Sailing from Malaysia to Thailand

Leisurely trip over to Koh Adang Thailand today. Beautiful weather, blue skies mild dry air, light winds.

We plan to have Christmas dinner on Boxing day with Tina and She can of SV Aurelia.

We shall take a week or so and with our way yo to Phuket.

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Langkawi Malaysia after 3 nights of motor-sailing

We're anchored in the Fjord in the south part of the islands around Langkawi yesterday before noon. The passage was 90% relaxing and 10% tense due to either traffics or hard winds. The Malacca Straits are just not fun.

The yacht in the photo is SV Aurelia belonging to our friends Tina and Stevan from Australia.

Departed Singapore

Departed SIN at 7:13am local time. The marina was very rolly; however the city is fun. Heading to Langkawi to meet SV Aurelia for Christmas.

Hari Raya in Bali

We are in Lovina for another week and it is holiday season here.  This past week was a Balinese Hindu holiday and the workers from our construction project were off with their families.  Ibu Ketut who operates Sari House where we stay was also visiting the temples and her family.

Ibu Ketut of Sari House in Lovina Bali

Since there were holidays mid-week, it meant that Roland, the contractor for our house, was a bit more relaxed than usual.  There were no staff working at his home nor kindergarten for the kids, so he and his wife stayed home.  However, there was work to do.  Susan and Roland spent a couple of hours going over the plans Susan had worked out for the gardens at Villa Cengkeh.  We also had some excellent coffee and pastries while enjoying the Christmas tree.

Susan with Roland Leijten, Tropis Living Bali

Roland and family

Back in Bali

The crew is in Bali and SV Villa G is in Singapore.  We flew down 3 days ago.  Bali is having flight disruptions again.  This time due to a volcano on nearby Lombok Island.  We were lucky and the winds were moving the plumb away from Bali and our flight operated.  Late, but much better than cancelled!  We were on Air Asia.  The head flight attendant was Ms Maria Marguerita whose Indonesian has a Spanish accent.  We were on a flight with here last July from Darwin to Bali too. Who could forget an Indonesian name like that?

We spent two nights in Kuta so that we could go shopping with Roland looking for doors for Villa Cengkeh.  We can recommend staying at the Fontana Hotel on Jl Dewi Sri.  It is designed by the reknown Balinese architect Popo Danes.  You can get a great deal there in the off season and it is very convenient for shopping.  We were successful is finding the doors we needed and have now gone over to the Lovina area and are staying in Kalibukbuk at Sari House.  A nice guest house operated by Ibu Ketut (+65 877 6258 8191).  It is only 50 meters from Buda Bakery and Restaurant which has great meals, sandwiches, salads, pastries and homemade ice cream.  Ginger and lemongrass are our favorites.

There are always fascinating things to see on the trip over to Lovina from Denpasar.

Hindu temple

Restaurant with odd statues and art

Baskets, brooms and hats, daily necessities

Republic of Singapore Yacht Club

We arrived in Singapore yesterday and berthed in the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club (RSYC) located on the southwest coast of Singapore close to the National University of Singapore.  The marina has no seawall and is adjacent to a very busy dock that is used by the boats transporting staff and goods out to the many ships at anchor.  Thus, as one might expect, there is a lot of swell working its way in and all boats here are rocking and rolling.  Fortunately we were able to get a "single" berth which means that we are able to tie dock lines on all sides and not be held onto a pontoon.  We are berthed at D11.  The staff is helpful and Zaina who manages the marine is very capable and was most responsive when I call for a berth.

RSYC

RSYC

We got our official "clearance" from Immigration by anchoring off of Sisters Island and waiting 15 minutes for their launch to come by.  No tying together, no boarding.  They have a net on a stick such as one uses to bring in fish into which one puts the paperwork and passports.  After reviewing the papers, stamping things, they are returned the same way.  The marina is about 45 minutes from the clearance anchorage.

The bars, restaurants, pool, showers and gym here are first rate.  The pontoons in the marina have seen better days.  Mostly motor vessels here and a few catamarans that do charter.  Note the blue skies in the photos.  The 3 months of smoky haze has finally been blown away.  What a relief!

There are also 3 very special boats berthed across from us.  These are from a Singapore company called Zycraft.  See zycraft.com  Their boats are manufactured from carbon fiber and carbon nanotubes and used for very specialized work.  One is even an unmanned vessel that can patrol at sea for up to 30 days at a time.

Zycraft vessels: unmanned on left, anti priate escort on right

Nongsa Point Marina, Batam Island, Indonesia

We have been comfortably berthed at Nongsa Point Marina for the past 5 nights.  When we arrived the smoke and haze was in full force and it was delightful to connect to shore power and run the air conditioning.  However, two nights later a big thunder storm came through and since then the wind has been from the northeast making the air a lot cleaner.  It is still hot and humid; what else would one expect being 60 nautical miles north of the equator?

This is a nice marine associated with a large resort.  The staff is very friendly and helpful.  Unfortunately, the are in the middle of renovating the swimming pool, so Susan has had to walk 15 minutes each day to use the pool at a sister resort.  It is the off season, so there are few guests.

We have had two delicious lunches in the resort restaurant; however, we still have a substantial amount of frozen meat from Australia, so Susan has been cooking delicious meals too.

On Monday we shall cross the strait and checkin at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club.  Villa G will stay in Singapore two months and we shall fly back to Bali to look after the house construction there.

Nongsa Point Marina, Batam Island, ID