Another year just about to end and new one full of adventures is about to begin. 2014 has been a busy year but what else is new for us. Next year will be full with many miles to sail. We had a very good Christmas in Knysna with new friends and new family members and were treated so well by everyone we met there.
Last New Years found us at Rebak in Malaysia having a great time with so many cruising friends. The year was busy with us heading up to Thailand traveling up as far as the Burma/Myanmar boarder. We had Doug and Thelma visit us and did a tour around Phuket Island and many anchorages with lots of good meals and conversations. We then had a holiday up to Chiang Mai and enjoyed seeing that area and riding Asian elephants which are a lot smaller that their African cousins. We had some maintenance on Kilkea II while in Phuket and finally got the crocodile bite on the transom fixed along with some other stuff. Then it was back to Rebak where we were hauled out of the water and new anti fouling paint was applied and a new set of batteries put on the boat. Next was our trip down the Malaka straits stopping at Penang, past KL and Port Dickson to Puteri marina where we left Kilkea II for three months and came home to Vancouver. We had a great time with the kids and grand kids and got to play with the other Kilkea spending a month up the coast catching up with old friends.
We left Vancouver on July 31st to Hong Kong and then Singapore and Malaysia. We spent a couple of weeks provisioning and setting the boat up moving over to One Fifteen marina in Singapore for the last few days where we could get more western branded items before leaving. August 14th we left and spent 10 days sailing down the Indonesian coast to the Sundra Straits and had some fun getting fuel. Just a note to say that the island of Sumatra is over a thousand miles long and would be more than the distance from the Canadian boarder to the Mexican boarder so this is why it is difficult to get into the Indian Ocean. From then on we have been sailing in the Indian Ocean to Cocos Keeling, Rodrigues, Mauritius, Reunion island, Richards Bay South Africa, then down to Knysna for Christmas and today have arrive in Simmons Town which is just around the corner from Cape Town.
Yesterday we passed Cape Agulhas which is the most southerly spot of land on the African continent. It marks the divide between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean so now we are back in the Atlantic. The water colour is different going from the dark blue of the Indian to the green/blue of the Atlantic with the water temperature being much cooler here hence the Jackass Penguins that live in this part of the world. We will be staying here for a couple of weeks before moving to the V&A marina in downtown Cape Town. We have some stuff we want to get for the boat while we are here so hopefully we can get it all done over the next couple of months.
Starting 2015 we will have owned Kilkea II for nine years and have sailed many many miles on her. Sometime around the end of February we will leave and set sail for either the Med or the Caribbean? It will depend on the way the wind she blows but the smart money would be sailing to the Carib before sailing over to Europe... and this all before July!! You will have to get the google earth warmed up to calculate all the mileage as we don't really want to look at that right now. This time we will have, for the first time, crew coming with us. Ray and Brenda who we met in Turkey and now live in Sydney will be leaving South Africa with us. It will be a different feel for us and we will have to learn new routines but the good news is we will have a lot more sleep. It should be a lot of fun.
The only other thing we are thinking of now is whether to keep Kilkea II or put it on the market and move back to land and home. We will make the decision once we get to the Carib or the Med.
Well that is about it for another year from us out here on the high seas of the world. We wish you all a very Happy New Year.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Merry Christmas from South Africa
Tis the night before the night before Christmas and we are now comfortably tied up at the dock in Knysna marina. This makes it much easier for us to travel around and see some of the country side around us as we don't have to worry about leaving Kilkea II at anchor and as well we are plugged into the power so no problems with refrigeration. We moved in here on Thursday and will be able to stay for ten days so will be here over Christmas.
We rented a car for ten days so have been able to travel. We spent a couple of days driving up to Prince Albert through some fantastic countryside. The roads are good but we did take a drive over the mountains up to an elevation of 1888 meters on a dirt road with no guard rails and lots of bumps but wonderful views. We spent the night at a B&B called Mai's in Prince Albert. She is from Dublin originally and we had a great room and a breakfast that was hard to beat. After that we needed no lunch!! On our way back here we stopped at George to the immigration office to see if we can get our visa extended. They have just switched to an online way of doing it so we will try that and see what happens otherwise we will have to exit the country and reenter to get a new visa. We will see how this all works out. At least we don't have to worry about that until the end of January. We then did a drive to Mossel Bay. We found Pete who helped us with weather updates on the sail from Reunion Island to Richards Bay and enjoyed an afternoon with him. He has a 65 foot sailboat and works for the oceanoagraphic commission, which is an offshoot of NOAA and NASSA and is placing offshore weather buoys in the southern ocean so is going way south to the ice doing his scientific work. Very interesting all the work being done around the world connected to global warming and climate change.
Christmas eve will be spent with John and Lynn and their family who are from Calgary and will shortly be moving to Vancouver. They have two children aged three and five so we should have a good evening with them all. Small world isin't it!! On Christmas we are going to Marian's new found second cousins and will spend the night with them and their family's and are looking forward to that very much. They have a property out of town where they breed race horses and love to ride them as well. Amazing that Marian has so many relations all over the world that we are getting to meet. We have enjoyed meeting all of them over the years and being made feel so welcome.
We will very much miss not being with our family at home again this year but promise to be there next year. To all of our friends we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy new year.
We rented a car for ten days so have been able to travel. We spent a couple of days driving up to Prince Albert through some fantastic countryside. The roads are good but we did take a drive over the mountains up to an elevation of 1888 meters on a dirt road with no guard rails and lots of bumps but wonderful views. We spent the night at a B&B called Mai's in Prince Albert. She is from Dublin originally and we had a great room and a breakfast that was hard to beat. After that we needed no lunch!! On our way back here we stopped at George to the immigration office to see if we can get our visa extended. They have just switched to an online way of doing it so we will try that and see what happens otherwise we will have to exit the country and reenter to get a new visa. We will see how this all works out. At least we don't have to worry about that until the end of January. We then did a drive to Mossel Bay. We found Pete who helped us with weather updates on the sail from Reunion Island to Richards Bay and enjoyed an afternoon with him. He has a 65 foot sailboat and works for the oceanoagraphic commission, which is an offshoot of NOAA and NASSA and is placing offshore weather buoys in the southern ocean so is going way south to the ice doing his scientific work. Very interesting all the work being done around the world connected to global warming and climate change.
Christmas eve will be spent with John and Lynn and their family who are from Calgary and will shortly be moving to Vancouver. They have two children aged three and five so we should have a good evening with them all. Small world isin't it!! On Christmas we are going to Marian's new found second cousins and will spend the night with them and their family's and are looking forward to that very much. They have a property out of town where they breed race horses and love to ride them as well. Amazing that Marian has so many relations all over the world that we are getting to meet. We have enjoyed meeting all of them over the years and being made feel so welcome.
