Just Cruizin On Bluemoon

Log 84

Almost time to set sail with Tiare!!!

The excitement is like a drug in ourveins!!!! Danga Bay was full to capacity especially now that theother mooring fingers have been finished for the rally coming in fromIndonesia. Once a year they have a whole lot of boats leavingAustralia and New Zealand who all meet at different anchorages alongthe way into Malaysia then end of May somewhere in June they have onegoing back to Australia and surrounds.

Danieland Hiromi from Tiare have three sons, Sam, Tom and John or ratherTiger, and how wonderful for the kids to have some company!!

So they are more than thrilled and just so happy!!!

So after a great ' Pasta evening' with TY Amor, John and I ended up staying awake all night, closing hatches at 3am cause of the rain, and Jess having atemperature of 39! It is not nice anyone having a temp, but with Jesswe all go on high alert! Yet we serve a Mighty and faithful Father so were more than happy to have had a ' calm' night with Jess x

We all managed to have a great cuppa after finishing the stowing awayand cleaning of the deck … Bebert and Laurence from TY Amor released our mooring lines and off we glided over the water …  What an incredible adrenaline rush we all had when we realized we had no control of the helming!!! It hit us with the realization that theprops were not working like they should!!! So we managed to manoeuvre past all the docks till we hit open area so that Jono could jump into the water with Justine to clean the barnacles off the prop! We felt abit bad having Tiare float around waiting for us .. then it was off down the channel into Melakka Straits and such an awesome feeling!!

Clouds are building … now we have to weave our way through over a hundred ships!!! Mega shipping lane here!

Pretty cool seeing Singapore on one side, Malaysia on the other and Indonesia in front of us!!! There is no wind so have furled the sail away and am enjoying seeing all these houses on stilts some 500metres from land and amongst some of the ships!

It is so awesome, refreshing and just plain amazing being back on the wateragain – Mp3 on, calm, light metallic coloured water – Life isjust so good!

Wecame through a very shallow channel with the markers to kukup(coo-coop) and wow! What a cute and very busy little floating village– everything, houses etc. are on stilts – fishing boats buzzing at great speeds here and there, waving there welcome – dogs barking– a few Chinese temples and a smell of fish permeates the cockpit …and the saloon and with that some uninvited guests! Flies!!

The mooring space was quite small and so with Tiare and us both there would have been more than a squeeze, so we decided on anchoring back out by the drop off and so dropped anchor just at sunset which was lovely – made a light supper while the kids from Tiare came over to play some board games, though never got the chance as Jono and Sam were in the water cleaning the props as we could feel a shudder and stiffness while helming so were very pleased when they came back onboard just after dark with the thumbs up!!

Jono's underwater torch was put to the test and turned out to be a life saver for light!!

John and I slept in the cockpit while Jono and Justine slept on the trampolines – it was so calm with such a lovely breeze … clouds growing all the time!! 3am we all came in as the rain came down –by 9am a huge squall was passing by – Lightning .. thunder … so we all decided to wait it out before lifting anchor and moving onto Pisang Island which was only 15 miles away.

After a great cuppa – all snug in the saloon we decided to lift anchor,though it was still raining, the thunder and lightning had eased off and so another slow motor sail with the current against us, then some action! A fishing boat came speeding, and yelling towards us –shouting and waving flags at us to 'go around' so I checked with the binocs as it was hard to see anything with the glare and there were still 3 flags and buoys lined out which we had not seen so it made the day slightly longer.

Jess's temperature had also settled on 37.5 so we all relaxed a little more.We dropped anchor and were happy that the rain had cleared up! We had drinks then the fun began! The kids were jumping off the coach roof with the spinnaker halyard, swinging off then jumping into the water! What a rush!

We had Sam, Tom, Tiger and our three swinging from the halyard, having such a lot of fun! We, the adults, were having a nicetime too relaxing!! Jono and Sam headed to the beach with the kayak to find some coconuts. I had taken the opportunity to do some baking while sailing – preparing for Jono's 17th on the 6th November, the following day.

Jess and I made pasta for dinner which was shared and enjoyed by all. Then it was time to hit the sack! But of course it was not going to be an easy Night!!! A huge swell had come in and we were rocking and rolling like we were on a mono hull!! I even rolled off the cockpit chair where I was trying to sleep! Then we were slamming which was clear we were facing into the current instead of the wind and were beam on!!

