Crossing the Indian Ocean. Day -1

 We've gotten most of the tasks ticked off our list, including going up the mast for an inspection. Here's a view of Kuah Harbour from 65 feet up in the air. The rest of the items on the list can get thrown away as we grow new, more pressing, maintenance projects from actually being on passage.

The boat is heavier than she has ever been. Full fuel, full water, extra petrol (gasoline for you foreigners) for the outboard, and food for 3 to 6 months.  The diesel weighs over 1,100 pounds, the water over 1,600 pounds. We probably have at least 500 pounds of snacks onboard 😁

If you are like me, your geography of the Indian Ocean is probably pretty weak. Of course, I have an excuse. I graduated high school in Florida. 

The basic plan for this passage is to leave Langkawi, Malaysia, pass over Sumatra, under Sri Lanka and make landfall in Uligan, Maldives. Uligan is at the very top of the Maldives.  We will then take our time travelling down the Maldives island chain. Then leave to sail to the uninhabited Chagos islands. These are currently owned by the UK and managed by British Indian Ocean Trust (BIOT). After a few weeks there we will continue onto the Seychelles.

The passage from Langkawi to Uligan, Maldives should be about 1,650 nm (nautical miles) and take us 10 to 14 days in Georgia.

Well that's the plan at least. In Covid season you really can't be sure of much. Crossing the Indian Ocean is tricky enough timing wise, without having to deal with countries shutting down because of Covid. Right now we can enter the Maldives, we have a permit for Chagos and pre-permission to go to the Seychelles.

In a typical year boats leave Malaysia in December and head to Thailand. Then sometime in January or early February leave for Sri Lanka and then onto the Maldives. The north Indian Ocean is odd in that its cyclone season has two peaks. Jan and Feb are low cyclone months and also the strongest SE Monsoon time. This monsoon brings SE winds, making the trip across toward the west possible. The other monsoon is the SW Monsoon with its corresponding SW winds. These monsoons were well know to the Arab traders who could easily travel back and forth.

Thailand and Sri Lanka being shut now rules them out for stopovers.

We will update our position while on passage most nights. You can view it here

https://farkwar.com/boats/georgia 

Or see the same thing at the bottom of our blog (which you probably know how to get to as you are reading it now)

svjeorgia.blogspot.com

In addition, I will upload some, short text only blogs along the way.

We cleared out of Langkawi this morning: Port Authority, Customs and Immigration. That gives us 24 hours to get sailing. (Cruisers note: Port Authority required in-date boat insurance to clear out. The immigration guy told us to tell our friends that Malaysia isn't ready for cruises yet.)

Wishing ourselves Fairwinds and Clean diesel.

Paul

Circumnavigating Langkawi

 

As usually, the busier we get the further behind I get on blog posting. The last month has primarily been consumed with getting the boat ready to go to sea, including stocking the boat with provisions for an indefinite time frame, with a little bit of being a tourist in Langkawi. I'll fill this blog with some pictures and random comments covering our time in he SE Asian heat.

I've probably mentioned this on the blog before: my theory that boat that is laid-up for 7 months has just as many things break as one in use over that time. Here is a fine crack that I found in the bobstay (on the bow of the boat). Fortunately the builder, Phil at Outbound Yachts, was able to supply me with new one.

Now this next item isn't really maintenance, it is enhancement. Our new insurance company that covers us for the Indian Ocean requires an automated fire extinguisher system for the engine room. The red bottle in the upper left is ready to leap into action if needed.

We haven't used the dinghy outboard for almost a year. We dropped the outboard on the dinghy, put in some fresh petrol and fired her up. She ran for maybe a minute and half and then died and would not restart. So I did wat I have always done with these 2-cycle Tohatsu, pull the carburetor, take all the way apart, soak it over night in some cleaner, blow it all out, reassemble and try again. Pretty disappointing when she didn't fire back up and I was soaked with sweat from playing tug-a-war with it.

So, we put the outboard on our trusty, 10 year-old, Costco foldup cart, flagged down a taxi and headed into town to the 'motorcycle shop near the KFC' ---- that being the exact directions we had to find the place. Worked perfectly. They had the outboard for a day and sent me a Whatsapp message that it was ready. 90 Malaysian Ringits (USD $22), 2 new spark plugs, new gear oil and gasket, a carburetor adjustment and it was running fine. Very good investment. 

When we arrived back on the boat we found our lower backstay parted. It was made of 9mm Dyneema and broke in an area that has nothing to chafe on. Strange.

