Tuesday, May 16, 2000

2000 Australia to Thailand

I wish to take this opportunity to wish all of you a wonderful 2000 holiday season and hope for the best in 2001. Well here comes another installment of the rambling travels of your friends on RPhurst. This years cruising covered about 4,200 miles, with a second crossing of the equator and passing the halfway point in my circumnavigation.

Australia From a sailing perspective my time in Australia was 6 months of sitting in a marina while time was spent on land touring and boat projects. With no major repairs to be done many of the projects consisted of dress up and maintenance work. A new hard top bimini was made and installed, engines serviced, soft awnings repaired and modified to match the new hard top. This has been a worthwhile addition as the old soft top was deteriorating and beginning to leak, believe me it is cold and no fun sitting under an awning designed to keep you dry only to find so many leaks it is difficult to find a dry spot. I also incorporated a rain water catchment system into the new top. I can now catch more water than I need, this reduces reliance on the water maker, when it rains. Sailing timing in Australia is critical. The cyclone season, December through April in the north, does not allow departure from our southerly safe harbor before April. You also must be clear of the cyclone area before the season starts again in late November. The distances to travel are immense, Brisbane to Cape York 1173 miles, Cape York to Darwin 734 miles for a total of 1907 miles between April and August. Besides there is the Great Barrier Reef to consider with great expectation of excellent diving. Most of the cities up the coast were visited by car when we were land cruising. No longer having a car did limit our movement while visiting these towns and cities.

The other cruising difficulty is caused by much of the Barrier Reef is not sufficiently charted. The dive operators and fishing boats know their way around. The dive boats will not assist you in finding their dive sites, so I talked with many of the local fishing boats for their favorite anchorages out on the reef. This information was invaluable as they know where to hole up in what weather, how to get into the snug holes in the reef. Much of the water around the reef is deep, 100 feet, with the reef often raising above water at low tide. Many of the reefs can be seen with good light, so if we were to move only between 1000 and 1400, on clear days, we would be safe, however, with the distances to travel and wanting some time to stop on the reef we needed to use more hours than this would allow. The other alternative would be to stay within the recognized shipping channels, which are very well charted. However, this would not allow seeing the sights along the way and isn’t that the reason for doing the trip.

The most incredible sight on the reef was a place called Line Reef, well named for its effect on the tide flow. At high tide it is merely a shallow reef. At low tide the water is contained by its several mile length. With few holes through which the water may flow it creates water falls and flowing rivers, miles out at sea you notice a white water river as swift as most rafting rivers. We anchored close enough for a clear view of it. This is the area where we found the clearest water, however very cold air temps for diving, wetsuit temps. As this is early spring we found the air, high 60s, and water temps, low 70s, along the reef to be very cold along this coast. The outside of the reef benefits from a warm current from the north which promotes coral growth, however, that is not an area for short hopping up the coast. Some of the cruisers stayed to the outside of the reef making good time but few stops. They reported warm air and water temps.

The Whitsunday Islands are one of the most popular cruising areas along this coast. With several islands within easy day sails, many hotels, some world class, boat charters, and tourist services it attracts sailors, backpackers and tourists from all over Australia and to a lesser extent other parts of the world. Most of the cruisers traveling along the coast plan to spend some time in the Whitsunday group.