We will very much miss not being with our family at home again this year but promise to be there next year. To all of our friends we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy new year.
pictures of Knysna heads and our side trip to Prince Albert
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| arriving in Knysna through the heads |
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| looking out at the heads from shore |
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| Marian and Karen enjoying a walk |
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| strange looking bird |
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| ostrich eggs that you can actually walk on... |
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| views going over the pass to Prince Albert |
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| mini grand canyon |
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| looking up to some spectacular views |
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| Marian getting blown off the table |
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| Water fall in the canyon |
Monday, December 15, 2014
Enjoying Knysna
We have been in Kynsna for a week and a half now and have been busy everyday with being toured around the area for walks in the forest to outings at craft fairs where we bought a Christmas cake. In the evenings we have had the fortune of being asked out for a BBQ dinner with ostrich steaks and local South African sausage which I still am trying to pronounce. We are very fortunate to have been meeting such friendly people. It sure makes a good impression of the country and its people.
While here we have been at anchor most of the time but have been coming in to the yacht club dock when the wind is down and have been able to get an electrician on board to fix our charging problems that we encountered on the way down here from Richards Bay. We don't know what caused the problem but we had both engine driven alternators not working as well as the controller or brain of the system broken all at the same time. We are not sure if it was a lightning strike to close to the boat or an electrical surge when we were plugged into the power supply in Richards Bay? It seems unlikely that all three components would fail at the same time but they did. Today we came over to the dock and have had the alternators fixed and put back on as well as are now installing a new brain to run the system. It is all now working and just needs some adjustments and cleaning up the wiring bundles. Once this is finished I will sleep much better as we will be able to go without having to worry about batteries being charged or lack of. There is always something with boats to fix but overall Kilkea II has been terrific and we have never had a problem that has stopped us from moving on.
We now have invites out for most of the rest of this week and with limited moorage in the Cape Town area we are now planning to stay here for Christmas as it is so much fun meeting the locals and learning so much about the country that we would never get anywhere else.
While here we have been at anchor most of the time but have been coming in to the yacht club dock when the wind is down and have been able to get an electrician on board to fix our charging problems that we encountered on the way down here from Richards Bay. We don't know what caused the problem but we had both engine driven alternators not working as well as the controller or brain of the system broken all at the same time. We are not sure if it was a lightning strike to close to the boat or an electrical surge when we were plugged into the power supply in Richards Bay? It seems unlikely that all three components would fail at the same time but they did. Today we came over to the dock and have had the alternators fixed and put back on as well as are now installing a new brain to run the system. It is all now working and just needs some adjustments and cleaning up the wiring bundles. Once this is finished I will sleep much better as we will be able to go without having to worry about batteries being charged or lack of. There is always something with boats to fix but overall Kilkea II has been terrific and we have never had a problem that has stopped us from moving on.
We now have invites out for most of the rest of this week and with limited moorage in the Cape Town area we are now planning to stay here for Christmas as it is so much fun meeting the locals and learning so much about the country that we would never get anywhere else.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Back to sailing
We have had a great time up at Richards Bay having spent many days at the game parks and reserves enjoying seeing all the animals as well as treating ourselves to a four day safari at a private game lodge in Kruger Park. It was a fun time and was nice to be pampered for a few days. We did see a lot of the country side with big farms to rough escarpment terrain and even had a day with wicked thunder storms that left the ground white with hail stones with some parts of the road being six inches deep in ice. A lot of the locals including the police were all stopped and taking pictures as this was a very rare experience.
Our arrival back to Kilkea II was on Saturday evening so Sunday and Monday were setting the boat up and clearing out with five different officials in different parts of the town!! No idea why but those are the rules here. On Tuesday morning early we left with a good weather window and set off for Knysna which was 630 miles away. There is a current called the Agulas current which flows up to four knots so with that behind us as well as 25k winds for the first twenty four hours we clocked up 237 miles which is the most we have ever done in Kilkea II. The next two days the current slackened and the winds dropped and for a few hours even came at us head on but very light they were. The long and short of it is we arrived on Friday morning after actually slowing down for the tide so we could enter the very narrow gap through the heads into Knysna. Inside is a lagoon and the town with very shallow waters and lots of sand bars. The yacht club send out a boat to show us the way and in it were two men one of which was dressed as Santa Claus. They had just finished a party for the children and came as they were to help us out. We were met by a number of members, as we tied initially to their dock, who were all very excited to meet us and give us advice on the club and town. We had invites to dinners and champagne breakfasts the next morning so just a wonderful welcome to Knysna.
Our plans are as always fluid but as we hear the marinas are all full in the Cape Town area for the Christmas period that we may just spend the next few weeks here and enjoy all of our new friends. We have looked at flying home for the holidays but it is such a long way and we do not want to leave Kilkea II on anchor so for now plan to stay here.
Our arrival back to Kilkea II was on Saturday evening so Sunday and Monday were setting the boat up and clearing out with five different officials in different parts of the town!! No idea why but those are the rules here. On Tuesday morning early we left with a good weather window and set off for Knysna which was 630 miles away. There is a current called the Agulas current which flows up to four knots so with that behind us as well as 25k winds for the first twenty four hours we clocked up 237 miles which is the most we have ever done in Kilkea II. The next two days the current slackened and the winds dropped and for a few hours even came at us head on but very light they were. The long and short of it is we arrived on Friday morning after actually slowing down for the tide so we could enter the very narrow gap through the heads into Knysna. Inside is a lagoon and the town with very shallow waters and lots of sand bars. The yacht club send out a boat to show us the way and in it were two men one of which was dressed as Santa Claus. They had just finished a party for the children and came as they were to help us out. We were met by a number of members, as we tied initially to their dock, who were all very excited to meet us and give us advice on the club and town. We had invites to dinners and champagne breakfasts the next morning so just a wonderful welcome to Knysna.
Our plans are as always fluid but as we hear the marinas are all full in the Cape Town area for the Christmas period that we may just spend the next few weeks here and enjoy all of our new friends. We have looked at flying home for the holidays but it is such a long way and we do not want to leave Kilkea II on anchor so for now plan to stay here.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Pictures on our Safari
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| This lion was watching us as we were sitting at the swimming pool |
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| we got up close and personal with these guys |
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| out for a walk |
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| beautiful leopard |
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| looking at us |
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| we got very close to this guy |
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| an interesting stork |
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| baby nursing |
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| Cape buffalo |
I will update this in a few days but just wanted to get something out now. Tomorrow morning we are off sailing down south towards Knysna which is about 600 miles from here.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
A good days work.
After putting in two gallons of bleach into the water tanks and leaving it for a couple of days we managed to get it all cleaned out today. This involved removing parts of the boat, like fridges and flooring to get access to the tanks and then pumping out 1000 liters of chlorine treated water, then scrubbing the sides with a broom brush and spraying high pressure water all around the tanks. After that we filled the tanks with 1000 liters of fresh water and then pumped all that out as well. Our friend, Gordon on s/v Mantra, had a submersible pump that made an otherwise awful job ok. We now have refilled the tanks and have 1000 liters of fresh clean water on board.
The weather here is varied with the winds blowing from the north at 30k this morning and a temperature of 30C. In thirty minutes around two this afternoon the wind switched to the south at 30k and the temperature dropped to 20C. An interesting weather phenomenon which makes sailing down to Cape Town a little stressful. Well we will worry about that in a few weeks.
The weather here is varied with the winds blowing from the north at 30k this morning and a temperature of 30C. In thirty minutes around two this afternoon the wind switched to the south at 30k and the temperature dropped to 20C. An interesting weather phenomenon which makes sailing down to Cape Town a little stressful. Well we will worry about that in a few weeks.
