priceless!!

+ new shirt and fishermen pants typical from thailand bought just for the occasion ($....very inexpensive);
+ a favorite in my family (at least my dad): white veal sausage bought at the local supermarket with potatoes ($$ …. also inexpensive);
+ a not so inexpensive champagne from argentina bought in phuket ($$$$ rather pricy)
+ …… the most wonderful place to say good bye to the best year of our lives and welcome the next: in phi phi island on board Puerto Seguro…. That is priceless, of course!!!!!!!!!

and the story which we later realized…:
we have one clock on board which we adjusted to the correct time back in malaysia, or at least we thought. at midnight on the clock we eat some grapes but could not make a champagne toast because we had finished the bottle some 30 minutes before. we were a bit impressed of how quiet it was on land. after having seen so many people in phi phi we expected fireworks and loud screams at about midnight… but nothing. so we welcomed our new year quietly and called it a night at about 12:40. a few days later we found out our clock was an hour ahead. we quickly realized we actually missed the midnight celebration in thailand. we had a big laugh…!!

even though it was an hour before, it was still one of the best new year’s we have ever had!

phi phi islands

The phi phi islands are spectacular. one of them has been the center of a movie called ‘the beach” and therefore it is very visited. we anchored of the big island to the north for new year’s eve and stayed a few days while visiting by dingui the southern island and around the different bays. the beaches and water are pristine. the monkeys are wild and will take the food form your hands. esteban was thrilled about this and every afternoon we had to go to feed them. I went along, mostly to take the pictures.

in the southern island there is a beautiful cove almost completely enclosed by dramatic rocks and in the center there is only sand and turquoise water. we had never seen anything quite like it. we both agreed it was the pretties island we have been to so far.



the northern island has a town in the isthmus between two great bays. the town was full of restaurants, bars, stores, hotels, thai massage, and everything we could possibly think of. We loved walking into the crowded and small streets and buying the famous thai pancakes to go while strolling through the town checking out all the stores…. This after a long day of sun and beach and dingui around the islands!

not your everyday traffic

… the pictures are worth more than any words… only in thailand!

phuket

we entered thailand in phuket and sailed around the nearby islands. all beautiful places; some with no inhabitants, other with extraordinary beaches, others with lots of sailboats and other local tourist boats; and others like phuket, with a little bit of everything. we found this part of thailand to be a bit crowded but we know why: the place is so pretty that everyone visits. luckily with the sailboat we managed to anchor in not so crowded places and were able to visit some of the most visited islands in the mornings or late afternoons after all the day tourists had left.

for me thailand was the best country (by far) when it comes to food. I love coconut and curries and spices….! I could not stop eating and trying out the different dishes. For esteban it was different. lets just say hamburgers are still on the top of his food list. as in other countries in south east asia, the low prices allowed us eat out a lot and do all sorts of other fun stuff like renting bikes and generally going everywhere and stopping for beers or at local stores ... a lot!


We really enjoyed this place and most of all absolutely loved thai people. eheir english was not the best but we were grateful for every word because our thai is a disaster. and they were specially friendly and happy all the time. Each person that we met made us feel very welcome and for that, we will leave with a great impression of their country.



As far as temples, we did not visit that many, but they are hard to miss. there is a temple everywhere so every time we went someplace we passed one temple or mosque or a monument or beautiful and historic buildings. Again the mixture of religions and cultures and architecture gives the cities a particular and wonderful charm.

malaysia to thailand

the leg from malaysia to thailand was a short one. only two nights at sea. we had calm weather the first half and some strong winds and rocky seas for the other half. as we are now used to, there is little sleep at night in the night passages in this area of the world. the ship traffic is outstanding, only topped by the fishing traps, nets and fishing boats which are always in sight, day or night. I am not really sure what they fish. we have not had any luck in these waters. when we finally got a fish after I forgot how many miles of pasta and canned food, we got a barracuda which we have grown to dislike… so we let it live and continued our way north avoiding fish traps and hoping for better luck, or some good restaurants upon our arrival into port!!!

SELAMAT HARI NATAL!

it means merry christmas in malay.

after a long and not so easy sail from the south of malaysia we reached the island of penang where we were surprised by the beautiful town, the people and the marvelous old buildings and temples. we found a great marina (tanjong city) and decided it was a good place to be for christmas. so here we are happy as ever and wishing our families and friends on land and at sea a very happy merry christmas.

penang

georgetown is the main city of the island of penang and it is another world heritage place full of old beautiful buildings and temples. the city officials have done a wonderful job at maintaining the old buildings. the town therefore looks old yet vibrant beautiful and clean. there are many restaurants of all types of food; the smells of the city range from great incense aromas to nasty sewage sometimes but mostly to bizarre condiments and exotic foods.





the town is full of clothing shops mostly of the type women from india wear. there are incredibly picturesque travel agencies, restaurants pharmacies, and in general miscellaneous stores ran by the chinese. we walked in to many of them simply to have a look at their merchandise and at them. customer service is at its best here. women clipping their toe nails next to the cash register, shirts for men seemd to be optional and just in general funny looking but nonetheless warm and very kind people. we loved this place so much that we changed our plans of just sailing almost through and we decided to stay in at the very comfortable tangonj city marina for christmas.

