And we're back in the water!

I never thought this day would come but for the love of Pete (and some understanding immigration officials in Malaysia) we are finally back in Telaga.  After an uneventful launch from G&T we discovered our anchor windlass (with the new $800 motor) needed replacing.  We discovered this when it decided to quit working at 10:30 at night with the moon not yet risen.  Anywhoo…nothing a well placed mooring ball and a reliable credit card won’t fix (can you get a credit line increase without a job????).  Our trip was uneventful except for the strange emotions passing throughout the boat.  Knowing this was our last “cruise” together was bittersweet.  Thailand, not being our favorite place in the world, was a weird way to end it.  But I think we did our best and thanks to some McKaskle style provisioning and a goofy kid on board, we pushed through just fine.

So today we checked in to Malaysia (some day I’ll tell the story why that was a big deal) and tried to rent a car to do all the work horse type things we need to do, but no cars were available so we decided to be tourists instead.  We took a taxi (too much walking in Phuket made us quick to jump in the car) to the Oriental Village not too far from the anchorage and we did all the silly things we put off last time.  We rode the skycar up the hill to a beautiful view of the anchorage and marina and well, all of Langkawi.  We experienced a silly 6D film that had us riding a roller coaster through the desert.  Jake got to fulfill his dreams of running with the hamsters by zipping himself up in a plastic ball and running around a pond.  Don’t ask me the draw, but I’m glad he did it because I haven’t laughed that hard in awhile.  And finally, we rode the paciderms (aka Elephants!).

A great view of our anchorage
and the marina.  Andy tried to show where Savannah is.

I had high hopes as did the rest of the crew, but in the end, I felt sorry for the poor old elephant.  He looked run down and rode hard.  We took an extremely expensive 10 minute stroll through the “trail” and enjoyed the view from above and the whole novelty of it.  But in the end, it didn’t hold a candle to our 5 minute ($7) trot with the camels in Australia.  To be fair, we’ve been blessed with a lot of time with elephants…we used to live near and were very good friends with the elephant trainer in Norfolk, VA.  So we’re not new to the gentle giants.  But I kind of felt like I should apologize to the old guy for making him walk in circles for our enjoyment.  But we did “ride an elephant in Malaysia”  so CHECK on that box.

Speaking of boxes, tomorrow we pick up our first round (and hopefully ‘only’ round) of boxes to begin sending our stuff back to the US.  I don’t know if we’re sad or excited or anxious or just want to get the damn thing over with.  At any rate, it’s going to start tomorrow and be done in a few days.  In the meantime, Jake has met a few new friends and been enjoying the beach close by.  It’s cool being a cruising kid… a few kids come by in a dinghy, they say hi, you jump in, you tell your parents “we’ll be on channel 8” and off you go.  Andy and I actually circled the anchorage tonight wondering which boat he actually went to.  I think they’re now calling this “free range parenting” at home.   You don’t know how long I’ve been trying to fit that into a blog. 

I hope you all enjoy the pics.  We did.  More to come soon…packing out, shipping out, flying out and heading to the marina for the final listing.  Stay tuned.

Some pics of Jake for the grandparents and some updated pics of Savannah with her new lipstick on.

New Trampoline, wood, and fresh deck paint.

More new paint.

and more paint...

Shiny new transmission, the reason for all the woe.

New upholstery.

Hauled out in Thailand

Here we are about to come out of the water (pulled
by a tractor attached to a large cable).

We’ve been hauled out now for almost a month and with the exception of waiting on a new transmission, things seem to be going pretty well.  Before we came to Thailand, we did a lot of research on boat yards both here and in Malaysia.  We heard nothing but horror stories about Thailand – things taking twice as long as quoted, twice (or three times) the amount quoted, and even so much as holding your boat hostage until you pay more money – so we put a fair amount of effort into trying to find a yard in Malaysia.  Unfortunately, no one would respond to our emails and phone calls.  We decided that wasn’t a good sign and could be an indication as to how they ran their yard.  We had an appointment with a yard in Satun, Thailand (at the recommendation of a fellow cruiser) but then we met up with a couple that tipped us off to G&T.  Owned by Gerry and Toi (hence the ‘G&T’), it’s located in Phuket, just south of Apo Marina and specializes in catamarans, mainly because there is a huge mud flat that you have to cross at high tide.  We only had a meter under us when we hauled.  We emailed Toi and immediately got a response so we decided to go for it.