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| we came across about 30 and spent an hour just watching and being watchedAdd caption |
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| Zebra on a hill |
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| Yellow bird making a nest |
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| Marian's favorite animal |
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| giraffes in the trees. |
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| male Nyala |
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Africa
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| Cape Buffalo |
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| Hippos cavorting |
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| our first sighting of a Giraffe |
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| This huge guy was coming right at us and we had to back up about 500 meters to avoid being crushed!!! |
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| Rino and babe having lunch with bird watching |
We have been having a great time enjoying the land versus the ocean which we have seen too much of in the last few months. Our friends off Mantra, ( Gordon and Helen) have been touring around the countryside with us for the last week. We have been to the game park in St Lucia for an over night and then up to the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park where we stayed at the Hill Top Lodge for a couple of nights and enjoyed the sights of most all the animals in the park which is large and would take many more days than we had to see it all. The beauty of all this is that these two parks are just an hour or so from the marina and there are many more so we will probably be doing lots more of this over the next few weeks, maybe even taking in a drive up to Kurger Park which is a good days drive away. We still have not seen any lions, leopards, or cheetahs so will look forward to seeing them over the next while.
On the boat front we have been doing little other than today where we fixed a few small problems, Up the mast to replace a flood light bulb that came crashing down when we hit one big wave on the way here plus a new halyard for the courtesy flag plus some engine room maintenance and then starting on the bigger job of cleaning the water tanks on the boat which is a real pain in the ass. Also had a new mother board put into the wind speed and direction gauge which seems to have fixed the problem with that so all in all a pretty good day.
We have been eating out most all the time as the prices here are great and wine in the shops run from $2.50 to tops around $10. mind you I'm sure you can pay much more but for us this will do just fine.
We have no plans right now of when we will move on as the marinas south of here down to the Cape are very full right now and are not answering the emails we sent requesting moorage so we are happy to hang out here and wait. The weather will be getting hotter and the seas calmer as we move into summer down here mind you the winds around the Cape of Africa are ferocious and one has to be very careful sailing in this part of the world. It still is amazing to us that we are here in Africa. It is something that we never really planned for but are very happy to be here.
You need to double click on the pictures. Don't know what I did wrong but enjoy.
Friday, October 31, 2014
South Africa
We left Reunion on Tuesday the 21st with light winds which lasted for the first two days. It was calm seas and winds around 12-15 k so very easy. After that the winds kicked up and we had anywhere from 20-35+ for the rest of the trip to South Africa. We expected this wind which made for some lively sailing and good speeds averaging eight and a half to ten knots per hour. The good news is we arrived in South Africa at Richards Bay on the 29th in eight days and four hours and sailed 1429miles.
We are now tied up in Tuzi Gazi marina which has poor docks but a good location with restaurants all around the marina as well as a few shops. The town area is a ten minute ride away and yesterday we went there and got our sim cards for the phone and internet set up as well as some banking etc. Another yachty gave us a ride all around the area and found some places we can go to fix a couple of things on Kilkea II. The people that we have met here are very friendly with lots of advise on what to do and not to do while in SA. This part of the country is where many of the game parks private and national are situated the closest being just an hour and a half away. Our plans now are to rent a car and do some land touring of the parks and maybe a full blown safari once we get our bearings here.
On our sail here from Reunion we crossed a longitudinal line of east 36 10 65 degrees which is the same as we were at when in Turkey at Iskenderon on May 25 2007. So that means we have circumnavigated the globe!!! Well we did open a bottle of Champagne once we arrived here and now the next big thing will to cross one of our routes sometime next year which will close the circle. Our next move on Kilkea II will be to work our way very slowly down the African coast towards Cape Town, about 900 miles away, where we hope to be by Christmas.
We are now tied up in Tuzi Gazi marina which has poor docks but a good location with restaurants all around the marina as well as a few shops. The town area is a ten minute ride away and yesterday we went there and got our sim cards for the phone and internet set up as well as some banking etc. Another yachty gave us a ride all around the area and found some places we can go to fix a couple of things on Kilkea II. The people that we have met here are very friendly with lots of advise on what to do and not to do while in SA. This part of the country is where many of the game parks private and national are situated the closest being just an hour and a half away. Our plans now are to rent a car and do some land touring of the parks and maybe a full blown safari once we get our bearings here.
On our sail here from Reunion we crossed a longitudinal line of east 36 10 65 degrees which is the same as we were at when in Turkey at Iskenderon on May 25 2007. So that means we have circumnavigated the globe!!! Well we did open a bottle of Champagne once we arrived here and now the next big thing will to cross one of our routes sometime next year which will close the circle. Our next move on Kilkea II will be to work our way very slowly down the African coast towards Cape Town, about 900 miles away, where we hope to be by Christmas.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Reunion pictures
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| Marian on one of our walks. |
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| hand dug tunnel which is part of the road 1834 |
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| the pictures cannot express the grandure |
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| waterfalls which are all around us |
Reunion
We enjoyed our time in Mauritius as we drove all around the island which has a number of high end resorts but if you go to them you are stranded in the resort as there is little outside them to go to. Lots and lots of sugar cane fields with a national park high up on a plateau. We did drive all around the island and back and forth across it in two days so have a good overview of the country. We spent a lot of time trying to get our sail delivered to the boat at the marina and did finally receive it after paying again for what we had already paid for, clearance etc. Just another form of tax or whatever you want to call it. The good news is the sail fit perfectly and when we used it all was good.
Leaving on Friday the 10th was the same as arriving with us having to go to the four government agencies and filling out forms before our outbound clearance was ok'd. This done we left for Reunion for a 24 hour sail. We arrived on Saturday morning to an island with mountains towering above us. We are now at Le Port as the marina on the south of the island in St Pierre is full. On the weekend here all things are closed, even the bus service on Sunday so we just did some walking and cleaned up Kilkea II. On Monday we rented a car for the week and have been driving around this most beautiful island. There are four calderas, one of which is still active, and reach up to 3000+ meters and the roads up inside them are amazing. The views are truly amazing, stunning, and inspiring. Ok maybe I going a little overboard but it is a great place for scenery and trekking which is the main thing to do here. We have seen sights that equal Princess Louisa inlet in BC and that is going some. Then there is the French atmosphere here with the good baguettes and cheese etc. So great scenery and food so we are happy to be here.
Now with all this joy there is a small concern as we have to travel on to South Africa and are watching the weather situation so that we can do the 1400miles without getting to beat up. This is not that easy to do here as the concept of wi-fi, pronounced wee fee, is not that easy to get onto. Right now we plan to leave next week between Monday and Thursday but between now and whenever the weather is right we will keep enjoying all that this island had so offer.
Leaving on Friday the 10th was the same as arriving with us having to go to the four government agencies and filling out forms before our outbound clearance was ok'd. This done we left for Reunion for a 24 hour sail. We arrived on Saturday morning to an island with mountains towering above us. We are now at Le Port as the marina on the south of the island in St Pierre is full. On the weekend here all things are closed, even the bus service on Sunday so we just did some walking and cleaned up Kilkea II. On Monday we rented a car for the week and have been driving around this most beautiful island. There are four calderas, one of which is still active, and reach up to 3000+ meters and the roads up inside them are amazing. The views are truly amazing, stunning, and inspiring. Ok maybe I going a little overboard but it is a great place for scenery and trekking which is the main thing to do here. We have seen sights that equal Princess Louisa inlet in BC and that is going some. Then there is the French atmosphere here with the good baguettes and cheese etc. So great scenery and food so we are happy to be here.