So... a brand new day! My wonderful son's birthday arrives and we all hardly slept!!! Jono was the only one who had a good night's sleep!! While having a great cuppa we decided to lift anchor and head for the other side of theisland as the swells were more than 2m but very choppy and roly!! And we wanted to drink our coffee normally instead of trying the sea erobic movements!!! Tiare was right on when we lifted and both of us headed for the other side – down one swell then up another!! Richards bay was the talk all the way, because of it being just a little too familiar, till we dropped in calmer waters. Then it was time for Jono to open his gifts – Tiare arrived and we all had a great breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast. All had a nice time thenJono and Sam kayaked to the island again while we put up a fewballoons and some décor – though I am sure you know already Jonodoesn't worry about that stuff - the décor was for us girls!! LOLThough he was pleased to see the effort we had put into it. Jono andSam walked up to the lighthouse meeting the lighthouse keeper who helped them get a lot of coconuts off the trees with his bamboo hook– they spent the rest of the afternoon making the coconut fermenting mix. Later we all had a braai and Justine and Tom hadworked on the birthday cake decorations and so we all had a reallygreat day! The wind was up again though this time were were rockingand rolling in the right direction!!! A little Sumatra!! Everyone got back to Tiare okay, stowed everything down then tried to get some much needed sleep. Up early and the clouds are building again …Confirmed with Tiare and up came the anchor and off we headed for the water islands – the current against us – wind and swells right onthe nose making for a challenging trip – an all dayer!! We changed our angle trying to catch the current closer to shore and are now ona really great point of sail!! Jono at the helm, Justine sewing a costume she is making, Jess sleeping and me keeping an eye catching up on the log – Mp3s are really fantastic!! Sun out though very windy, bumpy though great!

Really great and we all love it!!

Water splashing up keeping the adrenaline running just watching those clouds growing bigger and bigger and at quite a speed!!! We hoped we would out run the humongous storm and I mean humongous!! We have a typhoon on the other side of Asia and a low pressure coming down fromThailand and so are getting all the side effects from it! 35 knots smack us and seems to suck us into this big black whirl of clouds …wet gear on, ready for action we change course again heading towards a stop over for the night – if the weather allows – so we alert Tiare that we will rather do an overnighter if the storm doesn't abate – Lightning flashing crudely around us, with the thunder making Bluemoon shudder!!!!! The ocean had picked up to some breaking waves! It felt like we were back in SA waters on a bad day!! Tiare which is a stunning wharram, 60 footer, custom made was poundingthose waves!!!!! Thank the Lord no one on Bluemoon gets sea sick otherwise it would have really been nasty!!

We decided to go easy of the lighthouse coming up, about 35 miles short of the water islands.We were drenched! Cold! And really slamming! Gosh what a day!! We went in to anchor close to shore by some fishing stakes and werereally happy to find 2 mono hulls and another cat tucked away protected slightly by the tip of the land – though not so lucky as the current yet again was SOOOOO strong that we were pounding and slamming in the waves at anchor!!! John turned the rudders which definitely made a difference and so all slept reasonably well.

It was quite nice not being in an anchorage packed liked sardines in this weather. No signal so have not had phone, or internet to check the weather status....

We gladly lifted anchor at 7am and were witness to a glorious day ahead... wind still up, righton the nose … would not have imagined it to be different!! LOL Our wind vane is playing up so have confused our lazy minds as to which direction the wind is coming from!! Pretty much North easterlies,North westerlies or westerlies which we do not like!! They can whip up an ocean real quick!! And we have been having more westerlies than we want!!

We decided to tack outtowards the shipping lane so that we could sail and not pound the whipped up meter and half choppy swells right on the nose – wasting diesel with both motors revved up going only 2.3 knots!!!!! All were thrilled to have switched off the motors! Speed up to 6.6 knots sailing - though sailing away from our intended anchorage!!!!!! Our change in angle was great as no more pounding!! Wow! It was awesome being at the helm while everyone was busy doing something else! Oooooooh!!!!!! This is the moments I love!! Our small boat sailing in this vast ocean! Somehow it quenches this spiritual hunger of body and soul for fulfilment! A feeling of total freedom surrounds me and it is awesome being one with the wind!! Music blaring in the distance of Enja makes me feel so alive! I was just totally absorbed and just could not get enough! It was time to change tack and notably the seas were rough! It was back to the pounding waves heading for the lee ofthe water islands! A very looooooooooooong 35 miler with rough choppy seas with the swells right on the nose!! Whow! We dropped anchor and were very pleased to find quite a few yachts already anchored. This is also so much more calmer and quieter which is such a nice relief to the pounding!