Halfway through powerwashing...dirty, dirty, dirty

So far, I’m impressed.  Immediately after we were out of the water, the guys went to work on the pressure washer and we met with Toi with our list of things we needed.  She’s a project manager type and got to work right away on lining up people for our needs.  We had an upholsterer and woodworker show up the same day and an appointment with a mechanic within the hour.  She directed us towards someone who would make us a new trampoline and immediately ordered our bottom paint.  

The primer is on...looks better already.

More primer for the front deck.  Jake likes the red.  He thinks
we should paint the whole boat that color.

Engine, sans transmission.  Still waiting.

A few weeks later and everything is pretty much finished with the exception of our transmission.  It took a week for the guy to show up and another week for him to tell us we needed new parts.  It took us nearly another week to find anyone who would call us back, only to find out it’s cheaper to get a whole new transmission than 6 tiny little parts.  So here we sit, waiting on a part to get from Holland to the US (MA to be exact…aren’t they snowed in?) and then from the US to Langkawi and then finally here to Thailand.  I have nothing good to say so I’ll just move on.

The only other bad experience we had was with the woodworker.  We had two fairly small projects – replacing the middle strip on our front deck (10 planks of hardwood) and a new table top (we’re quite attached to ours and want to take it home as a keepsake).  They quoted us 16,000 baht (over $500 USD) for the 10 planks and 16,000 baht for the table top (we didn’t even ask for legs!).  We said no and Gerry took Andy to a local wood shop.  We ended up getting the 10 planks for 3,000 baht ($100 USD).  Later, we found out they had tried to snow over some other folks as well.  They ordered (and charged them for) teak cabinets and they showed up painted.  When they made them take the paint off, they found out it wasn’t teak at all.  Oops….  So I say, if you’re in Phuket and looking for a woodworker, avoid Nai – I believe their shop is near Yachthaven Marina (for full disclosure, our friends seemed happy with their work...I think they were just here too long and expectations fell).  As for the table…we found a really cool piece of wood for 450 baht ($15 USD) and we’re sanding and refinishing it now.  I think it’s going to look really nice.

As for any other review…I’ll post them on my notes over in the Cruising Notes section so as not to bore the general population.

Other good things about G&T…they have “bungalows” for you if you don’t want to stay on your boat.  Bungalows is in quotes because it’s actually a small trailer, but they’re pretty nice…clean, air conditioning, satellite tv, bed, and hot showers.  There’s also a small fridge, hotplate (that burns everything) and sink for washing dishes.  We’re actually feeling quite spoiled.  Jake said he could live here for a year.  I think we’ve raised a son with low expectations for his living space…we should be ok when we get home!  Andy sleeps on the boat at night because the mattress here is killing his back, but he’s certainly enjoying the tv and air conditioning.

It’s not all perfect.  Thai time is in effect which means that every appointment or conversation happens at least an hour past what time you expect it to happen, or even a day or two. Internet sucks, so I have to either stand on the other side of the boat yard in one particular spot (in the hot sun) with my iPad in my hand, or walk up the street to the internet café.  We’re not really close to anything so we have to borrow someone’s truck or rent a car or walk (that actually hasn’t been much of an issue for things we need, but it’s kept our touring down quite a bit).  While the materials here are cheap, if you’re dealing with someone who specializes in yachts, you can bet they’re going to stick it to you.  I’m pretty sure we’re getting screwed on at least two items, but there’s really nothing you can do about it when it’s the only option you have.  But whenever we get frustrated, we just look at our neighbor and see all the issues he’s having and count our blessings.

In general, living in a boatyard sucks, but it doesn’t suck so bad here.  With that said, we’re all ready to get back on board and back in the water.  Counting down the days…  "After" pics to follow!

BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand...

...thankfully, we didn't have to break out quite that much in Kota Kinabalu.  Two weeks in KK gave us just enough time to fix our dinghy motor, fix our refrigerator, and stock up on groceries.  It is true what they say about cruising…it’s traveling from one exotic port to another fixing crap.  I would add to that ‘and buying groceries.’

