Songsong to Langkawi

Hi everyone,
Today we had a magnificent, amazing, totally awesome SAIL from Songsong Island to Langkawi.  Beautiful 8-12 knot NE breeze all the way, giving us a nice reach.  We had the full main, #2 and staysail up and averaged 6 knots boat speed and 7 knots over the ground.  We are now anchored off the town of Kuah in 4m at 18.88N 99 50.83E.

Zen Again Track

Approaching Kuah

Tomorrow we expect to go ashore to do the necessary paperwork with the harbour master.  We will then sail the few miles around to Rebak marina where we expect to stay for several weeks at least.

Who'da thunk it - we completed Sail Indonesia and Sail Malaysia!  Statistics in a later post - now we're going to have a quiet little drink. ;)

Penang to Songsong

Hi everyone,
Yesterday we sailed from Penang to Songsong Island, the latter being about halfway to Langkawi.  We anchored off the E side of Songsong Island in 9m over sand at 05 48.58N 100 17.91E.

Zen Again Track

The departure from Penang was different since Sail Malaysia runs a "parade" under the main Penang Bridge.  A fleet of powerboats came south from Georgetown, and the Sail Malaysia yachts went north from Jerejak anchorage.  We had a bit of fun motoring around the anchorage at the nominated departure time sounding our bugle to get everyone out of bed.

Jolie Brise and Zen Again led the yachts under the bridge after the motor boats came through.  The organisers had a helicopter taking video throughout, and we hope to see the pictures soon.

From the bridge everyone headed north towards Langkawi.  As usual the wind was on the nose and we motored clear of Penang and onward to Songsong Island which we reached mid-afternoon.

Yachts parading under the bridge

Dol Selene (L) and Kakadu (R) passing Penang

The Doctor crossing a tide line

Kakadu anchored off Songsong Island

From here it's only 40nm to Langkawi!

Penang

Hi everyone,
We had an organised coach tour on Sunday and a day ashore on Monday with Graham and Anne from sv Kakadu.  Both were fun.

Zen Again at Jerejak Anchorage

The coach tour visited Pen Marine, where yachts and also much larger vessels can be hauled out and servicing carried out.  From there we went to the Loh Guan Lye Specialists Centre, where we learned about Malaysia's "medical tourism".  Interesting to a point, but not really our thing.

Presidential Suite at the Specialists Centre

We then briefly toured Georgetown, the main city on Penang.  It has a lot of historic buildings and is another Malaysian city awarded UNESCO heritage listing.  Fort Cornwallis was unfortunately just a quick photo opportunity.

We stopped for a while at a Buddhish temple featuring a large "reclining" buddha.  We visited The Coffee Tree, where we bought some very nice local coffee and chocolates.  Finally we visited Straits Quay, where there is a small marina and a large mall.  The tour ended with a really good dinner at an excellent Indian restaurant.

Reclining Buddha

On Monday we took a taxi into Georgetown and walked around exploring.  We started at Tanjung Marina where quite a large marina disintegrated within a few years of completion.  The piles were at all sorts of crazy angles, and not a walkway to be seen.  In town we tried the very tasty Penang "white coffee".  We then spent a couple of hours in the Perakhanan Mansion which is a very interesting museum.

From the museum we walked around a little more and found an excellent spot for lunch - RM30 (A$10) for four!  After that we caught a taxi to Penang Hill where we rode up the railway to the top of the hill.  Impressive views from the top, which just about made the queues and busy train ride worthwhile.

Penang Hill train

View from Penang Hill

All in all Penang is an interesting place.  It has a free trade zone on its SE side, where many semiconductor and electronics factories are located.  The airport nearby has a lot of cargo flights, as well as many international passenger flights.  The traffic around the island, and particularly near Georgetown, is very heavy.  Lots of housing development underway.  Tis a happenin' place.