Letter from Indonesia: 07/04/13

Redang island

June 28^th 2013 Redang Island

What a beautiful day, the sun is shining the water is absolutely clear, and the beach is the colour of a bleached white shirt. Redang island some 25 miles north of Terengganu on Malaysia’s east coast.

BBQ on the beach

The north bay is “U”shapedwith hills about 400 feet high mountains covered in thick green foliage. At the top of the bay is a white sandy beach and a five star resort with a second white beach not far away. The bottom is sand but there are patches of coral dotted here and there. This is home to a colony of turtles.

The Turtles have hard shells that seem to be as hard as some Australian Politicians.

Yesterday the Prime Minister of Australia was dumped as party leader and replaced by Kevin Rudd

a former Prime Minister who was also stabbed in the back 3 years ago by the previous prime minster Ms Julia Gillard.

It is a sad state of affairs when the politicians are addicted to personal aggrandizement and their position on the totem pole of power while they neglect the interests and well being of the people who they supposedly stood to serve.

Well rather than waste the short life that I have left by fighting for power and status, I have chosen the life of a Dolphin who uses his brain power to play rather than squabble.

While “the pursuit of happiness “is enshrined in the American constitution I am not sure if many people really know what makes them happy. In reading the news papers from around the world one gets a view that everything is bad and getting worse. Corruption, Greed, Murders, embezzlement, pedophilia and betrayal seem to always be in the head lines along with pollution and dwindling natural resources.

From my daily reading I do not get any inspiration about the pursuit of happiness. May be the newspapers are not the place to look for inspiration.

Changi Sailing club

We left Singapore on Thursday May 16^th 2013 continuing our pursuit of Happiness.

At Changi Sailing club the manager faxed our crew list to Changi Customs , we left the

mooring and motored down the east coast of Singapore Island. Clearing customs from the east coast requires a VHF radio call to customs and the customs boat comes out to meet you at Angler Bank which is a shallow bank just off the shipping channel.

Extending the boundaries of Singapore

WE had made the call and were waiting at Angler bank, the wind was brisk and the sea was choppy.

We were idling just to keep from drifting with the tide but the boat was pitching and rolling.

I looked astern and saw that the rubber dingy had broken away from one of the davits. It was bouncing around being held by one stainless steel ring, the other had snapped as the yacht lurched this way and that.

What to do? If I tried to lower myself into the dinghy the chance of me hitting my head on the stern as it rose and fell with the waves was high. Instead I took a rope over the davit to the remaining stainless steel ring and pulled it tight so that it took the weight of the dingy so I could unclip the shackle.

Success, I lowered the dinghy into the water and secured the line to a cleat and the dinghy floated peacefully astern. The bung however was not it. Would the dinghy fill with water or not? I did not know

I will just have to see what happens as it was too rough to lower myself in to the dinghy to put the bung back in. While I was pondering this the customs boat arrived.

TH customs boat is a grey enclosed motor launch 40 feet long manned by two boat crew and two customs officers. In the choppy sea The skipper maneuvered his boat within inches of out yacht and the customs officers held out a net on the end of a broomstick. We place our passports and ships papers in the net and the customs boat reversed out of the way. The customs officers retreated to the cabin to attend to the paper work. A few minutes later the customs boat returned and the officers handed back the documents in the net.

On this occasion the Customs officer asked if I could sign two copies of a clearance document and pass the original back to him. In a rush to complete the process in ever increasing rolling seas I signed both copies and passed one back to him. The customs boat backed off again. He yelled that I gave him the copy rather than the original so we had to endure another close encounter while I took the copy and placed the original in the net hoping that it would not be blown away.

Success, thumbs up and we both motored off in different directions.

We were heading just across Singapore straits to the naval base on the southern tip of Malaysia with the dinghy following behind.

Finding the passage into the river where the naval base is complicated by the fact that Singapore who owns several neighboring island is hell bent on increasing their size by dumping tons of sand brought by barges and then building rock wall to keep the sand from being taken away by the tide.