Jake, roughing it at the marina pool.

We did manage to have a little fun though.  We swam in the many pools at the resort, we toured the museum, and we spent a few nights at the ‘night market’ eating local food and getting ourselves acquainted with the culture.  A few things I’m not sure I’ve mentioned yet…Malaysia is predominately Muslim and/therefore there’s not a lot of pork or boozing going on.  This proved to be a bit of a challenge when eating out as everyone knows Andy thinks the pig is a magical animal and we both enjoy a good beer with our meal (as do our friends Lee and Richard who we were with for many meals).  But, persistence pays off and we found ourselves spending many days enjoying the food and drink of El Centro (expat bar/restaurant that was wonderful when you wanted something different than rice and curry).  Of course we enjoyed many other wonderful restaurants here…Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Seafood…in spite of trying to restart my jogging routine, I think I still gained a few pounds.

One of the four pools at the marina.

Dinner out at the night market with some of our friends.

Borneo Train Exhibit.  Very different from museums
in the US...Jake got to climb all over it.

Water Village exhibit at the Museum

Clock Tower in KK.  

One of the downsides of KK was the smell and trash.  Everything on this side of the world seems to be individually packaged.  Small bags of noodles, small bags of potato chips, small bags of shampoo, detergent, even toothpaste are sold everywhere from the largest of grocery stores to tiny mom and pops.  99% of these packages end up on the ground or in the water.  Alongside those wrappers you can bet you’ll find hundreds of plastic bottles.  Rest assured our sight wasn’t the only sense stimulated…all three of us have a keen sense of smell as well.  Our noses were challenged when hit with overwhelming bouquets of stench.  Trying to identify each smell came to be sort of a sick game we played.  Fish, poop, urine, curry, barbeque, diesel?  I’m not complaining, just wanting to make you all feel like you’re here with us…

Just one stretch of the beach covered with trash.

Yesterday, we set off for places further south.  As I type this we are sitting at anchor in front of Tiga Island, where the very first Survivor reality show was filmed.  Weather has dictated that we anchor on the north side of the island and our first trip ashore got mixed reviews.  The beach is littered with trash (I had flashbacks to the Marshall Islands), however as we ventured further into the jungle we found a trail where we saw lots of creepy crawlies, butterflies, a snake and even some monkeys.  There’s a resort on the other side of the island and we’re assuming these trails lead to and from there.  There is supposed to be a mud volcano around here somewhere as well.  That’s on tomorrow’s agenda.  If the wind switches up again, we’ll move the boat around to the resort side and see if we can find a decent beach.  In the meantime, we’re enjoying a beautiful breeze (keeping the cabin cool!) and some solitude.

Oh, This Exotic Life

As we were sitting here covered in sweat and deet the other night watching a movie, Andy and I were laughing about how “exoctic” our life is.  I know everyone at home thinks we sit around on beaches and drink margaritas all day (and sometimes we do), but the last few weeks have been some of the most un-romantic days we’ve had in a while.  So, just for fun, I thought I would share some pictures of some random things that drive me crazy about this little boat life.  I hope it makes you chuckle a little bit.

This is our mosquito scorecard.  At the time of the picture, we were 12-0 with the mosquitos and still going hard.  And for all you cruisers out there….yes, we had our screens up.

Have you ever seen those yachts that are all shiny and covered with beautiful teak, everything in it’s place, stowed away properly, tidy and neat?  Yeah, that’s not us…

This is where we go to the bathroom.  Our boat has lots of room.  Unfortunately, it’s all out in the open.  Very little space to “hide” our junk.  So, we pee and poo with our generator, compressor, vacuum cleaner and scuba tanks.  The garbage bags are temporary.  They’re full of a bunch of stuff we cleaned out of Jake’s room to give to kids in the Philippines.  We just didn’t have anywhere else to put it.  Under all that stuff is one of our engines.  Makes for an interesting time when we’re underway and you gotta go.

This is Andy’s space.  I just don’t even know what to say about this….

Welcome to our “garage.”  Here’s the other engine along with any bags we have, food stuff, extra scuba gear, rope locker, trash can.  Again, lots of room, I’m not complaining, just no doors to shut so I don’t have to look at it.

