Admiral Marina, Port Dickson

Front lobby entrance of the Admiral Marina

The Sail Malaysia 'Passage to Langkawi' rally is organized each year by a great guy named Sazli Kamal Basha.  He also does the Sail Malaysia 'Passage to the East' rally.  Sazli has a knack obtaining sponsors who pay for events during the rally.  Our $65 entry fee was paid back to us many times over by the free parties, dinners, lunches, and tours that we had.

Central Park, Malacca

Port Dickson is more or less between Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.  We took the public bus(es) with our friends Paul and Lilanne of LUNA BLU to Malacca for the day.  We made the mistake of not finding the Express Bus which cost us an extra hour in stops.  Malacca was the original main shipping/trading port for Malaysia for hundreds of years.  All trading routes between China and India/Europe go through the Malacca Straits. The port has since silted in and most shipping now goes to Port Klang.  You will sometimes see it spelled Melaka, which is the Malay name.

Entrance of the Baba and Nyonya Heritage Museum

We walked through the parks and ended up in China Town for lunch.  We did a tour of the Baba and Nyonya Heritage Museum.  This is a house of a wealthy Chinese/Malay family from the early 1900's turned in to a museum. We learned about their culture and how it was to live in this part of the world a hundred or more years ago.  We climbed 'the hill' to the Ruins of St. Paul's Church for a good view of town, met up with other cruisers for some beers and took a cab back to the marina.  Much quicker than the bus and not too much more expensive.

Statue in front of Batu Caves

The rally had a planned bus tour day of Kuala Lumpur.  We started out at the Batu Caves.  One of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India even though Buddhist and Muslim religions are also represented here.  

The stairs

It is really a beautiful massive place with 272 steps from ground level to the caves.  Women have to have their legs covered so the rent-a-sarong lady had a good thing going providing for the tourists.  A monkey thought Booker's earring was some kind of food, jumped on her and ripped it out of her ear.  Fortunately the loop pulled out and didn't damage her ear.  The monkey tried to crack it with it's teeth and smash it on concrete with no luck.  It thought it was some kind of nut.  I used the other earring to distract the monkey and he chucked the one he had on the stairs.  We were lucky to get it back.

 

Renting a sarong and the last time Booker's earring was intact.

The earring stealer.

Inside Batu Caves

Petronas Towers

We had lunch at the Petronas Towers.  They are the tallest twin towers in the world.  We've seen them in a few movies and even look bigger in real life.  The first 5 floors are just one huge mall.  Very expensive name brands which we had no interest in.

Making the handles for pewter mugs

We drove by the King's Palace but didn't go in because it was raining very hard and continued to the Royal Selangor Pewter factory.  We had never heard of Royal Selangor but it turns out that it is the largest manufacturer of fine crafted pewter.  It was interesting to see pewter products being made and how the discovery and mining of tin was a major source of economic development of this area.

Friday Night Market 'Street Food'

We did have a few free days between all these tours which came in handy to keep up with boat maintenance, etc.  The marina had a fine happy hour with marginal food and an over amplified band.  We did find good street food out at the main road and went to the Friday night market. 

Buddah's at the Kwan Yin Cave

Another bus tour was to the town of Ipoh.  We visited an organic farm/ecolodge and ate lunch at a Homestay Klawang.  We then walked through the Buddhist Kwan Yin Cave Temple.  

Ipoh Street Art

The Old Town area of Ipoh is very artsy and historic.  It is a short walk from the historic train station and mostly has Chinese influence but we had a great Indian curry at the Banana Leaf restaurant in Little India.

Team building, after the water balloon tossing exercise

As if all this was not enough, Sazli organized a team building event and lunch buffet for us.  We had four teams and had to work together and compete against other teams.  It was quite fun and educational.

Next, off we go to the marina at Pangkor Island.