This section of coast is not very friendly to a boat with an animal. Many of the towns have a marina with a break wall but no anchorage. With the beast we are not permitted to tie up to a dock so this presents a problem. We found some rivers or bays in which we could anchor using the dingy to get back and forth. Macay, a Port of Entry, has no facility for anchoring so after much discussion with quarantine we tied up to a work barge anchored in the harbor, paying the same price as we would have tied to the dock. Our time at Townsville was spent anchored within the protection of the break wall. The government built, but privately managed marina has security guards that watch over the dinghies coming to shore from the pond. The guards are instructed to assure none of these cheapskates tie up to the dock, deposit their trash into bins or use any of the marina facilities. When we explained to them it is their government that does not allow us into the marina, it falls on unsympathetic ears. So we have to beach the dingy, in an area that regulation excludes the use of power boats and is affected by large tidal ranges and swell, very difficulty.
Townsville provided my first opportunity to tour a US war ship. Two cruisers were in the harbor with one offering public tours. The incongruity of traveling half way around the world to be allowed access to one of our ships on which I have purchased at least one bolt was not lost on any of us. The tour was interesting and the sailors were amazed and amused that we had traveled from the US by sailboat. While we have often encountered US Navy presence this was the first time a tour was offered.
Sailing north along the Queensland coast is quite enjoyable. With periods of wind changing in patterns from a few days of none to a few days of mild to a few days of boisterous. I was reminded of sailing at home. It seemed the only time the wind would remain in the 25 to 30 knot range was when we were to spend time at the reef anchorages. These winds make great sailing, but can make for an uncomfortable anchorage when in an area that precludes any after dark movement. The need to find sheltered anchorages was even more important. We always did and never dragged or needed to move, thank goodness. The radio weather forecasts were for different regions of the coast line and were pretty accurate. Once I discovered the areas for reporting I only needed to listen for the report for my area. The weather faxes for the coast were next to worthless as they included an area of several hundred thousand square miles and lack sufficient detail except to anticipate major changes.

On a very sad note. On our June arrival at Townsville Jean informed me she was returning home to a more normal life. She had become less happy with our lifestyle and missed her friends, relatives and job. We remain friends and in contact. I will and do miss her. I have accepted and support her decision, I hope you will also. This required me to begin picking up crew along the way as it is unsafe to make passages alone. The need for rest does not allow an adequate watch to be kept. With friends from MN joining me in Townsville and leaving from Cairns I began my search for crew in Cairns. This has been a new experience, some good some not so good. There are many flakes out there that would not make good crew. I have been very fortunate in finding individuals who made good crew.
At Cairns I found 3, Erin an Israeli, Kim a Dutch and Rob a Brit all wishing to learn to sail. With a need to make many day sails, inside the reef, they had an opportunity to learn in short lessons. Erin was a great student and wanted to stay all the way to Thailand. That was a plus as he would then have some experience prior to departing Darwin forthe open sea. However, politics entered and he discovered Indonesia does not allow Israelis into the country. Kim was one of the few natural helms I have met, she demonstrated her ability from the first time at the wheel. RPhurst is not an easy boat to hand steer, she oversteers easily. All participated in sailtrim, cooking, steering and learning about cruising. It was a good experience for me to again teach raw beginners the operation of a boat. They all left the boat at Darwin after three weeks.

At Darwin I found 2, Teal an Aussie and Phil a Brit, both wishing to make the whole trip to Thailand. Teal’s uncle sails a catamaran around Darwin. He learned quickly, was conscientious, a pleasure to be around and stayed with me to Thailand. His knowledge should have eased the learning curve somewhat, as we will leave Darwin, mid August, directlyinto the open sea, allowing no time to learn. However, as with many local cruisers, they motor to an anchorage, fishing spot or party beach, party then motor home again. Many do not even know about the big white things that are used only for shade. Both of the Brits I have taken on board, while being pleasant enough, seem to lack the desire to learn. During my travels I have made friends with many excellent British sailors, so this is not a national trait. Picking up crew will now be another responsibility before each new segment of my travels, repair the boat, get provisions, find crew, plan the passage and on and on. Such is the relaxed cruising lifestyle.
Fishing along the Queensland coast was disappointing. I expected we would fill the freezer with fish to be used while on the ocean crossing segments, as it turned out we always had fish in the freezer, but in smaller quantities than expected. Spanish Mackeral in the 10 to 30 pound range gave us some excitement and a good food source. We had severalsightings of pods of dolphins, many swimming with us to the delight of the new crew, and breaching Humpback whales are a tremendous sight of which I never tire.