We found a good rigger, Chris at YachtWorx, over in a nearby marina, Telaga. That inspired us to get of our berth in Rebak and motor over to Telaga, not a long trip but a real break from being in one place for so long. Finding a rigger who knows what they are doing is one thing, but a rigger gives you specific dates to do the work and actually shows up on those dates is golden.

We got out a on some day excursions to check out some of the local handicrafts.

Chris and Anne got in a complete blur checking out the Batik cloth.

We did buy this recently finished batik. We now just need a wall large enough to display it --- someday. 

Chris and Anne (from Time Bandit) got out to a fancy lunch at local upscale hotel.

This is what they called lunch.

We even got dragged out on hike up to the waterfalls before the new MCO (Movement Control Order) went into effect.

With the MCO they closed the swimming pool at Rebak, putting an end to our afternoon relaxing swim. Must be time to leave?

With less people around the monkeys take over the hiking trails again.

Here we are in the back of a taxi waiting to get past a police roadblock. During the MCO you are only allowed to travel a maximum of 10km from your house and have a mx of 2 people in the vehicle (plus driver if a taxi).

We decided that we really needed to do some kind of a shakedown cruise before we leapt into the Indian Ocean. That brought us to circumnavigating Langkawi Island. Since we had all the sails off the boat during storage, everything had to be re-rigged. It is simply amazing how many lines there are on a sailboat and how ways there are to run them wrong. Every sail we raised needed at least one line rerun or adjusted.

Our first night at anchor we had nice view of he western horizon looking at the Andaman Sea (the eastern side of the Indian Ocean).  You can see the horizon is covered with bright green lights. These are the local squid boats out for their all-night squid hunting.

Hole-In-The-Wall was the most interesting anchorage we had while going around Langkawi. This is the narrow entrance.

Georgia anchored under the towering cliffs.

There are miles and miles of mangrove creeks to dinghy explore here.

Not that much wild life around, but these Brahminy Kites (at least I think that's what they are) like the updrafts.

Getting ready to raise he anchor and head back out of Hole-In-The-Wall for a good days sail.

One thing about Langkawi that is disappointing is the water just isn't clear. Pictures like this fool you.

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Now we did hear that there were a few changes back in the US.

That's the end of a pretty random blog post. I'll get one out in a few days discussing our upcoming Indian Ocean passage.

Paul

Merry Xmas from Georgia

 

We are trying to turn a new leaf and work on our recycling for 2021. Hence the recycled Christmas card. Either way, it's the thought that counts and we wish you all a far superior 2021 (relative to 2020).

Fortunately Santa checked his list carefully and decided to visit us for Christmas on Rebak Island. As I understand it there has been some serious loosening of the good boy/good girlness required to get on the list this year due to the Covid restrictions. Santa stopped by after our Christmas dinner and dropped off a piece of candy for everybody. Hey, its better than a lump of coal or for that matter most of 2020.

Stay Healthy

Paul and Chris 

Quarantine Freedom

 

 

We've gotten a bit behind on blogging. The pictures above pretty much completely define our second and last week in quarantine. Anxiously awaiting the room doorbell so we could see what what our next meal would be. Except for usually being cold, the chef's at the Grand Millennium certainly tried. Being the picky eater that I am, there were a few days I went hungry. But that just made the next doorbell ring that much more exciting. If we really got bored we could look out the window at the pool. The Grand Millennium is listed as a five star hotel. Let's just say the stars are a little smaller than some five star hotels⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

On the thirteenth day we were escorted down he haul with a bunch of other PUSs (Person Under Surveillance) to a lobby at the end of the hall where we all got RTK tests. These are fast, finger stick tests or Covid. If you tested positive then you got a PCR swab up the nose. We were both negative. In addition to doing the tests, they let us know at quarantine is now 10 days and not 14. A little late for us, our flight out wasn't until the next day.

Next morning we checked out of the hotel with the KKM (health department), the hotel front desk and then the police. We were no longer officially a PUS. We grabbed a cab to the airport and lugged our 4 large bags in. In the picture above I am using the required app, My Sejahtera, to scan the QR code (square barcode) on the sign in front of an airport restaurant. This does three things. First it allows it to look like you are doing something before walking into the store or restaurant. You are also supposed to take your temperature, write it down on the provided sheet and then wash your hands with the alcohol provided. Second it tracks where you go in case a Covid case is later traced to that place and last it lets you quickly look up the risk of the place, eg how many cases have been detected within 1 km in the last 14 day. Remember this is all in a country that has between a fifth and tenth as many Covid19 cases as Washington State per capita.  