This island is a 'sacred' island they say as an Islamic 'saint' was buried here and so you haveevery hour, ferries coming in with loads of people wanting to visitthe grave tomb site. John heads off with Daniel from Tiare to shore while Justine and Jono decide to head to Tiare. We have had anothertwo mono's anchor right next to us! A little too close for comfort ….also we have huge great rocks on our stern …. now I do not know how these kind of things in my life happen to turn out the way they do …but our anchor alarm goes off and it is so loud the guy from the onemono jumps up searching for the sound … as it is really LOUD!! The guy on the other boat next to us jumps up and starts walking up anddown looking at our boat trying to see if the noise is coming fromour boat …. I do not turn the sound down! I walk out into thecockpit and call for Jono, waving him to come back – also while thinking it is strange the anchor alarm has gone off as when wechecked the anchor we were in solid … but the noise just put meoff! I know we are not dragging, yet we are the only boat swingingaround and facing all directions while the other boats are steady –facing the same way so it kinda looks as though we are wanderingoff!! The problem running through my mind now is, not the other boatsas such, but how close it looks to the huge protruding boulders!!!!!I check with the binocs and see John and Daniel walking into a house– so … Jono is now continuing to Tiare and is now right by TinSoldier, the boat next to us. Jono shouts back to me ' What's up?' as they are almost by Tiare. Now I am trying to be discreet here andthe wind is really blowing, the alarm really loud unnerving a fewyachties, so I yell back above the wind, or rather I tried to whisperback “ The anchor alarm has gone off!!!!' LOL!!!This guy next to usis flicking his arms around dramatically and next thing his wife isat the helm – he is hanging over the stanchion lines trying tofigure out what he should do – so I put on both motors as we have alot of chain out already and thought to just pull up the line andcheck we are in … or even just re anchor. Justine and Jono backaboard. So I am now sterning right towards their boat – well wehave never seen anyone rev motors as high or as fast as these guyswhile dragging anchor – instead of lifting anchor to move away! Itwas actually so funny! The boat on the other side of us were alsoready to lift anchor! Jono turned the alarm down after we confirmedwe were in and pulled up tight. Loooooooooooooooong story short –John had set the parameter short as it is a new open source programwe are using and he never thought to check it or to let me know so wereally had a great laugh and John was very pleased we had managed tohave the boat move and not be too close in bad weather. Kids wentashore and scouted around, had fun playing soccer on the beach – anice end to the day.

We awoke to the rising sunpushing over the horizon – Taking a deep refreshing breath and agood sip of coffee we were in anticipation of another fresh andglorious untouched day! The kids headed off to land to explore theisland while all on board Tiare headed by ferry to Melacca – justacross the bay. After a quick tidy up John and I settled down to aquiet time of reading – later John had the new water maker up andrunning. We are down to the jerry cans now of water!! But no worries– with two water makers we have no worries x It is just sowonderful being at anchor! Enjoyed a wonderful evening with Tiarethen settled down for a calm, great nights rest.

Fresh as a daisy, Ifinished my book. Kids are all off again to explore the other side ofthe island while John downloads the program for Daniel. Soft swellslick at the boats, wind is awesome right now – all calm. Tomorrowwe set sail for Port Dickson where we can fill up the diesel andwater tanks. Hopefully the wind stays NE so we can really sail!

After chatting to Tiare,we all settled down with a good cuppa while a huge squall withflashing fork lightning blew over. No way did we want to lift in that– just way to stressful for the holiday feeling!! An hour later welifted anchor and headed for Port Dickson. A tunnel of clouds weregrowing really quick and we realized we were in for a hang of a timewith this huge growing nasty squall Boy! What excitement when thesquall whipped the seas up to pounding the boat! Lightning reallyclose! And LOTS of it! It was really amazing and so bright!! Hugeflashes struck at two anchored container ships either side ofus!!!!!! Then the buildings had their turn! Crazy flashing strikesaround, random.... all of were feeling edgy at the power of thosebolts!!! Thank the Lord it missed us!! His Mighty hand of protectionalways over us x We radioed in for Tiare and us and were told P.Dickson was full because of the rally – no space … the pounding,rough seas, rain and wind really exhausts you … so we decided totake shelter in a very shallow bay, 5 miles before Port Dickson.

A low pressure in Thailand was the cause for this really bad weather.We dropped anchor in 2.1m of flat bayed water. Wow! What a change!Totally calm. Just looking to the point of the bay the water waspounding on the shore! Some breaking waves!

The horizon looked like aheart machine so we were very happy to have found this little gem ofan anchorage. Funny thing too, other mono's I guess found there wasno space either in PD, also happened to come and anchor around wherewe were – just a little further out. We found out from the kids whowent ashore that we were the first yachts to ever anchor in this bay!The resort owners were thrilled to see all us yachts anchored outthat they gave the kids free filtered drinking water for all ourjerry cans! They let them play in the games room, swim and enjoyedtheir company! Daniel checked out passage weather and let us know wehad another day of bad weather before it cleared up, so we settled into stay for another day … my eyes were actually feeling very sensitive from all the lightning we had through out the night!!

John managed to Google thearea we were in, and found a petrol station we could go to, tocollect diesel. So they headed for shore with the diesel cans fromBluemoon and Tiare, caught a taxi and filled up! The diesel was alsoway cheaper!!! The kids did a few runs for water – swam again atthe resort and were treated like Kings and Queens!!

