Author Archives: yachtcamomile
A Day in Kuala Lumpur
We arrived back in Terengganu 25th August and spent the next 4 days cleaning Camomile inside and out. I made 3 trips to the laundry with big bags of washing not having done any for the last month, lucky we mostly live in swimmers. I wanted to leave everything clean and tidy as we were leaving Camomile for 3 weeks for an adventure to Hong Kong and China.
Bill boarding our bright yellow plane
It all started with a taxi at 6.30 on Sunday 30th August to take us to the airport to catch the 8.20 to Kuala Lumpur. Our plane wasn’t the usual Air Asia red but a brightly painted yellow. The flight left right on time. Our flight to Hong Kong wasn’t until the next morning but very early so I had booked a night in the Tune hotel at the KLIA2 terminal giving us a day in Kuala Lumpur.
Bill and I in Chinatown
We were too early to check in but left our bags in their left luggage room and jumped on the KLIA express train for the half hour ride to KL Sentral then took the underground to Pasar Seni and walked to Chinatown. The main street is Jalan Petaling and was full of bustling stall selling all sorts of chinese goods. A bought my self a nice new purse because mine has recently broken. We also visited the Guan Yin temple which was a bit like one of the clan houses in Penang but not as nice. Our impressions of Chinatown was that it was very colourful and noisy and not as nice as the Chinatown in Singapore but it was interesting to look around. After lunch in a local food court we headed back to the underground and made our way to KLCC with the magnificent Petronas twin towers as its center piece.
The Petronas twin towers
We forgot to take a picture of the outside but this a picture we took last year when the sky was much bluer, it was quite hazy today.
One of the Petronas racing cars
In the entrance they have 2 formula 1 racing cars sponsored by Petronas that have been used. Bill was interested to see the body structure which his company used to make patterns for on similar vehicles. You could see the under body protection plate that had scratches on it from where the body had grounded out.
Interesting shop
I had booked tickets to visit the viewing towers at 4pm so we had several hours to wander around the huge shopping mail that was contained in 4 floors at the base of the towers. There are many designer shops including many shoe shops but I resisted. This shop caught Bills eye and we had to have a look around but guess what …… no hardware or boat shops. Yippee!!!
Bill standing by the expansion gap.
At our allotted time we joined the tour. The Petronas Twin towers were once the tallest building in the world at a height of 452 metres. It’s largely constructed of reinforced concrete with a steel and glass facade designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic architecture. The Skybridge is at the 41st and 42nd levels and that’s where we started our tour. The bridge is the highest 2 storey bridge in the world and is attached to the towers with a sliding system that allows the towers and the bridge to move independently up to about 10 inches each side. It’s built to with stand winds of 180kph, fortunately the strongest they’ve ever had was 80 kph but the expansion gap had moved by 4 inches during the last Japanese earthquake.
Bill on the skybridge
The huge supports
My panoramic view of the two towers
Our selfie
We continued to the observation deck on level 86. This was our selfie.
Looking down on the other tower
Sadly it was hazy today so the view wasn’t quite as good as we had hoped but it was still amazing to be so high up. I didn’t like looking over the edge. It was interesting to see the other tower next door.
After our tour we made our way back to KL Sentral and took our train back to the airport and the Tune hotel. Tomorrow we fly to Hong Kong. Weeeeeee!!
The Perhentian islands
Long beach taken from Bubu’s
We arrived at Pulau Perhentian Kechil or ‘small island’ on Sunday 2nd August. We anchored off of Long beach (anchorage 112 in the Sail Malaysia cruising guide) at
05˚55.1N
102˚43.4E
We were still on our own as Inspiration Lady and the others were still at Tioman. Long beach, as a holiday destination, is lovely. There’s Bubu’s at one end and the World café at the other end and lots of small resorts and dive shops in between. I was happy because we discovered that not only did the world café have a proper coffee machine (practically unheard of in the islands) but it was being run by a lovely Italian couple Ranieri and Mathilda who made the most amazing Cappuccinos. Bill managed to impress them with a bit of Italian just about remembered.
Looking at Camomile through the beach umbrellas
Long beach is a beautiful sandy beach but the bad thing is that the tourist boats and water taxis are allowed to go where they like at any speed they like making swimming off the boat very dangerous. Added to that as the sun went down about 3 different techno machines started up sending out a cacophony of noise which continued until 3am! That wasn’t so bad, we couldn’t hear it downstairs so well but around midnight fireworks starting going off ……
Camomile on her own
The next morning we left to anchor at the other island Pulau Perhentian Besar ‘big island’ at anchorage 109
05˚54.1N
102˚44.1E
We had the private Perhentian Island resort (PIR) (would be my recommendation if anyone wanted to holiday here) in front of us that has a protected sandy beach and Coral View Island resort next to it. This photo was taken from Coral View as we ate a delicious lunch there.
One of the things we wanted to achieve here was a PADI dive course for Bill. We have recently bought a good second hand diving set and I wanted Bill to take a proper course. Beyond the Coral view was a row of eateries and dive shops, although not as many as Long beach. All the dive shops were the same price but in the end we decided the Turtle Bay divers back on the small island seemed to be a bit more switched on. So we took Camomile back to anchorage 112 and Bill signed up for the 4 day open water course at MYR980 (about £170). Fortunately the fireworks had been a one off and we got used to the music.
Bill off to school
Wednesday 5th Bill went back to school. Note his little homework bag with his reference book in it, I also gave him an apple for break time!
The first day was mostly theory but in the afternoon they started on the skills required to pass the course. None of the resorts have pools here but there’s an area alongside the rocks on the edge of the bay that gently shelves allowing you to gradually get deeper, ideal for learning to dive, and it’s cordoned off.
Bill in his dive kit
Going…..
Bill had been teamed with a guy called John plus there were 2 Korean girls in his class and the four of them gradually submerged with Aswan their excellent diving instructor.
…going..
…gone but you can still see which one is Bill!
I watched from the dinghy on the other side of the line. Bill seemed to be doing very well.
I was glad I hadn’t joined him because the course is much more advanced now than when we last attempted it in the Red sea many years ago. Not only did he have to work up gradually to taking his mask off (a complete no no as far as I’m concerned) and put it back on underwater, he had to swim without it, swop regulators, share his spare regulator with John and vice versa as well as other skills.
Lots of kittens
Meanwhile I went and played with the pussy cats, literally. The dive school has adopted a mummy cat and her kittens, 5 of them. This one is my favourite they have named her Seabelle and she was mine for the taking. I enjoyed playing with her every day and would have loved to keep her but all things considered we decided it would be best if we didn’t.
This is Seabelle
Bill off diving
The next day after spending the morning doing more theory, there are 5 sections to work through, and skills in the cordoned off area we had lunch together. In the afternoon Bill was going on his first proper dive, he looks quite happy going off…..
back again
….. and even happier coming back after a successful dive where he learnt how to regulate his buoyancy, practised rescuing a tired diver, clamp removal and more mask removal. They had seen large parrot fish, angel fish and barracudas.
On the third morning he took the ‘quiz’ and passed so that was the theory over. In the afternoon they went diving at shark point and I was going to go with them for a snorkel but the weather closed in and the sea became a bit rough so I stayed behind. Bill said they didn’t see any sharks but saw a green sea turtle among other things, and got down to 16m but the visibility wasn’t very good with the bad weather. John’s wife Angela, who already had her PADI, went with them.