JB to KL - (Johor Bahru) to (Kuala Lumpur)

Here's the layout of this part of SE Asia.  The Malaysia Peninsula is connected to Thailand and Burma (Myanmar).  Singapore is at the tip of the Malaysia Peninsula.  Eastern Malaysia is on the western part of the island of Borneo.  The Malacca Strait runs between Malaysia and North Sumatra, Indonesia.  The tides run 10-12 feet.  That is quite a bit of water to be flowing through what is essentially a river running from Thailand to Singapore.  The current is much stronger than anywhere we have been, with perhaps the exception of the Great Barrier Reef.  If you don't run the engines, you will essentially lose 6 hours while the tide is running against you.  Of course you will make that up when the tide is helping you but the day is short and night sailing is not an option with the hoards of unlit fishing boats out at night.

 

This is our first exposure to sailing Malaysia.  We should have left Marina Puteri as early as possible.  We could have obtained our port clearance documents the day prior but decided instead to wait for the office to open.  Big mistake.  The supposed outgoing tide never appeared and then the current of the Malacca Strait was against us.  This made a short day into a long slog motoring most of the way.  We anchored at Pulau Pisang (Banana Island).  We tucked up behind the island and had a good night until the land breeze started and we ended up with our stern getting slapped by waves coming across  the Strait.  Most of the Malacca Strait is less than 30 feet deep and we were told that if you want, you can just drop anchor anywhere.  A few boats did anchor off the island and apparently departed very early since they didn't have to navigate the shallows around the island.  They probably had slapping waves during the night also.

Pulau Besar (Water Island)

We had a long day as it was to our next anchorage at Water Island.  There were 6 boats anchored there when we arrived at sunset with a huge thunderstorm chasing us during the last hour.  There was plenty of lightning but we all made it through fine.  This was a nice island and would have spent a day exploring it had we not been on an agenda.  There is some type of deserted or lightly used resort on the north side of the island and beaches to land the dinghy.

We departed early for the short day sail to the Admiral Marina in Port Dickson.  This is the closest yacht facility to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

The Admiral Marina.  By far, the nicest marina we have ever stayed in.

Johor Bahru, Nusajaya, Malaysia

All prepped for us to go to the US for a month

The heat in this part of the world is oppressive so we went shopping for an air conditioner like the one we bought at Home Depot in Mexico.  Ours no longer worked because the electricity in this part of the world is 240 volts and 50 cycles.  We didn't have any luck but found out that window type air conditioners are essentially not being made any more.  Our other option was a portable unit but would it would take 7-10 days to arrive to the store.  We would be gone and didn't want to deal with the delivery, etc so I found a better one online and ordered it to arrive when we returned from the US.

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We prepped the boat for extended unattended operations.  We took a few busses to the Singapore Airport and flew to Philly through London Heathrow.  I was able to go to my 40th year High School reunion.  We winterized the houses, pressure washed, stained decks, and enjoyed the nice fall weather and smokeless skies.   We flew back almost a month later through Los Angeles and Hong Kong, to Singapore.  We had just flown around the world.

Hong Kong skyline looking south

When we arrived, the rest of the Sail Indonesia Rally boats had filled up the Puteri Marina.  It was nice to get reunited with all our friends.  We have joined the Sail Malaysia Rally to Langkawi.  This rally is much shorter.  500 miles in 6 weeks vs. 2500 miles in 3 months.  It is a marina to marina rally and proves to be very social. 

By being in the Malaysia Rally, we get a 50% discount on berthing and boatyard storage at Pangkor Marina.   They use a trailer system to haul the boats which we have never used but they seem to think all will be fine.  Since we are finally out of the Southern Hemisphere and in an area where there is no cyclonic activity, our cruising season is not determined by seasonal weather.  For 3 years, we haven't been able to spend summers in New Jersey.  This year it looks like we can work that back into our lives.  Laying up Tortuguita at Pangkor Marina will also make it easier to base out of Malaysia and be able to travel by land around Southeast Asia.

The air conditioner was waiting for us at the office and will be well needed and used in these marinas. http://www.sailmalaysia.net/rally/schedule-of-events.html

The sponsoring marina stops are:

Hong Kong Streets

1.  Puteri Harbor, Johor Baru

2.  Admiral Marina, Port Dickson

3.  Pangkor Marina, Pangkor Island

4.  Straits Quay Marina, Penang

5.  Rebak Marina, Langkawi

We are planning to haul out at Pangkor but will go to Penang and then return back to Pangkor.  Langkawi will have to wait until next year on our way to Thailand.

