Hole in the Wall

Hi everyone,
Today we motored from Kuah to the Hole in the Wall anchorage on the NE side of Langkawi. There was next to no wind and it drizzled and occasionally rained for much of the 15nm trip. We're now anchored at 06 25.1N 099 51.9E in 7m over mud. We're only a couple of boat lengths from the mangroves, so have deployed our hatch screens to keep the bugs out. The rain is continuing, which may also help keep the bugs away. The scenary here is spectacular.

Zen Again Track

Since we knew we'd be motoring we took the "inside" passage which is 10nm shorter than going outside all the islands. It took us through some quite narrow passages and across one particularly shallow area. The latter was NNE of Selat Pulau Balek where we found minimum depth to be 2.7m (1 hour after LW springs). That's about what the charts show. We approached the entrance to Hole in the Wall from the SE where we found significant chart offsets but depths deeper than charted.

Closer look at chart offset at Hole in the Wall

Closer look at chart offset through the shallows

Once inside Hole in the Wall we explored the main N-S channel as far as the fork to the W. On passing the fork the depths decreased very rapidly so we did a rapid 180 and motored quietly up the W channel where the many small ferry boats dock. There is a long "trot" of fore/aft moorings for yachts, most of which seemed to be in use but with no signs of life aboard the yachts. There were a few restaurants and a kayak hire place for the tourists. After exploring this busy channel we returned to the main channel where we anchored N of the fork, on the W side of the channel.

Approaching Hole in the Wall

Entrance visible

Passing through the "hole"

View of the "hole" from within the inlet

View of the inner channel which holds a number of yacht moorings

At anchor

Brahminy Kite

All day there have been small ferry boats zooming to and fro. After 1700 they stopped and it is now quiet. Just the soft sound of light rain to be heard. There are three other yachts anchored in the main channel for the New Year.

Happy New Year to you all!

Langkawi Cruise (days 1-4)

Hi everyone,
We departed Rebak Island marina on Boxing Day, sailing SE to the "fiords" at the southern end of Pulau Dayang Bunting.  We stayed there for two nights.  Yesterday morning we sailed to Fisherman's Cove (Selat Riang-Riang) at the southern tip of the Langkawi island group.  Today we sailed to Kuah.

Zen Again Track

We had a great sail to the Fiord, eventually reefing the main when the wind got up to 20 gusting 25 knots.  Shortly after that we got into the lee of the island and had to motor the last mile or so to the anchorage.  The fiord is a narrow channel between the main island and a small offlying island.  The entrance is less than 100m wide, and only about 200m wide at its widest point.  We anchored at the widest point, tucked in near a small creek mouth (marked by the mangroves).

Great sail to the Fiords

Spectacular surroundings in the fiords

Great anchorage

Company aboard

Zen Again in the fiords

The fiord is a lovely anchorage, very well protected from sea and most winds.  The clouds were speeding past overhead at times but it was calm in the anchorage.  We saw many macaque monkeys, brahminy kites and several other birds.  We had the anchorage to ourselves on both nights.

Yesterday we motored from the fiord to Fisherman's Cove.  Along the way we calibrated the newly installed backup autopilot, doing the necessary 720 degree turns and zig-zags.  The cove is another small anchorage, this one protected by three islands which surround it.  On the day the wind came up to 20-25 knots at least, with good bullets coming through the anchorage.  The seas from outside penetrated a little, but it was very flat once the wind moderated a little.  We saw only one monkey but lots of brahminy kites (like sea eagles but with chestnut wings and back instead of dark grey).

Dawn at Fisherman's Cove

Today we had a great sail from Fisherman's Cove to Kuah.  We had a very nice 6-10 knot NE breeze.  The track shows we must have been having fun - we were tacking!  We're now anchored at 06 18.78N 099 50.80E in 6m over mud.

We expect to stay here for two nights before heading north to the Hole in the Wall anchorage on the NE coast of Langkawi.  We hope to spend New Year there, and probably won't have phone/internet coverage.

Christmas at Rebak Island

Hello everyone,
We had a great Christmas at Rebak Island.  We had been there for two weeks before Christmas and many of our cruising friends moved on to Thailand or flew home.  But there were still quite a few at Rebak.

During the week before Christmas we got a couple of important boat jobs done.  The first was to install our spare autopilot - another Raymarine SPX-5 GP.  We bought the backup unit just before leaving Darwin after the primary unit misbehaved temporarily.  Since that time we decided that having a backup autopilot in a locker is all very well, but having it installed and calibrated would be much better.  So we fully installed the backup so that both systems are powered-up together and a single switch selects which drives the ram (which turns the tiller).  The one trick discovered is NOT to let both units send their heading data out onto the shared SeaTalk network - that's very confusing (especially if one is misbehaving or uncalibrated)!

Backup Autopilot Controller in quarterberth

The second job was similar.  We installed our backup chart plotter - a Garmin GPSmap 450 - in the cockpit.  That involved relocating the existing gear on the starboard side of the cockpit bulkhead.  The $14 hole-cutter set bought on eBay earlier this year was money very well spent!

Second chartplotter installed in cockpit

On Christmas Eve we had a great dinner in the evening, with the tables set around the resort pool.  The food was fantastic and we had a great time with Urs and Maggie from Better Than Shares and an American couple Rick and Sarah who were staying at the resort.

Rebak Island Resort pool

Rebak Island Resort

On Christmas Day the cruisers met for a champagne breakfast organised by Brian and Gail of sv Dol Selene.  That was lots of fun.  We spent the heat of the day relaxing by the pool.  In the evening we went to another dinner at the resort which was also very good.  We sat with the crews of Dol Selene, Blue Heeler, Sea Mist and Comedie.

On Boxing Day we departed Rebak Island for a 10-day cruise around Langkawi.