Singapore - Part II

As mentioned in the last post, we enjoyed our visit to Singapore very much. Our primary touring day was overcast, which suited us just fine. We did the hop-on, hop-off bus tour which was really good value. The old and new sides of the city were apparent everywhere.

There was a great Chinatown, both old....

and new....

Little India was very colourful.

There were many attractions, but, we only had time for one. We chose Gardens by the Bay, two huge glass domes, one the Flower Dome...

the other the Cloud Forest dome, replete with a man-made waterfall.

One of the benefits of living on a boat is that you can't accumulate much stuff, there's no room. So, even though the shopping possibilities were endless and even we couldn't fail but to be impressed by the plethora of quality shopping malls, we didn't buy anything. Food is another matter, however. Maybe it was having been on boat rations for a while, but, the food seemed just amazing, every cuisine imaginable and there was a restaurant every few steps. We enjoyed lots of good food. We also went crazy in the Marks and Spencer food hall and stocked up on all our favourites!

One thing we didn't like about Singapore was the amount of tourists. This was the view of the famous half-lion/half-fish fountain at 9 a.m. Not much room left and we chose to just view it from a distance.

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Malacca Strait to Singapore

It wasn't without some trepidation that we headed south towards the Malacca Strait and Singapore. After all, just a few years ago, this area had a fearsome reputation for piracy. There are still commercial piracy incidents taking place regularly, but, none against a yacht for a decade. Our insurance policy actually excludes travel through the Malacca Strait, but, there's no other easy way to get through. When we got close to the start of the traffic separation scheme, we were interviewed about our boat and crew details on the VHF radio by a Malaysian warship, just routine, but, it was somewhat reassuring when they said if you have any trouble just to call them on 16.

It is the most traveled shipping strait in the world and the sheer volume of traffic could seem daunting. We've crossed the English Channel a number of times, been through the Kiel Canal and through very heavy shipping in the North Sea and this seemed comparable in terms of traffic separation zones and monitoring, so, we weren't too worried. Our plan was to cross over to the south side of the Strait at a very narrow point before we got into Singapore proper and just stay out of the way. The night before the crossing we anchored at Pulau Pisang. It was a very calm night and we enjoyed watching the endless stream of ships on the horizon as the sun set. These ships are actually spaced quite far apart, they were usually much closer together. In the morning, they were coming at us four abreast.

Our strategy went well, crossing the Strait at the requisite right angle meant it was only about 5 miles wide at our crossing point. We got across the northbound lane easily, but, then got stuck in the middle and had to wait almost an hour for a decent break in the southbound traffic to enable us to get through. This wasn't a time to be impatient, we just had to wait for the right moment. Once across, the rest of the journey was uneventful, we hugged the shipping lane without going into it and only had a few confusing encounters with tugs, high speed ferries and local fishing boats.
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The other reason for hugging the south, Indonesian side, was so that we could anchor overnight. You're not allowed to stop and anchor in Singapore waters (or sail, for that matter). We anchored and had another calm night. There was only about thirty miles to go until we reached our destination, Nongsa Point Marina, in Batam, Indonesia. From there we could catch a ferry to Singapore. It only takes an hour and is a lot more cost and time-effective than trying to take your own boat into Singapore, especially now that they are requiring yachts to hire an agent for in/outbound clearance.

Visibility from seaward wasn't great, but, the first view of Singapore was still an impressive sight.

The marina turned out to be expensive, but, rural, quiet and very nice.

We rested for a couple of days and then headed over to the glitz and glamour that awaited us just across the water. We weren't sure what to expect. We'd booked two hotel nights at the Four Points Sheraton on points (thanks once again Amex/Starwood) and couldn't wait for two air-conditioned sleeps.

Actually, we liked Singapore very much. It was a fascinating blend of the old, new and four cultures: Chinese, Indian, Malay and British. It is as spotlessly clean as everybody says it is. Everything seems new and prosperous with lots of construction and land reclamation. The old and new can clearly be seen in this juxtaposition.