Now with all this joy there is a small concern as we have to travel on to South Africa and are watching the weather situation so that we can do the 1400miles without getting to beat up. This is not that easy to do here as the concept of wi-fi, pronounced wee fee, is not that easy to get onto. Right now we plan to leave next week between Monday and Thursday but between now and whenever the weather is right we will keep enjoying all that this island had so offer.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Mauritius
We arrived in Mauritius on Monday afternoon just in time to get the four departments of government to clear us in! Yes Rodrigues and Mauritius are the same country but the rules are you have to do it both times as I guess it creates jobs for a lot of people.
The trip over was ok with 20k winds from the east, so right behind us which makes for uncomfortable movements on the boat and not much speed. The last twelve hours we motor sailed to be here before dark as they close the harbor at night to small craft. You have to tie up to a cement wall to do all the clearance stuff with no cleats or tie ups of any sort. We did this ok with the help of our bow thruster which makes maneuvering the boat fairly easy. When we left just before dark and tried to use it nothing happened! The electric engine whirled away but the propeller did not spin so it was with relief that when we arrived at the marina, again on a cement wall, that other friends from Malaysia were there to help us get tied up. We had a good nights sleep and started to work on the bow thruster in the morning. On the Amel boats you can drop the bow thruster and bring the whole unit up on deck. We did this twice with no luck so called Amel in France who, after a small meeting, told us what they thought the problem was and how to go about fixing it. This we did and they were correct. So now we needed a machinist to drill and put in a couple of new pins. We did this with the help of Rashid who is a taxi type of guy that seems to deal with the yachties that arrive here. He took us to a machinist who was very good and then all around town for different projects we had to do. It ended up that the bow thruster was fixed with the addition of two new bearings in the unit that were worn so now hopefully it is as good as new. Rashid also took care of our fueling needs as he had the jerry cans and a syphon and as we were on the concrete pier could drive the car to the boat and put on the fuel which was 100% easier that the last time in Indonesia. On Thursday, after washing the Kilkea II, we moved the boat off the outside wall and into the inside of the marina with a lot more protection from wind and waves.
Now you can see why we call world cruising "fixing your boat in exotic places". Friday we finally did a walk around Port Louis which has a mix of new and very old and run down shops and streets. Our sail is still not here, big surprise, so we will have to wait until next week sometime. We will rent a car and do a tour of the island for a couple of days so that should keep us busy before we can leave for Reunion.
The trip over was ok with 20k winds from the east, so right behind us which makes for uncomfortable movements on the boat and not much speed. The last twelve hours we motor sailed to be here before dark as they close the harbor at night to small craft. You have to tie up to a cement wall to do all the clearance stuff with no cleats or tie ups of any sort. We did this ok with the help of our bow thruster which makes maneuvering the boat fairly easy. When we left just before dark and tried to use it nothing happened! The electric engine whirled away but the propeller did not spin so it was with relief that when we arrived at the marina, again on a cement wall, that other friends from Malaysia were there to help us get tied up. We had a good nights sleep and started to work on the bow thruster in the morning. On the Amel boats you can drop the bow thruster and bring the whole unit up on deck. We did this twice with no luck so called Amel in France who, after a small meeting, told us what they thought the problem was and how to go about fixing it. This we did and they were correct. So now we needed a machinist to drill and put in a couple of new pins. We did this with the help of Rashid who is a taxi type of guy that seems to deal with the yachties that arrive here. He took us to a machinist who was very good and then all around town for different projects we had to do. It ended up that the bow thruster was fixed with the addition of two new bearings in the unit that were worn so now hopefully it is as good as new. Rashid also took care of our fueling needs as he had the jerry cans and a syphon and as we were on the concrete pier could drive the car to the boat and put on the fuel which was 100% easier that the last time in Indonesia. On Thursday, after washing the Kilkea II, we moved the boat off the outside wall and into the inside of the marina with a lot more protection from wind and waves.
Now you can see why we call world cruising "fixing your boat in exotic places". Friday we finally did a walk around Port Louis which has a mix of new and very old and run down shops and streets. Our sail is still not here, big surprise, so we will have to wait until next week sometime. We will rent a car and do a tour of the island for a couple of days so that should keep us busy before we can leave for Reunion.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Off to Mauritius
It is Saturday morning here and today the weather looks ok for our sail over to Mauritius, about 350 miles away. We have winds from the east south east in the 25k range with the swells around three to four meters. With the winds behind us more or less it should be a comfortable ride.
The last week here has been most enjoyable with a few dinners out and some good eating in with lobster thermadore that Marian has cooked up last night. The island is small but has a very rugged coastline being a volcanic island with ridges and deep valleys. We have done a number of walks with the scenery amazing with the different blues of the lagoon and ocean. Some of the walks have been good workouts which we and our bodies have enjoyed after all the sitting on the boat. We have hiked up to the top of the island and done a long walk along the eastern shore that has some beautiful views with lots of coves with pure white beaches. On top of the nice scenery hear the thing that makes it special are the people. It is like going back in time when nobody is in a rush and everyone wants to talk to you and inquire how you like Rodrigues. We hope it doesn't change.
The last week here has been most enjoyable with a few dinners out and some good eating in with lobster thermadore that Marian has cooked up last night. The island is small but has a very rugged coastline being a volcanic island with ridges and deep valleys. We have done a number of walks with the scenery amazing with the different blues of the lagoon and ocean. Some of the walks have been good workouts which we and our bodies have enjoyed after all the sitting on the boat. We have hiked up to the top of the island and done a long walk along the eastern shore that has some beautiful views with lots of coves with pure white beaches. On top of the nice scenery hear the thing that makes it special are the people. It is like going back in time when nobody is in a rush and everyone wants to talk to you and inquire how you like Rodrigues. We hope it doesn't change.
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| on one tooth's boat negotiating for fuel in Indonesia |
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| Tortoise in Rodrigues |
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| Rodrigues lady in Saturday market |
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| Cocos Keeling anchorage our own private island |
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| black tip shark that surround to boat when anchoring in Cocos |
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Rodrigues
We departed Cocos Keeling on Saturday afternoon and made our way through the lagoon with its shallows and coral heads with no problems. We ran the engine for the first hour to clear the land and then set the sails or at least two of them with the mizzen being destroyed, and set our course of 260 degrees magnetic for the 2000 miles trip to Rodrigues. The first day the winds were very light and we just managed to keep the boat moving in the right direction. This caused us to wish for more winds, and if you do that sometimes you get more wind than you want. So the next day we got winds up in the 30k range with fifteen plus foot seas from all over the place along with some rain squalls. This was not much fun but it only lasted for a day until the weather settled down with the wind at twenty plus knots from the South East. This is the normal trade winds in this part of the world and we had them for the next seven days so wonderful sailing doing around eight knots per hour. One day was much like the last with us doing our five hour watches at night and having a nap during the day and just reading books and enjoying the endless view of the ocean. Here it is a very dark, almost inky blue and we did not see much in the way of animal life just a couple of freighters going by in the night. The last couple of days the winds dropped and we just slowly sailed along and decided that we would just go slow and arrive on Thursday morning. We did run the engine for a few hours on the last evening so that we would be here in the morning. We did 2002 miles in just under twelve days so not too bad. That is about the straight line distance from Vancouver to Montreal.
