Pangkor Marina Island to Straits Quay Marina Penang
Gaviota
Sun 4 Dec 2016 08:18
05:27.679N 100:18.904E
We headed
off Thursday, 24th November with the tide and slowly sailed the short distance to our
first stop behind a small island en route to Penang. The sea looked relatively clean so a swim was
top priority – swimming other than in pools has not been possible because of
the filthy sea – the future hazards we have been warned of are a box type of
jellyfish and the dreaded Irukandji once again which apparently hang out in the
seas around Penang and Langkawi (thought we had left that lot in Australia!!!). Maybe a good thing the sea is too dirty to
swim in.
It was a
very early start next morning and we were away with the dawn as we had 60 miles
to sail to the first anchorage in Penang.
It was a lovely sunny day (very unusual as cloud cover most days is
100%) and there was enough wind to get the sails up and motor sail. We arrived at the first bridge at 4.00pm and
as the bridge was a comfortable 25 metres high we confidently sailed under and
anchored at an anchorage described as being ‘close to a very noisy Karaoke
bar’. All was quiet until midnight then
it started – combine that with being under the flight path to Penang Airport
and close proximity to a 4 lane flyover, it was not a very tranquil night. We left early next morning and motored under
the second bridge and the final 17 miles to Straits Quay Marina which we had to
anchor outside as it was full. We
arrived midday Saturday, 26th November and headed straight in to
catch the bus to visit the historic Georgetown (a Unesco World Heritage
Site). A visit to Tourist Information
armed us with maps (the first helpful Tourist Information we have found!) and
we walked around to see the main places of interest. Unfortunately Georgetown has a big traffic
issue and cars take priority which is a shame as it makes walking round
sightseeing difficult and often quite dangerous. There are some magnificent temples and
buildings which are in the process of being restored, the most beautiful being
Khoo Kongsi. We visited the Clan Jetties
on the waterfront which housed the original Chinese families who came to Penang
to work and live – present generations of the same families still live
there. The street art was also
impressive but the overall feeling we both had was that the place was run down
and not being looked after as it should be.
The Tourist Office had recommended we visit a free show in the grounds
of Khoo Kongsi which started at 6.30 so we ate in Little India and went to see
what turned out to be an amazing show which included Chinese Dragons dancing on
tables, acrobats and an incredible traditional mask dance. Unfortunately it poured with rain!!! So the small audience all huddled under the
roof of a nearby building and the show went on.
It was sad to see so few people as the effort that went into the show
was incredible and seeing Khoo Kongsi Temple lit up with hundreds of lanterns
was worth sitting in the rain to see.
The Rally
were due to arrive the next day as the plan was for the fleet to be passing
under the second bridge at the same time as the Penang Marathon runners were
running over it. Syd was not keen to
anchor with 40 other yachts and motor boats and then join the chaos as 40 boats all tried to squeeze under the bridge
at the same time so we were quite happy to be sitting eating breakfast in the
Straits Quay anchorage as they all arrived and tried to find spaces to anchor.
The first
Rally event was drinks and snacks in the Marina and there were various trips
organized with a final dinner on Monday, 28th November where we were
taken via the Hop on Hop off tourist bus to a great Indian Restaurant – it was
quite amusing seeing the look of horror on the passenger’s faces as 80+
yachties piled onto the buses! The meal
was an Indian buffet and the food was excellent. At 9.00pm our buses collected us and took us
back to the Marina.