Bill with John and Angela
Their 4th and final dive was the 18m dive and included working with dive computers which went well. Back at the dive centre Aswan congratulated them all on passing and signed off their log books. Bill enjoyed the course and feels more confident to use the kit to clean the bottom of the boat but also he will be able to join our fellow cruisers on a dive now; I’ll stick to snorkelling or better still when he goes for a dive I’ll book into the local spa!
They all passed
Storm clouds gathering
We had lunch with John and Angela but later that afternoon the storm clouds gathered and we had a big storm. Luckily they aren’t too bad in this area. Our friends further south and on the west coast have been having some awful ones.
Stunning coral bay
Sunday 9th we went ashore for Sunday breakfast, a treat we often spoil ourselves with, followed by a delicious cappuccino at the World café; it was getting difficult to leave. There’s a short walk over the hill to Coral bay so decided to do that to walk our breakfast off. The bay was stunning and the water looked inviting but no good for anchoring as it’s on the west side and the evening storms would put us on a lee shore over that coral.
Amazing views
The next day we came ashore prepared for a longer walk and after walking through to Coral bay again continued on the 1½ hour walk around the south west of the island. The views were amazing peeping through the trees tantalisingly as we headed south. The islands in the distance are Pulau Rawa, Pulau Susudara and Pulau Serenggeh we have been considering visiting them.
Watching the monitor lizard
As we walked up some steps this monitor lizard was having a good hunt around, not sure what he was looking for but once he saw us he scuttled off. Must have been a good metre long.
A village road
Eventually we arrived at the village on the southern side of the island. This is a ‘main’ road. The houses are built on stilts to allow the air to circulate under them to keep it cool. They also store things under them and, if they are high enough, washing is hung out to dry. The houses are very simply built out of wood. This lady was cutting up the catch of the day. There were lots of hibiscus flowers growing around the village.
A village woman cleaning the days catch
Unbelievable!
We sat at one of the little eateries on the sea front and watched these guys building a new construction next door. No hard hats, safety boats, high vis jackets or safety harnesses but they were getting the job done although everything was being done by hand. It was going to take them some time to build this structure especially at the speed they were working but it was very hot too.
A very ornate mosque
It isn’t possible to walk any further so after lunch we hired a water taxi to take us back to the anchorage passing their beautiful mosque on the way. Once back we decided we had ‘done’ the small island and moved Camomile to the other island to anchorage 109 by the Coral View resort. It was a relief to get away from the steady stream of water taxis by day and the music by night.
Turtle hunters
The problem with anchorage 109 is its name – Turtle bay. There are many turtles here and consequently it’s on all 3 ‘tours’; big island, small island and Rawa island. So many times during the day we had this, dozens of boats looking for the ubiquitous turtles. Once the ‘spotter’ has seen one their customers are disgorged into the water, many with buoyancy jackets on, in hot pursuit of the poor thing. They don’t hurt them but the turtles must get a bit ticked off at being followed every day. At one point we had the occupants of 14 boats in the water around us all trying to glimpse a turtle.
‘It’s this way’
Wednesday 12th was another walking day. Behind the PIR is another jungle trek (ask one of the staff where it starts) which we set off on. Our instructions were just keep walking south but the path divided so out came Bill’s compass that his sister Kate had given him and we found the right track.
Another stunning bay
It was a steep climb
After about an hour of walking the path came out onto another beautiful beach lined with small resorts. We had been told it was good for snorkeling but the visibility wasn’t very good so we walked west along the beach and re-joined the path to take us back over the hill. It’s difficult to see the gradient but it was quite steep and reminded us of the Cameron highlands but luckily not as far.
Half way up
Fish cove
The path brought us out to this beach, it was called fish cove. The boulders that surrounded the beach on the southern side were huge. The water was a lot clearer so we went in for our snorkel.
Bill free diving around the rocks
The area around the rocks was astounding. There were also a lot of rocks under the water creating amazing shapes and surfaces for coral to grow on as well as a wall that went down out of sight – would have made a good dive.
Beautiful coral
Coral on the wall
Lunch with a view
The beach continued north back towards the boat. We sat and had lunch with this view.
Rawa just coming into view
Tuesday 18th we finally left the anchorage having been there a week and took Camomile 5 miles out to anchorage 113 off of Rawa island at
05˚57.65N
102˚40.84E this was as far north as we intended to go on this coast.
Magnificent coral under the water around the headland in front of us
Camomile nestled in the rocks
Simply extraordinary snorkelling off the northern headland, probably the best in this area with lots of fish. Lovely spot but no shelter from the overnight breeze so took Camomile back to small island for one night then left the next morning to start heading south.
Rawa island
We made it to Terengganu.
Starbucks in the Puteri mall with the water sculpture in front of it
We stayed in Puteri Harbour marina for 2 weeks. Bill and I went to the dentist. We both had xrays. I had a 2 fillings, one big one small, and Bill had a much bigger job culminating in a crown being fitted after 10 days. All for the princely sum of MYR1190 (£205), bargain. The torn sail was taken off, measured, photographed and folded up, while the spare one was hoisted. It’s not as good quality but will do for the next few months while we get a new one ordered. Shopping was brought in, markets explored, jobs completed from the jobs list (it never seems to go down), washing of us, the boat and clothes. Most days being fueled by my favourite cappuccinos from Starbucks and the odd meal at one of the many restaurants at Puteri.
Exploring Singapore
Monday 29th June we took the bus over the 2nd link bridge to Singapore for a few days; a mini break. We had lunch at raffles marina while checking out their Chandler store in the afternoon. Had a wonderful walk around the old colonial area although it’s been dwarfed by the huge skyscrapers everywhere.
Panoramic view of Singapore
A nice meal down by the harbour
Enjoyed a delicious meal down by the old boat quay with a view of the amazing Marina Bay Sands hotel before heading off on the MRT to the night zoo. Good evening but not sure it’s as good as it’s rated.
A new gadget
The next morning after coffee in Chinatown it was back to Bugis and Simlin tower, Bill’s favourite place, to buy a new gadget for the boat. It’s a media player and new hard drive so we can play all the films and TV series people have given us on various formats stored on different computers, hard drives and old fashioned DVDs. Now they can all be kept in one place and played on our new TV.
Cargo ship carrying turbine blades
We went back to the boat for another round of shopping, sewing and preparing for our summer on the East coast of Malaysia before finally leaving at 06.30 on 5th July with Inspiration Lady following. First we had to sail or motor around Singapore on the edge of one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. There were many cargo ships carrying containers but this one was loaded with blades for wind turbines. From the writing on the bow we assumed it had come from China but no idea where it was heading.
An enormous oil drilling platform
Having left Puteri 2 hours BEFORE low water and taking the last of the ebb down the Johor Straits, the tide turned in our favour at the entrance and was with us all the way around Singapore as we headed east back into Malaysian waters on the other side of Singapore. The sails were out, the engine was off and the tide was still with us so we were reluctant to stop and carried on passed this huge drilling platform onto to the far eastern corner of Malaysia. As we started heading up the east coast the wind turned into an easterly bringing with it a nasty swell. As it was getting dark both yachts stopped in the first bay but it was obvious we wouldn’t be able to stay. Poor Camomile and Inspiration Lady were pitching and rolling badly. The plan was to stop and try and rest for a few hours before continuing otherwise we would arrive at the first island in the dark. This meant poor Bill was doing a night sail for his birthday but he said he didn’t mind. Having left at midnight the anchor went down on the northern coast of Pulau Sibu at 10.00.