The first morning was taken up with the officials from Customs, Immigration, Health, and Coast guard all arriving with lots of forms to be filled out. No no one died on the voyage and we do not have rats onboard. This took about three hours with all the officials being very friendly giving us lots of ideas for things to do and places to go. Then it was time for a sleep for the afternoon. Up and out for dinner with Guy and Christine to Le Marlin Blue restaurant which our daughter in law, Sarah, told us about. It was a great little place and the food was wonderful. After a good nights sleep, with no bed gyrating on all three axis, we shared a car and went for a drive around the island. It is about 20 miles long and 5 miles wide but with 1000 foot elevation in the middle, check google earth. We stopped at the tortoise conservation center and spent the afternoon patting these almost extinct animals and then went in a cave with the stalagmites and stalactites so along with a good lunch and a nice drive around the island with wonderful views of the ocean and the lagoon that surrounds Rodrigues we made it back to the boats just before dark. Out for a quick dinner and to bed.
Today is Saturday and is market day. Lots of fresh vegetables and lots of colour with people all about dressed in very bright clothing. Very exotic. The big deal today was to get connected to the internet again which Marian did and it only took a couple of hours. So now we are back online and can see what we missed in the world for the last two weeks. Probably not much. Tonight we are going back to Le Marlin Blue for dinner. We will at least be more awake tonight than we were the first time there.
The first morning was taken up with the officials from Customs, Immigration, Health, and Coast guard all arriving with lots of forms to be filled out. No no one died on the voyage and we do not have rats onboard. This took about three hours with all the officials being very friendly giving us lots of ideas for things to do and places to go. Then it was time for a sleep for the afternoon. Up and out for dinner with Guy and Christine to Le Marlin Blue restaurant which our daughter in law, Sarah, told us about. It was a great little place and the food was wonderful. After a good nights sleep, with no bed gyrating on all three axis, we shared a car and went for a drive around the island. It is about 20 miles long and 5 miles wide but with 1000 foot elevation in the middle, check google earth. We stopped at the tortoise conservation center and spent the afternoon patting these almost extinct animals and then went in a cave with the stalagmites and stalactites so along with a good lunch and a nice drive around the island with wonderful views of the ocean and the lagoon that surrounds Rodrigues we made it back to the boats just before dark. Out for a quick dinner and to bed.
Today is Saturday and is market day. Lots of fresh vegetables and lots of colour with people all about dressed in very bright clothing. Very exotic. The big deal today was to get connected to the internet again which Marian did and it only took a couple of hours. So now we are back online and can see what we missed in the world for the last two weeks. Probably not much. Tonight we are going back to Le Marlin Blue for dinner. We will at least be more awake tonight than we were the first time there.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Cocos Keeling
It has been a week today that we arrived in Cocos. In that week we have been busy as usual doing a lot of nothing but somehow not having enough hours in the day to get everything done. Being online has been great as we now have ordered a new mizzen sail that will be delivered to Mauritius by the end of the month so that is the biggest problem we have at least sorted out. Also talking to the kids on Skype has been fun. There are now seven boats here with a big cat arriving this morning.
Yesterday we did all the measurements for the mizzen with the help of another yachty named Guy who has made sails for the Ausi Americas Cup boats so he really knows what to measure and how to present it. That was the morning and in the afternoon we went out a ways to where we did some snorkeling with the manta rays. Great fun as these rays were six plus feet across and kept going over a coral outcropping to allow the little fish swim into their gills to clean them. The water is very clear so we got a good show. In the evening we along with Guy and wife Christine went over to Home island where the restaurant is open on Wednesday evening. Yes just one day a week. The dinner was buffet style and was real good with everything from prawns, mussels, octopus, to chicken, fish, and lamb with pavlova, cake and ice cream for desert. It was really good and unexpected being out in the middle of the Indian Ocean with such a small community of people.
We hope to be away on Saturday as we should be starting to get some winds by then. The trade winds have not sorted themselves out as of yet but we must be on our way. We would like to have 20k winds all the way but it looks like we will run into areas of no wind so will have to motor through these calms and hope to make it to Rodrigues in twelve days.?
Other than that we have been swimming and playing with the computer and reading books so not too tough.
Yesterday we did all the measurements for the mizzen with the help of another yachty named Guy who has made sails for the Ausi Americas Cup boats so he really knows what to measure and how to present it. That was the morning and in the afternoon we went out a ways to where we did some snorkeling with the manta rays. Great fun as these rays were six plus feet across and kept going over a coral outcropping to allow the little fish swim into their gills to clean them. The water is very clear so we got a good show. In the evening we along with Guy and wife Christine went over to Home island where the restaurant is open on Wednesday evening. Yes just one day a week. The dinner was buffet style and was real good with everything from prawns, mussels, octopus, to chicken, fish, and lamb with pavlova, cake and ice cream for desert. It was really good and unexpected being out in the middle of the Indian Ocean with such a small community of people.
We hope to be away on Saturday as we should be starting to get some winds by then. The trade winds have not sorted themselves out as of yet but we must be on our way. We would like to have 20k winds all the way but it looks like we will run into areas of no wind so will have to motor through these calms and hope to make it to Rodrigues in twelve days.?
Other than that we have been swimming and playing with the computer and reading books so not too tough.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Safe arrival
We departed from One Fifteen Marina in Singapore on Thursday the 14th of Aug and cleared western Immigration once out in the harbor. They come to you in a patrol boat and you pass your paperwork to them in a fishing net. After they do their computer work they pass the paperwork, passports etc, back to you in the net. The next thing to do was cross the Singapore straits which is not that far across but has a lot of traffic. Freighters are lined up about a mile or less apart going in both directions in traffic lanes on top of this you have all the tugs and barges and other smaller ships moving all over the place and we had to cut across all of this. This was the start to our voyage to Cocos Keeling island which is part of Australia and our next port of call. It about 1200 miles and we worked our way through Indonesia stopping every night except for one overnight passage. The anchorages were for the most part ok but rather open to the weather. We had mostly headwinds and currents against us on the way to the Sundra straits that separate Java from Sumatra so not a fun 600 miles. We were with another boat for this part of the journey called Mantra of Glasgow and it was good to have another boat around to travel with and talk to. On the 15th we crossed the equator and into the southern hemisphere again. This is not something that we thought we would be doing again with Kilkea II but as we say we write all our cruising plans at low tide in the sand and then have a clean slate to rewrite them the next day or year!
We have now sailed down through the South China Sea and into the Java Sea to Sundra Strait. Jakarta is on the Java side of the strait and the approaches to the strait are busy with shipping and just before the strait are lots and lots of LPG and oil wells out in the middles of the sea. This area of the world is very shallow with water depths around 20meters. Actually that is about the depth all the way through Indonesia to Thailand other than a few straits such as this one. This was on our one overnight passage so were happy that the radar was working well and we were able to work our way through without hitting anything.