Indonesia
The passage from Australia to Indonesia was a non event, 462 miles should take about 4 to 5 days. We motored for 6 days straight, interrupted by short periods of sailing, put up the sails, no not enough wind from the right direction, take them down and motor some more. We not only had light wind from the wrong direction, on the nose, we also had an adverse current of up to 1.5 knots. This affected our speed over ground and distance made good considerably, for every mile motored we only made .75 mile to our destination, very slow. While I knew we would be faced with light wind and much motoring as we moved closer to the equator I did not expect it to begin so soon. Fuel would become a critical issue during most of our passages from now on. 
Our 22 August arrival at the island of Roti, Indonesia was marked by a last 4 hour burst of speed, both motors running with the spinnaker up in light air. If we could cover enough miles we could arrive at the island before dark. If not we would need to lay off until daybreak. We did make the anchorage in daylight, but not as far into the bay as we would like, you see we ran out of fuel after crossing the reef. We again put up sails and moved as close as we could then had to drop anchor where we were. A good thing fuel was available there. All of our friends were also short of fuel on arrival. Roti was only interesting as a first landfall. We did do a bus trip to the largest town on the island, barely larger than a village, for provisions and banking. The roads were a real eye opener. 2.5 hours to travel 30 miles dodging around potholes, washouts and construction zones. This was also our introduction to the filth and liter of third world countries, welcome to Indonesia. One of the worst things provided by the civilized world to these people is plastic in the form of bags, bottles, containers and wrapping as all are discarded in vast quantities. It never goes away. The redeeming quality of the area is the people. They, who by our standards, have so little are outgoing, shy, friendly and curious, with no agenda other than to meet you or practice their English or get by with a little sign language and much laughter. They really are a pleasure to meet.
From Roti we moved to the Island of Flores. Here we found larger towns with more facilities, banking, restaurants, Moslem Mosque and land touring. This is the home of Kerimotu, three volcanic crater lakes, side by side by side, well up a mountain, but with much different composition. The water in each is a different color. The Black and Green one are deep and cold. The Turquoise is deep and steaming hot. They reportedly have changed their colors over the years. We had a very enjoyable bus trip to see them, leaving at 2:30 am, to arrive at sunrise. This was our first experience with terraced rice paddies, land reclaimed from the hill sides by digging out the side of the hill and leveling out a space, then digging out the next level. This evidences the lack of usable land for the farmers in Indonesia which can not feed itself. Indonesia is the fourth most populace country in the world, spread over 13,000 islands, and boasts 270 million inhabitants.

It was en route, at 1455 on 13 September 2000, I passed a major milepost, at position S 08 50.5 and E 119 00 the halfway point in my circumnavigation was passed, while I couldn’t pass the exact point in Latitude, it is 300 miles south of here, as I crossed 119 degrees East this represented the opposite Longitude from my starting point. We began this trip from Florida, however, we then traveled east to Grenada. The most eastern point of that portion was St Lucia, position 14 04 N and 61 00, that now represents the point I must cross to complete the circumnavigation of the Earth. I am now heading home.