The Singapore Strait

The Singapore and Malacca Straits are the most active waters in the world for piracy.  The good thing is that the pirates have no interest in hostage taking nor anything to do with sailboats.  They are mostly after cargo and fuel tankers.

The Singapore Strait is also the busiest waterway in the world.  It is about 20 miles across, has traffic lanes, and on this day, totally obscured by smoke.

We are about to turn and pass behind this massive tanker.

We departed Nongsa Point early for a 55 mile day with no wind to cross the Singapore Straits and clear in at the Puteri Harbor Marina, Johor Baru, Malaysia.  We had never seen so much shipping in one place.  We ran parallel to huge vessels and turned to cross behind them when they passed us only to have one come from the other direction so we would make a 180 and do the same thing again.  Each time chiseling away at the shipping lane finally to arrive on the Singapore side.  The AIS and Radar were indispensable.

This is a picture from our AIS display of the South tip of Singapore and the Strait.  The green triangles are ships.  The purple lines are the tracks from moving ships over the past 20 minutes.  The ships with black dots are anchored, the rest are moving.  The green line extending from the ship ending in a green circle tells where the ship will be in 20 minutes.  

Oil Drilling platforms being made at the Singapore Shipyard

We cut through anchorages to avoid moving boats and finally made it to the Western Reach.  This river, on the west of Singapore, would take us Puteri Harbor.  After three hours, we pulled in to a beautiful marina built in front of a shopping mall.  There were restaurants, shopping, and after 3 months of only Indonesian Bintang Beer, we now had wine and beer from all over the world available right in the marina complex.  Not only that, every place had Happy Hours that covered most of the day.

Puteri Harbor Marina

Tortuguita is at the end of the left pier.

Indonesia Recap

We really had a great time.  The Sail Indonesia Rally was definitely worth it.  Indonesians were very welcoming and grateful that we were visiting their country.  We learned enough of their language to get by.  We were greeted like Rock Stars. We were treated like we were famous world travelers.  

We even made the front page of the newspaper.

We ate like kings for essentially nothing.  We saw animals found nowhere else.  We made safe passages in poorly charted waters.  We didn't get the engine intake or propeller fouled with plastic trash.  We didn't hit any fish traps.  We got an understanding of foreign religions and cultures.  We met some great people.  That makes for a pretty successful 3 months.

To Batam

After leaving Borneo we had hopes of making some nice landfalls at the islands of Belitung, Bangka, Lingga, and the Riau chain. Instead, the smoke essentially chased us all the way to Singapore. Normally we look for anchorages on the downwind side of an island. This is where, unfortunately, the most smoke and blowing ashes are found. Instead we did the opposite and anchored upwind which gave us an uncomfortable rolling but saved our lungs somewhat. We left Belitung a day early because the smoke was unbearable. 
 

Sunset pushing into the smoke

We bypassed Bangka completely since the anchorage was downwind of two forest fires, and made a quick stop to sleep on the upwind side of Lingga. The Riaus were better and we sailed during the day and stopped every night. At this point, we had made the decision to hurry to Malaysia and fly back home for a month for house projects. Also we hoped the air would clear by the time we got back.





We crossed the equator northbound in the Riaus. That also happened to be 180 degrees of longitude from home. We are now on the other side of the world. This also coincided with the Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse and the Autumnal Equinox.

Crossed the equator. (Latitude in the lower right hand corner)

Life is good. We pushed through morning smog to arrive at the Nongsa Point Marina to be processed out of Indonesia. This took 2 days. Nongsa was by far the most expensive place we visited in Indonesia, and the marina really had nothing special to speak of.

The Forest People

The best closeup I took.  She was 5 feet away.

I have had a hard time and have been procrastinating writing this blog.  I have also reached the limits of my Olympus Point and Shoot camera on this trip.  A proper digital SLR camera is really needed for wildlife. 

The path to Camp Leakey

Mom with baby.  Mom's drinking the vitamin milk.