The Marina Bay Sands, a multi-billion dollar development was just stunning, from every angle. The cantilevered observation deck is an engineering marvel. It was very impressive.

The landscaping was impeccable everywhere, whether at ground level, or, above.

One thing that surprised us was that Singapore is also a river city with a river (more like a canal really) running through it. From the hotel, there was an excellent, 8km walking path, lined with bars and restaurants with great buildings and street art. This bronze sculpture was stunning.

There was so much to see, I'll share more photos in the next post....

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Farewell to Malaysia

The week we spent at Telaga Harbor Marina, north Langkawi, wasn't entirely spent on boat repairs. We did a bit of tourist activity as well and were glad to finally get around the island. We visited Eagle Square, at the main town of Kuah. There were real sea eagles wheeling around the bay that put this replica one to shame, but, it's huge and a very noticeable landmark when approaching from seaward.

We travelled up the cable car, reputedly the steepest one in the world to get this view of the marina. Gjoa is in there somewhere.

Malysia, or, maybe just Langkawi, is very laid-back about some things. We were able to rent a car for  < C$30 for the whole day. We didn't have to show a driver's licence, credit card, id and didn't have to sign anything. You're just handed a key and told to put a little gas into it before bringing it back. It even had working air conditioning. There's probably no insurance either, but, we tried not to think about that. We used the car to full advantage, touring the island and stocking up on our provisions.

Ever since we started cruising, I'd been hearing about New Zealand canned butter, but, had started to think it was a sailing myth as I could never find it. They had it here and we stocked up.

Along the way, we enjoyed a delicious Chinese lunch at an open air restaurant for about C$7 for both of us, including soft drinks. Then, we hit the shops. There are a couple of western-style supermarkets here, but, for other items, it's shopping how it used to be. You go into the store and tell the person at the counter what you want and they go and retrieve it. After wandering miles around and around, frustratingly huge, home improvement stores like Bunnings, in Australia, looking for a few screws or something, it seemed refreshing.They always seemed to have what we wanted, or, if not, would happily refer us to another store where we could get it.

Although we can hardly say we saw a lot of the country, only Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi, we found that the longer we stayed, the more intrigued by it we became. Malaysia doesn't seem to have a very high profile (except when they lose a couple of airliners), but, it seems to have a lot going for it. The two large, remote, northern provinces, Sabah and Sarawak, which cover most of the northern half of the island of Borneo (Indonesia occupies the southern half and they call it Kalimantan) seemed especially intriguing with their many national parks and tropical rainforests. The wildlife sounds incredible, from the only bear species in SE Asia, the Malayan sun bear, to tigers, civet cats, leopards, many monkey species and the Borneo pygmy elephant. Birds, of course, are also there in great number and variety. There are resorts in the parks and they are fairly accessible. To go by yacht, unfortunately, requires participation in a rally that has an obligatory night curfew and a military escort through the piracy areas close to the Philippines.

Along the west coast of peninsular Malaysia, down which we'll be travelling soon, there are also a couple of highlights. Georgetown, on Penang island, is a Unesco world heritage site and Malacca, the historic fishing village located on the Malacca Strait. We had hoped to stop at these places, but, given that each would take a few days, or more, to do properly and would also complicate our boat status we'll probably just travel through.

All the locals we interacted with have been very polite, soft-spoken and somewhat self-effacing. However I think it would take a very long time, if ever, to become part of their community. On the surface, some things were very charming, like this street sign, which we're not sure what it means.

Then, there are signs like this where the picture looks like the authorities really mean business.

Google translates the words as:

"Warning

The restricted area of the intruder will be prosecuted"

When we first arrived, it was Ramadan. We were quite shocked when we went into the local McDonalds for an ice cream cone to see a large sign on the door stating:

"All Muslims are forbidden to eat at McDonalds during the fasting hours of Ramadan and can be charged by the local authorities." 

Hmmm......

