hid their loot. Now tourists have replaced the swallows. Skipper, alone, reveled in the silent beauty.. Not for long, the beach shows that tides would cover the cave. It is a rising tide. ANE gets lost. Ahead is a cave beach with waves breaking seemingly huge in the reverberating noise. Soon the entrance is found. Relief is palpable. .

Sahula sails for Phi Phi Don. The propeller crunches a fishing buoy's line. Tanya is stopped, all sail is taken in. Skipper dives down to inspect the propeller. All is well.

Phi Phi Don is a key tourist hub. It is strikingly beautiful anchorage. "The Beach" was filmed on nearby Phi Phi Le. Skipper meets Jay and Jodie (Makani Kai) and Brian and Brenda (Galiano) for a meal ashore and is confronted by surging, noisy streets of gaudy restaurants, shops, internet cafes, hotels, bars and clubs, populated by young Europeans. By day, an armada of "long tails" (a colourful, traditional fishing boat with a noisy, diesel engine, mounted astern, above deck, attached to a long propeller

shaft.) ply the strait to Phi Phi Le to view the film site. The experience of traditional Thailand is a Thai waiter.

Phi Phi Don suffered great loss of life and property in the 2004 Tsunami. Only local memory and a monument (out of sight and out of town) remain. Everything is focused on the economics of tourism.

Skipper goes ashore next day to re-stock. Thai staff are uncharacteristically unwelcoming, probably the impact of serving thousands of youthful Europeans.

Sahula motors across to Phi Phi Li island. A strikingly beautiful natural sculpture, its towering limestone cliffs hold huge caves and are separated by deep gorges. Sahula takes aboard a buoy in a cliff surrounded bay with a white beach. It was site of the Leonardo Di Capiro, film "The Beach." By day it's seething with Phi Phi Don's tourists. Sahula stays overnight. Skipper enjoys a snorkel, diving through an underwater arch behind the boat. Evening peace is savoured sipping a wine to a setting red

orb.

To a morning, moderate NE'ly; Skipper casts off, mainsail up, headsails drawing, Sahula lopes over calm seas to Ao Chalong, the anchorage for Phuket. The yellow quarantine flag below the red, white and blue, Thai flag marks the end of Stage 2 (Stage 1, Australia-Singapore) of Sahula's global adventures. Sahula will now enjoy the many islands of Phang-Nga Bay and Xmas before crew joins on the 31st December for the ocean passage to India in early January, 2009.

David

Sv Sahula,

Phuket,

Thailand

16th December, 2008

Passage Report 20

Singapore to Malaysia

Synonymous with culture shock is Singapore. Across the teeming ships plying their special lanes, out of the murk, rises the Singapore's high rise. Symbols of the economic success story or precursors to human madness. It is hard not to feel the latter when exiting by yacht from Indonesia.

Today it is in the distance. Sahula is entering Malaysia, heading to the Sebana Golf Resort and Marina. The marina is located past the mass anchored ships, on a winding river in the jungles of Johor. It's culturally a long way from Indonesia.

Its set alongside a manicured golf course, harbours a crystal blue swimming pool and berths in calm waters. It's the ideal place to stop, rest and gather the threads in readiness to confront its city neighbour. Staff are friendly and efficient. Noticeably, immigration and vessel entry is a five minute affair; and free.

Sahula is among friends. She's berthed alongside Catala, crew and good friends; Garth and Janine. Many of the fleet seek similar refuge. All adhere to the maxim, "cruising is doing maintenance in beautiful places."

On Sahula, the list seems endless. Tanya needs a warranty service; deck needs painting and a myriad of small things need attention.

The attention has to be shared with daily rain and thunder as the monsoon passes overhead.

Days pass with tasks aboard running sweat in hot muggy days to luxuriating in the clear blue poor. It's a 12 hour sauna.

A visit to Singapore erases any doubts about big city life. The trains (MRT) and buses spirit milling millions to a multitude of destinations. Shopping is a core activity in an amazing array of small businesses. They're housed in skyscrapers peering above

a freeway tangle. The clinical cleanliness and oily efficiency of a city orientated to do business, is remote, even cold.

A day is enough. The new crew, Chris flies in from Adelaide. She joins skipper in returning to the sanctuary of Sahula for a three week vacation sailing the Malacca Strait and the west coast of Malaysia.

Finally, the magnetic comfort of marina life is broken; Sahula departs Sebana for the west coast and Malacca.. It is good to be under way again.

Before the west coast, Sahula had to pass Singapore's massed skyscrapers and merchant fleet. It seems half the world's ships are anchored or in the port.

Kupuk village provided the first nights anchorage. It's built on stilts over the water, home to fisher families, whose men folk ply the shallow waters in traditional long boats. They cheerfully wave as Sahula enters the harbour.

Brash, ultra modern Singapore lines the horizon.

Once again fishing buoys and nets are an obstacle to navigation.

Word goes out that renewed vigour from pirates threatens coastal passages.

Sahula leaves Kupuk in rain, wind and threatening lightening. Lightening strike is a major concern. Steel boats are reputed to be better protected but a direct strike could take out all electronic and electrical equipment.

The long hot day lengthens into an overnight passage: motor sailing in fine weather, few fishing boats, nets, buoys and not a whiff of pirates. Sahula stays well out of the mega-fleet plying the Malacca Straits.