Next we traveled to visit the islands of Rinka and Komoto, the home of the dragon like lizards growing to over 10 feet long. Supposedly these dragons are found nowhere else in the world outside of zoos. We had the opportunity to see them in the wild, up close and very personal, not fed by park rangers or cared for in any way. They are cute, ugly, lazy, slow, fast and very poisonous. One bite and its prey dies a slow death from infection. The dragon then follows its prey, for days, to feed on what does not have enough strength to escape. We were able to feed them fish and get them to chase a stick worked in the grass to simulate a small animal digging. With patience you could get them within three feet, stopping only when they could smell you with their tongue, standing to determine the danger. They have no natural predators and must not taste very good either or the locals would have eaten them long ago. The burrows they dig to escape nighttime loss of heat create piles of sand large enough to easily conceal a man. Surrounded by the bones of previous prey their locations are obvious. ´ We next moved on to the island paradise of Bali, arriving 15 September. After several weeks of no wind we elected to make our passage to Bali by the southern route hoping to find some wind to sail. It was a good decision as we were able to make a slow two day downwind spinnaker run while most that had taken the northern passage motored the whole way.The problem with this plan is when you enter the Lombac Strait, with a southerly setting current of up to 8 knots requires precise navigation for the arrival at Bali. The other problem with this strait is a swell coming from the southern ocean meeting the south setting current creating steep waves and overfalls. As we entered the strait we had 10 knots of wind and 45 knots of sea state. This is the second time in four years RPhurst has taken a wave into the cockpit, again with the cockpit hatches open to the aft cabins. At sunrise, in 3 meter breaking waves, we needed to get the spinnaker down, hoist the main and work our way into the lee of an island in the middle of the strait. Our plan had been to use this island to block the current, allowing us to cross the area of current without being swept south. This worked and when we departed the protection of this island we could make the entrance to Bali International Marina by using a heading 80 degrees north of our track.

This may be confusing to some, what we were doing was to aim the boat north, using the current to carry us west as we moved south in the current, we could see our destination by looking off the port side of the boat. We arrived ahead of other boats, that had entered the strait hours ahead of us, that had tried to cross directly and were swept south with the current, then they needed to motor into a reduced current along the shoreline. One boat had only held position for 4 hours waiting for the change of tide, which does not reverse the flow, only reduce it slightly. Our small motors do not allow us to even attempt to motor into such conditions.

Many people believe that Bali is a country, in reality it is part of Indonesia. With a mainly Hindu population this island is the only stable area within Indonesia, for that reason it is a tourist Mecca. It’s economy is based heavily on tourism, and successful they are. Any whim, desire, article to wear, meal, activity or souvenir is possible in Bali, at prices which are hard to believe. Bali also offers a grim reminder to all travelers to be very cautious of what and where you eat. With several cruisers suffering from Bali Belly, some for weeks after, at least one contracted typhoid. In all undeveloped countries be careful of what you eat and drink. Bali is one of few places where the surf breaks over sand, as opposed to coral or rock, this brings surfers from everywhere to enjoy the waves. Some of the nightclubs are open until sunrise with constant music and the flow of refreshments is strong and cheap. The street hawkers, selling everything from carvings to tee shirts, transport, tours, braid your hair, tattoos, drugs and anything else can be overwhelming at times and you soon become callused to them. Time will tell how this bastion of commerce will be able to withstand the pressures of the Moslem majority of the surrounding islands. As it is it must be seen to be believed.

