Saturday, November 26, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
R&R in Rebak marina
We have now been in the marina 3 days. It is nice to stay in one place for a bit after moving steadily all the way up from Singapore. Will probably stay here until Dec 12 before moving on to Thailand. The last week has been about as hot as we have every had since leaving Canada.
Yesterday we rented an air conditioner from the boat yard here for 50rm a month (about$18.) and mounted it outside so that it blows in one of the ports into the cabin and I taped a piece of plastic around it. Works great, makes life on board more pleasant. We have been melting at night because there are a lot of mosquito's around at night and we need the bug screens in and the no-see-um netting blocks about 70% of the air flow.
This morning we took the free ferry over to Langkawi. Rebak is on a small island a mile off the West side of the much bigger island, Langkawi. There is nothing at the dock where ferry drops you, but we walked first to the airport about 20 minutes away and looked in the shops there and topped up my Celcom phone and had a Starbucks coffee. Then we walked up to a larger grocery store with veggies. It turned out to be a very good store with everything and it was another 20 minutes further past airport.
Rebak marina is a pleasant enough place to stay. We can use the hotel pool across the way and also a gym on this side is available. Considering it is a small island there is a fair amount of walking you can do, even found a steepish little trail through bush up a hill then down steeply to a beach we can do. This afternoon we were surprised to see huge clouds of white fog descending on us and then realized they were fogging the area to kill mosquitoes. Apparently no malaria on Langkawi. Have a small list of boat chores to do over the next two weeks between outings.
Yesterday we rented an air conditioner from the boat yard here for 50rm a month (about$18.) and mounted it outside so that it blows in one of the ports into the cabin and I taped a piece of plastic around it. Works great, makes life on board more pleasant. We have been melting at night because there are a lot of mosquito's around at night and we need the bug screens in and the no-see-um netting blocks about 70% of the air flow.
This morning we took the free ferry over to Langkawi. Rebak is on a small island a mile off the West side of the much bigger island, Langkawi. There is nothing at the dock where ferry drops you, but we walked first to the airport about 20 minutes away and looked in the shops there and topped up my Celcom phone and had a Starbucks coffee. Then we walked up to a larger grocery store with veggies. It turned out to be a very good store with everything and it was another 20 minutes further past airport.
Rebak marina is a pleasant enough place to stay. We can use the hotel pool across the way and also a gym on this side is available. Considering it is a small island there is a fair amount of walking you can do, even found a steepish little trail through bush up a hill then down steeply to a beach we can do. This afternoon we were surprised to see huge clouds of white fog descending on us and then realized they were fogging the area to kill mosquitoes. Apparently no malaria on Langkawi. Have a small list of boat chores to do over the next two weeks between outings.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Arrival in Langkawi Malaysia 06 18deg N
The day before we left Penang we had a second go at hiking up 'Penang hill which has a cable car going to the top. This time we were in a bit better shape from our first attempt and we made it to the top which is 830 Meters and 5km one way. Great views from the top. After checking the prices for taking the cable car down we decided to hike down as well. The knees all did okay, it was great to get some real exercise again.
It was another crack of dawn start to head to Langkawi 58 miles away. A mile out of the marina we saw the first long floating surface net we had seen in a while. Then we soon saw dozens of fish boats. We went through 3 large fleets of fish boats the first 20 miles. Then saw some strange vertical sticks in groups of 10 or 15 sticking straight out of the water and the water was a 100ft deep. I suspect a net was underneath and there was dozens of them for several miles around 5 .49N and 100 .06E. They could be a problem for night sailing as they had no lights. Saw almost no fish boats the last 25 miles.
On the whole we had fast conditions today with a light NE wind and no swell, for good motor sailing, and actually managed to sail 6 or 7 miles. We arrived at our anchorage by 5PM and dropped anchor in 15ft at 06 18.674N 99 50.736E off the town of Kuah. Lots of other yachts around us for a change and big ferry boats running back and forth.
