Penang back to Langkawi and around the Island
Gaviota
Tue 25 Apr 2017 07:46
06:22.029N 99:41.043E
We motored the whole way on a glassy sea – we
even had time to stop and snorkel at the second island in Pulau Payer National
Park where, as there is no anchoring allowed and all the mooring balls seem to
have disappeared, we took it in turns to swim.
The water here was very clear and surprisingly full of quite large fish
including a small black tip shark (first shark sighting of the whole trip!).
We had
decided to circum-navigate Langkawi and see if we could find some nice bays,
the first night was spent in the middle of 2 ferry channels close to the main
town of Kuah, not great. Next morning we
headed North East towards the The Hole in the Wall a popular anchorage within
the Kalim Geoforest Park - an amazing landscape of limestone pinnacles and
towering cliffs spoiled only by the hundreds of speedboats full of trippers
which charge through the otherwise tranquil passages between the cliffs and the
mangroves. It is certainly another side
of Langkawi which makes a dull uninteresting Island rather scenically
spectacular. We spent a night in a
lovely sheltered bay on the outside of Pulau Langguan, this was a beautiful
peaceful and protected bay which we had totally to ourselves. Next morning we went and looked at the Hole
in the Wall which was full of speedboats, from there we went round the most
Northern point and into another protected bay at Tan Jong Rhu where we had a
rolly night so onto our last stop at Datai Bay host to the Datai and Andaman
Resorts two of Langkawi’s most exclusive luxurious 5-star hotels. The bay was picture perfect, pure white sand,
lush jungle and the first clean sea we have swam in since we arrived back in
Malaysia. We swam ashore and walked the
perfect beach the next morning and watched the monkeys playing in the trees along
the beach. Certainly the only spot on
Langkawi I could recommend for a paradise style holiday – at a price!!!!
Back to
reality and a nice sail back to Telaga Harbour with the afternoon wind and back
to the anchorage to provision, top up internet and see when Gaviota can be
hauled out for work to begin!
One final
challenge before the work begins was to climb the 4,287 steps to the summit of
Langkawi’s highest peak Gunnun Raya.
There was a big race planned for 22nd April The BDB Climb/Run
Challenge, this involved climbing the 4,287 steps all 3.1 kms in distance to a
height of 787 metres above sea level then to run 16.6 kms downhill back to the
start!!!!!! Sadly this event was only
open to local Malaysians or permanent residents – whew sigh of relief – even
more so when we learned how tough it was and actually did the climb 2 days
after the event. Neither of us is at
anywhere near peak fitness level and it was a lot tougher than we
expected. We started at a jog and ended
literally hauling ourselves up the railings to the top in the clouds but we
made it. Syd timed in at 1 hour 8
minutes and I timed in at 1 hour 11 minutes.
The normal time allocated for the climb was 2 hours 15 minutes and we
were told by a local that the fastest time up the steps was 40 minutes which
made all the pain and suffering worthwhile.
Serious rain started close to the summit accompanied by the standard
crashing of thunder and flashes of lightning so it was a quick descent back
down to 54.4 metres above Mean Sea Level with a huge sense of achievement and
seriously aching muscles!
