Pangkor to Langkawi
We said our goodbyes to our mates at the marina and set off on our next little adventure. Hopefully under sail, not the iron sail, but there wasn't much wind in the forecast for the next few days . We motored out into the channel between Marina Island and Pangkor Island and straight away received a radio call from a military ship. Friendly call, in case you were wondering. They kindly gave us a military escort through the channel to send us on our way. Or maybe they were just overtaking us to get to the navy base just up on the right.
We scored some wind and were able to remind ourselves how to sail again after so long in the marina. It was just a short run to Pulau Talang to find our sea legs and ensure all was well with the boat. We tucked into a little cove and enjoyed our first night on anchor since the end of November.
We planned for a 6am start the next morning, but Captain Hubby told me to go back to bed. No complaints from me. I'm not known as an early riser. We were surrounded by boats, nets and flashing lights so we needed to wait for daybreak before zigzagging our way through them.
But wait... the alternator was squealing, so Hubby had to sort that out. That involved pulling the dining table apart to get to the engine. Got going at 7.45am, with a light ESE wind, and motorsailed along at an acceptable pace.
Just 2 hours in and engine alarm went off. Overheated! Table and sides off for the second time. The fan belt was shredded. Never fear, the Captain was here. 30 mins later we're on our way again only to find the wind was now coming from the North. That put the wind right on the nose. Of course.
The day dragged on with plenty of detouring around nets, catching some wind in the headsail every now and then, fighting the current, and taking nearly 12 hours to reach our night anchorage, Pulau Rimau. This quaint little island sits off the southern end of Penang and gave us a fabulous view of the lights of the city and the amazing bridge that spans the ocean to the mainland.
Penang city
sundowners at Pulau Rimau
The next morning was a nice lazy start to the day and a calm sea motorsail around to the north west of Penang to Sunset Bay. It's as beautiful as it sounds too. Sadly, the waters were full of jellyfish. The kind with long tendrils that look poisonous so we chose to not put that theory to the test. We did take the dinghy to shore to find a turtle conservation centre and evidence of many large turtle nests.
There was also a lake here. A very special lake, known as a Meromictic lake, that is a mix of fresh water from the hills and salt water from the sea. The water is layered due to the different densities of fresh and salt water. In this case, being the dry season, an almost empty lake.
On the plus side, we did have a nice bushwalk around it. We came across a monkey that guarded his path well, a huge Monitor Lizard that would hold his own against a Komodo Dragon, a lovely suspension bridge and a fabulous camp ground for those wishing to stay a night or two.
suspension bridge
Turtle beach
sunset bbq
The bay is surrounded by lush green hills, with little white beaches nestled along the waterfront between piles of boulders. We found the perfect little cove for a beach BBQ and beers at sunset. It came with its own hammock, swinging from a shady tree right over the sand. And no jellyfish close to the water's edge thanks to the current pushing them passed. Time for a bath 😁.
We took a dinghy ride around the headland to Monkey Beach. It lived up to its name. A gorgeous beach with some warungs, a couple of beach bars and plenty of monkeys. This beach was very cool, with several interesting characters who were up for a chat. We kicked back in hammocks with plates of nasi goreng and a chilled beer each and enjoyed the view. And the entertaining antics of the monkeys.
We set off before sunrise the next morning for our last stop in Malaysia, Langkawi. The wind was up, the swell was too, and it looked like a promising sail day. While we motored out of the bay and away from the headland I ducked into the cabin only to find water spraying everywhere from the engine. The bilge was already half full of water and the floor was soaking wet. A shout out to Hubby, engine off, and an assessment of what was wrong this time.
Turns out a water cooling hose from the gearbox had blown. Repairs under sail. With 2 cargo ships bearing down on us, one from each side, Hubby made short work of replacing the hose and clamps while I radioed the ships to give them the heads up that they would both need to adjust their courses to go around us. Phew! Mad bit of franticness. Disaster averted, hose issues fixed, so that just left a clean up job for yours truly. I must have cursed myself in my previous post when I said there'd be no more pumping the bilge out by hand. 4 buckets full later and I'd earnt my coffee break.
pre-dawn splendour
Onward into some 2 metre swell, up to 23knots of wind and an island off Langkawi as our destination.
Until next time, Watusi Woman - still the bilge pumping extraordinaire, out.