We arrived in a small bay on the Java side of the strait with s/v Mantra and anchored outside a small Muslim village. There were a number of fishing boats about and one came over and we were able to communicate that we needed diesel for the boats. They call diesel here Solar so after some negotiation Gordon and I headed ashore in the 30 foot fishing boat with our guide?? we called one tooth for the obvious reason to go to an ATM and then to fetch some fuel. Well the trip to the town of Labuan was interesting in a van of sorts that somehow ran. The rice fields were still be dug by hand and with water buffalo so very basic and poor. We did find an ATM that worked and we got our money and then it was off to the gas station. There is a problem we found out in Indonesia with carrying fuel in containers, of which we had twelve 20 plus liter containers, that are not allowed to be filled without a permit. Now this was a problem since we had no permit and had not checked into Indonesia. After much discussion and the price of fuel rising One tooth assured us that he could manage to get us the fuel. We did find a beer store and picked up a couple of flats of Bintang beer and some fresh water containers with water for Gordon on Mantra. Well after anchoring, at around 1pm, having traveled all night we finally got back to the boats just before dark. We did have 8 containers filled so dumped them into our tank with the assurance that One tooth would be back at 9am. He arrive on time and picked up the empty jerry cans but indicated that the price of fuel had gone up but he could manage to get the fuel. So for the rest of the day fuel was transferred to us until we had both boats full plus the jerry cans. We tipped him well and I imagine that what he made from us was a pretty big deal for him. The highest price of the fuel got to around 70cents a liter so no problem. All was well and we had Gordon and Helen over for drinks. We were sitting out on deck when around 9pm we felt a presence and found One tooth boat sliding along side of us. He was very apologetic but said he had a problem with the police and that we needed to go and see them at 0500 in the morning!!!! This did not sound good so we told him to have the police come and see us at 10am. This seemed ok and off into the dark he went. Gordon and I looked at each other and said how about 0530, which was first light, and we just nodded. So at 0530 we upped anchor and headed out of the bay as talking to the police would require another bribe and could take days to do. We sailed down to the bottom of the strait and anchored in a national park just a mile or so from the outlet to the Indian Ocean.
We spent a couple of days there and cleaned the bottom and did other boat jobs that seem to never end. We had a great meal on Mantra and have enjoyed there company for the last couple of weeks but it was time to say our goodbyes as they are headed for Chagos and we to Cocos Keeling. on August 25th we left at 0600 and by 0700 were well out into the open ocean with winds in the 20k plud range. We were with the current and wind and made 195 miles in the first 24 hours. The next couple of days the winds dropped but the seas were confused with waves coming from all directions. We arrived in Cocos Keeling on the 28th around 1300 which was good as we needed to work our way into the anchorage at Direction Island through shallow areas in the lagoon with lots of coral outcroppings. It was not a bad run of 600nm in three days and seven hours. We had only one mishap on the way as we blew up our mizzen sail when the wind dropped as it did a big flap and disintegrated. Now we will have to go the next 2000 miles without that sail which is ok but not what we would like. We hope to get a new sail in Mauritius, either made there or one sent down form France.
Cocos Keeling is a beautiful atoll with colours that are out of a painting. Bombay Sapphire Gin in colour with many shades. We will stay here for a week and enjoy and look for a weather window for our next leg to Rodrigues Island which is 2043nm away.
We have now sailed down through the South China Sea and into the Java Sea to Sundra Strait. Jakarta is on the Java side of the strait and the approaches to the strait are busy with shipping and just before the strait are lots and lots of LPG and oil wells out in the middles of the sea. This area of the world is very shallow with water depths around 20meters. Actually that is about the depth all the way through Indonesia to Thailand other than a few straits such as this one. This was on our one overnight passage so were happy that the radar was working well and we were able to work our way through without hitting anything.
We arrived in a small bay on the Java side of the strait with s/v Mantra and anchored outside a small Muslim village. There were a number of fishing boats about and one came over and we were able to communicate that we needed diesel for the boats. They call diesel here Solar so after some negotiation Gordon and I headed ashore in the 30 foot fishing boat with our guide?? we called one tooth for the obvious reason to go to an ATM and then to fetch some fuel. Well the trip to the town of Labuan was interesting in a van of sorts that somehow ran. The rice fields were still be dug by hand and with water buffalo so very basic and poor. We did find an ATM that worked and we got our money and then it was off to the gas station. There is a problem we found out in Indonesia with carrying fuel in containers, of which we had twelve 20 plus liter containers, that are not allowed to be filled without a permit. Now this was a problem since we had no permit and had not checked into Indonesia. After much discussion and the price of fuel rising One tooth assured us that he could manage to get us the fuel. We did find a beer store and picked up a couple of flats of Bintang beer and some fresh water containers with water for Gordon on Mantra. Well after anchoring, at around 1pm, having traveled all night we finally got back to the boats just before dark. We did have 8 containers filled so dumped them into our tank with the assurance that One tooth would be back at 9am. He arrive on time and picked up the empty jerry cans but indicated that the price of fuel had gone up but he could manage to get the fuel. So for the rest of the day fuel was transferred to us until we had both boats full plus the jerry cans. We tipped him well and I imagine that what he made from us was a pretty big deal for him. The highest price of the fuel got to around 70cents a liter so no problem. All was well and we had Gordon and Helen over for drinks. We were sitting out on deck when around 9pm we felt a presence and found One tooth boat sliding along side of us. He was very apologetic but said he had a problem with the police and that we needed to go and see them at 0500 in the morning!!!! This did not sound good so we told him to have the police come and see us at 10am. This seemed ok and off into the dark he went. Gordon and I looked at each other and said how about 0530, which was first light, and we just nodded. So at 0530 we upped anchor and headed out of the bay as talking to the police would require another bribe and could take days to do. We sailed down to the bottom of the strait and anchored in a national park just a mile or so from the outlet to the Indian Ocean.
We spent a couple of days there and cleaned the bottom and did other boat jobs that seem to never end. We had a great meal on Mantra and have enjoyed there company for the last couple of weeks but it was time to say our goodbyes as they are headed for Chagos and we to Cocos Keeling. on August 25th we left at 0600 and by 0700 were well out into the open ocean with winds in the 20k plud range. We were with the current and wind and made 195 miles in the first 24 hours. The next couple of days the winds dropped but the seas were confused with waves coming from all directions. We arrived in Cocos Keeling on the 28th around 1300 which was good as we needed to work our way into the anchorage at Direction Island through shallow areas in the lagoon with lots of coral outcroppings. It was not a bad run of 600nm in three days and seven hours. We had only one mishap on the way as we blew up our mizzen sail when the wind dropped as it did a big flap and disintegrated. Now we will have to go the next 2000 miles without that sail which is ok but not what we would like. We hope to get a new sail in Mauritius, either made there or one sent down form France.
Cocos Keeling is a beautiful atoll with colours that are out of a painting. Bombay Sapphire Gin in colour with many shades. We will stay here for a week and enjoy and look for a weather window for our next leg to Rodrigues Island which is 2043nm away.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Future Plans
We have enjoyed the summer in Vancouver or at least the first half of it. On July 31 we left for Hong Kong after putting away the boat for the year. Very sad as this is the nicest time of the year in Vancouver and the best boating month but we need to be off to do our next sailing trip with the best weather window available.