We cleared in with customs first thing in the morning which took all of two minutes, and then looked around the town. Langkawi is a duty free island almost on the Thailand border, so has lots of duty free stores. They are selling brand name chocolates, china and corning ware and liquor. Beer was cheaper than anywhere I had seen before, a can for much less than a dollar. The supermarkets where you buy food were not all that great.
The anchorage where we are now is good though it got a we bit bouncy this afternoon with a wind blowing into the bay and lots of boats running to and fro. There is a nice dinghy dock at head of bay, we just watched where the other dinghys went to see where to go. Supposedly it is 3 rm a day but the guy is hardly ever around to collect it apparently. Tomorrow we will be moving into Rebak Marina about 11 miles away on the West side of Langkawi. It's entance wp is 6 17.445N 99 41.729E and VHF ch 69.
It was another crack of dawn start to head to Langkawi 58 miles away. A mile out of the marina we saw the first long floating surface net we had seen in a while. Then we soon saw dozens of fish boats. We went through 3 large fleets of fish boats the first 20 miles. Then saw some strange vertical sticks in groups of 10 or 15 sticking straight out of the water and the water was a 100ft deep. I suspect a net was underneath and there was dozens of them for several miles around 5 .49N and 100 .06E. They could be a problem for night sailing as they had no lights. Saw almost no fish boats the last 25 miles.
On the whole we had fast conditions today with a light NE wind and no swell, for good motor sailing, and actually managed to sail 6 or 7 miles. We arrived at our anchorage by 5PM and dropped anchor in 15ft at 06 18.674N 99 50.736E off the town of Kuah. Lots of other yachts around us for a change and big ferry boats running back and forth.
We cleared in with customs first thing in the morning which took all of two minutes, and then looked around the town. Langkawi is a duty free island almost on the Thailand border, so has lots of duty free stores. They are selling brand name chocolates, china and corning ware and liquor. Beer was cheaper than anywhere I had seen before, a can for much less than a dollar. The supermarkets where you buy food were not all that great.
The anchorage where we are now is good though it got a we bit bouncy this afternoon with a wind blowing into the bay and lots of boats running to and fro. There is a nice dinghy dock at head of bay, we just watched where the other dinghys went to see where to go. Supposedly it is 3 rm a day but the guy is hardly ever around to collect it apparently. Tomorrow we will be moving into Rebak Marina about 11 miles away on the West side of Langkawi. It's entance wp is 6 17.445N 99 41.729E and VHF ch 69.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
New!! Search the Blog now
Just found out I can add the search bar you see at top of blog, So now can just type in the name of place you want to see about and there it is. Don't have to search whole blog now.
Also Note: The most rescent posts are often re-edited a few days later with corrections or changes and additions or just trying to fix my bad writing and mis-spellings, especially after a long passage. So have a second look a few days later.
Also Note: The most rescent posts are often re-edited a few days later with corrections or changes and additions or just trying to fix my bad writing and mis-spellings, especially after a long passage. So have a second look a few days later.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Pangkor to Penang Malaysia 05' 24"deg N lat.
We left Pangkor around 8am to ride ebb tide up through channels. It would be a easy day today up to our next anchorage only 18 miles away. We followed the inside route hugging coast as it was shorter and depths were good except for about 2 seconds when the depth sounder jumped up to about 8 feet deep when it saw something below us that was not on chart.
We anchored behind a small island in 24ft at 04 25.189 100 34.915 using the waypoints someone gave us. It was a bit rolly and got worse as the NW wind picked up and showers started. So the Admiral suggested we go anchor 1/4 mile away right behind the island. We moved and anchored in 28ft at 04 25.191N 100 34.714E. This was much better here, thought when setting the anchor, I felt it skip a couple of times before grabbing. Perhaps the holding here is not quite as good. We had a good night here. Just before dark a 60ft sailboat came in and anchored right behind us, so we were not all alone.