Today is the 13thand we overslept! A calm day, mackerel clouds scattered all over thesky – but it was calm and hot for now. Guess we can expect the no wind to increase! The current is neither for nor against us. Layingon the coach roof next to the boom, I can see clearly all round –we are in-between the shipping lane and land – so no stressing.Justine is making a roast and baking - so I am a very relaxed and lazy sailor right now! So far a great day of calm compared to therough sea's we have had. These westerlies are not nice! Well – theday would not be complete if all went well or even just normal for us– something had to happen to break that calm and peace we had formost of the day!! Coming into anchor up Port Klang channel, theshipping channel, which we were in... we had a really colossalcontainer ship coming out, so we slowed down slightly while worryingthat Tiare was in the middle of the channel with oncoming ships sowere not paying full attention!! Funny how your visual perception canbe so deceiving! Next thing we are looking at how incredibly small weare in comparison to this humongous ship which we are not passingport to port that we never even considered his wake!!!!!! Well twohuge waves! As big as us … Breaking waves coming straight for us sowe turn into them while trying to stand on all the open hatches!!!And hang on for dear life! We managed to peak onto the first wavewhile worrying about Jono hanging onto the bucket upfront with thesecond anchor in it!!! We fall fast off the crest of the 1stwave like on a roller-coaster ride, nose dive right into the troughwhere we were totally immersed in sea water while the stern of Bluemoon came right out the water at the most unusual degree!! Thenthe next wave hit us just as we were coming out from the first!! Thepounding was shocking!!! We realized how powerful a force those waves were!!

Darn if only I had a camera!!!!! Everything was totally drenched!! We turn around and see that Tiare was not going to missout on this one wake though it would not be as intense! Like a littletoy boat you play with in the bath? This time I had the camera andwere taking a video of this big boat pounding in and out those swells…. now we know why you need space between you and a huge ship likethat when passing by, though I must add that we had to go up theshipping lane to get to our anchorage, and this ship was going slow …thank the Lord for that! And so our luck made for lots of chitterchatter over coffee once we had anchored just as the sun said goodnight. Spent a very rolly night with all the ships entering andleaving the channel sending their wakes to the only anchorage wherethree of us cats were.

Lifted anchor at the crackof dawn, 6:30am where it is still dark this side of the world.Standing upfront on the bow I was totally absorbed in all the richmemories running through my mind... slowly making our way up thechannel.... veering to port to stay clear of the many other fishingboats, cargo ships and tugs making their way down the channel .... towatch the 1st ray of sun pushing over the horizonpromising another unopened and expectant day ... living with eachother so many years, 24 hours a day, sharing love, trials,tribulations, happiness and pretty much every emotion possible thento be standing and facing this moment right now makes me feel like Ihave truly lived life … truly loved, truly given all I have and Ican only say that I have been so blessed!!! What a truly blessed lifeI have! If only each one of you were able to experience these amazingmoments where life seems to just stand still and fill you up withsomething that cannot be put into words....

We managed to put up themain and the Genoa and get to really sail!! Again!! NE/NW … currentagainst us … but who cares – we are sailing!!!!

Today was also the 1stday that John never took a nap!! hehehe instead the kids and himplayed crazy eights for most of the time. After having a lovely roastwhich Justine made the day before for lunch, we decided to make agreen curry and invited Tiare to join us, though we did ask them forpotatoes other wise we would have had a very poor and sad tastingchicken curry!

Another great day.Anchored close to shore then shared a great curry with Tiare makingthe best rice we have tasted in a very long time!! Our rice isbasmati so this was such a nice change! A lovely salad to go with itand we had a feast! It rained and lightning displays were had in theclouds a ways away from us. Really pretty actually. Up early againfor another long day to Pankor then one last long day to Penang. Jessat the helm and over eighty fishing boats!!!!!! Yes over eighty!!!!Looks like we are surrounded!! One seemed to aim just for us, withtwo long nets out the back. With all our sails up doing a nice speedwe noticed him edge towards us till we were so close we would havegot our props entangled in his long lines … this guy must have beensleeping!!!!!

So we have to furl in, drop the main and change course!Very disappointing!! Not for long our spirits are back up as Pankoris in sight. Still 20 miles to go, around 4 hours with strong currentstill against us! Ten two twelve already! 25 miles already done andanother 20 to go...

We spent two days inPankor – such a cute lovely quaint little village. We stopped hereon the way down to Johor though never went ashore and were now veryglad we did! We sent the kids to shore to do a rekkie for us, to findout about shops, fruit and veg shop, banking, cafe's etc... thenafter a lovely refreshing shower we went ashore, caught a pink taxihi-ace to town to go to the bank, then came back to enjoy a lovelymeal at the Sandy Beach Hotel. I ordered a dish without pineapple asmy last experience still felt like yesterday!! Well, well, well …my first mouthful of rice had a piece of pineapple which I waschewing!!!

Unfortunately I suffered terribly from just such a smallpiece of it!

The following day we went into town and did someprovisioning. Wow! Fruit, veg, chicken, watermelon and a few othernice goodies! Jono and Sam hired a bike and went exploring the wholeisland. They found a dojo studio and enjoyed playing a few games ofping pong with the locals.

The kids swam in the pool and all had areally nice time. We spent most of the morning cleaning bluemoon'shulls! No wonder we had such a dragging time!! lol The props werefull of barnacles which really was slowing us down!! Then we all wentto Tiare to clean her hulls though hers were really clean!! On bothnights we had a lot of rain, though the second night was reallyincredible with the lightning displays. It is something you have to see to believe!

One boat was struck bylightning and headed back to Johor -n Scary stuff!

