Arrival in Langkawi

The intrepid little sailors on Basanti set off from Johor Bahru on Wednesday November 13 and after four days and three nights of sailing we arrived at the beautiful island of Langkawi.  Langkawi is actually part of an archipelago consisting of nearly 100 isands, but the main activities and the town of Kuah are on the large isand. 

We missed many places we'd like to explore in Peninsuar Malaysia, but we need to be in Phuket, Thailand for the first week of December where we will meet up with friends for the Phuket Race week.  We plan to spend more time in Malaysia next year, so these sights that we sailed past can be explored at our leisure later on.

We were busy in Johor Bahru getting a few things for the boat...even popped back to Singapore for part of a day to purchase filters and things for Basanti's engine.  We stayed at the Danga Bay marina, which is very conveniently located on a main road with plenty of busses and taxis.  Many of the people participating in the Sail Indonesia Rally were in Danga Bay to prepare for the start of the Sail Malaysia rally, and we met cruisers from all over and look forward to seeing some of these folks in the future.  One night there was a pot luck dinner at the marina and it seemed like most of the cruisers came along and there was plenty of delicious food.

We've been anchored just off Kuah Town since our arrival.  We've explored the town and found an electrician to check out the spare starter solenoid and something on the alternator, but now we're good to explore other parts of the island for a few days before heading up to Thailand.  We do not plan to get a Thai phone, so may not have lots of access to internet while we are in Thailand, however, I'm sure we'll manage to check our emails from time to time.

Hope to do some adventurous, touristy or scenic things soon so we can post a few photos.  Jhor Bahru isn't particularly scenic, but it was a good stop for shopping and eating.  Happy Thanksgiving to our American family and friends...we enjoyed our two Thanksgivings while we were in the US and will be missing our favorite holiday this year.  Eat some turkey for us!!