Caroline, Bill, Bill, Jackie and Gary
Anchored at
02˚14.0N
104˚03.5 E
Bill’s birthday celebrations could begin. The first thing I did was jump in the water, my first swim in the sea this summer. Hard to believe I know but the west coast is quite murky and I don’t swim unless I can see the bottom. Later Gary and Jackie of Inspiration Lady and Bill and Caroline of Juffa joined us in the evening for a pot luck supper and a game of cards. A great evening was enjoyed by all.
Camomile at anchor
Wednesday 8th July we continued north past the point we had reached last year with my sister Angela on board and onto the north coast of Pulau Sri Buat anchoring at
02˚41.86N
103˚53.89E
An absolutely idyllic spot. We jumped in the dinghy and headed to the beach but I couldn’t resist photographing a beautiful shiny Camomile on the way.
An uninhabited beach
The island was uninhabited so we had this wonderful beach to ourselves. It was great to relax in the warm waters after all the hard work that’s been necessary to get Camomile looking as beautiful as she does during the first half of the year. It felt like summer had started.
Storm clouds approaching
The beach before the rain
But in true British summer fashion we suddenly noticed storm clouds approaching and just got back to the boat before the rain started and this stunning view ….
The rain lashed down
….. turned into this as the rain lashed down. That was the end of summer for the day.
Snorkeling in the beautiful water
The following day the sun was out and we explored the bay in the dinghy. There was another lovely beach behind the big rock and I enjoyed an interesting snorkel there. You can just see Camomile peaking around the edge of the rock on the left of the picture. There was some lovely coral further out.
Me, Jackie, Janice, Mick, Bill and Gary
Left the beautiful anchorage on Friday 10th to motor the 15 miles to Tioman island. Fortunately there were 2 spaces in the marina so Camomile and Inspiration Lady went in. Juffa was already there. Jackie and I hit ‘the shops’ in the afternoon while Bill tried to organise some power so we could have the air conditioning on for a few days. Tioman is a quaint island and like stepping back in time but Jackie and I managed to find a few supplies to booster our larder. It’s also duty free which meant cheap wine – yessss. Mick and Janice anchored Zoa off one evening and we joined them and Inspiration Lady for a meal ashore.
Another evening we joined Bill and Caroline on Juffa for drinks and during our conversation discovered they were both teachers from Durrington High school, had 2 boys the same age as ours and lived in the next village to us in Angmering while we were there. What a small world we live in!
The chartplotter looked like space invaders
Tuesday 14th Camomile and Juffa left Inspiration Lady in Tioman marina. Juffa headed south as they had to go back to Johor but we continued north on our own. Our plan for the summer was head north quickly and then come back slowly. Finally we had good winds and sailed all the way to Pekan passing these anchored boats on our way, and anchored just after 6pm behind the breakwater at
03˚32.1N
103˚28.1E
It was ok for overnight but quite rolly. The next day we left at 8am, the sails were out straight away and we sailed all the way to the Chukai river.
Inside the Cukai river
The wind had gone round to the south east which was great for sailing but not for entering the river. By the time we reached the bar at the entrance there was a dangerous swell of a metre running. Bill skilfully helmed Camomile through the entrance with 1.5metres under our keel for a minute or two. I sat very quietly watching – doesn’t happen very often – with my heart in my mouth but once inside the swell dropped and the depth gauge increased. Reminded us of the bars across the Australian harbour entrances. Once inside we continued up the river for about a mile and anchored opposite the town.
The next day was the last day of Ramadan and the following day was Hari Raya, a major Muslim holiday. It felt like Christmas eve in the town and the market was very busy with people stocking up for the festivities. As we walked around I saw some live chickens having their throats cut and handed to eager buyers, and a dead cow being unloaded from the back of a truck complete with blood, guts and all – we didn’t stay long and I don’t have any photos of it. Fortunately we managed to find a regular supermarket further in the town. In the evening there were lots of people celebrating with fireworks going off most of the night.
Motoring back out of the river
The next morning Friday 17th all was quiet as we chugged back down the river through a much calmer entrance. There was no wind so we motored all the way to Tenggol. What was really strange was there wasn’t one single fishing boat out, we have never seen that before.
Pulau Tenggol was another 40 miles further north with a deep anchorage of 30 metres! Far too deep for us plus the sea bed was reported to be broken coral and wrecks, deadly for an anchor. Fortunately the local dive shop has tied three buoys to some purposely sunken wrecks quite close to the beach but not too close to the reef. So we picked one up at
04˚48.44N (getting further north)
103˚40.57E
There was another British boat there called Sa Vahn with Fiona and Clare on board with their own dive kit who had dived on the wrecks to check out the lines and all seemed good. The beach looked very inviting so we swam in for a walk. Unknown to us was the fact that the beach is full of sand flies and I came back with my legs covered in bites, they were as bad as the ones we got on South Island in NZ.
Wonderful white sand
Sunday 19th left Tenggol at 9am and sailed all the way to Pulau Kappas dropping the anchor at 4pm at
05˚13.5N
103˚15.6E in 6 metre on sand.
For all you guys following us Kappas is beautiful; a true paradise island. Teal blue sea, verdant green backdrop, white sand and wonderful coral.
There are a series of beaches on the west side linked by stairways so you can walk between them (either my camera or computer ate the photos I took!) Great for lunch trips with a bit of exercise on the way back to walk off chocolate monkey pancakes which are pancakes with caramelised bananas covered in chocolate sauce – nommm nommm!
Amazing rock formations
Approaching the cave
The island is quite small so we were able to take the dinghy around it. The rock formations are magnificent.
100s of bats on the ceiling
On the east side I spotted a cave and on closer examination from the entrance discovered it was full of bats. Not sure if you can see from this photo but the top of the cave was covered in them; very noisy and very smelly.
Amazing coral
We stayed there until Friday 24th July relaxing, reading, a little writing and snorkelling every day. Such a delightful anchorage. It would have been nice to stay longer but we needed to get to Terengganu to check out the marina to make sure it’s suitable to leave Camomile there later in the summer. So I’ll just post some of the many snorkeling photos I took at Kapas for you to enjoy.
Stunning green coral
Many colourful clams
I love the shapes in this hard coral
and many fish
The end of West Malaysia
Camomile is now cruising the East Malaysian coast. I haven’t written an update for a while but hopefully this will bring us up to date.
Kokomo V
We left Pangkor Tuesday 16th June at 05.30. There was now a small group of us Gary and Jackie on Inspiration Lady, Frank and Karen on Kokomo V, Terry and Alison on Pamir and Tricky and Jane and little Millie on Ananda but didn’t get a photo of their boat. Bill and Caroline on Juffa had gone the day before.
Local fishing boat
There were lots of brightly painted fishing boats out on the water. You wonder if there are enough fish for them all to catch.
There was very little wind and Bill wanted to get his new main sail out but sadly the engine was off for just 10 minutes before it was back on again as we were going so slowly.
It was a 29 hour sail to Admiral marina. Ananda got in first then us then Inspiration Lady. Juffa arrived the following day with Kokomo V having stopped overnight along the way. We only stayed for 2 nights giving us enough time to get some fuel and shopping and have a swim in the marina pool before leaving again on Friday 19th at 06.00 Admiral is a bit expensive for us.
Inspiration Lady in the sunset
The wind was on the nose as usual so we decided to tack up wind. Everything was going well with just 20 kts of wind but sadly just as we were getting into it the genoa ripped. Bill winched it away as quick as he could but it tore right up to the UV strip. Luckily he managed to get it away That was the end of our fun for the day. That evening Inspiration Lady and Camomile anchored north of Pulau Besar in the water islands at 02˚07.5N 102˚19.2E there was a beautiful sunset.