We lifted anchor at6:30/7:00am which was still dark, sad to be leaving our wonderfullittle island we had got to know so much better in these last twodays...around 30 miles to the mud flats... almost near Penang, 2pmwas our ETOA and I started doing my hair treatments on the family.John, Justine, Jess, Jono and myself … hair treatment, a good washthen conditioner and a good head massage … then it was a trim andthose clouds were really following us and getting heavier andheavier, I was sure of it!!

We waited for Tiare to head towards us asthey had 1.9m where they were and we had 2.6m. These mud flats arequite a challenge and so shallow!! As it just had to be, we all had awonderful time with Tiare sharing a pot luck - ' the calm before thestorm' then just as Tiare left, and got aboard , it was an instantchange.

Wind was up and howling – Lightning all around us and westarted rocking really badly!! Being is such shallow waters did nothelp at all, it was actually why it made it worse. Those shallowlittle waves and cross swells peaking like Mt Kili smacking us fromall angles! So it was an all nighter for John and I … you could notsleep even if you wanted to!

Lifted anchor really earlyto an overcast sky … more weather on the way …

On the horizon just as it got light, mist nestled in the mountains which was a breathtaking view. There on the other side was a dark stretch of cloud on the ocean side which grew, and grew and grew! Honestly! It was quite amazing to see it grow in size and though we were able to sail quite nicely with this approaching monster of a squall, almost like the mother of all storms, we had never seen such a huge black scary looking squall like this ever, almost in the shape of a horseshoe... and I am talking about black!!!! Lightning started and so weprepared for a real biggie. Keeping out just a small storm sail, weput our wet weather gear on … we were all anxious as the sky was truly black from horizon to horizon enclosing around on us … the wind was fierce! Hours seemed like minutes!! All prepared, and ready, we watched with nervous anticipation, drinking a hot cuppa …waiting … watching how all those fishing boats disappeared fromsight, even Tiare, gone … swallowed by that blackness …

The storm was all around us, raging and racing on to catch us then it wouldwiden even more … feeling like it was night, it was so dark, wewere on a dead run, plowing into those tossed up swells, sails in,passing at a speed other fishing boats tied up two or three together,waving a brave cold hand.... who were shortly drenched in heavy rain… then swallowed up by that dark shadow following closely behind us… lightning flashing everywhere … Then the storm raced up to us,then quickly went by on either side of us giving us the gentlestsprinkle of rain... but not once touching us … like we were theonly boat untouched .. then the storm and darkness was in front ofus, racing to land … giving us the gentlest of winds too wish usfair well … what an incredible, inspiring and touching experience ever!!!! We were all speechless and sharing a quiet moment, being thankful to the Lord when we headed into Queensbay and droppedanchor. We were so excited to see the sun shining so brightly withnot a cloud to be seen!!! The most incredible blue! Just an awesomeexperience and a really touching day …. We all went to shore,pulled the dingies up onto the rocks then headed straight across theroad into the mall. What a huge mall!!!!

You guys would think Pavilion small in comparison!! We all went for a late lunch which isalways such a treat. Then it was our final shopping for Jess's 18th,still two days and so much to do! As most of you know, birthdays area very big deal in our house! More for me than for the family lol,and for ones 18th, you get 18 gifts … so I decided awhile back to make some personal gifts myself for Jess. I put together a book ' sensual beauty book' which is about 44 pages withlots of fun diy face pac recipes, bath salts, bubble bath recipesetc... wisdom pieces, proverbs to live by, notes for writing and lotsof fun ideas.... beauty recipes .. that took quite a while to do, butwhich I thoroughly enjoyed doing! Then we printed 144 colour photocollages from birth to 18 years which goes into a pretty handmaderose paper photo album. A CD of her life .. actually a slide show ofplaces she has been, clothing styles she wore, hair styles, growthcharts etc.... also it has a menu for every year! Now that I loveddoing! As it took me back, way back to so many fun memories, andsome great amazing moments... memories of our roller-coaster path oflife till this point. Then quite disappointingly, another project Idid twice and it took forever!!! I never listened to John's adviseLOL I cut out or rather John cut out of plywood, the advice John gaveme was not to use that wood, a map of Malaysia which I sanded downthen was going to engrave the states etc. and engrave a back gammonboard .. it would have been stunning if it was not plywood!!!! So John helped me size the project, which was a map with a back gammonboard that I made on my 3D program and it looks great. Now to collectour polycarb for it to be cushioned in between … but will not makeit in time for her birthday as it is the weekend and the place is closed, so Christmas gifts it will be. Also made one for Justine and Jono but the map being Thailand as that is where we will be. We wantto be in the Suran Islands for Christmas, but not sure if the timingwill work for us … we will see....

By evening there was one cloud!!

