Admiral Marina Port Dixon to Pangkor Marina Island
Gaviota
Sun 4 Dec 2016 08:07
04:12.719N 100:35.541E
We left
Admiral Marina 10.00am on Sunday, 20th November and did the first stage of
the 150 mile journey to our next stop Pangkor Marina Island. Most of the Rally boats had already left as
Rally activities were due to start on Monday 21st.
Our first
day was mainly motor sailing but we did manage a couple of hours of sailing, we
actually had a good wind but for the most part it was dead against us so
sailing was impossible. Our first
night’s anchorage was in a creek just off the main entrance to the huge port of
Klang (the Malaysian equivalent of Harwich in UK).
Early
start on Monday, 21st and another long day motor sailing to our next
stopping point which we reached just before dark, surrounded by fishing boats
we anchored just off the main channel in the huge mouth of a river. Boat traffic was constant through the night
so we left every light on that we had – there were too many reports of yachts
being rammed in the night and even attacks by fishermen wielding knives, not a
place to hang around!
We left
8.00am Tuesday, 22nd and motored into a glassy sea the last 27 miles
to Pangkor Marina Island.
All was
going well as we neared Pangkor Marina then I noticed that the engine temperature
gauge was on red!!! Syd sprung into
action and turned the engine off. At
that point we had been about to drop the mainsail but we left it up and
drifted. Luckily the sea was flat and
there suddenly was no boat traffic around so out came all the tools and Syd
disappeared into the engine. On we
drifted. The problem was the fan belt
for the alternator which just happened to be in about the most awkward position
it could be in the engine. After a lot
of swearing and sweating he managed to put on a new fan belt (last spare!). By this time the wind had started to pick up
and we were making 3 knots (current with us) with just the mainsail up, we
rolled out the genoa and sailed into the anchorage outside the Marina. The Marina was full so it was the only
option.
The Rally
had organized a bus trip to a Mall for provisioning and a visit to 3 hardware
shops (very sensible and obviously a very popular trip for all the
yachties!). Then in the evening there
was a wonderful buffet with live band and free beer which was put on by James the owner of Pangkor
Marina which turned into an excellent night.