With all the activity of barges and tugs coming and going ,floats in the water marking shallow areas we found the entrance and had a pleasant sail in calm waters up the river past the Naval base.

Replacing the stainless steel ring

When we anchored, I climbed into the dinghy and was surprised to find no water ! As the dinghy was being towed the bung hole in the stern acted as a venturi sucking any water out of the dinghy.

While peacefully at anchor I set about effecting repairs to attachment point of the dinghy to the davits.

In my many boxes of spare parts and bits and pieces I found a steel ring that would do the job. While fitting the ring I noticed that a stainless steel wire holding the ring was frayed .I found piece of rope and made the necessary repairs.

May be problem solving is somewhere on the path in the pursuit of happiness.

The next morning just before sunrise we raised the anchor and went down the river with the outgoing tide. As the sun rose we motored to the South east t tip of Malaysia past 60 boats an anchor waiting for their next cargo . The weather was mild with a light easterly breeze.

Leaving the Naval Base

By late afternoon we had arrived at Sibu island and anchored in a sea of jellyfish. These creatures had a head about the size of an orange and long flowing, stinging tendrils two meters long.

Jelly fish

I did not feel like swimming so I sat in the cockpit sipping a gin and tonic.

The next morning we set off for Tioman island 30 miles to the north east. Tioman is a high densely forested island with isolated sandy beaches each with its own resort. The ferries come and go with tourists who love to dive in the clear waters of the island. Apart from the dirt track that connects the eastern beach with the western one there is only 1.5 km of road around the township , main ferry wharf and the airstrip. The Fokker Friendships land on a strip a little larger than an aircraft carrier that is hemmed in by the sea on one side and 1,000 meter hills on the other.

Tioman islans

Tioman is so laid back that we had to wake the immigration officer, who was asleep under his desk,

to process our passports. Both he and the customs officer in the office next door were friendly and efficient. They knew how to do their jobs and were able to have a stress free nap from time to time.

Restaurants on the beach

It was hot in Tioman, the high mountains blocked the south easterly breeze as I trudged along the roadway to the house of a lady who took washing in.

While I was waiting for her I sat on a chair in front of a fan in the shop next door that sold duty free alcohol. I bought a bottle of water and sat contentedly while the owner scaled and cleaned some small fish for his lunch. The laundry lady arrived and weighed the washing. 4 kilos. “It will be ready tomorrow “ she said and I wandered off back to the dinghy and motored back to the boat.

We stayed a few days, swimming and reading and going ashore to restaurant that served Chili fish.

That is ; white fillets of fish cooked with chili, vegetables and oyster sauce on a bed of rice. This restaurant had been taken over by Malays and unfortunately they did not serve beer but a large lime juice with ice was just as nice.

airport control tower adjacent to the marina

We spent several days swimming and relaxing picked up the washing and bought some beer. I asked the shop owner if he could deliver the beer to the marina. Sure he clapped his hands and someone came running backed out the motor bike and sidecar, loaded the beer and I jumped on the back of the motor bike. We went hurtling down the road while I tried to hang on as there was only one foot rest.

Down at the marina Annick had arrived with a case of red wine and some bottles of Whisky. WE loaded up the dinghy and headed to the boat.

Once the shopping was stored we had a swim and then went back to our favourite restaurant on the beach.

Early the next day we set off for the port of Kuantan about a day’s sail. Kuantan is a busy shipping port and we had decided to anchor on a sandy shoal a few miles off shore. WE anchored in the late afternoon as a huge cloud bank approached. We had just managed to have a shower on deck when the rain bucketed down.

In the cockpit with the plastic side curtains down it was quite cozy, eating chicken in black pepper sauce

washed down with some of our newly purchased Californian red wine.

The next day we were off just before dawn in very pleasant weather, passing the many ships at anchor waiting to enter the port. It was an easy run up the coast motor sailing in a light easterly breeze.