We were all too exhausted to get up and catch water so sleptvery well and awoke to another lovely day, the 20thNovember. John phoned to book our moorings for the following day atTunjung marina and were told to come in the same day and we were toleave on the morning of the 22nd! Jessica's Birthday! Boyhave things just not been working out the way we planned … so wecontacted Tiare then lifted anchor to head for the Penang Bridge thenoff to the marina. You have to sail very close to the bridge as it isso shallow... just a few feet there were fishermen walking around upto there calf's!!!!! We had to sail, or rather motor about 1.5 milesto the bridge entrance then once under the bridge it was off toTanjung. The current is out of sync with the tide .. so … it wasfun going into moor. Tiare, right on our heels came in just as we hadmoored up and so we all went to help moor her up. Shame! We all stillhave a good giggle just thinking about it …. Here is Tiare comingin at quite a speed … we see Sam is at the stern with a stern line,shouting to Daniel, his dad.... who cannot hear him... Tango, their Portuguese water dog is barking so loudly that it drowns out Sam'scalls to Daniel. The marina staff is trying to tell Daniel to watchout as the tide has caught him and carrying him past the mooring dock…. Daniel cannot hear them either as Tango is really going wildwith his barking … and we all look on feeling the panic! Sam isactually squashed and trapped in the corner by the tiller arm!! Then Daniel shouts for everyone to quiet down so he can hear … then he hears what the staff member had to say but he had missed the mooringby then.... He is about to spin Tiare when Sam yells along with us onthe deck and he is released from that grip. They all run around to change fenders etc. to the Port side in time to moor up after his360 degree turn. Once they were safely moored on, I started with the washing and cleaning. By 6:30pm I was finally finished and totally poooooped!!! After a good shower with hot water we all went out to a grand delish Indian meal. Very difficult trying to sleep with all these mosquitoes!! I took off all the mosquito hatch covers!!! Then abig storm … closed in with all those hungry mozzies!!! Early the next morning we were all up – a drizzle settled in – and we allheaded off on foot, with Tiare leading the way to the famous 'DimSin' for breakfast, a place you must go if you are in Penang!!! Whatan exciting, buzzing little Chinese restaurant! Full, with peoplehanging around waiting their turn for a seat … busy!! We get atable for 10! There are a few woman walking around with trolleys fullof amazing food! Totally different to anything we have tasted before!

You can choose any dish you want, and everyone has a taste of it too,then you can take another dish of the same as they come past on theirround filling the warm trolley up again and so it goes enjoying allthese different dishes. By the time you have tried the hundredth dish, you are so full you can pop!! Then it was off to Komtar –last minute shopping then back to the boat – exhausted!!!! We allslept early ready for leaving the marina and Jess's birthday the nextday.

What a day it was …Jessica's 18th Birthday! Boy has time flown by so fast! Istill cannot believe it how super quick time has gone … my babygirl a beautiful young woman!! It does bring tears to my eyes … we have made it this far without loosing our sanity LOL

Up early, John cooked hisfamous, delish omelettes with sausage and toast … with a good cuppa. Tea for Jess as she does not drink coffee at all. Daniel,Hiromi, Sam, Tom and Tiger joined us. Jess opened her 1st gift which was a cup with printed photos of all her birthdays on the boat so far. Now we could make her tea LOL. Then after breakfast, we were going to leave the marina and head for Queensbay, but Jess wanted to open the rest of her gifts so she opened her other 15 with two unopened ones …. after all the excitement, we topped up the tanks and headed back to Queensbay with Tiare. During our trip to Queensbay, I gave Jess a makeover and did her make-up. We then headed for shore where we treated Jess to two hours having a full French pedicure and manicure which she absolutely loved. Then it was off to Nando's, her choice for dinner, with Tiare and the finale – her birthday cake … the best cheesecake ever at Secret Recipe. With such a full and lovely day, we headed back to Bluemoon quite late.The day also went so fast!!

Jess headed out to themall quite early on her own the following day with John dropping heroff at the rocks, then Justine and Jono followed all going rollerblading with Sam. John and I enjoyed a quiet afternoon titivatingwith our plants, reading, chatting, finishing the water maker andjust chilling.... listening to music followed up by watching two movies … the kids headed back by 10pm and all had another nightsgood sleep with the rain pouring down making a sound that just allowed you to drift off into a very deep sleep – just wonderful!

Woke to the delicioussmells of banana muffins and coffee!! Justine baking again which isalways so nice as she is really good at baking and can whip up some amazing things!!

Then it was time for our family meeting … resolving unfinished issues and allows us all to clear the air and also helps bond us each together. Allows us to refocus and begin fresh....

More coffee on the way then John and I will head into the mall to do some meat provisioning.A lovely hot and breezy day! We had a cuppa with Tiara then did some shopping where we had to call the kids to help carry back to the boat… so many pkts!!! We managed to load mini moon and fit ourselves in too! Tiare too were filled with the five of them and their pkts. Wemanaged to unpack while Jess cooked a curry. Tiare came over for someice-cream then the storm hit! The sea whipped up in seconds! Sosuddenly! Lightning and thunder with lots of rain thrashing down!

Youcould hardly see land which really was close by! Our chain hadstretched full with 50 metres out and 10 from the Bruce – as we double anchor – then we looked really close to shore!!!! Tiare headed back when the rain eased off and we all enjoyed a good sleep knowing we would not drag and it being a touch cooler.

