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.