malacca strait

crossing this body of water was very challenging. it was only 370 nautical miles but yet we had very diverse conditions every day. apparently the change in weather in this area of the world is very common, so we were expecting it and somehow prepared; but still we did not like it. as we left johor bahru and passed west of singapore we had good wind, and lots of ships and platforms. the same obstacles that we had when we approached so we had to sail with 100% attention to the water... not snoozing or napping at all. by night the wind turned from our nose and we had to motorsail tacking our way upwards into the busiest waters in the entire world.




that first night was fascinating. so much traffic was exciting to see. one ship after the other in an almost straight line every 300 meters; unbelievable. it is a true highway of ships.

by the second day the weather went from zero wind to clam seas to wind on the nose again to sunny and later cloudy and then at night to the most bizarre mini storm. strong wind against and a ridiculously strong current of at least 4 knots also against us. there was no way we could make any progress. we made miles alright but away from our course. with then engine at full throttle we were only making 1 knot per hour. i do not think we have ever even walked this slow. it was awful and still we had to maneuver away from the passing giant ships and the fishermen and their lines with no lights whatsoever. the next day the sun came out and again we had a lot of wind on the nose and then nothing and we ended the night with the most amazing thunderstorm that now made us intentionally turn around and sail backwards to avoid it. One lighting strike can be fatal and the chances of attracting it with a 16 meter tall mast out of the water are not so slim. If we get hit all electronics and electrical components will automatically fry, and at this point of our voyage there is no money to replace any of them. So we better sail away from any electrical storm.



by the final day we were tired of the bad weather and got a little lucky. it did not rain and the wind and currents were good and steady. we made it by night into penang. a scary entrance because there is a new bridge under construction. there were metal structures showing just above the surface everywhere and this was of course not in any chart. We made our way through the entrance very slowly and the lights of the bright city helped us see the obstacles a bit. we finally anchored in the middle of town safely and we crashed dead tired for the night.

kuala lumpur

the capital of malaysia is not on the coast, but because we had rented the car with our brazilian friends we took a detour and paid a short visit to kuala lumpur. in particular we wanted to visit the petronas twin towers which were designed by the argentinean architect cesar peli. they are the second tallest twin towers of the world and are connected by a bridge on the 88 floor. they are entirely of stainless steel. they are truly beautiful. as our luck would have it, we could not go up to see the view. on the day we visited the daily quota was already met, so we only enjoyed them from the outside. we also toured the rest of the city and went on our way. a short but productive visit to a busy and pretty city.

melaka

the port of melaka was the trade capital of the east around the 1500 and 1600s. it was a required stop for ships sailing between india and china. it was first colonized by the portuguese, then the dutch, and finally the british. this is a true heritage center full of museums and history. we rented a car and drove from johor bahru with silvio and lilian from brasil. They are also sailing around the world in their sailboat matajusi.



the road to Melaka is a top quality highway just like any german freeway. The country side is full of palm oil trees. no wonder why this country is the major palm oil exporter of the world. in melaka we walked around the center, visited the maritime museum and all the tourist areas. we slept in a modest hotel. it was our first night out of the boat. ironically we did not sleep so well on a king size bed in an air conditioned room. could it be that we missed the mosquitoes, the sticky and warm temperature of our boat and the noise of the fans near our tiny triangular shaped bed?

johor bahru, malaysia

this city is in the south tip of malaysia across from singapore. it is not very touristy. the danga bay marina is just a few minutes outside of the city by a very comfortable and cheap bus. the marina is inside a board walk which has restaurants, clubs, stages for concerts (with a concert or karaoke every night) an amusement park and a train ride. the entire complex is owned by a sultan who wants to attract sailboats to the marina as part of the sight and show of the city and therefore he allows the boats to stay in the docks for free!!! as a result there are plenty of boaters traveling like us, staying longer terms or simply leaving their sailboats here while they fly back home. we certainly enjoy the “free” part and docked here to enjoy the city but mostly do maintenance to the boat. esteban climbed up the tower to change the wind generator blades that were disintegrating. luckily the manufacturer of our air breeze gave us a new set to replace for free.




we also cleaned every locker and every detail and corner of the boat…. and lastly we cleaned the hull. that beautiful blue hull in which we once so proudly saw a reflection of ourselves had a nasty white stain all over because the salt had somehow glued to it since arriving in the marquesas… . here, with a lot of water, vinegar and a lot of muscle, esteban cleaned and polished for days. we now have the old shiny blue boat again!!!! all this was possible because we had running water all the time and the docks with shore power; which was the only thing they charge; and even that was only 7 dollars for over 10 days of electricity… unbelievable. danga bay marina was a christmas gift to us and the boat of course!

one°15 marina club

the name of the marina is because of its location at N01°.15 E103°.50 it is more a club than a marina and the main reason why our stay in singapore was so wonderful. the service was extraordinary and the place immaculate and beautiful. the marina facilities were excellent with great restaurants, hotel, steam room, pool, shops, etc… we recommend this place to all our sailor friends that have yet to arrive in singapore. i am sure they will love it as much as we did. the complex is in sentosa island which is connected to the singapore main island by a bridge and it is a resort island with parks, gulf courses and fancy residences, i think it is the best and prettiest place in all of singapore with monkeys running wild in the park trees and peacocks on the streets.


the marina provided a free on the spot around the clock service to the vivo city mall and underground train station. it worked prefect for us. we would normally spend a beautiful morning at the marina by the pool and then go to the city to tour around in the afternoons. too bad we could not stay there forever…. we would have gladly done so.