Experimental post from new tablet

Hello!  Buster is in Malaysia....probably has consumed all the rum and wine on Basanti by now and is making a nuisance of himself around the marina.  Phil and Chris have been in the USA since March 28 visiting, and surprise, tooling around in an RV.

I am surprised to get into this account as I don't have the password with me, but here we are.  Will have to start taking some photos on this thing and try to update this blog a little more.

More later...

Wow, adding a photo actually worked this time.

need to keep working on this.

Similan Islands, Thailand

We made a quick trip out to the Similan Islands in January, sailing the 48 miles in just under 6 hours.  This group of nine islands are a Thai National Park famous for crystal clear water and a diverse population of marine life.

The islands are fantastic...spectacular scenery, fine sandy beaches and a few National Park camps where you can get a snack.  Some of the tours offer overnight camping accommodation on the islands in either bungalows or tents while other dive tours have onboard accommodation.

 Here is Phil up at Sail Rock, a short hike up some rocks overlooking the anchorage.

The real highlight of the islands is under water...

 The water was so clear, we could see our anchor resting on the sandy bottom in 18 meters of water (nearly 60 ft).  It was remarkable.  We were even able to take some underwater photos without all sorts of fancy equipement.

 

 

 Many many fish as well as worms and clams.  We spotted a turtle swimming around one day but weren't lucky enough to have our cameras in hand.

 

 One day there were a couple of fishing boats anchored nearby.  We visited an offered to buy a fish but they weren't interested in money.  However, they were willing to trade for a few cans of beer which they shared around the boat and we got a nice fish.

Their holds were full and the next day there were headed back to the mainland to sell their catch so they were all pretty relaxed.

 Great fish!  We had about three meals off this chunky fella.  yum.

 

 

Spectacular Phang Na Bay, Thailand

Immediately following the King's Cup we sailed Basanti up to a bay near the Phuket airport for the arrival of our friend Jane from Madison, Wisconsin.  This was a complete change of pace from the intense racing every day and nightly post race parties to relaxation with the focus on scenery.

We were able to visit a good selection of islands up in the bay.  The locations near Phuket were very busy with day trip boats and kayaks full of tourists but early mornings and evenings (when the day trippers were finished) were sublime.

 

 We enjoyed exploring these islands in the dinghy.  Kayaks would have been easier to paddle through the tunnels, but no one was out there renting kayaks.

 Thai fishermen are busy in these waters and occasionally came alongside Basanti and offered to sell fresh prawns, yum!

Above is a tunnel through to the island's interior that we were able to go through at low tide.  Below is one of the tunnels we paddled through...have to make sure the tide isn't coming in too quickly or we'd end up stranded in there until the tide went out again.

That is only a small selection of our photos from this beautiful area.  Jane stayed with us for this portion of our journey, plus a visit to Krabi and then south to several more Thai islands and then finally we travelled down peninsular Malaysia to Singapore with Jane.  More on these travels in another post.

King's Cup with friends(Dec 2013)

 It's been a long time since we've posted anything so here is little attempt to start catching up on all our activities.  We managed to sail up to Phuket, Thailand in time for the King's Cup regatta...good thing as several of our good friends from Fremantle met us there for the racing and parties.  Above is the photos of all of us with our team shirts.

 Here is part of the team in action...pre-start maneuvers.

 Our tactition, Max, listening for race instructions.

 We didn't cover ourselves in glory, the competition wasquite keen and Basanti sailed with all our cruising gear on board, but we were happy to get a couple of trophies and not go home empty handed.

 These long-tails provided a taxi service for the racers to get out to the boats and back to shore.

 In the mornings it was mayhem on the beach while all the crews found each other, got their lunches and drinks and ice, then took dinghies or longtails out to boats.

 The race week parties are fairly legendary...here we are on our way to one of them.  Each night there was a huge bash at a resort...all you could possibly eat, plus free beer, wine and soft drinks. 

 Pam and Kay supported us at the parties and kept the local shops busy during the days.

One last shot of us discussing tactics...  Big thank you to Max, Belly and Robbie for coming up and doing a fantastic job racing a pretty heavy cruising boat with Phil and Chris.

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!!

Brief update...from Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Buster's been his bad little self.  Once Phil and I returned to Basanti and Buster over at Nongsa Point (Indonesia) we prepared the boat and ourselves, officially cleared out of the country, and departed the lovely marina.  We departed early on a Wednesday morning as we had about 50 miles to cover, including crossing the Singapore Straits...one of the the busiest shipping channels in the world.  There is a constant stream of ships (2 lanes in each direction) moving east and west through the Straits and we were a little intimidated.  However, plenty of yachties cross it, so it can't be too bad.

We headed west along the Indonesian side of the straits until there seemed to be a gap from the west and nothing from the east.  All in all it was a little bit of an anticlimax, but we're glad for that.  Once we were on the Singapore side, it was pretty busy, but even then it wasn't too bad.  We motored around Singapore to the west and then up the Johor Straits, under a bridge in heavy rain with little visibility and then on up to Danga Bay Marina in Johor Bahru.  Here we are for a week or so getting a few parts and things not available in Indonesia.

Best thing so far about Malaysia has to be the food!!  We are all loving the varieties and eating too much...Indian, Malay, Chinese, Japanese...it is all here.  Yum.  The weather is hot of course and just about every afternoon we get a rain...a heavy downpour, but that cools things off a bit.

This poor computer...while in Singapore we took it to a fixer for a variety of reasons and the analysis was that the hard drive was really corrupted, so the fellow had to re-format the hard drive.  We saved a bunch of the files and things, but after the re-formatting, all the programs and things had to be re-installed and whatever.   Hopefully we are all good to go again with fewer technical issues.  Buster will have to sort through some photos and post something soon.

While the cat's away...

Phil and Chris left me in charge of things on Basanti at Nongsa Point Marina while they went visiting friends in Johor Bahru and catching up with family in Singapore.  Initially I was a little bit put out at being left behind again, however I met a Grizzley little friend from a Canadian boat and we enjoyed Chris's rum supply.

Once the rum was finished, I explored the facilities...enjoyed a table overlooking the marina, the huge pool and then managed to take a jet ski for a spin. 

 

 

 I'm sure I'll be in trouble when Phil and Chris return, but it was pretty fun and I think we'll all miss the pool when we move on.