We landed in Langkawi and headed to ferry dock for Rebak Island. As you can see, its not a big ferry

After a few days of cleaning up Georgia and tracking down some parts and she was ready to launch.

The view from Georgia in the water - looking back on the TravelLift and the hardstand where she spent the last 7 months.

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Now I bet that our reader thinks that I as going to end this blog with a nice Christmas theme. You'll have to wait till tomorrow for your virtual holiday card. But now, for some important info:

Since there's been a lot of interest in vaccines lately, have you considered the fact that all of the people who had the smallpox vaccine in 1798 are now dead? Just something to think about.

Paul

  

Quarantine, Malaysia Style

 

The night view of Kuala Lumpur from our 18th story hotel room

The cold, morning view from our driveway in Bellingham (actually Ferndale) that we left behind. We rented a car and drove two hours to Seattle to spend the night in a hotel nearby the airport in order to catch our early morning flight. At the hotel I let Google guide me to the best Thai restaurant near our hotel for dinner. So I called Mango's to get some Phad Thai ordered for take out. I asked the lady if I could order beers to go with it. There was a long pause and then a very hesitant response, "We only have .......... Bud Light". It was clear that she knew that that isn't beer and was embarrassed to offer it. She quickly followed this up letting me know that there was a liquor store next door with all types of beer -- problem solved.

Next morning I dropped Chris off at the airport in the early dark with our 4 checked bags plus carry ons and then headed off to drop off the rental car. First hangup was checking into our United Airlines flight (Seattle to San Francisco to Narita to Kuala Lumpur). The check in agent said we had to produce Covid test results and some unknown paperwork. I quickly pushed back and pulled out my stack of official Malaysian stamped paperwork. She just as quickly decided that she didn't want to hassle with it so early in her shift and passed us through. 

We were pretty cautious about trying not to catch Covid and die. That included our KN-95 masks (made and tested in China) plus a clear face shield. The entire 25 hour travel time we felt pretty well socially distanced with perhaps the exception of the shuttle train that you have to take in Seatac airport to the international terminal. There was no apparent attempt to make this safe with the exception of asking for masks.

In San Francisco we were called up to the ANA airlines desk (Japanese) and asked for our Malaysian entry paperwork. They carefully went through it all and seemed to know what was needed. Then after two ANA flights and6 movies we landed in Kuala Lumpur at midnight. We both got PCR tests with deep nostril and throat swabs, filled out paperwork, paid for our quarantine time, got our passport stamped for a 90 day visit and then sat and waited for our Premium Package quarantine driver to show up. You can can choose between a Standard Package and a Quarantine Package. With the standard package the officials place you in a hotel. This is based on which of the quarantine approved hotels has room. Sometimes it will be one of the "5 star" Premium Package hotels. In theory you get a food upgrade with the Premium Package and a nicer room. I'll comment more when we get out of jail. After an hour our driver showed up. We grabbed our bags from the carousel storage area, our escort took us through customs who didn't look up and then onto the pickup area. Here the bags go on the ground and get sprayed down with disinfectant. 

We arrived at the Grand Millenium hotel at 4am. They took us in through a side door to a side lobby and did a very brief check in. They gave us a hotel key card that is only good for one time use --- you can check-in but you can't check-out. Escorted us while in full hazmat dress to a utility elevator and told us to go to our room on the 18th floor.  

Speaking of food, we get 3 deliveries a day like this plate plus a late afternoon tea with cakes. The hungrier I get, the better the food tastes. You aren't allowed knives, alcohol or smoking while being a PUS - Person Under Surveillance. As I understand it the no knives rule is to discourage suicide.

Our "5-star" hotel is a little tired. The toilet didn't flush well, so after a couple of calls to the front desk they sent up the maintenance man. Like everyone we deal with here, he was dressed in a hazmat suit including face shield.

Our days are packed with watching CNN, BBC and a few movie channels -- while eagerly awaiting the next meal. We get up in the morning and after tea and coffee, we carefully make a schedule for the day. So far there hasn't been anything on the schedule yet, but I think the discipline is good for us. We also grab our phones and go into the tracking app for Malaysia and answer a brief, daily health questionnaire. 

In the day view from room (above) you can see the nice rooftop pool on the right. That's all we can do to -- see it.

Paul

  

President Elect J'Biden

 

OK, we knocked off another presidential race prediction. Running two for two for the last couple of elections. It's nice to see how graceful and cooperative the looser has been.  It is even nicer that he is no longer dominating the airwaves. Its a slow reduction of chaos.