The next morning we left at the crack of dawn and had a 10 knot head wind and large swell against us all day, so it was slow going. There were many fish boats along our coarse but they were easy to avoid and their nets were not a problem as they seemed to be deep in the water.
We did not arrive at our anchorage until almost dark at 7pm and dropped anchor in 25ft at 05 14.904S 100 16.682E at Rimau island. You could easily come in here in the dark, no obstacles and lighthouse on the island. Did 58 mile today, all motor sailing.
Next morning we had a slow start and then did the 7 miles up to the appropriately named "Junk anchorage" on the East coast of Penang Island. We passed through the huge new bridge they are building from the mainland to Penang island, passing between two large pillars where we imagine the center span will be. And then a mile later passed under the older bridge center span with lots of room to spare.
We anchored in 20 ft at 05 24.606S 100 20.506. This is just south of the Tanjong city marina where we leave our dinghy to go explore the city. The marina charges 5rm to leave your dinghy there and they will let you use there showers if you give them a deposit for the key. We did not want to use the marina as apparently there is a noisy night club on edge of marina that plays loud music until 2am also it has no breakwater and can get very bouncy inside. Many of its docks are already broken and boats have broken cleats and mooring lines in there. The water both in the marina and anchorage is full of garbage and there is a number of old work boats anchored around us. Around us is tall apartment buildings and office towers. The island of Penang has a population of about 800,000 people.
In spite of the negative remarks above, we are enjoying our stay here, it is an interesting place and lots to do. We are exploring old George Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The sidewalks are half descent in this area and interesting old British colonial buildings here. There is also an old fort to explore for 2rm. If you head into the more downtown area, the walking becomes hairy in the busy traffic and extremely poor sidewalks if any at all. I am noticing that the Malays do not walk, you see almost no pedestrian traffic, lots of motorbikes.
There is tons of shopping here if you so desire. There is a Carrefour and "Giant" supermarket and large mall 20 minutes walk away. Can also leave the dinghy at Chews jetty, directly across from anchorage (Just to N of small yellow and red shack on stilts). I drop Dorothy off on the steps then motor dinghy around to back of dock and tie to it. If it's low tide need to be athletic to get in or out of dinghy, a class 5.4 climbing move. There is a cement ledge on some of the dock posts that you can get a toe hold on as you climb up, fun.
Taking dinghy to Chews jetty saves having to pass behind the small, busy car ferry terminal to get to Tanjong marina and it is a shorter walk to the shopping as well.
We also got our Thailand visa's here and while waiting for them we walked from there up to the Botanical gardens and then up a steep jeep trail up the 800M hill called Penang hill. Wow, we have lost all our conditioning. We did not make it to the top as we had to get back to pick up our visa's at 3:30pm and the heat and all the previous walking was too much. Lots of monkeys around. To get Thai Visa, us Canadians needed 2 passport photos, a copy of passport and passports and 110RM each.
We heard the other marina, Jabatan Laut, is full. At the last anchorage we were at we talked to a boat on the VHF it mentioned a new marina, the Straits Quay marina at North end of Penang Island that they stayed at and liked. So we made a reservation for a couple of nights there in a few days.
We moved into the Straits Quay marina this morning. I believe it is the nicest marina we have seen in Malaysia. Actually it is too nice, the area is a bit prissy, guards and gates some of the side streets. It is a totally differant world than downtown Panang. It is a ten minute walk to the Tesco supermarket and some shops and cafe's. Around the marina are a number of expensive places to eat and shop. There is a nice sea wall to walk along and actual proper sidewalks on the roads. And it's only 3rm a meter to stay here. The marina is almost full. We found it very hot here at night as it is in a hole between tall buildings and there are mosquitoes so we had our but screens on. There is also a lot of chatter on the walkway right above from the cafe's and people walking until 11 or 12 pm. The boats with the air conditioning don't notice as they close their boat up and just hear the air con all night.
The approach wp is 05 28.424N 100 19.051E by a buoy. from there head to 05 27.526N 100 18.993E. Then turn hard right which is just before the transit steel poles and head for marina entrance. Head for the clock tower building without the clock, right at entrance.