No 2 jib with the tattered remains of the genny rolled away
Saturday 20th was a long day. Starting at 05.00 we left Pular Besar in the dark following a previous track. Bill had rigged our No 2 jib on the inner forestay as a temporary measure until we could take the genoa down. Again the wind was on the nose so we had to motor sail tacking up the rhumb line. The No 2 worked ok but we were very underpowered.
Indian ocean
The sea was a bit boisterous.
Bill was happy
Ships moving into and out of the Singapore Straits
We arrived off the Johor Straits at lunch time 21st June, Fathers day. The AIS (automatic identification system) sprang into life as soon as we got near Singapore. There are so many ships anchored and moving around the Singapore Straits that the chartplotter looked like a game of space invaders! The little black boat is us and the green line is our course heading towards the red cross, bit off course, oops!
Inspiration Lady dancing with the big boats
There were lots of ships anchored inside the straits. Inspiration Lady and Camomile had to weave in between them.
Singapore docks
Police patrol
The Singapore navy are neurotic about people getting into Singapore illegally. It’s probably because singapore is ‘full’ so they post patrol boats all along the border and watch us as we pass. Woe betide you if you stray over the invisible line between Singapore and Malaysia. It’s on the chart and they can see where we are from our AIS signal. We did it once and they were straight over and followed us all the way.
I’ll say it ‘That’s torn it!’
We tied up in Puteri marina at 3pm and stayed there for 2 weeks. The first job was take down the torn genny. When Bill unrolled it we could see the extent of the damage.
Something has gone wrong with my soft ware so I’ll close this blog and start a new one.
Panang to Pangkor
Old Panang
We had stopped at Panang to visit the Wellness clinic at the private Loh Guan Lye hospital. There wasn’t any particular reason but as we are unable to visit the doctors in the UK it’s nice to be able to have a check up. The last ones we had were in Sydney. We’ve stopped in Panang several times on our way up and down the coast so we weren’t going into the old town but this is a previous photo.
Monday 8th June after leaving Camomile at anchor and taking the dinghy into the marina, we jumped into a taxi and headed down to the hospital to make an appointment. The receptionist was very helpful and produced leaflets for various options. We decided to go for the Executive Health screening package at MYR700 (£127) each adding on a mammogram for me and a few bits for Bill and full cancer marker tests for both of us bringing the total to MYR2066 (£375) and were offered appointments the following day – what service!
That evening a big storm crossed our path with simultaneous thunder and lightening right overhead. Oh no here we go again! Bill put all the computers in the Faraday cage that he’s made while I sat cowering; after last years strike I don’t like lightening any more.
Camomile in Straitsquay marina
The next morning, after fasting over night, we returned to the Loh Guan Lye and spent the morning having full blood tests, ECGs, chest x-rays, my mammogram, and ultrasounds of our upper abdomens. The staff couldn’t have been nicer, we were escorted to various departments of the hospital for the different procedures. The hospital was spotlessly clean and very busy considering there are 3 private hospitals in Panang. After lunch we were given appointments with one of the doctors who was also a cardiologist and had trained in the UK. All our results were back and neatly printed in a folder together with a dvd with our various xrays and tests we’d had. Amazing. I’m happy to say I was given a clean bill of health and so was Bill although the doctor advised him to wear a portable ECG machine for 24 hours to monitor the heart palpitations he’s been getting for the last few months.
Upon returning to the marina a berth had become free and we took Camomile into the marina for 3 nights. The first night we were joined by Chris and Lyn of Out of the Blue II. It was lovely to catch up with each others news. We had a nice meal together but the following day they left to head north.
Right in front of Starbucks
Our berth was perfect for me – right in front of Starbucks! The next morning we went in for coffees and Bill had a double espresso because, typically, he hadn’t had any palpitations since having the monitor fitted. Sure enough the caffeine started them off and the monitor recorded them. We went back to the hospital in the afternoon to have the monitor removed and the reading assessed. The doctor felt they weren’t any thing to worry about thank fully and just gave Bill some advice on dealing with them.
The Gurney Plaza
There was a big mall down the road from the hospital so we went for a wander. It was huge with 8 stories in some sections. It would have taken all day to see it all but I found an M&S in there selling my favourite Percy Pigs!!! How lucky was that? Bill was looking at watches and decided it would have to be a Rolex! Maybe one of sons might treat him one day!!
‘I want that one’
The apartment block behind the marina
Our third day in the marina was spent doing jobs such as laundry, shopping (Tesco was within walking distance) and cleaning the boat. I was just scrubbing the decks when I heard a familiar voice calling me over the fence. It was Stefan and Silva of Meditteraneo. It turned out they had rented an apartment in the marina complex. So another evening was spent catching up with news. Fortunately they knew of a really good Indian a short taxi ride away in the old quarter that had an authentic Tandoori oven. We enjoyed a delicious meal for 4 for MYR100 about £20 or £10 a couple, really good value.
Storm clouds approaching
Friday 12th we left Straitsquay on the high tide. We had had our 3 nights and needed to get going again. Tricky, Jane and little Millie on Ananda had left the day before and Bill and Caroline on Juffa, who were anchored outside the marina, were leaving at the same time as us. As we motored past this cruise liner in the cruise terminal the clouds were bubbling up behind it. Within an hour they were overhead and lashing us with rain. The visibility was down to less than 100 meters. Following Juffa towards the Panang bridge they called on the vhf to warn us there were fishing lines in the water. They were trying to weave in between them and we followed. I could see the floats in front of us but the two ends disappeared off into the distance. Bill took the decision to go over them. So with bated breath and the engine out of gear we floated over them. Luckily they didn’t follow us so we obviously hadn’t hooked it.
Strange objects floating by
Within an hour or so the storm clouds past over us and the sky cleared. Panang island is only about 15 miles long but has 2 bridge crossings from the mainland. We passed under both of them but decided to stop for the night. If we carried on it would almost certainly mean a night sail and with the storms in this area that wasn’t an inviting prospect. There’s a saying ‘It’s better to be in an anchorage wishing you were at sea than at sea wishing you were in an anchorage’. We went back into the Jerejak anchorage for the night with a plan to leave at first light. Juffa stopped a bit further down too. The high tides at the present are dragging a lot of rubbish into the water. This strange object floated past us in the evening. I think it’s part of a tree.
The fishing villages of Pangkor island
Saturday 13th was a long day. We left at 7.00 and arrived at Pangkor island just before 8pm, apart from an hours sail in the morning we had motored all the way. We’d lost sight of Juffa during the day but our friends Terry and Alison on Panir from Rebak came up behind us and called on the vhf for a chat. Panir and Camomile anchored just north of Pangkor island at 04˚15.5N 100˚33.5E. As the south west monsoon season is upon us this should have been a good anchorage but on this one night only the wind decided to swing round to the north and blow into a storm. Bill was up half the night checking the anchor and Camomile was tossing in the waves but fortunately the anchor held firm. Winds of 30kts+ were blowing across the decks. By 3am Bill decided we couldn’t stay there so we got ready to move the boat, which wasn’t going to be easy. Just at that moment the heavens opened and the visibility was almost zero so we decided to wait until it stopped raining. I went back to bed and luckily the wind started to die down. Within an hour Bill came back to bed and said we would wait until first light to move. In the morning the storm clouds had gone and the skies cleared. We motored the short distance round the island to Pankor marina where our good friends Gary and Jackie on Inspiration Lady had been waiting for us. Our little group was growing.
