Well just when you thought we were off on another adventure! No! Back in the marina only a different one. Rebak is an island off Langkawi Malaysia West Coast. Its a resort island predominantly and the marina here was dredged out of a Mangrove Swamp. Its almost new having been totally destroyed in the 2004 tsunami. The Resort operate the Marina however there are very few facilities apart from a good lifter and reasonably priced hardstand facility. There are no shops or chandlers and therefore everything must be procured on Langkawi Island which is a small ferry ride for about 20 minutes. Shopping is plainly difficult unless you like to lug heavy bags up and down ramps and into and out of boats. Most inconvenient! When you do get ashore there are no shops so you are forced to hire a car. It is a reasonable price at 40Rg but it does make a carton of milk expensive.
There are very limited Internet opportunities here. The wireless server is not designed for reception from yachts. Yachts must take their laptops to the Hard Dock shed to connect. After Yacht Haven it all seems primitive. We had a fabulous run south, departing Yacht Haven at 3pm Monday. Not really enough wind to sail however we motor-sailed very comfortably and had no rain or thunder squalls so common at this time of the year.
Our Anchor Winch decided to have a lie down at Phi Phi Don on the first night out so we had to haul in 50 meters of chain and the anchor by hand in the early hours of Tuesday. Having achieved this with the help of various other deck winches and a spider-web of ropes, we elected to sail as far as Kho Rok Nok and use a mooring there for the night instead of arriving in the middle of the night at Langkawi. This proved to be a perfect plan and once safely attached to the mooring we dived in for a very welcome and long overdue swim in cool clean clear water.
Wednesday morning a 7am the mooring is waved off and motor sailing once again we are into the Bintang Group when a loud whizzing alerts us to the fish on the line. A beautiful dolphin fish. Almost too pretty to eat but after months without our own fish .... sorry... in the fridge. No Freezer with it. Chilled for dinner.
Rebak Marina by 6.00pm Wednesday. Thursday we had to clear in with Malaysian Authorities. Always very easy here. However its Ramadan starting Thursday so a little further to drive. The main office in Kuah is open and its business as usual. No lunch though, although we were lucky to find food at the airport where we had a big reunion with Magic. Chris and Daun had gone to Australia in April and we were able to meet them and help ferry all their luggage home to Magic.
Saturday and we are hauled out after a spectacular display of reversing. Taipan is not normally renowned for her reverse performances. David guided her cleverly into the lifter backwards and thereby saved us a lot of time and effort removing the forestay. Just as we entered the lifter a huge squall hit but too late to be a problem so now Taipan is securely tied and propped on the hard and we are reduced to ladder access and back to work. Lets hope the sailing adventures will begin again soon.