We decided to lift anchor and moor closer to the marina so we could catch a ferry

into Butterworth to fetch our polycarb sheets we had ordered. Also we had to go to the chemical guy just up the road – also had to getour visa's – two month visa's for Thailand, yet when we took a chance after seeing many of the Raja Muda race yachts leaving the marina, we phoned in to find out if they had place for us and surprise!

We went straight into a mooring, Tiara too and it wasreally great! John and Daniel headed off different ways to do the things they wanted, and to collect spares, and me not feeling too good, decided to stay home and read a book. The kids went to the aircon room to do school and so I spent some quiet time relaxing and reading 'stolen' by Lesley Pearce. John then headed to the chemical man …. wow!  So nice to have a lovely breeze … some peace and quiet.

John and Daniel headed outwith the taxi to the embassy the following morning while I started onthe washing … with everything being wet all the time and you alwaysseem to be in the rain yourself, there tends to be a lot of washing to do!

Anyways, Hero was not feeling very good, a bug we think, but she got the call from Daniel (John phoned me) that we had to go tothe embassy and sign!! We caught the same taxi the men did and went with Suzie who was quite a colourful character. She kept telling uscshe drives like a man, then would swerve around the corner at like120kph! This way then that, speedy all the way... lol. We got there,signed the papers and 4 minutes later we got our visa's and were finished – then it was another taxi back. John and I headed to Butterworth which was quite an experience!

We walked straight ontothe ferry going in and it left seconds later, then coming back thesame thing … we finally managed to lend money from the taxi man aswe could not find an ATM near by!! This guy was really nice. We foundan ATM – paid him back and paid him full fare instead of thediscounted one he told us as we never expected to travel so far!! Itwas a win win for all. I finished the washing and got the boatprepared to leave in the morning. Hero still not feeling well x Thatafternoon Lou and Anne, some Americans came and asked John at thegate if they could sail up to Langkawi with us... as they missedbeing on their boat and had been away for 7 months, their boat on thehard for 10 months … John came back to see if I was ok with itwhich I was … quite excited actually then they came onto the boatto meet us and find out the times and 6am it was – for them to beon Bluemoon as we were heading out at 6:30 because we would get somecurrent with us for a change, though only for a short while. So theyarrived bright and early while Justine and I were closing hatches and Jess making coffee, Jono checking motors.... then we were ready to let the mooring lines loose …. what a lovely day it turned out to be! Lou was very happy to be sailing! And so were we!! No motors, no blowers … just the sound of water slicing between the hulls … glorious!!!  Now this is what we are talking about!!!!!!

We put the bungee out, thefishing rod and waited expectantly (LOL) all day!! We have nevercaught a fish in these waters …. so ….our theory is ' never giveup hope!' … We rode on a roller coaster of emotions as a few timeswe had a bite, got all overjoyed then the biter was off … we keptpulling the line so it made that whizzzzzzzzzzzzing sound which gotus all excited … then we all laughed! Tiare was also sailing sonicely – and going at such a speed!

They have such pretty sails.Being an Islander 55 wharram they have two masts. Head sail and mainsail and then a fully battened Muezzin. It was nice chatting to Lou and Anne. The kids played cards with her and all seemed to be goingvery well. Just as we were coming into Langkawi the rod whizzed intoaction! Everyone screaming with excitement ' A Mackerel ' !!! WOW!! We were all so stunned at catching a fish in Langkawi! And a decentsized one too! We came into Kuah , dropped anchor and saw the heavyrain clouds … so while it poured down, we all had a great cuppa anda nice chat – sad that the day had gone so quick. John and Jonowent to drop Lou and Anne off at shore with all there luggage –there was a pang of sadness saying goodbye …. Zaid had also let usknow Amanda was in hospital for 4 days already from breaking out in aterrible rash on her hands from eating shell fish! Her hands werebadly swollen, broken open and raw. Even though we had not gone onthe net to alert her we were on our way to surprise them, we wereglad now we could at least surprise Fahkrees, which we did and it wasso nice seeing him!! Wow!! We said our farewells to Lou and Anne whohad stopped for a bite to eat at Amanda's …..We sadly never sawZaid who was helping his folks to move so just missed each other.Thankfully we also got to see Amanda when we heard she had got out ofthe hospital! Tiare went with us to say hello x Gosh it was good tosee them again!! And very happy Amanda is out of the hospital now! Back on the boat, we saw George on the Hobbi! So shouted to him and he too was quite surprised to see us .. it is nice being back!!