Admirals Marina beckons nearby Port Dickson. It's another Malaysian mega- resort, encircled by high-rise (empty) apartments. Overdevelopment seems to be a mark of Malaysian progress.

Skipper and crew plan a two day excursion to Malacca.

Malacca is blessed with an ancient history and culture recognized in its World Heritage listing.. It's thrived since pre-European colonization. A trading port since time immemorial. A visitor can reflect upon the waves of invading, Portuguese, Dutch and English armadas and armies. Before them, the great trading fleets of Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho who in 1421 sailed to establish trading links in Africa, Middle East, and Asia. There is evidence his fleet also reached America, Europe and South America.

His fleet comprised 200 odd ships, some of 500 tonnes, manned by 27,000 crew. He spearheaded a Chinese hegemony based upon trade and Confucian principles of goodwill, peace and harmony. One ponders what a different world it would have been if soon after his return, China had not withdrawn behind "closed doors," allowing European dominance. His exploits are recalled in the Cheng Ho Museum, a superb tribute to his travels.

Strangely, while there is a Malacca River its mouth is too shallow so ships anchored off in a roadstead are serviced by barges.

The return trip detoured to Sri Menenti, a royal city located in the mountains of Negeri province. The Royal Palace is a large imposing wooden traditional building set in gardens. It was built without nails. It's now a museum as the Sultan is no longer in residence.

Another day of no wind after Admirals Marina. Sahula passes a coastline pitted with the wharves, industry and tourism's high rise on her way north to Kuala Lumpur's huge Port Klang. It seethes with shipping, containers and anchored vessels.

Remarkably, Sahula passes by two beautiful, three mast, square riggers at anchor, both registered in Port Klang.

Again a day of no wind. Sahula sights no pirates, few fishing boats, and much massed shipping. Large logs pose the only threat to navigation. Society's flotsam and jetsam floats by in an endless stream. The pollution is more evident than in Indonesian waters.

Reports say at Port Klang yacht club the rubbish included dead bodies: one human another, a cat. It seems Malaysian seas reflect the degradation of the land.

Tanya (engine) drives on in calm, oily seas to Pangkor Island near Lumut. The anchorage is a sign of good things to come. White beaches and blue milky water, line jungle clad hills.

Pangkor Island's god is tourism. Resorts "litter" the white beaches. Leisure, long regarded as western concept is no more. In Malaysia, resorts, high rise apartments and restaurants on every beach bare witness to the rising tide of "prosperity" and leisure time.

Skipper and crew hire two motor bikes to tour the island.

It's ever onward to Penang.. Sahula departs Pangkor in rain and squalls. Wind shifts, motor sailing and shallow water mark a normal days sailing in Malaysian west coast waters.

Sahula arrives, in the evening light, passes under the spectacular Penang bridge and berths at Tanjong Marina alongside historic Georgetown, Penang. It's next door to a large ferry terminal. Sahula "enjoys" a night of continual movement in the "calm" of the marina The marina has no seawall to protect it the wake of passing car ferries.

Sahula's crew disembarks to feed the Adelaide mortgage. Skipper returns to solo status.

Georgetown, Penang is a World Heritage listed old trading port set up by the British in the 1700's. The town is similar to Malacca but much busier with cars and motorbikes careening through the narrow streets. High rise threatens the listing. Chinatown and Little India are bustling, noisy sub-cultures bristling with restaurants and small businesses. Skipper tours a historic Chinese tycoon's house now a museum for invaluable Asian antiques, furniture, glass ware, pottery, intricate carvings and needlework.

The western claim to a superior culture is laid bare.

An agent arranges for a Thai visa for Skipper. If obtained outside Thailand it is for two months and extendable.. If given on arrival it is only four weeks and not extendable. Bureaucracies work in wonderful and mysterious ways.

Skipper enjoys a traditional Chinese fish restaurant with Gus and Gabby (Pampero) and next evening, with Thomas and his crew (Nahda Brahma). The variety of plates beggars the imagination. A later walk through Little India is an ear battering cacophony of the sounds and colours of the mother country.

Skipper enjoys a long overdue chat to family and friends. The world is a small place.

Penang's city and beaches, a forest of high rise, fade into the distance. It is good to be at sea again bound for Langkawi. It is a sea churned by a 20-25 knot, NE monsoon. Tanya pushes through in another frustrating day of motor sailing.

There are rewards. Sahula is amongst the Langkawi islands. Steep jungle clad limestone peaks drop steeply in colourful cliffs that end in eroded caves in an azure blue sea. Sahula anchors in the "fjord,"under a huge cliff, jungle tumbles down, monkeys fossick on the beach, colourful birds shriek by, eagles soar amongst the peaks. All is calm in utopia.

A day passes with friends. We motor to visit Maidens Lake, reputed to restore a maiden's fertility. A freshwater swim in the inland lake formed after a massive limestone cave collapsed in ancient times. We do so with massed tourists. Afterwards we explore limestone sea caves finding stalactites, calcium curtains and resting bat colonies.

Next day, skipper, inspired by the beauty of the islands does some painting. Life is good.

Sahula now waits for Tanya to have her warranty service. After the service, Thailand beckons with similar islands and crystal clear water.

David

Sv Sahula

29th Nov., 2008