There are no anchorages on the southern end of the island so our time was spent in a marina, the only one. It is expensive and dirty with poor service, dirty fuel and undrinkable water. We then moved to Lavina Beach on the north side of Bali. A very different world, almost. With a much slower pace we still enjoyed great meals, ignored the hawkers while relaxing in a wonderful anchorage. We also encountered young Muslims that stated Bali bars are for Balenez.
Our next stop was 382 miles to the northwest. Kalimantan, the Indonesian side of Borneo, is home to some of the last of the wild Orangutans. The temperature, for our 13 October arrival was 43 degrees Celsius, about 109, with equal humidity, on the river. In the jungle, out of any cooling breeze it was indeed stifling. We could only find enough energy to drop the anchor, sit down, put up the awnings, sit down, get a drink, sit down, with sweat running in streams down your body while just sitting still. The Orangutans, estimated to be only 5,000 left in the wild, were a must see on the trip. And what a trip it was. This must be nearly the highlight of my entire trip. Many of the cruisers have taken a three day trip up the river on a slow boat. These are long narrow boats with small engines moving at 5 knots. For a fee of about US $25. You are guided, fed and watched over. Sleeping facilities are open tops, with a roof and mosquito nets. From the boat you are taken into the jungle to sanctuaries where captured Orangutans are reintroduced into the wild in 3 stages which are miles apart. Here they are fed, watched over and encouraged to mix with the wild Orangutans. The 1st stage is where the infants are brought, hand raised until they are able to move onto stage 2, where adolescents and mothers with babies are kept. Then they are moved to stage 3 where the adults are cared for. This process takes years. Cared for is possibly not the correct term. The animals are not caged or housed, food is provided, however they are not compelled or expected to return daily. Over time many simply disappear into the jungle, joining wild animals that become much the same family. When the daily food is brought, the guides and Park Rangers call to the animals. Sometimes within minutes and sometimes for an hour you watch the canopy for the animals to come through the treetops, swinging, climbing or just watching us. While they have not been trained to perform, many individuals have self taught to entertain, tease and mingle with the tourists. Under the close eye of the Rangers, who discourage contact, it is a wonder who is watching whom. We were all entertained. It was here we met Michael, an adult Gibbon, who has adopted the sanctuary as his home. As we walked down the path into the camp he ran up from behind me, grabbed my hand and walked as child holding on as we went. He then tired of walking and with one fluid motion was up on my shoulder for a ride. We later saw him in the jungle and as Teal broke off a piece of his sandwich for him, Michael, faster than the blink of an eye had the large section leaving Teal with the small torn off piece for his lunch.
During one of our walks in the jungle our guide turned to us, seeming very excited, he insisted we must turn around and quickly move back on the trail. He saw, before we did, a troop of adult animals coming from the opposite direction. The troop was lead by juvenile females, followed by adult females, followed by the King. He is recognized as the Alfabreeding male of the troop. While every effort should be made to stay out of his way we did lag back to get some pictures. It was at this time he decided one of the females was in her time and with great strength she was drawn to him to do his duty, which lasted for an incredible length of time. After the act, while in a sitting position he reached up to pull down leaves, to eat, from a branch at least 8 feet from the ground. I did not realize they grew to this great size and was duly impressed with his size, his leathery facial mask was as large as my chest. None of the pictures taken from this distance and under the reduced light under the canopy turned out well, however, we did see him again at the feeding area, and those pictures are great.
Food storage is always a problem for the rangers. If the King decides he should be fed he will merely break down the very solid wood plank door to the pantry. We were also told that on one occasion food was missing, over time, from the pantry, with no apparent break„in. The rangers set up a watch to witness the thief. One of the Orangutans had watched the rangers unlock the door, putting the key away after use. The Orangutan would, when no one was around, get the key, open the door, eat, lock the door and return the key to cover his crime.
We could clearly see we were in a third world country. With a ban on logging, in the Orangutan sanctuary forest, daily rafts of freshly felled trees were hauled up the river to a saw mill. Much of the local economy is based on this logging and the locals are not willing to diminish their livelihood, for the sake of a few animals, by stopping. The local police, stationed along the river, merely wave as the log rafts go by. The story is told of a time when the Park Rangers, who were fed up with the illegal practice, cut apart one of the rafts, letting the logs float free. Three days later one of their camps was burned to the ground and has not been rebuilt, now the Rangers also wave to the loggers as they go by.

The fishing in all of Indonesia was excellent. The catch was not. Within 10 minutes of putting out a line you would have a plastic bag. Sandwich bags to grocery bags to garbage bags to sheets of plastic. We soon had our limit of bags and gave up fishing. With plenty of fish remaining in the freezer we did not need the hassle of clearing our hooks every few minutes. The devastation by the fishermen is significant. Floating dead dolphins, live turtles caught in nets, some of which were saved by cruisers were evidence of the need for education, or at least caring by the fishermen. The groupings of boats night fishing for squid looked like a city from a distance.
South China Sea