I've noticed that a number of the conservative media hosts have had trouble pronoucing the first name of Vice President elect Harris. - Kamala. At the same time seems like all tbe talking heads are getting the pronunciation of President elect Biden correct - J'Biden.

I was planning on going into a deep analyses of how the country ended up voting roughing 80 million to 74 million, and how close 3/4 of the country didn't  vote with the left progressive side of the Democratic party. But if I did that then this wouldn't be a cruising blog and I'd risk loosing my reader. It's pretty easy to loose your single reader if you come down on both sides of an issue.

Back to actual cruising plans, we fly to Kuala Lumpur on 11/30. We'll spend 14 days locked up in hotel. Should be out of quarantine and back to Langkawi around Dec 16, if all goes well.  Our current plan is to launch Georgia and repair all the things that broke cause they didn't get used for the last 6 months. Then we'll  head across the Indian Ocean in late Jan. Hopefully with a stopover in Chagos and then on to the Seychelles. Might add the Maldives to the list. At least that is 2021 Plan A. Given that we had to go to the Greek letters for Plan id's in 2020 in a similar pattern as the Atlantic hurricane season naming did, I'm not holding out for much in Plan A to actually make it to execution.

We had a fleeting thought about changing plans when we heard all of tbe good news on vaccines. Maybe we should stay put and wait for a Covid vaccine. On second thought ---------- that would put us sitting out what looks to be the worst of the infections peaking over the next few months. We might as well spend that time in a place with a far lower infection rate.

Next up, a blog from our quarantine hotel.

A reminder for the holidays

A Zoom Thanksgiving

Is better than an ICU Christmas

Octember Weather

 

Summer is good and over here in the Pacific Northwest. Local berries are no longer in the grocery stores. It's cold with spells of rain. Typical for when October blends into November: Octember. Now that our mail-in ballots are here we can plan to return to the boat in Malaysia. That is after we resolve the debate on who to vote for. Many of our international cruising friends look at us and want to know how could the US elect a president like the one we have. That is the international cruising crowd with the possible exception of male Australians, who seem to often have a penchant for the orange-haired leader.
The best explanation I've seen for the Trump phenomenon is that 80% of the country knows he is an asshole. 40%, or half, love him because of it and the other half hate him for it. In 2016 I predicted Trump would win. In 2020 I predict he is going to get his ass handed to him. We'll see.
The other day we were shopping in the local Costco. We both slipped into daydreams about how easy it would be to provision the boat if we could do it here. The shelves are stocked high here. About the only thing in short supply is ammunition at the gun shops. Want to get ammo for your newly acquired Glock? Limit 5 boxes per customer. Even Costco is now carrying the old military style ammo boxes. If you have been collecting guns over the years here, then now’s a nice time to list them online so you can get 4 or 5x return on your investment. It’s reported that 40% of gun purchases are first time buyers this year. Pretty crazy situation. 

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It has been a journey trying to figure out how we can be reunited with Georgia.  The Malaysian borders are closed to tourists and the US is on the high risk list of countries. Malaysia is seeing a new wave of Covid cases like much of the rest of the world. Compared to Washington state they are at about 1/5  to 1/10 the infection rate per capita (depending on when and what you compare). And Washington is one of the better states in the US for Covid-19 control.
The first plan to reunite with Georgia was to have her delivered to Singapore and then do a "crew transfer" where we would fly into Singapore and the delivery crew would fly back to Malaysia. Singapore is one of the worlds largest shipping ports. They have a very detailed procedure for crew transfers on and off these ships. We had hoped to sneak into this procedure. In the end it seemed like it might be possible, but expensive. We would be paying a delivery crew for close to a month as they had to deal with multiple country quarantines.
Then we got wind of a couple of UK cruisers who got permission to reunite with their boat.  We headed up to the Malaysian immigration site and applied online for special permission to reunite with Georgia. We explained that she is our only home, that we will be spending significant money readying her to cross the Indian Ocean with the local establishments, etc. They quickly responded with a single entry permission beginning Dec. 1. We are allowed to fly to Kuala Lumpur. We will be met at the airport and transferred to a local hotel for a 14 day quarantine stay. Then a Covid test and we are free to continue on to Langkawi.  At least that's the current plan.

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To keep myself busy and stave off additional mental decline, I needed a project. I found this 1955 Shopsmith woodworking tool in a barn near here. The owner wanted it to go to a good home and offered it for $100. What a steal. They still make these machines and the new parts fit the old system.

Pulled the thing entirely apart, found the original paint color and got her looking pretty, This thing is a drill press, table saw, lathe, jointer, planer and boring machine, all in one.

Till we make it to quarantine.

Paul