Langkawi to Puteri – Getting away from Langkawi
Camomile ready to go
Monday 1st June we were ready to leave – just. We folded up the cockpit cover. Bill put the last of his tools away and put his little work bench on the giveway table, it had served its purpose.
Goodbye Hard dock Cafe
We went over to the office to pay our final bill and say our goodbyes to the office staff and have one last look at the Hard dock café. Quite a lot of the boats are unoccupied now as a lot of cruisers have headed home to avoid the southwest monsoon or headed south already. We needed to catch them up.
Photo call on the aft deck before we left
There were a few goodbyes left to say before our photo was taken on the aft deck and we left at 1pm.
Byebye Rebak marina.
Bill relaxing
Bill enjoying the view from the new dolphin seat he made. It felt good to be out in the beautiful blue sea again. The first part of our journey only took an hour as we headed to Tulaga on mainland Langkawi for fuel.
Camomile on the fuel pontoon
Our jerry cans were all empty and the main tank took 100 litres as well. It was quite nerve-racking coming alongside for the first time because of our beautifully painted topsides.
Bill’s well earned cigar
Within an hour we were off again on the 3½ hour journey to the main town of Kuah. Bill wanted to raise our beautiful new sail to check it out. Good job we did because as it has deeper reefs than the old one the reefing lines weren’t long enough. Big problem, new reefing lines were needed, more expense! Eventually the sail went up without the reefing lines attached and Bill could sit back on his superb seat under our lovely new bimini cover and enjoy his Christmas cigar that he had been saving for the occasion.
Stunning sunset
We arrived at Kuah at 18.30 in time for the most stunning sunset. This is what we’ve missed. We sat on the deck with our sundowners.
The next morning Phil from Lyttleton Sails came on board to look at our sail and confirmed that we needed new reefing lines. Fortunately he was able to give us some tips on where to get them from. After managing to land the bikes ashore Bill and I cycled up to Chin Ho trading to look at rope and do some supermarket shopping. The gears on my bike weren’t working properly and Bills tyres kept going down so we took them to the bike man again but this time he was unable to fix them. They’ll have to go back in their bags until someone comes out from the UK who can carry some bike parts for us. Any volunteers?
Storm clouds building
That evening wasn’t as good as the first one and in fact as we got back to the boat storm clouds were brewing. We started to lift the dinghy onto the davits before the clouds burst but one of the wires broke – another problem; would we ever get away from here?
Wednesday 3rd I gave Chris and Keith ex of Poco Andante a call in their apartment in Kuah and luckily they came to our rescue driving us around for the day so Bill could buy his rope. We all had lunch together before they took us to a duty free shop they knew to top up our alcohol stores. That evening we joined them again along with many other cruisers including Lorraine and Graham of Lorrigray for the cruisers mid week get together. All enjoyed a wonderful evening. (Forgot my camera.)
View of the ferry port from the park.
Thursday 4th I walked through the park to the ferry port to check us out of Langkawi and get our port clearance for Puteri 400 miles south. There just happens to be a Starbucks there so I finally got my cappuccino I had been looking forward to. The giant eagle is a symbol of Langkawi, there are many eagles in the area. After lunch and a final wine shop we headed back to Camomile.
Cheers!
Bill spent all of the morning of the 5th June trying to replace the davit wire. It proved to be quite difficult but he managed it in the end. The anchor came up just after 1pm and finally it was goodbye to Kuah until the end of the year. We didn’t go far and anchored at Pulau Besar just 2 hours away. Sundowners on the deck again.
Beautiful Pulau Besar
Bill wanted to get the new reefing lines in before we headed south so Saturday 6th he spent quite a bit of the day rerunning them in and out of the boom while I sat writing. Once he’d finished we raised the sail to check all was ok and thankfully, with a few minor adjustments, everything was fine.
Stunning limestone islands
Sunday 7th we finally left Langkawi. I was beginning to think we wouldn’t ever get away. Camomile motored through this gap and headed south for 60 miles. After all the playing with the main before we left there wasn’t any wind and we only managed to sail one hour of the 12 hour passage.
A storm on the horizon
As we are now in the south west monsoon season there are a lot of storms around. We watched this one approach with trepidation. It’s also possible to see them on the radar and we were able to skirt round some of it but it still hit us with torrential rain and strong winds.
Fishing traps
There were also a lot of these guys dotted along our path. No they aren’t pirates just fishermen but they set these fish traps. Not sure how they work but we always steer well clear of them. They are everywhere.
More fishing traps
Just sticking out of the water
Most of them have a fishing boat next to them but some don’t and as they aren’t lit travelling in these waters at night is very dangerous.
Finally we reached Panang just as the sun was going down. We planned to stay there a few days.
Week 17 – Ready to go.
A gleaming Camomile
Finally we were beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel as the jobs list slowly diminished. We had started talking about where we could go when we leave. The southwest monsoon season has started so anchoring on the west coast is going to be more problematic. It’s too late to go to the Philippines, which is where we really wanted to go, but the East coast of Malaysia is supposed to be nice this time of year so that’s where we are going to head for; we have to get down passed Singapore first though.
Bill rebuilding the binacle
Sunday 24th May Bill rebuilt the binnacle and put the steering wheel back on; the last of the jobs that had prevented us from leaving. We now have a fully working boat.
Polishing up the compass
Meanwhile I cleaned right through the boat, again, and washed the floor. The cockpit cover was taken off and washed ready for repairing. That night it poured with rain, without the cockpit cover on everything got very wet.
Finishing off the steering assembly
Monday 25th I went for my bike ride and ended up at the pool for a swim, managed 10 lengths although it’s not as long as a regular pool. I headed back to the boat to work on the cockpit cover. UV damage is the bane of our life and all the seams needed re-sewing because the cotton had disintegrated. Bill finished the work on the steering including fitting a second flange under our bed as well as other little projects. A second night of heavy rain.
The sail bag laid out on the pontoon
Tuesday 26th the cockpit cover was finished but couldn’t go back on because I also needed to work on the sail bag. When Nasir made it for us we gave him our old one to copy, he did a brilliant job but he knew we had a new sail so decided to make the sail bag a big bigger to compensate. Unfortunately he didn’t know that our old sail bag was already a bit bigger then it needed to be. As a result rainwater has been collecting in it and just sitting there. The answer was to take the zip off and move it. After planning where it needed to be taken in Bill and I managed to get the mainsail off followed by the sail bag. It was laid out on the pontoon to allow Bill to draw the chalk line on. At the back end it was just a tiny bit but as it got nearer to the mast about 3 inches needed to be taken in.
Busy sewing
I took the zip off and sewed it back on in its new place. It took most of the day but we wanted to get it back on followed by the cockpit cover to stop every thing getting soaked for a third night.
Sorting out the ‘bad nuts’
While I was working on the sail bag Bill had the headlining panels down above his work shop to remove the ‘bad nuts’ that were preventing him from tightening up one of the stanchion bases properly. It was one of those jobs that turned into a real problem trying to get the headlining back in place. It had to be severely cursed into place!
Shiny new tap
Wednesday 27th I took my bike out for a ride around the island ending up at the pool for a swim. Bill got on with lots of little jobs; we are so near the end of the road. The sink tap in my galley has ceased and won’t move from side to side. I bought a new one in the UK and it had come out in the parcel from my sister and Bill fitted it that afternoon. It put up a fight, like most things on the boat do, but eventually he got it fitted. I’m really pleased; it looks lovely.
Scraping the toilet pump – yummy!