Just like the Komodo dragons, I find it difficult describe our experience with the orangutans to the extent that it deserves.  It's one of those 'need to be there' type of places and was for sure one of the coolest things we have ever done.  Fortunately, this is one of the places that non-boaters can actually get to.  There are daily flights to the Pangkalan Bun Airport (PKN) from Jakarta and a few nice hotels to choose from in Pangkalan Bun.  From there, Harry's Yacht Service will set you up with whatever you need for your 2 or 3 day trip. http://harryyachtservice.blogspot.co.id/

Junior, Mom, and Baby

The word orangutan comes from the Malaysian language.  Orang means Person, Utan means Forest.  Orangutans are only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.  We did a two day trip to the Tajung Puting National Park to see these Great Apes in their natural habitat.  Unfortunately that habitat is rapidly disappearing due to deforestation.

Trying to squeeze around the fence post

Orangutans share 97% of our DNA which is actually less than the chimpanzee, but the 97% appears to be in the parts of the human genome that actually matter.  So orangutans appear to be much more closely related to humans than chimpanzees.  They are among the most intelligent primates, orangutans are adept at using a number of sophisticated tools to gather food and also make sleeping nests each night from branches and leaves. research suggests that different orangutan groups acquire different skills which are maintained and transmitted in a population through social learning.

The babies never let go of their mothers

We visited 3 park stations.  The rangers put out bananas and vitamin milk at the daily feedings.  During the dry season, there aren't many forest fruits to eat so there are many more orangutans visiting the platforms at feeding time.  During the wet season when forest fruits are more plentiful, there may not be any visiting apes. 

When you can't carry baby and bananas, just shove the bananas in your mouth

Orangutan rehabilitation used to be done here but now is only done at Sepilok, Sabah in Malaysian Borneo.  Baby orangutans are illegally poached for pets.  The mothers are killed by the poachers since they will fight to the death rather than give up their baby.  These babies are sooner or later found and returned for rehabilitation.  Babies are also orphaned because their mothers were killed intentionally by illegal logging and deforestation.  They haven't learned the necessary skills to survive in the wild from their mothers so caretakers raise them like their mothers would have done.  

Moms take the kids for a snack

Princess, an orphan rehabilitated  in the 80's was taught sign language by her caretaker.  She is now a mother and still lives in the Tajung Puting and comes for feedings.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-intimate-ape/201004/losing-the-battle-wits-orangutan

They should get rid of these pigs

We went to Camp Leakey on our first day.  We were the only ones there since all the flights had been cancelled for the past two days due to poor visibility from the smoke.  There were wild boars by the feeding platform eating scraps and peels that fell on to the ground.  The orangutans seemed to be bothered by them and we did hear that a baby was killed by one a year ago.

Ready for the Olympics?

It's difficult to describe the feeling when waiting for and watching these great apes.  Initially you will see a tree moving in the distance.  As the female orangutan, who weighs around 85 pounds, swings and climbs closer and closer to the platform, the trees are bending, shaking, and cracking.  They may sit on a branch, watch, wait, look at us, look at the boars, look at the bananas, and finally just saunter on down.  They seem to not want to touch the ground and will go out of their way and even use tiny trees, that look like they wouldn't even support a bird nest, to make their way across the jungle.  

 Their balance is incredible and they are ten times stronger than humans.  Their feet are just like their hands.  They have four fingers and opposable thumbs. They will hang from anything available from any available appendage.    Like humans, they have no tails.

A few times, they came right through our group from behind.  We were mere feet from these big hairy apes but there was never any sense of fear from either us or these apes.  There was a sense of calm and peace as they worked their way through us toward the bananas, carrying their babies, or holding hands with their adolescents.

More bananas 'to go'

On our second day, flights were again operating and there were more people at the morning feeding at the Pondok Tanggui Station and the afternoon feeding at Tanjung Harapan.  We saw the dominant male, Gundal, at Harapan.  I missed the photo of a lifetime because my camera's memory was full.  With all that hair and weighing close to 200 pounds, he looked tremendous.  Giant trees bent under his weight.  Treetops shook like King Kong was moving through the jungle.  All other orangutans left the platform when he came.  He stayed just a few minutes then moved on into the jungle leaving only the sound of breaking branches and shaking leaves.

It is a real shame that these gentle, timid forest people are being driven to extinction like many other species on earth.