Rebak for a season
JJMoon Diary
Barry and Margaret Wilmshurst
Sun 6 Dec 2009 07:32
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Rebak marina is a safe haven built in
what was originally a mangrove swamp on a private island just off the large
Malaysian island of Langkawi. The marina was severely
damaged by the tsunami of December 2004 but was re-constructed and is
now owned by an Indian hotel group together with a very comfortable resort
hotel. A small curiosity of the blog is that the image on Google Earth was
taken after the damage but before the pontoons were re-built. It appears
that we are anchored in a pond.
Rebak is well favoured by yachties
because it is protected from strong winds, secure from thieves and situated in
Malaysia, which has regulations that make it easy to leave boats unattended and
untaxed for relatively long periods. There is a 60 ton travel hoist
and a very clean area of hard standing but the range of
work available is limited. The Rebak Island Resort goes out of
its way by offering discounts and other incentives to encourage yachties from
the marina to use the comfortable air-conditioned rooms, beautiful pool,
restaurant, tennis courts and other facilities. It is still expensive but
very attractive, with attentive service from numerous staff a strong
feature.
The marina has its own cafe/restaurant,
open from noon to 9.00 pm. Charlie is in charge but I am afraid there is
an imbalance here; unlike the hotel staff he is over-worked and
under-resourced. He struggles practically single-handed to take
orders, serve cold drinks, persuade the kitchen to let starters be
starters with main courses to follow and to get the food on the tables
before the chef goes home. He is a friendly fellow who does his best
in trying circumstances and much can be forgiven a chap who provides two
starters, two main courses, two beers and two soda waters all for the equivalent
of GBP 10 including tax (nil; Langkawi is a tax free zone) and
service.
We have been here long enough now to
appreciate the benefits without growing jaded and have moved into the hotel for
a couple of nights while we shut the boat down for an unknown period. We
are off tomorrow, the 7th. Our original flights back to Malaysia are
booked for 31st January but who knows? Much will depend on the advice of
medical people. At least we hope to have enough time in Europe to see
plenty of blog readers!
Oh, we had a good run up from Singapore,
taking a little under 4 days in light head-winds and arriving on Saturday
21st. We gave our new absorber plenty of work and managed to avoid
all the shallows, fishing boats and fishing nets.
See you soon!
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