Those ancient war cruisers was once my dream boat back in the early 80s 🥰 never thought my country can keep them
soakingsailing for more than 40 years.After so many years, every July visiting Penang in land and island, never have I visited the Rimau Island. I heard the lighthouse is nice too. May be I should really consider to take an extra day off to visit the small island
If you don't make it to Rimau then try a get to Monkey Beach if you've not been there. Pretty cool spot to hang out, and a short hike up to the lighthouse. Since you like climbing hills it will be an easy walk for you 😉
Wow what an adventure that looks amazing. Thanks for sharing the trip. !LUV
@watusiwoman, @an-man(1/5) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki |
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;-)
Thanku 🙏
;-)
This is the kind of unwinding I like since summer is coming. A fresh, new beach that I've never swum before and the sunset that is refreshing to our soul. !PIZZA
I agree totally. 🌞
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
@justinparke , hi, can you tell me who @buildawhale is and why he downvoted me 28 hive points please? Not understanding how that works and why it's possible.
Well I would say this is an outstanding post, but that is pretty much what I'd say about any of your content. The buildawhale/themarkymark accounts are owned by the same person, and once upon a time this account used to upvote quality content. For at least a year or more things have been the opposite, and he seems to mostly be a downvoter.
In my estimation the massive HIVE holders are trying to reduce the overall daily rewards and therefore increase the value of their wallets. Accounts like these could easily use their voting power to support others and ensure posts that fall through the curation cracks are supported, but this activity would actually decrease their total asset value. I guess I understand the selfish capitalistic purpose of it, a small increase in HIVE price for someone holding millions of HIVE would easily outweigh a year's worth of daily manual curation efforts.
I get these downvotes too when I make a particularly good post, don't worry. There is nothing we can do other than sit back and watch. I abstain from Hive politics just like I do in real life because the whales can easily ruin your Hive journey's profitability with a few clicks. Also I think there is a war between xeldal and themarkymark because he only seems downvote posts that account upvoted. It's more of a whale war than anything, and we ordinary content creators and the importance of our daily rewards don't factor into the situation at all.
Well, that is such a shame. I get that it's a money making investment for those whales but, as in any business, it's the little guys doing the work that creates the popularity etc etc. I know you know all that, but OT leaves one with a bad taste in your mouth.
Thanks for taking time to chime in here and explain things more clearly. As I already mentioned, I try to abstain from Hive politics as much as possible, hence me not actually tagging you 😁. I am thankful for any upvotes I can get even if the person/bot behind the vote doesn't necessarily have proof of brain, although my Hive journey would feel more sustainable if I survived on upvotes that came exclusively from the people I interact with on Hive.
Unfortunately that's not my situation yet, so I am always hoping and praying for a whale vote like so many others. My advice to ASEAN Hivers has always been to keep your head down, keep producing quality content, and hopefully you'll get noticed one day. In lieu of what you said, I have some follow up questions if you don't mind to take the time and chime in one more time, it would help me answer future questions more easily....
Are the downvotes a results of a "beef" with xeldal in some form? I'm kind of stupid on who is who with the whale accounts, but I've never seen a post from this Hiver and I'm not sure who it is or who's behind the account, but I seem to notice your downvotes usually coincide with upvotes from this Hiver, and usually your downvote roughly offsets the amount of upvote from this account.
Are you still upvoting posts on Hive? I remember when I used to get buildawhale upvotes once upon a time, then one day they just disappeared, and I've always wondered what the reasoning was for that. Slight follow up to that, if downvotes/upvotes don't decrease the overall HIVE rewards available for a given day, wouldn't it be just as easy to upvote underserved content instead of downvoting content? Not trying to open a can of worms or anything, I am genuinely curious.
Thanks in advance for taking time to answer if you do, and no worries at all if you would rather not answer these questions 🙏.
Okay, that is enough of an explanation. Well, that sucks for you, I am sorry. Although nobody can truly stop us from posting, we can be effectively demonetized, and that does take a significant chunk of the fun in Hivin' away. Well what can I say, bummer for all, sucks to be caught in the middle occasionally as a simple content creator. I will redirect future questions about this matter from ASEAN Hivers to this thread so they understand it's not possible and that it's not them creating poor quality content or abusing Hive in some form.
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