The South China Sea is reputed to be frequented by pirates. This reputation caused us to travel in convoy with other boats. Arrangements were made with friends to stay near and in radio contact, seldom giving our positions on the air. All of our preparation was for naught as not one boat had any difficulty other that the curious fishermen coming tooclose for a look. Fishing boats were everywhere. Some dragging nets, some setting long lines, some setting drift nets, some anchored on their favorite fishing spot. Navigation was difficult because of their numbers. Our 621 mile passage through the South China Sea brought the conditions expected when nearing the equator. 16 hours of motoring interrupted by four hours of, many very intense, squalls followed by 3 hours of moderate sailing then back to the motor. Again our passage was affected by light wind and adverse current. With the wind light from the northwest, yes the direction we wanted to travel, and a strong current, up to two knots against us, we made some 60 mile days, very slow indeed. The clouds would build during the heat of the day and dissipate their energy as squalls during the night. With impressive lightning shows we could see them moving across the sky. The Singapore area is supposedly second only to Florida for the most lightning strikes. Every morning at 0430 we would be hit with gale to storm force winds lasting about an hour. The most mild of these gave us only 38 knots of wind, the most severe 54 knots. This one did some damage. In anticipation of these and because we were motoring into very light headwind we would double reef the mainsail and leave the headsail furled to the third reef before I would go off watch. The wind arrived so suddenly before I could get the third reef in the main we tore a seam between the second and third reef. Now we would need to make the rest of the trip to Singapore under triple reefed main. It didn’t matter that much as the wind was either light or gale strength so sail trim was correct anyway. This high wind also caused the wind generator to fail, again. The light wind and head on current again raised the fuel issue.
When very near the equator I calculated our fuel and we did not have enough to make our destination, about 100 miles. Based on this I studied the charts to find a town or village, we could make, to get fuel. Having found one I advised our convoy friends of our decision to change course. One of them was only 8 miles ahead of us, he had already crossed the equator, he then offered to return to pass us the one can of fuel he could spare. We calculated our positions and determined we would meet at Latitude 00 00.0 and 105 30.7 E at 1700 for the transfer. As this is my second crossing of the equator, on this trip, I will now be in the northern hemisphere for the remainder and represents the second milestone in my trip. As it turned out this was enough fuel to make the distance to our destination, although another friend passed us another can the next day.

With our arrival at the island of Batam, Indonesia on 25 October, brought the first of many excellent marinas. At Batam, for US $5 daily, much less for monthly, the facilities include swimming pool, tennis court, restaurant, bar, game room, email and laundry. However, no sailmaker, mechanic, electrician or any other services. This is only across the Singapore Strait from anything you could need. The marina is used by the Singaporean boaters wishing to escape the hustle of the big city, so they motor across one of the busiest waterways in the world to, then tie up in a full service marina. They are true cruisers each.
Our passage of the Singapore Strait was nerve racking at best. With a traffic separation scheme designed to reduce the chance of collision between ships we must cross many lanes of vessels traveling in opposite directions, with ship spacing of only about 6 to 8 minutes. Timing is critical and many times we found ourselves closer to ships than I would like to be. I always claim that when I can count the rivets on the side of a ship it is too close, here we could read the brand of rivet. We would parallel one lane waiting for an opportunity to change direction, crossing that lane then parallel again waiting to cross the next lane. Few cruising boats are fortunate enough to cross several lanes at a time. After having safely crossed we began working our way towards the marina, still needing to contend with the crew shuttles, tour boats, ferries, tugs and many other types of vessels not allowed into the traffic separation scheme. As we neared the way point for the marina it became evident something had changed. Our 1999 cruising guide and our 1998 chart agreed as to the location of the marina entrance, however, as we approached the way point all we could see was a container ship unloading and storage facility. In the last two years the industrious Singaporeans had filled in a large area of ocean and built the facility that now blocked our way into our safe haven. It didn’t take long to figure out that if we followed the manmade shoreline we would soon reach the marina on the other side. More evidence that the most up to date charts available should be carried.