Thursday 28th I took my bike on the ferry to Langkawi to go shopping for supplies in the local shops. When I got back Bill had started a job that he’d been putting off – replacing the outlet pipe in the forward heads (sea toilet). The pump came off first and Bill had to remove the build up of calcium, which forms as a result of urine combining with seawater. Definitely a ‘blue’ job!
Fitting a new outlet pipe
The outlet pipe gets calcified too and it’s easier to replace than try and get it out. So the forward toilet is working perfectly now ready for our visitors later in the year.
Beautifully varnished steps with new non slip treads
Friday 29th Bill applied the non-slip tread on the newly varnished steps that I had brought back from the UK. We are down to the jobs that would be nice to finish but weren’t essential.
Curtains with the old hold backs
The wooden curtain hold backs that Bill had made out of scraps before we went back in the water were also fitted. This is how they looked before he started…..
Beautiful wooden ones
….. and after he had finished.
Meanwhile I started to make a new bimini cover. I had also made our old one but it looked awful and badly marked so a new one was in order.
During the evening we went to our last cruisers music session at the Happy Hour bar in the resort. Fred and Rosie and the others put on a nice evening for us all to sing along with fuelled with half price drinks.
Bill bending the sprayhood frame
Saturday 30th Bill worked on getting the new sprayhood to fit better. We think the framework has been pulled out of shape over the years so he took it off and used the cleats to gently bend it back into shape. It fitted better but I still need to adjust it slightly. I’ll save that for the next marina we end up in.
Removing the last of the blue tape
The door surround has also been having some coats of varnish over the last few days (the only part of the outside wood that Bill has varnished). Once it was finished I was invited to remove the last of the blue tape although I don’t believe it is the last piece! I continued working on the bimini cover while Bill was having a big sort out. During these last few months most of our lockers (cupboards) have been emptied, cleaned and sorted before refilling. I’ve taken lots of things up to the ‘give away’ table which in turn has been picked up by other cruisers or staff; one mans rubbish is another mans treasure. While he was going through one of the grab bags he pointed out to me that we did have a body bag (a follow on from a previous ‘discussion’) to which I replied ‘well you’re not putting me in that, it’s orange, I don’t wear orange!!!!!’ For some reason he thought this was amusing.
My hand crafted bimini
Sunday 31st After my last cycle and swim Bill took me for breakfast in the resort, it’s our favourite thing to do here. For the equivalent of £7 you can eat as much as you can manage with lots of choices. We came back and fitted the new bimini. I’m really pleased with it. Fortunately you can’t see the stitching because my machine isn’t happy sewing canvas and it’s difficult to get the tension right but it manages it.
Waxing the coach roof
As it was another cloudy Sunday Bill took the opportunity to finish the last of the waxing on the coach roof; she looks so beautiful.
Tools almost gone
Later that day Bill finally packed up his work bench with just a few tools left to put away. I ironed the last of the curtains and hung it back up to finish converting the work shop back into a quarter berth, probably won’t be for long.
A quarter berth again – for a while!
Bill’s old shorts and hats
The final job to do before we leave tomorrow is throw away Bill’s working shorts and hat, even though they’ve been washed several times, although I’ve had to prise them off of him, they are disgusting and are going in the bin. We sat and had sundowners on deck before going down below and enjoying our last night with air conditioning for a while.
Yes they ARE going in the bin
Week 16 – We’re getting there.
After we’d cleared up all the dust on Friday afternoon we put our lovely new sprayhood on. Will take detailed photo of it later.
Marking position of winch
Saturday 16th May Bill fitted the winches and cleats to the port side which entailed taking the ceiling panels down in the quarter berth, the nav station and my wardrobe. Firstly the holes were drilled through the wood from below using the previous holes. The now hated blue tape (because every time I go out on deck I seem to see another piece of it) was used to mark out the position. Bill placed the winch in position marked round it and pealed off the tape in the middle. Each piece will have a layer of black Sikaflex 291 under it and we don’t want any excess leaking onto the wood.
The base of the winch in position
The base of the winch is fitted along with a cleat and finally the top goes on the winch. Bill said the sheet winches were in pretty good condition considering how much they’ve been used.
The big sheet winch complete
The smaller winch and a grab handle are fixed in place
The smaller mainsheet winch and another cleat were fitted at the back of the cockpit along with one of the last of the new grab handles. I was able to help with this job because there were lots of bolts that needed nuts on them and I have to hold the bolt still with a screwdriver while Bill tightens the nuts from underneath. I love this photo it shows the shiny cockpit and the beautiful curved new seat.
Putting dinghy bits back on
Sunday 17th we awoke to rain. Why does it always rain on Sunday’s all around the world? I still went for my run; I either get wet from the rain or wet from sweat it made no difference although it was quite muddy too. We pulled Camomile back over the pontoon so we could let the dinghy down onto it and then pushed Camomile back again. Bill spent an hour refitting the parts back on it. We let some of the air out so I could fit the new dinghy cover I made before I left for the UK. I spent the afternoon making an outboard cover.
Covers for every thing.
Bill fitted a new piece of wood across the transom so the outboard won’t scrape the new paint. We re-launched the dinghy and fitted the outboard. I put its new cover on along with the new wheel covers. It looks a bit homemade but as a lot of Camomile is homemade we prefer the term lovingly crafted.
So T bag the dinghy is ready for the off.
Lovingly hand crafted
My galley upside down again
Bill spent the day fitting the starboard winches, cleats and the last new grab handle. To do this the galley ceiling had to come down and the ceiling in my bathroom. Everything was upside down and I couldn’t possibly make dinner so we had a meal in the Hard Dock cafe.
More wood
Monday 18th We had a new mystery object in the cockpit – more wood. It’s been marked with black pen.
In the grove
Bill got his circular saw out (they love him here!!!) and started cutting little groves in the wood.
New against the old
This is the new wood laid out on the old seats – can you tell the difference? Apparently the old seats are a slightly redder teak but a blind man would be pleased to see it. We keep being asked if we are going to varnish the new wood or oil it. The answer is neither. Bill says once you start it’s a perpetual job so it’s just going to be left to weather with age.
See the gap…
The mystery object is going to be a wooden top for the instruments but the instruments housing is slightly curved so the little groves enable Bill to ‘bend’ the wood into place. You can see the gap in this photo –
…. now it’s gone
– now it’s gone.
Port bridgehead
Bill and I spent the rest of the day fitting the bridgehead instruments with me holding the screwdriver on the outside and Bill tightening nuts underneath. We were so busy I didn’t take any photos but this is how it looked at the end of the day with all the instruments rewired back in place. To enable Bill to fit the wood top the VHF speaker had to be moved but it fits nicely next to the music speaker. So we have comms again. It was suggested we remove our old garmin GPS instead but that little gem has survived quite a few dousing and a lightening strike and still works magnificently. So it has pride of place among the posh new Raymarine instruments.
Starboard side
My side looks just as nice with the addition of a cold glass of wine at the end of the day. We were supposed to leave today but obviously aren’t ready yet so I went to the office to book for another 2 weeks. We’ll be leaving Rebak on 1st June – definitely.
Sundowners in our beautiful new cockpit
Forty Two from Germany
Tuesday 19th I went for my run while Bill was finishing the edging on the renovated seats. We took the ferry over to Langkawi for a day in town. First job was a hair cut for me. My hair has grown quite a bit since I’ve been back and it makes me hotter so it had to go. Chris and Keith had invited us to lunch in their cosy apartment so we spent a wonderful few hours catching up with chatter before finishing our day in the supermarket. When we got back we noticed our German friends had arrived on their Westerly Fulmar. This photo is for our WOA friends who think their Westerly is too small to sail around the world Forty Two is from Germany and Carsten and Mercedes sailed her around the UK before leaving on their circumnavigation; and she’s a bilge keel!
a row of pulley blocks
Wednesday 20th These are all the pulley blocks that were taken off the bottom of mast when Bill was painting the deck. Bill put them all back on so I could rerun all the lines.