Transit Poles?? I now realize we misread their vague instructions, they did mention there were leading marks, but I though they were talking about the waypoints. We noticed that if you went to line up the transits, you were not on the line of the two waypoints they sent us. So which is correct? We stayed on the waypoint line as we were already there and depths were ok. We were not sure when to turn until the manager on the breakwater yelled turn hard rite long before we got to the second wp they gave us.. So the waypoint I give is the one we turned on to enter marina. Manager said they dredged the channel 30M wide. and 3M deep. We did not even notice the transit poles until we were fairly close in. Probably best not come in right at a real low tide. We saw depths get down to 9 ft and that was about 3 or 4 feet above zero tide. It is a big open area, would not be surprised if it has silted in some already.
We anchored behind a small island in 24ft at 04 25.189 100 34.915 using the waypoints someone gave us. It was a bit rolly and got worse as the NW wind picked up and showers started. So the Admiral suggested we go anchor 1/4 mile away right behind the island. We moved and anchored in 28ft at 04 25.191N 100 34.714E. This was much better here, thought when setting the anchor, I felt it skip a couple of times before grabbing. Perhaps the holding here is not quite as good. We had a good night here. Just before dark a 60ft sailboat came in and anchored right behind us, so we were not all alone.
The next morning we left at the crack of dawn and had a 10 knot head wind and large swell against us all day, so it was slow going. There were many fish boats along our coarse but they were easy to avoid and their nets were not a problem as they seemed to be deep in the water.
We did not arrive at our anchorage until almost dark at 7pm and dropped anchor in 25ft at 05 14.904S 100 16.682E at Rimau island. You could easily come in here in the dark, no obstacles and lighthouse on the island. Did 58 mile today, all motor sailing.
Next morning we had a slow start and then did the 7 miles up to the appropriately named "Junk anchorage" on the East coast of Penang Island. We passed through the huge new bridge they are building from the mainland to Penang island, passing between two large pillars where we imagine the center span will be. And then a mile later passed under the older bridge center span with lots of room to spare.
We anchored in 20 ft at 05 24.606S 100 20.506. This is just south of the Tanjong city marina where we leave our dinghy to go explore the city. The marina charges 5rm to leave your dinghy there and they will let you use there showers if you give them a deposit for the key. We did not want to use the marina as apparently there is a noisy night club on edge of marina that plays loud music until 2am also it has no breakwater and can get very bouncy inside. Many of its docks are already broken and boats have broken cleats and mooring lines in there. The water both in the marina and anchorage is full of garbage and there is a number of old work boats anchored around us. Around us is tall apartment buildings and office towers. The island of Penang has a population of about 800,000 people.
In spite of the negative remarks above, we are enjoying our stay here, it is an interesting place and lots to do. We are exploring old George Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The sidewalks are half descent in this area and interesting old British colonial buildings here. There is also an old fort to explore for 2rm. If you head into the more downtown area, the walking becomes hairy in the busy traffic and extremely poor sidewalks if any at all. I am noticing that the Malays do not walk, you see almost no pedestrian traffic, lots of motorbikes.
There is tons of shopping here if you so desire. There is a Carrefour and "Giant" supermarket and large mall 20 minutes walk away. Can also leave the dinghy at Chews jetty, directly across from anchorage (Just to N of small yellow and red shack on stilts). I drop Dorothy off on the steps then motor dinghy around to back of dock and tie to it. If it's low tide need to be athletic to get in or out of dinghy, a class 5.4 climbing move. There is a cement ledge on some of the dock posts that you can get a toe hold on as you climb up, fun.
Taking dinghy to Chews jetty saves having to pass behind the small, busy car ferry terminal to get to Tanjong marina and it is a shorter walk to the shopping as well.