The last two weekends we had Nevan, Sarah and Elise and Hudson out for a couple of nights at Cabbage Island where we caught crabs and dug up clams and then the next weekend had Eamon and Callum out with just us. Lots of fun as the Eamon and Callum are a little older and they can manage with us just fine now.
We left on July 31 with a quick over night in Hong Kong and arrived back to Puteri Marina in Malaysia Saturday evening. Since then we have been working from dawn to dusk on Kilkea II. We brought back a bunch of boat parts that needed to be installed and have found a few more jobs that need to be done. Boats really don't like to be left alone and not used. So with the jet lag and the extreme humidity in SE Asia we are exhausted by 9pm. We have managed to get most of these done and on Saturday we sailed over to one fifteen marina in Singapore. Very nice to be back in the first world and hope to finish off the boat bits here over the next few days.?
Our plans after this will be to leave here and head for the Sundra Straits which are between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia which are about 500 miles away. Once there we will be off for a 600 mile run over to Cocos Keeling which is an Australian territory consisting of a coral atoll or a number of them. It will be great to get back to some crystal clear water again with lots of opportunity for some swimming and snorkeling. This will take us to around the beginning of September. Then the real fun starts as we will be sailing over to Rodrigues Island, Mauritius Island, and then Reunion Island all in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The first leg is just over two thousand miles and could be a bit of a rough ride with the SE trades blowing and the Antarctic swell moving from the south west. With luck we should make that passage in about twelve days. The end run will see us arriving in Richards Bay South Africa sometime around the beginning of November. All told that is about five thousand miles, maybe a little more, of sailing at an average speed of seven to seven and a half knots. It is a little daunting and we admit to have a few butterflies in our stomach as we look forward to this but once we are underway things will balance out.
The last two weekends we had Nevan, Sarah and Elise and Hudson out for a couple of nights at Cabbage Island where we caught crabs and dug up clams and then the next weekend had Eamon and Callum out with just us. Lots of fun as the Eamon and Callum are a little older and they can manage with us just fine now.
We left on July 31 with a quick over night in Hong Kong and arrived back to Puteri Marina in Malaysia Saturday evening. Since then we have been working from dawn to dusk on Kilkea II. We brought back a bunch of boat parts that needed to be installed and have found a few more jobs that need to be done. Boats really don't like to be left alone and not used. So with the jet lag and the extreme humidity in SE Asia we are exhausted by 9pm. We have managed to get most of these done and on Saturday we sailed over to one fifteen marina in Singapore. Very nice to be back in the first world and hope to finish off the boat bits here over the next few days.?
Our plans after this will be to leave here and head for the Sundra Straits which are between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia which are about 500 miles away. Once there we will be off for a 600 mile run over to Cocos Keeling which is an Australian territory consisting of a coral atoll or a number of them. It will be great to get back to some crystal clear water again with lots of opportunity for some swimming and snorkeling. This will take us to around the beginning of September. Then the real fun starts as we will be sailing over to Rodrigues Island, Mauritius Island, and then Reunion Island all in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The first leg is just over two thousand miles and could be a bit of a rough ride with the SE trades blowing and the Antarctic swell moving from the south west. With luck we should make that passage in about twelve days. The end run will see us arriving in Richards Bay South Africa sometime around the beginning of November. All told that is about five thousand miles, maybe a little more, of sailing at an average speed of seven to seven and a half knots. It is a little daunting and we admit to have a few butterflies in our stomach as we look forward to this but once we are underway things will balance out.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Enjoying the West Coast
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| back deck dinner on Kilkea |
We came back down to Vancouver around the 8th of July as our daughter and family from Calgary were arriving for a week. We had everyone home with six grand kids running wild enjoying all their cousins. A very busy week but a lot of fun. The children just start the day running and don't stop.
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| lot of prawns |
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| Kilkea in the Broughtons |
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| Echo Bay with the float houses |
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| Indian war canoe |
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| The Grand Kids |
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Still alive
Yes we are still alive and well. We are about half way through our visit back home and have been having a great time. It seems we just slip back into our shore life so easily and it is like our sailing life has just been a dream. The family are all well and we have had lots of fun with the grand kids with trips over to Calgary. At the house we have been busy with the chain saw logging off some of the trees that have grown just too big. Amazing what happen here in the west coast rain forest especially when you have been away for all these years. I have Kilkea, the power boat version, up and ready to go and plan to head up the coast for three weeks or so. The fishing is supposed to be great this year so we are looking forward to that and doing some prawning, shucking a few oysters and catching a few Dungeness crabs. It should be a lot of fun especially as we are into the longest days of the year and the sun sets around nine thirty and it doesn't get dark until much later. Great for BBQ and putting a sweater on as the evening approaches and meeting up with some of our old boating friends on the west coast. We are enjoying the fresh air and cooler temperatures.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Puteri Harbour marina
Well what I found with regards to the alternators was that we had a cooked start battery that had overheated and blew up. This caused the overheat protection to kick in and shut the alternator down. So now that we have taken out the faulty battery all systems work ok. Big relief for us.
We enjoyed being at Port Dickson as we along with Callisto rented a car, (you can ask us about that sometime) and drove up to Fraser Hills which are at the 5000 foot level on top of a hill surrounded by jungle with temperatures much cooler. We spent two nights in an old Tudor designed boutique hotel. It was not as good as the one we stayed in at the Cameron highlands but we had a good time. At this time of the year there are no tourists around so had the place to ourselves. The world wild life group has a big influence here and there are many trails through the jungle to see the many birds that live here as well as a few monkeys, Marian and Ann had a nice early morning walk before breakfast and enjoyed the flowers and birds. After two nights we left and drove to Malacca for a quick look and enjoyed going back to Chang Ho museum which has been much improved since we were last there. It is a good place to just wander around and have a meal. We got back to the boats late in the evening and spent a relaxing day around the pool.
Saturday morning we were off, not too early as we only had thirty five miles to go which we did under power as there was no wind. Sunday was a long day of about seventy miles to the next anchoring islet. This was ok with us managing to motor sail most all the way. Running the engine with the sails up adds a couple of knots to our speed which makes a big difference. Running down the Malacca straights, which used to be a pirate ally not so long ago, there are not many good anchorages and we do not want to run at night as there is so much garbage in the water plus lots of small fishing boats with no lights. This is why we do these different mileages some days rather than averaging them. On Monday we were off early and arrived through the massive amount of ships at anchor off Singapore to arrive at Puteri Marina which is on the Malaysian side across from the island of Singapore. We got in around noon and fueled up and then found our berth with the help of the boat boys. Then it was down to work setting up Kilkea II to lay up for the next three months. I changed the engine oils and Marian started up on the big cleanup in the cabin, not that is was bad, but when we leave the boat in these tropical climates it really pays to have everything clean so that we do not have to come back to a boat with any mildew, bugs or worse.