Sorting out the lines.
What a job, I think I did every one of them at least twice some three times. I got all the port side ones threaded through the front of the coaming and Bill realised he’d put the feeder on upside down so I had to start again. Grrrrr! The reefing lines on the starboard side were also wrong because Bill put their pulley block on back to front.
Start of a wasps nest
I found the start of a wasp’s nest under the front sail bag while checking the lines weren’t twisted. Luckily it wasn’t very big.
All lines in place
Eventually I got them all sorted. Bill fitted the rope bags in the cockpit and the lines were all tucked away. The winch handle pockets were also fitted, the winches are in them.
Finally got all the lines sorted
Yachtleg lugs in place
While I was doing all this Bill was fitting the Yachtleg lugs which meant me in the dinghy holding onto it while Bill was inside tightening nuts again. Sounds simple but nothing is ever simple on a boat. As the rubbing strake has been made wider Bill had to make a wooden plinth for them to sit on so of course the bolts weren’t long enough. He shaved a bit off the plinth so the bolts would fit but then the pin that goes through the two holes on the top and through the top of the yachtleg wouldn’t fit! So Bill had to plane a bit off the rubbing strake. Eventually all fitted. This type of thing is why we’ve been sat here for 16 weeks.
Brilliant Mediterranean white decks
After lunch I changed into a swimming costume and scrubbed the decks. With a combination of airline fuel exhaust from the planes that fly over us landing at Langkawi airport and our dirty feet from walking on the dirty pontoons (for the same reason) the decks are filthy. Luckily most of the marks came off with just water and a scrubbing brush. Bill wouldn’t let me use any detergent because it would take the wax off the hull. There were also streaks down the hull that luckily came off with a sponge. I used the dinghy to clean the outside. Camomile is gleaming again.
‘Can I come out now?’
Thursday 21st we emptied the deck locker. Wouldn’t this make a great photo for a caption competition? This was half way through; we’d stopped for a coffee break.
Didn’t take long to mess it up again
When we’d finished unloading it our wonderfully tidy bridgehead looked like this. There were a number of jobs Bill needed to do the first of which was reattaching the locker lid. It was another job with a screw on the outside and nuts to be tightened on the inside but Bill hadn’t been able to reach them. Also the engine stop control had been disconnected for painting and he couldn’t get it back on from the outside. My bathroom backs onto the deck locker and the radiator was leaking so once everything was out Bill was able to disconnect that and take it outside for repair and respray.
Bill working on the immersion heater (top right) Eberspacher (top left)
Friday 22nd After we’d finished with the water Bill emptied the water tanks so he could take the hot water tank apart to replace the immersion heater element, (another thing that had come back in my luggage) and the over pressure relief valve. The water maker needed attention too; Bill had to adjust the fittings on the inlet and outlet. The diesel eberspacher unit that powers the heating and the hot water had failed, so that needed replacing too but the whole system had to be drained first; nothing’s easy on a boat.
After refilling the water tanks we had a evening off and went to the music jamming session in the resort where a variety of yachties and their instruments get together and play, sing or whatever you feel like doing. As it’s also half price drinks at the bar it leads to a fun evening!
The deck locker mid way reloaded
Saturday 23rd Bill put my radiator back on and filled the system with a 50/50 mix of coolant and water. The coolant is antifreeze, can you imagine how difficult it was to find here but we found it in a local garage because they use it inside car engines to stop them rusting, which is the same reason we’ve used it. The system had to be turned on to check it was working but we turned all the radiators down and the air conditioning up first. All worked ok. We went across to the resort for coffee to celebrate. Came back and filled the deck locker again. It’s like a 3d jigsaw but each piece has a place and there’s a place for everything. Bill and I have emptied and refilled it so many times we both know where every thing goes.
Poor Billam
Poor Bill managed to drop one of the acrylic door panels on his foot. Unfortunately it fell between two of his toes and went through to the bone, he probably should have had a stitch in it but he wouldn’t let me try out my stitch kit! I had to bandage it up for him because it was in an awkward place to put a plaster.
A nice end to the day. All tidy again.
We’ve both in the wars because I managed to twist my knee so can’t run at the moment. I cycle my bike around the same circuit ending up at the pool and having a swim instead. I don’t lose lots of weight with my running it just keeps my metabolism stable and allows me to have the odd biscuit and a glass of wine when I want.
9 more sleeps here then we’re off.
Week 15 – Beautiful teak cockpit
Saturday 9th May we took one of Mr Din’s cars into town to get one more pot of prima and some rollers so Bill could paint the dinghy. We had coffee in Starbucks followed by our weekly shop then back to the boat for Bill to continue his work in the cockpit. Bill loves working with wood and has always wanted to get rid of the awful treadmaster that surrounds the cockpit and replace it with teak; now his dream was coming true. All the wood had already been prepared while we were on the hard, it just had to be glued in place now. This is the bridgehead before he started. The blue tape is covering various holes for winches, clutches and cleats and we don’t want the glue squeezing through them. The ‘glue’ is adhesive specially formulated for teak made by sikaflex.
The first pieces screwed into place.
Bill glued and screwed the first piece in place followed by all the pieces around the edge, which were also screwed in place to stop the planking from moving around.
Applying the adhesive
Slotting the planking in
Then it was just a matter of applying the adhesive and slotting the planking into place – just like that!
Weights holding planking in place
I had been through the boat and got all the spare anodes, diving weights, bags of anchor chain and anything heavy I could find for Bill to place on top of the teak to hold it flat. The glue went off fairly quickly so they didn’t need to be on there long.
The port side before it was started
The same method was applied to the port side of the cockpit coaming. First it was masked to stop the adhesive spoiling the new paintwork and the holes covered.
Applying the adhesive
More weights
The adhesive was laid on and the end pieces screwed into place followed by all the planking and more weights. The starboard side planking was also screwed, glued and laid. Still waiting for our parcel from UPS.
Bridgehead and both side of cockpit covered
Painting the dinghy with primer
Sunday 10th while I went for my early morning run Bill gave the dinghy transom a coat of primer before it got to hot. The locker top in the bow is also being painted. The paint had pealed off so Bill decided to give it a paint job like the rest of the boat. This was why we had tied up stern to.
Good use for the mystery objects
The woodwork was resumed. Here is a close up of the position of the mystery objects now long hidden behind layers of paint. Bill wants to put in a curved seat behind the wheel. The wooden edges of the seat have to be ‘bent’ into position by cutting little slots out from underneath to be able to form the curved edging and screwed into place. The front edge is the same but the slots aren’t visible. Bill had quite a bit of trouble getting the wood to do what he wanted but eventually he succeeded.
Working on the seat
The area was covered in adhesive and the seat planking slotted into place with more weights to weigh it down. It’s very impressive.
Our new seat
Caulking the bridgehead
Bill spent the rest of the day applying another two coats of primer to the dinghy and applying Sikaflex caulking to the bridgehead. I spent the day writing and posting a blog. Still nothing from UPS.
Undercoating the dinghy
Monday 11th Bill got an undercoat on the dinghy transom and bow before it got too hot again.
Caulking the coaming
Then he continued applying the black caulking to the coaming and the seat. It’s going to look superb.