We also got our Thailand visa's here and while waiting for them we walked from there up to the Botanical gardens and then up a steep jeep trail up the 800M hill called Penang hill. Wow, we have lost all our conditioning. We did not make it to the top as we had to get back to pick up our visa's at 3:30pm and the heat and all the previous walking was too much. Lots of monkeys around. To get Thai Visa, us Canadians needed 2 passport photos, a copy of passport and passports and 110RM each.
We heard the other marina, Jabatan Laut, is full. At the last anchorage we were at we talked to a boat on the VHF it mentioned a new marina, the Straits Quay marina at North end of Penang Island that they stayed at and liked. So we made a reservation for a couple of nights there in a few days.
We moved into the Straits Quay marina this morning. I believe it is the nicest marina we have seen in Malaysia. Actually it is too nice, the area is a bit prissy, guards and gates some of the side streets. It is a totally differant world than downtown Panang. It is a ten minute walk to the Tesco supermarket and some shops and cafe's. Around the marina are a number of expensive places to eat and shop. There is a nice sea wall to walk along and actual proper sidewalks on the roads. And it's only 3rm a meter to stay here. The marina is almost full. We found it very hot here at night as it is in a hole between tall buildings and there are mosquitoes so we had our but screens on. There is also a lot of chatter on the walkway right above from the cafe's and people walking until 11 or 12 pm. The boats with the air conditioning don't notice as they close their boat up and just hear the air con all night.
The approach wp is 05 28.424N 100 19.051E by a buoy. from there head to 05 27.526N 100 18.993E. Then turn hard right which is just before the transit steel poles and head for marina entrance. Head for the clock tower building without the clock, right at entrance.
Transit Poles?? I now realize we misread their vague instructions, they did mention there were leading marks, but I though they were talking about the waypoints. We noticed that if you went to line up the transits, you were not on the line of the two waypoints they sent us. So which is correct? We stayed on the waypoint line as we were already there and depths were ok. We were not sure when to turn until the manager on the breakwater yelled turn hard rite long before we got to the second wp they gave us.. So the waypoint I give is the one we turned on to enter marina. Manager said they dredged the channel 30M wide. and 3M deep. We did not even notice the transit poles until we were fairly close in. Probably best not come in right at a real low tide. We saw depths get down to 9 ft and that was about 3 or 4 feet above zero tide. It is a big open area, would not be surprised if it has silted in some already.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Pangkor Malaysia 04 12.6 Deg N
We left at the first hint of daylight to take advantage of the ebb tide out of the river. As soon as I started to pull up the anchor it started to rain. We had 3 months without rain in Indonesia and now it seems to be making up for it as we get some rain everyday now.
The wind came up a bit as we left the bay and headed North, and managed to sail 10 of the 30 miles we had to do today. The wind was just off the nose and we sailed close hauled on stbd tack so there was no sea to slow us down. I tried to phone marina at Pangkor to see if there was room and with the language gap successfully booked a room for Tagish in their hotel. I realized this at the end of the call. Found another number and this time called James at +6016 559 2800 and he said there was room until Nov 10 when the Malasia rally gets in. We have been trying to stay ahead of the rally which has 50 boats in it.
We pulled into the marina as it started to rain again around 2pm. We saw lots of fish boats on the way up today and there was lots of black flags near them but not sure what was attached to flags but it did not seem to be something for us to worry about as long as we did not actually hit them.
Internet works here, actually we have had working internet just about anywhere on the coast though a bit slow sometimes. The marina just opened last year and they installed 2 regular toilets and one squat toilet have no toilet paper in them and the shower is in stall with toilets.
We took the short ferry ride over to Pangkor island to look around. Lots of shops there and fruit and veg. Also taxied over to other side of island and did a short but steep hike up to the swinging bridge. There is also a number of good shops about 20 min walk from marina, walk over bridge and turn right.
Approach waypoints for Pangkor marina, Marina Island. It is very shallow to sides. First wp 04 12.767N 100 35.100E second 04 12.708N 100 35.358E third 04 12.728N 100 35.898E and Marina is at 04 12.665N 100 36.125E Note: When we came out on a low tide of 3 ft we saw depths get down to 8 and 9 feet at times, so at a zero tide, may be touching bottom.