The days seem to berolling into each other, and boy have we been busy! John off to townordering spares and goods needed for when we take Bluemoon onto thebeach at Telaga for an anti foul. I have managed to read another book' Trust me' from Lesley Pearce which really touched me! All aboutthe children' s immigration to Australia! Sadly Bob from Vertical time had spent time in Penang Hospital! If only we had known we could have gone to visit! He had pneumonia after returning from his fishing trip in Alaska. Yet it was wonderful to see Nan, Bob's wife when wewent to the marina to top up the tanks and get some more supplies.With us having packed and stowed away much of our stuff ready to headfor NZ – now with the changes with Australia coming in, we decidedto do our last trip to Thailand sailing with Tiare and so had to workout and come up with an easier way to use our main water maker sothat is why all the spares and goodies needed. Also we got the deck paint so we can re-paint the anti-slip. So we have spent the last few days sorting, and fixing and checking out all the spares we need etc.Jono left Kuah at 7am sharp with the kayak to head for Telaga. At 8amJohn noticed he never took water with him!! So John and I jumped intothe duck, started up the 15, radioed Jono to get his coordinates thenheaded off to his position. It has taken a few days sorting the 15and the 5 motor's out... a blockage here and so it goes, now they areall good and it is great to be plaining again! Gave Jono his waterthen headed back to the boat, had coffee and some breakfast then wedecided to leave the duck down in case we had to fetch Jono at anygiven time .. the weather was building and I was a little worried ifit got worse... we left with Plain Sailing and Tiara. Awesome to pullout the sails and glide over the water. Stunning this sailing!

Everyone was sailing to Telaga. Jono radioed or phoned us to keep usposted of his position and conditions … boy was it hard workpaddling against the current! 16 miles! We found Jono near theentrance when he radioed in to tell us the paddle had snapped so hewas now handicapped.. 6hrs 25 minutes it took Jono to get intoTelaga where we had just dropped anchor.

We beached Bluemoon at thehigh tide then started to clean her hulls – Tiare beached right next to us which was quite nice having company. Though they too had to do some work on their boat. Plain Sailing beached on the other island too and Henry helped them tie up onto the trees.

Now the funny thing was we dropped our stern anchor while coming to touch the beach but we just never got there!!!! John was revving the motor now thinking we had beached but we were way out from where we should have come to a stop – we notice the back anchor has us fas!! LOL So we let the lead out then add to the line … we used the wrong line!!!!! Man were we laughing at how ridiculous we make life for ourselves sometimes! Anyways, we got to clean the hulls which were still very impressive! We had used the Jotun 90 which they use for the ski boats because of the knots they do, and were supposed to use the Jotun 60 which is for slower moving speeds, but chose to use the 90 and it is now two years later that we are beaching her to do a touch up. Though it is not really the hulls that need the job, it is the props!! Johnbought some bitchumin for the props which we were told was really theway to go and decided to try it as the anti foul we have used isreally a load of junk!!! They were covered in barnacles, but thehulls only had a few and some fluff.... Jotun 90 really isimpressive, yet I painted both hulls with the international paint wehad, and decided to use that rather that keep it stored... so wecleaned the hulls, then lightly sanded them, washed them off withfresh water, put our tape on and off I went covering the hulls with astunning blue! John worked on the props … Boy was it hard work!!

My back feels like it is breaking! I think it is unfit as I was angled in odd ways to get that paint on... anyways, we finished the task,managed to have a braai which was really awesome – boerewors! onthe beach while we were waiting for the tide to now come in, nine forty five and we were winching the back anchor up... dropped anchor, showered and hit the sack totally exhausted!!!

Tiare stayed onanother night as did Bob and Deirdre.

The following morning early, John had headed out to Plain sailing to help them … I could barely move!!!!!!!!! LOL Yet after a great cuppa John made me, we both went over to Plain sailing, with Jono and Justine, and again I painted the hulls while John did the under body. Hard work it is!

Shame, we felt sorry for Bob and Deirdre trying to work the tides –but it was great all of us working together. They managed to give it a second coat the following day. Going to check on Tiare and Plain sailing was kinda fun!! So the few days with everyone being out –raining – was quite exciting when you saw they were finished... the weather has really been horrible!!! Have had such a time trying to do things in the rain which halts and puts a spoke in the wheels on the many projects which needs dry weather!! Ultimate dream took our spot once we were off and they really had some strong wind to deal with,along with Tiare! Anyways, we hired a car as did Tiare and headed for Langkawi to the pharmacy – lunch with Daniel and Hiromi at thePier... then off for some spares, boy were we running around for the last things we needed. Then to PL Soon for my 10kg's popcorn! Ended up stocking up on more than we had planned, but happy anyway for thegoods for Christmas.

Signed out and ready to go… two days ago!!!!!!!! The weather has been really challenging! We have been running around in strong winds trying to let more chain out– take the wet washing in which never seems to be able to dry!!

Another cat here with some cheeky people dragged maybe 6 times!! They even dragged into Plain sailings bridle! This weather has been hectic! Shockingly I managed to drop our phone into the ocean!!!!!!  I got it out and John took it to our cell guy hoping to be able to getall our contacts off .. but that will only be in January that we can collect it – our visa's for Malaysia has expired so please drop me some mail with your telephone numbers guys so I can SMS you... as I won't go on the net again for sometime … or at least I don't think I will.

We got some good news about Australia, so this might be the last trip we do for awhile, though I will keep you all posted x

We all want to wish each and every one of you who reads this blog an Awesome Christmas x May you be blessed this season knowing you are thought of warmly by us x Remember the reason for the season x

Keep safe x Drop us a message x  Love to all of you x

John Jenny Justine Jessicaand Jonathan