Malacca Strait
After a week in an over priced, US $27. per night, Singaporean marina on 9 November we began to move north into the Malacca Strait, another suspected haven for pirates. We again arranged with friends to stay close and never wished to be the only boat in an anchorage. We monitored daily reports from Malaysian coast radio of reports of marauding boatloads of armed pirates, giving the sectors in which to be most aware. Again, not one boat reported any problem and we patted ourselves on the back for a plan well executed. Many of these so called pirates do indeed exist, however, preying mostly on ships carrying cash payroll for their crew, many of which can exceed US $1,000,000. These amounts are very tempting for these crooks, reportedly crossing the straits from Indonesia where they are unofficially sanctioned. It is a difficult situation to control as by the time a report of piracy is reported by a ship and a response has begun the thieves are once again safely in Indonesian water with new riches. As an aside, merchant marine ships are not allowed by law to carry any firearms, something about neutrality during war time.

With the choice of only sailing during the day, islands within distances easily made by the slowest boat become more important. Again with light head wind and an adverse current of up to 2 knots we often find, while motoring, we are the slowest boat, under sail we hold our own, so we often made shorter moves than we would have liked. One morning the wind freshened from the right direction, as I was raising and trimming the sails one of our friends called on the radio to say goodbye and will see you at the anchorage, we were there some time before anyone else arrived, it is nice to sail once in awhile.

It was at an island anchorage in the Water Islands south of Penang that I was awakened by a clunk on the hull of the boat. Was it realization of my worst fear of pirates, or worse yet had we dragged anchor and were now hard aground on the rocks? I rushed to see what was happening. There was a large dark hull alongside and as my eyes adjusted I could see no people or movement. As I became able to see more clearly I again heard the clunk, I then realized a 30 foot by 50 foot steel barge had drifted into us. I immediately positioned myself where I could push against the barge, without getting my feet between it and us, to gain some distance. Teal was right behind me so I had him start the starboard engine to help gain distance. As we separated from the barge it again was taken by the current away from us. I then became aware that it was heading directly toward one of our friends. It had collided with us on a glancing course but would hit our friend directly on the bow, likely dislodging and fouling the anchor. I jumped into the dinghy, sped over to him, pounded on his hull and when he appeared I pointed and told him to start his engine. I then took my dingy to push, as best I could, against the beomoth out of a direct collision course with him. Between his ability to maneuver and what little I could change its course it missed entirely. Only then did he confide that when he heard me on his hull he also had instantly thought of pirates.

When I returned to RPhurst I looked over the area of collision to find minimal damage of some small scratches. I then attempted to contact Malaysian coast radio to advise them of our position and problem. The barge was being swept into the shipping lane close to our island anchorage. Several attempts over an hour produced no response. A cruise ship was passing on the horizon so I called them with an immediate response. I explained the situation and their radio operator agreed to try the authorities, who answered on the first try from the cruise ship. Do not fool yourself into thinking that anyone is going to answer your radio call. The authorities then called me, advised sight of it on radar and would warn any shipping of its presence. The next morning we could still see it, apparently having been swept away with the tide and then pushed back by the reversing tide. Malaysian radio called to thank us for the assistance. Sometimes you just can’t get a good night of sleep!
All along the Malaysian coast the water clarity was so bad it precluded any swimming. Now that we were getting farther north the water was beginning to clear enough to at least clean props, water line and think about snorkeling. The coast is fed its dirt by many rivers dumping mud and sediment, along with whatever else can be carried by the river flow, building huge mud banks that are constantly shifting. We would take anchorage in a small bay along the coast only to be met by local fishermen telling us we would need to move as they intended to fish that area this night. We, of course, moved not wanting to offend them in their fishing area.
As we are still early in the season the northeast monsoon has not filled in, so moving slowly does not bother any of us. The northeast monsoon is the equal of the trade winds in most of the northern hemisphere. Most of us think monsoon means rain but in reality it means consistent wind, often bringing rain during the transitional periods. By the time we reached the north end of the Malacca Strait some of the other boats began to breakaway having commitments to arriving family and friends. We could now make town to town in day hops so we chose to remain in many of the towns longer than our friends could afford. Some of the best and most reasonably priced marinas I have seen are along the Malaysian coast, with full facilities we paid as little as US $ 5. Being the cheapskate that I am we often looked for anchorages where the fees are free.