This is our power station.  That’s what you have to do when you have 2 computers, 3 iPads and a few thousand camera batteries always needing to be charged.  Too bad it sits on my “sofa.”

This is where we keep our  ????  I really don’t know what’s in there.   But it all used to be housed in four boxes and now it’s just one, so I think that’s probably the best we can do.  I do have a small iPod shuffle missing…it may be in there.

We spent a gazillion dollars replacing our battery bank.  After almost dropping one of these 150 lb babies in the water, we finally got them on board (by “we” I mean Andy and our friend Chuck), installed and jam packed with juice.  We’re reaping the benefits now, but what a pain.   AND I had to give up three full bins of storage for them.

I don’t have a picture of this one, because he’s too fast, but about once a week, I get surprised by a tiny little gecko that has taken up residence in and around my galley.  I know they’re good for bugs, but they are bad for my heart.

This has nothing to do with the boat, but bugs me every time I look at it.  You see those two big mugs on the outside?  We got those about 6 years ago at the Annapolis boat show when we bought a few “pain killers.”  See that little one in the middle?  I went to the boat show this year while I was in VA and got another one.  I paid MORE for that than we did for the big ones 6 years ago.   Irritating.

This is Jake’s latest selfie.  Well, I said I was going to show you some pictures of things that drove me crazy, right?  This little guy has days when he’s at the top of the list!

To be fair, I’m going to post this picture… probably something that would be at the top of Jake’s list of things that drive him crazy.  When mom and dad are too lazy to come look at the battle he’s having with his little men, he has to take a picture of it and bring the camera to  our room to show us.  Because those 20 steps it would take for us to go look, just seems so hard sometimes.

And the most un-exotic job of the week is being completed right now by the greatest man in the world….he’s scrubbing the barnacles and crap off the bottom of the boat.  When he comes up, our cockpit will be covered in scuba gear and Andy will be covered in tiny little shrimp.  They will die on his BCD (because they’re impossible to get off) and will stink.  His wet suit will smell equally bad and take a week to dry because well, it’s going to rain.  It always rains.

Enough whining for now…I thought you guys at home might appreciate that we have the same types of issues that you do.... things get dirty, we collect crap, boys don’t pick up after themselves, mom’s don’t always feel like cleaning, etc.  But after all of our cleaning today, we’re going to reward ourselves with some paddleboard jousting (don’t ask me) and a nice last dinner at Kramer’s with our buddy Bob.

Yep, I said ‘last dinner’...after a full month of waiting, we have finally received our parts for the autopilot.  They’ve been installed and Savannah is ready to go.  We’re going to provision up tomorrow and check out Monday morning.  So as you sit down to watch the Super Bowl Sunday night,  we’ll be dropping our mooring ball and heading out the west pass , starting our long awaited 520ish mile journey to the Philippines.   

Brining in the New Year...in Palau

We tried.  We really tried.  We just couldn’t pull it off. 

We checked out with Customs and Immigration around 10:00 on Friday and were underway by 11:00.  It’s about 16 miles from Sam’s to the west pass.  We were about half way to the pass when the autopilot went out.  We pulled into a little cove and dropped the anchor so Andy could work on it.  The motor was dead.  Luckily we had an extra.   It took Andy a bit but he finally got the new (old) spare installed.  We spent the rest of the day contemplating whether we should go or turn back around.  The spare had been sitting there for years…and it was an older model than the one that broke.  The last thing we wanted to do was hand steer the 510 miles to the Philippines.  I know lots of people do it, but we didn’t want to.

So, to make a long story hopefully not so long, we spent the next two days hiding out in our anchorage while Andy fabricated some parts to another motor trying to get us another “spare.”  On Monday morning, we had made the decision to give it a go.  Everything worked great until we were about 10 miles out of the pass.  Both motors broke within 15 minutes of each other.  We decided to turn around.

Jake, painting his dinosaur bones from a kit he got for Christmas
while Andy worked on the autopilot.

Our last sunset in Palau...or so we thought.

So here we sit, back on our mooring at Sam’s Tours, celebrating the new year.  There are definitely worse places to be stuck waiting on parts, right?

Here are some pictures from our last days before we checked out...

Saying good-bye to Sam

Last beer at Sam's

Exhausted after a day of provisioning