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.
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