One of the worst marinas was our longest stay, November 18 to 27, was at Port Klang, the Royal Selangor Yacht Club having limited dock space provide moorings and a free ferry service to shore. Offering full services and a beautiful building the onshore facility is very nice. It is in the delta region of the Klang river, which flows from several hundred miles inland and through several towns and cities, including Kuala Lumpur. As with most third world countries waste management means only to get the stuff to the sea in the easiest manner. This means the river. During slack tide a cat could very easily have moved from shore to shore without getting his feet wet. Furniture, plastic, trees, shrubs, dead animals and anything else that would float came down the river at us daily. Imagine that which did not float. It was from here that we traveled by an efficient train system inland to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. From a distance this appears as modern a city as will be found in any country. Skyscrapers of glass and steel mingle with the hawker stalls selling local food items to the locals and tourists. KL, as it is called, boasts its title as the Singapore where you will not be fined for chewing gum. Truly, anything you could find in Singapore is available here. Even more, pirated software, CDs, movies and anything else that can be copied is sold here for amazingly low prices. The Malaysians claim there is nothing they can’t copy. From Dior and Armani designer clothes to famous artist paintings to antique artwork all is available.

After stops at a few other towns along the way we found ourselves at Langkawi, Malaysia on 7 December. Langkawi is a wonderful cruising area, claiming 135 islands with sheltered sailing and many protected anchorages with much improvedwater clarity. I now begin to see dive operators claiming quality dive sites. I will return here for a time in April or May as I can only leave RPhurst in Thailand for 6 months without paying a 310 percent duty. I do not understand the logic of politicians to apply such a huge tariff, which causes many of the boats to leave the country and take their money with them, many not to return. Langkawi is a duty free port attracting tourists from all over SE Asia for the bargains. Tourists flock here in large planes and with little else to do, stay at a hotel, shop, lay on the beach, shop and go home with less money but many bags of treasures. It is a great place for cruisers to replenish their liquor cabinets. Need a camera, radio, CD player or any other consumer goods, this is the place to find it at a good price.
Rok Nok is the first island of Thailand. We arrived on 12 December staying only one day. The significance of this island was the clarity of the water. Anchored in 30 feet of water we could easily see the rocks on the bottom. The Thai park service comes around once and a while to hassle the cruisers with demands for anchoring fees. As none of us havecleared into the country yet, more because there are no Ports of Entry except on the mainland, no one wants to have difficulty with officialdom. Thailand has another strange regulation. You must clear out of the country at the same Port of Entry at which you arrived. As most of us chose to spend most of our time around Phuket, we would then need to sail 150 miles to weather to clear out. So we clear in at Phuket.

We then moved on to PhiPhiDon Island, pronounced PeePeeDon. This is the first of the Thai tourist destinations. A small island on which are hotels, bars, restaurants and all the tee shirt shops and dive centers to supply the large number of European tourists that flock here every winter. For the tourist wishing to escape the cold of home this is a good choice. We then moved on to arrive Phuket, pronounced Puket, on 15 December, the main tourist destination on the west coast of Thailand. This is unlike I have seen in all of my travels. The reasons for Thailand being a tourist destination are the low prices, hotels and restaurants to accommodate the hoard of guests, clear water, seemingly no restrictions on the sex industry including the Thai Lady Boys and great weather during the northern hemisphere winter. I will spend one year in Thailand, which ends the planned portion for this season. I will spend some time cruising the coast and land touring SE Asia, have the boat hauled to dry the hull, return to the States then return for boat projects and begin the next leg, which will be to the Red and Mediterranean Seas.

Again wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year. Keep those messages with news from home coming to email worldcruiser1997@yahoo.com.

Love and Kisses, Bruce Parnham, Yacht RPhurst