The wind came up a bit as we left the bay and headed North, and managed to sail 10 of the 30 miles we had to do today. The wind was just off the nose and we sailed close hauled on stbd tack so there was no sea to slow us down. I tried to phone marina at Pangkor to see if there was room and with the language gap successfully booked a room for Tagish in their hotel. I realized this at the end of the call. Found another number and this time called James at +6016 559 2800 and he said there was room until Nov 10 when the Malasia rally gets in. We have been trying to stay ahead of the rally which has 50 boats in it.
We pulled into the marina as it started to rain again around 2pm. We saw lots of fish boats on the way up today and there was lots of black flags near them but not sure what was attached to flags but it did not seem to be something for us to worry about as long as we did not actually hit them.
Internet works here, actually we have had working internet just about anywhere on the coast though a bit slow sometimes. The marina just opened last year and they installed 2 regular toilets and one squat toilet have no toilet paper in them and the shower is in stall with toilets.
We took the short ferry ride over to Pangkor island to look around. Lots of shops there and fruit and veg. Also taxied over to other side of island and did a short but steep hike up to the swinging bridge. There is also a number of good shops about 20 min walk from marina, walk over bridge and turn right.
Approach waypoints for Pangkor marina, Marina Island. It is very shallow to sides. First wp 04 12.767N 100 35.100E second 04 12.708N 100 35.358E third 04 12.728N 100 35.898E and Marina is at 04 12.665N 100 36.125E Note: When we came out on a low tide of 3 ft we saw depths get down to 8 and 9 feet at times, so at a zero tide, may be touching bottom.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Heading North from Port Klang To Berham River Latitude 03 deg 48min N.
After using the free clothes washer ( no dryer) in the women's washroom at Pualau Indah marina, we left for an anchorage about 12 miles away. This was to shorten the next day which would have been 70 miles, too long a day for us to leave and arrive in daylight.
We motored back up our channel and then cut over to the other channel. See below for details and waypoints. This is a busy shipping channel but if you stay to the West side or the, bush side there is no problem. The East bank is mile after mile of docks and ships loading. It was interesting to see the port in action, even had a big cruise ship go by us, we just stayed close to the bush in 20 to 70 feet of water and we were out of the way of ships. Port Klang is the biggest shipping port in Malaysia and seems to handle a lot more ships that Vancouver harbour. There was a few fishermen but they were using fishing rods not nets.
After leaving marina we went into other channel with this waypoint to indicate it, 02 55.029N 101 16.643E. Then anchored at 03 02.504N 101 20.349E in 22ft. Was a peaceful anchorage, Neptune suggested this one to us when we visited with them the previous night.
An hour before daylight we left to do the 59 miles to our next anchorage in the Berham river. It was another day of motoring. Saw many fish boats today, but they are using a different kind of net than used in the South Malacca strait. These nets are towed behind and are deep in the water so do not present a problem to us and so the boats are much easier to avoid.
We got to our entrance waypoint around 5pm (see below for anchorage details) and then motored into bay and up the river against a 1.5 knot current and anchored just around the corner for a quiet night at anchor. Though a number of fish boats went by during the evening. Heard a few rumbles of thunder but no lighting storms yesterday or today.
We anchored in the Berham river in 14ft at 03 50.823 100 49.550. To enter river, here is a set of Waypoints. First 03 48.208N 100 45.347E Second 03 49.048 100 46.375 Third 03 51.013 100 48.908. The second waypoint is at a white/red buoy and you go in a straight line from it to the last waypoint. (exactly down center of bay on chart plotter)We came in near a low tide of 5 ft and never saw less than 14 ft. At the bottom of a zero tide, depths might get down to7 or 8feet. The water gets a bit deeper after turning corner into river and from last waypoint head to anchorage, watching your depths. When we pulled up anchor in morning it was covered in heavy sticky mud, so would probably hold in almost anything.
