Part 2 of 2
Rebak Marina, Langkawi
Randy had a pretty extensive list of boat projects to be completed while we were still in Malaysia. Langkawi is a duty-free area, and the labor costs are very reasonable.
Some of the work we had done included:
Installing a fuel polishing system to clean diesel fuel and move it from one tank to another
Straightening our port prop shaft
Cleaning the boat bottom, and having new coats of anti-foul applied
Moving several water exit thru-hulls from the inside hulls to the outside (to make them easier to check while underway)
Adding two new thru-hulls, for existing pumps, so that each pump has its very own thru-hull
Fiberglass and epoxy work to repair some cosmetic issues
In order to accomplish this work, the boat had to be hauled out of the water. It was on the hard for a couple of weeks, from April 3 through April 18.
While the boat was out of the water, some monkeys paid a visit and had a nice snack of ginger lozenges (for seasickness) and a box of TicTacs! They opened some boxes in Randy's workshop and got into a jar of seasoning, but didn't make too much of a mess. We're lucky we hadn't left any other food out. After that we made sure the workers knew to secure the cockpit door before leaving for the day.
We stayed at a nice Air B&B on the main island of Langkawi, then moved to a large Islamic hotel for a few more days.
We enjoyed our time on dry land, and walked all over the city of Kuah. We ate and drank at an Irish pub, played some snooker, went to a movie theater (Godzilla x Kong with Thai subtitles), and took a VIP ride on the amazing Langkawi Cable Cars to their famous Sky Bridge. It was nice and cool at the top of the mountain, and we loved the gorgeous views.
Once the boat work was completed, we stocked up on provisions, and left Rebak Marina on Saturday, April 27. We had no wind, and the seas were flat as we motored north.
We made our way back into Thailand, and dropped our anchor around 3 pm near Koh Bulon Le.
On Sunday April 28 we headed north to Koh Rok - again, there was no wind, so we motored the entire way. We caught a mooring ball around 2 pm, and went snorkeling near the boat. We saw lots of large coral and small colorful fish. It was quite hot, so we slept with our air conditioner. We got a bit of rain overnight, and had to get up once to spin the boat off of the mooring ball.
The next morning we headed north to see the five-island group of Koh Haa. It was beautiful, and we caught a mooring ball then snorkeled off the boat. The current was strong, but the coral and fish were beautiful.
From Koh Haa we motored further north to Koh Phi Phi Le, and were able to catch a mooring ball in the popular Maya Bay. The bay is surrounded on 3 sides by sheer cliffs - it was spectacular!
Once the hundreds of tourists left, we were the only boat to stay overnight. The wind was coming in from the west, so we had a pretty rolly night.
The next morning we did some snorkeling from the boat, then headed west for Phuket. We motored into Chalong Bay, on the southern end of Phuket. There are hundreds of boats anchored in this shallow bay. We picked a spot, and dropped our anchor not far from the pier.
We had made it to Phuket, Thailand at last, and it was a great relief to relax and enjoy some downtime. Our journey from Pattaya had taken us over 1700 nautical miles, and over 2 months.
We are currently in Phuket, waiting for our renewed passports to be returned. Sunspot Baby has been loaded onto the cargo vessel Pijlgracht, a large Dutch ship. The plan is for them to make their way around South Africa with a stop in Freetown, then up to Genoa, Italy. ETA is early July.
Thanks for coming along with us on this journey, and we look forward to sharing our next adventures in the Med!
Cheers!!
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