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First Passage - Langkawi to Batam, Indonesia

We filled our water tank (take note of this, it becomes significant as I'll explain in a minute), topped up our diesel and left Telaga Harbor Marina for Kuah where we were going to check out of Malaysia. Checking out in Kuah meant that we would not be allowed to stop again in Malaysia and would need to travel to our next port of Batam, Indonesia (just across the Strait from Singapore). So, we planned to do a few overnight sails and anchor at a few places without going into a port, or, ashore. The nicest anchorage, by far, was this one at Pangkor Laut, where we were adjacent to a very beautiful, luxurious-looking little resort.

We spent a full day and night here, but, we weren't lazing around enjoying the scenery and gorgeous little sand beach. It proved to be just another one of those places where, as sailors say, "you get to fix your boat in a lot of beautiful, exotic places"

So, once more to back up to the beginning. We left Kuah and headed south. We had been expecting to have to motor all the way to Singapore, if not all the way to where we'd jump off for Australia, due to the constant headwinds at this time of year. It's not really the "right" season to be going this way, but, luckily with our new engine in this boat, we are able to make decent progress against some chop, tidal current and headwind, which, in our previous boats, would have stopped us dead. The wind is light, only around 5-10 knots, up to 20 or so, more in the short squalls we're experiencing. Even just 20 knots though seems to set up a nasty short swell which can be 2.5/3.5 metres.

First day out, things were going fine, even though a squall was coming our way and the visibility had decreased significantly. Around noon, we had dolphins around the bow, always welcome visitors. G said I'll just pop down to make a cup of tea. All was well until he quickly came back and said there's no water? Remember we'd just filled the tank before we left, where had it gone? We opened the engine room and there it was, all 350 litres sloshing around all the running equipment. The bilge pumps in this boat also need a redesign (it's on the list). There are four pumps and many pickups, but, only one is on a float switch and it's not the lowest one in the boat. All the others need to be turned on at the panel when needed. We turned the engine room pump on and the pump that we had tested a few weeks ago decided not to work. It probably just needed priming, but, we were more concerned with just getting the water out. Luckily, we'd bought a 6L manual vacuum pump the day before we left. We stopped the boat in the pouring rain and started manually bailing. Three hours later and around sixty repeats of fill up the pump, take it up the stairs and dump overboard we had most of the water out. What had caused the problem? Take a look at this. Not one, not two, but, three hose clamps in a row had given out! Two of the three clamps are clearly marked USA, so, we can't blame poor quality Chinese steel. We're not sure how this could have happened. Were the clamps overtightened? Why were there three on that join anyway, surely two should be enough? Too much water pressure? Anyway, all hose clamps are now suspect and we've got another item for 'the list'.

We continued on our way knowing that we'd missed our window to anchor that night and would just have to keep going, like it or not. A few hours later, the next mishap occurred. This was getting tiresome. The toilet totally blocked up 100%. We've never had an electric toilet before and we'd noticed that it didn't seem to be working too well, but, weren't sure how it was supposed to work, so, had just put it on "the list'" to be looked at, either a rebuild, or, replace. Now, however, it became an immediate priority. Having to "bucket it and chuck it" isn't fun. Almost a full day was spent in the anchorage dismantling, cleaning and reinstalling the toilet. Didn't work. It had to be the hose. Marine head hoses and outlets are notorious for filling up with calcium deposits and hoses should be replaced regularly. We took this one off and because we didn't have spare hose had to lay it on deck and beat it with a hammer to break up the deposits, then, ream it out with a broomstick. After reinstallation, the toilet flushed with incredible force, obviously the way it was supposed to work. Hose replacement has now been added to "the list".

It's true that at some points during these mini-dramas (which don't seem so mini when you're living them) we were feeling very disheartened  and wondering whether a return to cruising was the right decision. It's really been just maintenance issues so far though and we will get ahead of them at some point. On the bright side, a lot of things are still working: the electronics are talking to each other, the autopilot works, the windlass works, the fridge works (freezer not so much), we've tried the watermaker, the washing machine and the shower and they all work. It feels so incredibly luxurious to be able to shower on the boat. We have tried the hot water heater, but, it's not really needed, the water at air temperature is hot enough!

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