Looking good
Re-caulking the old seating
While the caulking was drying Bill started to renovate our original teak seating. After the trouble he’d had removing the little seat behind the wheel there was no way he was going to attempt to remove the main seating. It really didn’t need it. The teak was quite thick so Bill spent the rest of the day digging out the old caulking and removing the screw hole bungs (some of them had already fallen out). It was replaced with the same Sikaflex caulking he had used on the rest of the planking.
Our parcel from UPS
I spent the day cleaning the boat again getting rid of a layer of white dust that the sanding of the cockpit had produced. Not sure why I bothered because the teak has got to be rubbed down in a few days time which create more dust. I had all but given up hope of my parcel arriving when word came from security that it had come over on the late ferry. I went to collect it and realised why customs had held onto it so long; it looked like a missile launcher! CJ Marine had supplied some spare canvas along with our new sprayhood but had wrapped it up with the canvas still on the roll. It looked very strange.
Camomile’s new bonnet
The wrapping was quickly removed and Camomile’s new bonnet was laid out on the pontoon, it looked brilliant. At first we thought they had forgotten to add the zipped window in the front that we had asked for but we discovered it under a Velcro fastening – very cleaver. Camomile was longing to try her sprayhood on but we wanted to wait until the woodwork was all finished before fitting it.
Top coat on the dinghy
Tuesday 12th Bill gave the transom and bow of the dinghy a rub down and applied the topcoat. The triangular piece sitting on the workbench is the door to the bow locker. Tea bag is going to look very smart.
Getting it right
Bill continued working on the wood by trimming the adhesive that had hardened but stayed brown making a very neat edge. The black caulking had also hardened and Bill trimmed that with a chisel. It then took him two days to plane it all to his liking. I spent most of my time down below inside the cabin. The cockpit was covered in dust and it spread very easily. I’ve been going through cupboards and having a good sort out. There’s a giveaway table in the hard dock café and I put lots of things on there. The staff are allowed to help themselves so I know my things will get used.
Planing the bridgehead
Re-fitting the engine start panel
Wednesday 13th Bill gave the dinghy bow a coat of the non-slip granules then it was back to the working on the woodwork. Once he’d finished we both cleared up. The shavings were vacuumed up and the cockpit washed down. Bill does lots of little jobs in between the big ones. This is the starter panel being re-bedded in. It looked superb and it’s not finished yet. I think Bill will have to be renamed Bill the magician.
Bill the magician
Removing screws
Thursday 14th Now Bill had the wood to his liking all the screws had to be removed. The holes were made bigger and filled with more homemade bungs using resin to fix them in place.
Bridgehead looking good.
Bungs made out of scraps
I got the sewing machine out to start making the covers for the dinghy wheels and outboard plus finish off the dinghy cover.
Rubbing everything down
Friday 15th rub down the new wood, rub down the old seats, rub down the bridgehead, mess, mess, mess!
Week 14 – Shiny new cockpit
Birthday breakfast in resort
Saturday 2nd May was my birthday. Bill had promised we would both take the day off and relax; something he hasn’t done since we arrived on 1st February. We started with breakfast in the resort. Followed fruit, yoghurt, museli and a glass of bubbles courtesy of the resort with scrambled egg, grilled tomatoes, and beef bacon and best of all waffles with chocolate sauce together with a cappuccino. Won’t need to eat for the rest of the day now. Back at the boat Bill made ME a coffee while I read all my lovely facebook messages and emails. I had so many; everyone was very kind. Bill paid for me to have a reflexology foot massage and pedicure with leg massage in the resort spa. I was in there 1½ hours what a treat.
Barman mixing my Zombie
We spent the afternoon relaxing and finished the day in the pool. I decided to have a cocktail at the pool bar. The bartender took quite a while to make it but it was delicious when it arrived. I think it was called a Zombie and it had quite a lot of rum in it. I spoke to James in the evening and as I was birthday Queen I got to choose which video we watched so I choose the latest series of Downton Abbey that Thomas and Sonal had given me.
Cheers!
All masked up ready to go
Sunday 3rd it was back to work. Bill got up early and masked the windows and seats of the cockpit and gave it a first coat of primer. It was great to see the last of the old gel coat disappear.
Last of old gel coat to go
Last view of the mystery object
The whole of the cockpit was painted including the mystery objects and the floor.
Painted himself into a corner
Bill managed to paint himself into a corner. We had to enter and exit out through the aft hatch that day. The primer is quite thin and dries quickly in the heat so Bill was able to get three coats of prima on altogether during the day. I sat down below writing my blog. Our new sprayhood made by CJ Marine in Chichester, UK had arrived in the country with UPS and was sitting in customs in KL. It’s only taken 5 days to get to Malaysia from the UK. Will we have it soon?
First undercoat
Monday 4th Bill got an undercoat on first thing. Being a bit thicker it took longer to put on plus Bill had to be more careful applying it. The sides of the mystery objects are now painted.
We have a stanchion
The undercoat takes 12 hours to dry, even in this heat, so Bill spent the rest of the day working on the stanchions. First they had to be bent by 5 degrees, which he managed to do using the cleat on the pontoon with a metal bar inside them to stop them distorting. They slot into the bases that Bill had already fixed to the deck while we were on the hard. A pin secured them in place. We have a stanchion, one down five to go.
Guardrails
Next we unwrapped the new guardrails and threaded them through the holes in the stanchions, something I could help with. A forked terminal with a clevis pin through it secures them to the bow and they are lashed to the stanchion by the ‘garden gates’. There’s only one each side on the aft deck because we have the solar panels on the top rail. It feels much safer on deck now. The weather had been good for the last few days with no rain; no sign of rainy season yet or our package from UPS.
Job finished
Poles back in place
Tuesday 5th I had spoken too soon because we awoke to heavy rain. Even though we have the cockpit cover it was too damp to rub down the undercoat. There were lots of other jobs to choose from on the list. Once it stopped raining Bill finished off the stanchion work and put the poles back in place. I put the cars back on their tracks and reran the roller reefing line and the genny sheets (different ropes) back down boat.
Sitting on my dolphin seat
Bill did the final fix on the dolphin seat that he had made so I can sit on deck to watch the dolphins playing (have to find some now). The humidity level dropped in the afternoon and Bill was able to rub down the cockpit and put the second undercoat on while I sat down below working on my next blog, gradually catching up. UPS package still sitting in KL, it’s been in and out of clearing 3 times now!
Bill rubbing down
Wednesday 6th the undercoat was dry so Bill gave the whole cockpit a good rub down. Everything was covered in a layer of white dust including Bill. While Bill got the paint ready I gave everything a good clean and wipe down to stop any dust getting into the paint. Bill applied the first topcoat with his usual care and attention.
Thursday 7th The first topcoat was given a very light rub down and cleaned again before Bill put the final topcoat on. We managed to get to the pool at the end of the day for a change. Nothing from UPS.
Shiny cockpit
Friday 8th After my usual visit to the Chinese veggie man followed by some nice chatting while waiting for the ferry I started removing the reams of blue tape. The paintwork has come up really well. You can hardly see the mystery objects now. Shiny cockpit.
Engine starter panel
Bill spent the rest of the day starting to put things back. This is the engine start panel. The surround used to be all faded but has been painted with everything else and is gleaming now.
Bit of a muddle
I thought I’d help by sorting all Bill’s little pots with bits in. This is just some of the bolts and screws that have to go back somewhere. Unfortunately I didn’t realise Bill had pots for different areas and I ended up muddling them up. Oh dear!
Still nothing from UPS!
Camomile 