For the last few days we have been working on the boat jobs and finding new ones to do when we come back. It is beastly hot and taking down the sails and putting up the cover over the whole boat nearly killed us. Thank god for beer which even Marian is enjoying. Today is Friday and we will leave tomorrow to go to Singapore for the night before flying out early on Sunday morning for Japan and then onto Vancouver arriving there still on Sunday morning! It is going to be a very long day! We are looking forward to some cool weather and seeing all the family and friends.
We enjoyed being at Port Dickson as we along with Callisto rented a car, (you can ask us about that sometime) and drove up to Fraser Hills which are at the 5000 foot level on top of a hill surrounded by jungle with temperatures much cooler. We spent two nights in an old Tudor designed boutique hotel. It was not as good as the one we stayed in at the Cameron highlands but we had a good time. At this time of the year there are no tourists around so had the place to ourselves. The world wild life group has a big influence here and there are many trails through the jungle to see the many birds that live here as well as a few monkeys, Marian and Ann had a nice early morning walk before breakfast and enjoyed the flowers and birds. After two nights we left and drove to Malacca for a quick look and enjoyed going back to Chang Ho museum which has been much improved since we were last there. It is a good place to just wander around and have a meal. We got back to the boats late in the evening and spent a relaxing day around the pool.
Saturday morning we were off, not too early as we only had thirty five miles to go which we did under power as there was no wind. Sunday was a long day of about seventy miles to the next anchoring islet. This was ok with us managing to motor sail most all the way. Running the engine with the sails up adds a couple of knots to our speed which makes a big difference. Running down the Malacca straights, which used to be a pirate ally not so long ago, there are not many good anchorages and we do not want to run at night as there is so much garbage in the water plus lots of small fishing boats with no lights. This is why we do these different mileages some days rather than averaging them. On Monday we were off early and arrived through the massive amount of ships at anchor off Singapore to arrive at Puteri Marina which is on the Malaysian side across from the island of Singapore. We got in around noon and fueled up and then found our berth with the help of the boat boys. Then it was down to work setting up Kilkea II to lay up for the next three months. I changed the engine oils and Marian started up on the big cleanup in the cabin, not that is was bad, but when we leave the boat in these tropical climates it really pays to have everything clean so that we do not have to come back to a boat with any mildew, bugs or worse.
For the last few days we have been working on the boat jobs and finding new ones to do when we come back. It is beastly hot and taking down the sails and putting up the cover over the whole boat nearly killed us. Thank god for beer which even Marian is enjoying. Today is Friday and we will leave tomorrow to go to Singapore for the night before flying out early on Sunday morning for Japan and then onto Vancouver arriving there still on Sunday morning! It is going to be a very long day! We are looking forward to some cool weather and seeing all the family and friends.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Port Dickson
We left Straights Quay marina around 1400 on the high tide as the entrance is silting in and we would be dragging the keel in the mud on any other tide. It was beastly hot when we left and we motored through the downtown area of Georgetown to a little island on the south end of the island. We spent a night that was just plain uncomfortable with the heat and humidity and left at dawn the next morning. One small problem was a large abandoned fishing net was hooked around our anchor and that took a few minutes to get clear. Once away it was a day of avoiding floating plastic and other junk that is so prevalent in these waters. We motored and sailed, but mostly motored the 65 miles or so to Pangor island and anchored at the south end. The day had a number of thunder showers and rain on the way down and this managed to clear the air and it was a comfortable night. Off at daybreak again for the next seventy miles to Port Klang. We arrive an hour before sunset at a small islet with a light house on it fifteen miles north of the port and spent a short night with some sloppy waters on the tide change at the anchorage. Thankfully it did not last more than an hour or so and again we were off at daybreak through the port of Klang. This is the main port in Malaysia just outside of KL and it is big dirty with miles of docks and cranes and ships loading and unloading which is rather interesting to see. We arrived in Port Dickson at Admiral marina around five in the evening and were greeted by four boat boys who helped us tie up. We have been here before in November 2012 and found it to be a nice place to hang our for awhile.
Boats!!! Well we have another problem and this time it is to do with the alternator on the engine which is putting out way to much power and causing problems with the new batteries. Being Saturday we will have to wait and see what we can do come Monday. I have made a call and there is a possibility we can get someone who knows about electricity and stuff down on Monday but!! Other wise all is well and we have done this trip of just over two hundred miles in the last three days in the company of Callisto and are planning another get away to the hills for a couple of days and then to Malaca for a day before continuing south towards Singapore and our destination of Puteri Hbr where we leave Kilkea II and return to Canada for the summer.
Boats!!! Well we have another problem and this time it is to do with the alternator on the engine which is putting out way to much power and causing problems with the new batteries. Being Saturday we will have to wait and see what we can do come Monday. I have made a call and there is a possibility we can get someone who knows about electricity and stuff down on Monday but!! Other wise all is well and we have done this trip of just over two hundred miles in the last three days in the company of Callisto and are planning another get away to the hills for a couple of days and then to Malaca for a day before continuing south towards Singapore and our destination of Puteri Hbr where we leave Kilkea II and return to Canada for the summer.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Cameron Highlands
We had a great two day trip up to the Cameron Highlands with Anne and Mike. The drive up there was about four to five hours and the elevation was up at five thousand feet. The road was a freeway for half the way and then a very bendy road up into the hills. There is a big difference of the temperature and humidity up there as it was cool and fresh. This is an area of farming up the many terraced hills grows lots of mixed vegetables, many flower and orchids as well as many tea plantations. We saw how the tea was produced and tasted the local brew. The others seemed to appreciate the smells of the different teas but my smell is so bad that I couldn't tell the difference or really smell much of anything. Oh well at least the others did so I guess the old nose is not what it used to be. We stayed at the Lake house hotel which is very small and resembles and old English country home. It only has sixteen rooms and the service was great along with the dinner and breakfast. Anyone heading this way we would recommend it highly. The drive back was good although we had a few thunder storms with lots of rain to contend with. We did come back on the new bridge and causeway that is about 20 km long and just opened a month ago. We posted some pics last year when we went under it before the center span had been completed.
The boat stuff was not done when we got back which should be a simple weld of a stainless steel pipe. Today we got it back and it is now worse that when we sent it in!! Amazing that no one in Penang seems to know how to weld stainless or more likely they just don't care enough to do a good job. So we are here another day and hope a new one is fabricated by tomorrow?? If not we have a fall back plan with a part from Callisto that should work until we can get someone to fabricate a new piece. Tomorrow we will be off south towards Pangor and down to Port Dickson which will take us about four days as we will be anchoring at night. Far too much junk in the water around these parts to travel in the dark.
The boat stuff was not done when we got back which should be a simple weld of a stainless steel pipe. Today we got it back and it is now worse that when we sent it in!! Amazing that no one in Penang seems to know how to weld stainless or more likely they just don't care enough to do a good job. So we are here another day and hope a new one is fabricated by tomorrow?? If not we have a fall back plan with a part from Callisto that should work until we can get someone to fabricate a new piece. Tomorrow we will be off south towards Pangor and down to Port Dickson which will take us about four days as we will be anchoring at night. Far too much junk in the water around these parts to travel in the dark.
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| tea plantation in the Cameron Highlands |
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| more tea plants |
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| Lakehouse hotel |
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| four poster bed with mosquito net plus nice orchid |
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