Langkawi, Malaysia

We left Admiral Marina, Port Dickson with Gently Lady and Good Hope. We made the decision to day-hop up the coast to Langkawi, whilst the only pirates we have encountered so far are on land (in the DVD shops), the threat of thunderstorms and lightening at night not to mention numerous unlit fishing nets made this decision an easy one! We spent the first night at anchor at the bottom of the Port Kelang (port klang) channel. A lovely anchorage and amazing to see such big ships steaming up into port - we never realised it was such a big shipping port. We left the next morning with the idea that we would carry on up the channel and see how far we would get as were not too sure how the current would be. The current up this coast can be rather strong - up to 3 knots in places and that certainly can slow you down when you only average 5 knots an hour. Made it through the channel in great time, in fact had the current with us the whole way so decided to keep on keeping on. We managed to drop the anchor at 5pm that night in a very open, shallow bay.
The next day we headed to Pulau Pangkor - what a lovely place this was. (for photos click here) Coral Bay had the nicest beach we had seen for 1500 nautical miles (multiply that by 1.87 and it will give you the kilometres!!) a long time between nice sandy beaches! We ended up staying at Pulau Pangkor for a few days, it was so nice, then finally decided we needed to move on if we were ever going to get to Langkawi before NEXT christmas. So upped anchor and made our way to Pinang (otherwise known as Penang). Just as we were entering the channel we could see a big storm coming our way, kept chugging on and then as it started to pour decided to drop the anchor in a little bay off the side. Just as well we did, in minutes the wind picked up, visibility dropped to nearly nothing and lightening all around - this of course either happens in the middle of a pitch black night OR when you are less than 1/2 an hour from your anchorage...well it does for us anyway! After the storm passed we picked up the anchor and continued up about 1/4 of a mile to turn into the small channel in behind an island off pinang called Pulau Jerejak. This was another lovely spot, monkeys on the beach, monitor lizards on the beach and when the current turned RUBBISH flying past us on the water. We left the next morning and motored a couple of hours up to the Tanjong city marina near the top of Pinang Island to spend a few days looking around this famous place. (for Photos click here) Pinang itself is pretty cool and reminded us of a much bigger version of Melaka. There is Little India and Chinatown all in the main area of Georgetown and all a hop skip and jump across the road from the Marina. We went to an awesome local restaurant which we called the Tree Restaurant due to the tree growing through the pavement outside it. The food was possibly the best we have had in all of Malaysia and the restaurant was full on and flat out with local people. Fabulous atmosphere, fabulous food and fabulous company what more could you ask for! We ended up eating here several times and were most distraught when discovered it was closed on wednesdays!
After a week or so in Pinang it was time to get to Langkawi. We decided to stop at an island recommended by Sandpiper which was a lovely spot. Yes, well, murphy's law once again struck and about 10pm the wind changed from North East to basically west and our lovely sheltered spot became exposed and very rolly - similar to being in a washing machine...ALL NIGHT LONG! So it wasnt a difficult decision to up anchor very early and head straight for Langkawi.
What a treat to see the majestic cliffs of Langkawi rise up on the horizon, it was magical coming into this archipeligo of 99 islands, lovely coloured water, beautiful green tree clad hills and flat calm water! (for photos click here)