We motored back up our channel and then cut over to the other channel. See below for details and waypoints. This is a busy shipping channel but if you stay to the West side or the, bush side there is no problem. The East bank is mile after mile of docks and ships loading. It was interesting to see the port in action, even had a big cruise ship go by us, we just stayed close to the bush in 20 to 70 feet of water and we were out of the way of ships. Port Klang is the biggest shipping port in Malaysia and seems to handle a lot more ships that Vancouver harbour. There was a few fishermen but they were using fishing rods not nets.
After leaving marina we went into other channel with this waypoint to indicate it, 02 55.029N 101 16.643E. Then anchored at 03 02.504N 101 20.349E in 22ft. Was a peaceful anchorage, Neptune suggested this one to us when we visited with them the previous night.
An hour before daylight we left to do the 59 miles to our next anchorage in the Berham river. It was another day of motoring. Saw many fish boats today, but they are using a different kind of net than used in the South Malacca strait. These nets are towed behind and are deep in the water so do not present a problem to us and so the boats are much easier to avoid.
We got to our entrance waypoint around 5pm (see below for anchorage details) and then motored into bay and up the river against a 1.5 knot current and anchored just around the corner for a quiet night at anchor. Though a number of fish boats went by during the evening. Heard a few rumbles of thunder but no lighting storms yesterday or today.
We anchored in the Berham river in 14ft at 03 50.823 100 49.550. To enter river, here is a set of Waypoints. First 03 48.208N 100 45.347E Second 03 49.048 100 46.375 Third 03 51.013 100 48.908. The second waypoint is at a white/red buoy and you go in a straight line from it to the last waypoint. (exactly down center of bay on chart plotter)We came in near a low tide of 5 ft and never saw less than 14 ft. At the bottom of a zero tide, depths might get down to7 or 8feet. The water gets a bit deeper after turning corner into river and from last waypoint head to anchorage, watching your depths. When we pulled up anchor in morning it was covered in heavy sticky mud, so would probably hold in almost anything.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Kuala Lumpur visit
We did a day trip into the big city today. We got picked up by taxi at the marina for the ride into Port Klang (Den 012 356 9017 for taxi with good english)and costs 50RM. Then took the train from Port Klang to KL Kuala Lumpur. This costs only about 4 RM each. After arriving in the city we got a schedule and caught the local rail to the Petronas twin towers which were the highest buildings in the world until a few years ago. We were disappointed that the free tickets to go up the towers was suspended while they did some maintenance or changes.
We then walked to the tourist info center which gives out very good city maps and they showed us where the shopping was. Then we went exploring.
It is a lively busy dynamic city and we enjoyed ourselves. KL is the capital of Malaysia and has a population of 1.6 million. We did lots of walking around, people watching, and looked in many interesting shops. There is some very high end stores like Harrods, Gucci and all the other very expensive names. There is also lots of cheaper shopping much like Singapore.
Coming back the train was very busy and we had to shove hard to get on train with everyone and were in like sardines and stood for the first half of trip back. The trains all have a ladies only car which I thought funny. We just grabbed the first taxi we saw by train station for the last leg back and that was 40rm. Got back an hour after dark for the end of a great day.
We then walked to the tourist info center which gives out very good city maps and they showed us where the shopping was. Then we went exploring.
It is a lively busy dynamic city and we enjoyed ourselves. KL is the capital of Malaysia and has a population of 1.6 million. We did lots of walking around, people watching, and looked in many interesting shops. There is some very high end stores like Harrods, Gucci and all the other very expensive names. There is also lots of cheaper shopping much like Singapore.
Coming back the train was very busy and we had to shove hard to get on train with everyone and were in like sardines and stood for the first half of trip back. The trains all have a ladies only car which I thought funny. We just grabbed the first taxi we saw by train station for the last leg back and that was 40rm. Got back an hour after dark for the end of a great day.
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