Sailing to Penang

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Geo: 5.41123, 100.335

Sailing to Penang with Tommy on his boat Freya was a fantastic trip, what started out as a couple of days over and back to Langkawi, it turned into ten days sailing, exploring, sightseeing, partying, and generally having lots of fun.

As Langkawi is a duty free island, we stocked up on food, drink and beer (well we're ole sea dogs you know), you just never know where you might end up and what facilities are available. Drew, Elliott and I all jumped on board Freya and settled in, got our stuff packed away and got ready to go. Friends helped us throw the lines off the dock and as we stored them, got out of the marina, got the fenders up and stored, it was time to crack a beer and look forward to relaxing and enjoying the journey ahead. The weather was perfect, and I think we were all relieved to be back out of the marina, out at sea and off on a new adventure with good friends.

Langkawi is an archipelago of 105 islands in the Andaman Sea and is stunningly beautiful, the first night we anchored off in the fjord which is south of the island and provides us with shelter from the wind overnight. Once the anchor was down and bedded in, the boys jumped in swimming, in fact Elliott did an impressive dive off the boat straight in which Tommy got a great shot of. After wards we shared dinner and sat having a few beers enjoying each others company, we're such great friends and have great fun and laughs together it really is bliss.

Next morning we got up early and after our morning coffee we lifted anchor at set off, it was a beautiful morning just cruising along. We started fishing but were unlucky and caught nothing, then we stopped in the middle of nowhere for some swimming. I was a bit hesitant getting into the water when I couldn't see any land at all around us but Drew coaxed me in and looked after me the whole time, I was so proud of myself when i got out, he really does give me confidence in these situations.

We set off once again but there were clouds brewing in the skies with storms coming in every side of us, the sea got a bit rougher but Tommy and Drew had it all in control, it was a long journey so they were splitting shifts. I definitely feel more comfortable on the boat with other people around but that's just my lack of experience, at the end of the day, on the boat I just do as I'm told.

Eventually Penang is in sight, but still takes us a few hours to get there, thankfully the sea didn't get any worse and Tommy even managed to get the sails up which was great. There are a lot of big fishing boats around and you have to be careful of their nets, at one point they were almost rounding us up, two boats either side but thankfully we managed to get out of it.

On approach to Penang I was on watch as there are a few obstacles in the water, Tommy decided to head to the marina at Straits Quay which has an awkward entrance and shallow, despite trying to radio for confirmation of berth details and assistance nothing was forthcoming. Tommy ended up berthing in a vacant bay but we were quickly told that was for a regular charter boat which would be back soon, so we moved to another berth, tied up and settled down for the night.

Our new neighbors have two sons, plus cats and dogs on board so they've their hands full, they make us a snack on arrival which was really kind of them while we sat and chatted then Elliott jumped on their boat to play with the kids and dogs! We got organised and head out for the night to a bar at Straits Quay, the marina has a huge mall plus pubs and restaurants in it which all look out to sea. time for some food and relax.

We spent a number of days at Straits Quay, heading into Georgetown mainly, generally exploring the architecture, the street art, markets, pubs and clubs which was great fun. We had a great trip up to Penang Hill via the funicular railway and spent time around the mosques and temples, taking photos then sat and chilled for a beer while taking in the view. Often in the evening we ended up at the Reggae Bar which became a favorite late night haunt and a great place to meet new people.

I showed them a Chinese hawkers center which was fab, Tommy loved it, it didn't come alive til the evening but they put on great shows on a stage in the middle (well funny shows really). In front of the stage was a mass of tables with serving staff and all around the outside was different food stalls. You could go up and get plates from any of them and enjoy different tastes and textures and experiment in general, frogs, rice soups, chowder, seafood, curries, Turkish... all sorts really. If one person didn't like their dish someone else would love it, so nothing was left over!

Tommy was in stitches at the entertainment, the heavy made up lady belting out her 'ha ha' song which was hilarious, Drew on the other hand could have pulled a trigger on her he was getting so annoyed by her song which made us all worse. To annoy Drew after wards Tommy would play the video of the lady singing this song which would still drive him nuts, it's a strange old thing humor. Needless to say after the hawkers center we ended up in the Reggae Bar again til late then back to the boat for more, normally laughing our heads off until the wee small hours.

From Straits Quay we headed out to the junk anchorage, although there really isn't anywhere to bring the dinghy into except from the local fisherman's jetty which is really dodgy and thick with slimy mud, poor Tommy ended up in his underwear trying to bring the dinghy in safe after dropping us off, eventually he gave up, went back to the boat to change and met us again at the customs jetty where we're not meant to park, but there was no other option, this anchorage really isn't designed for yachts bringing their dinghy's ashore!

After more partying around Georgetown, we decided to head back to Langkawi, we knew it would be a long journey so left around 4am one morning, unfortunately we didn't get further than the north of the island when we turned around as the weather was foul. We tried again the next day but it was a long, rough old journey. Once we got going we kept going but everything was against us and at one point we were only managing 1knot.

After a number of hours out at sea, Tommy had a problem with his engine and had to repair it, everything was shut down for over an hour and we did end up going backwards at this time until he sorted the problem out. I was really relieved, stuck between the two islands in rotten weather isn't a fun scenario. So we managed to get underway again but it was tough going, and meant that it was dark when we were trying to navigate through the islands in Langkawi towards Kuah dodging fishing boats, many with no lights on plus avoiding bhoys on the charts that had no lights on!.

After 18 hours we made it to the marina however the tide wasn't with us and we had to anchor off overnight. We were all pretty tired after our trip so had a fairly quite early night drinking warmed port and cinnamon.

Next morning at slack tide we managed to bring the boat into the marina and get her tied up, we had a quick tidy round the boat and agreed to meet in the afternoon for a proper clean up operation. Drew and I went back to Malmuirie and straight to bed for a few hours, Tommy and Elliot did the same and we all felt much better after a rest, it was a tough ten days partying!

So thank you Tommy for a wonderful, memorable trip... you're such great company and I'll never forget your Viking humor. I have to share one example; Tommy says 'We Vikings came to Scotland and raped and pillaged all the beautiful women', then stares at me and continues 'but we missed one'... ha ha Viking I love ya x

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Photos

Tommy
Cheeky grin there...

Handsome Drew
Are you pouting at me?