We spent a fabulous week snorkelling and diving in the Tarutao National Marine Park. Our favourite spots included Koh Chuku (aka Koh Khai), Koh Lipe and Koh Yang. The snorkelling was great! The corals and marine life were impressive and we spent hours exploring a number of the many snorkelling sites the Tarutao National Marine Park has to offer.
Clearing in and out of customs, pirates, transport, phone and internet, cheap food, shopping, fruit and veg, fuel, hardware, bartering, trading and gifts, as well as some basic Indonesian words to know are covered in this post. It also includes a link to a google map of the anchorages we used which includes information about the holding and the depth of water.
Surrounded by beautiful green islands; mountainous with sheer rock faces plunging into blue water, we had finally reached Langkawi and the surrounding islands. We anchored at Pulau Singa Besar for the night and, not realising what little gem was hidden beneath the trees, we moved on the next day for Kuah.
Washing day. Even living on a boat we still have chores to do. Washing is made easier with my Companion Easywash Single Tub.
…and as we enjoyed a delicious nyonya laksa we watched a family of hornbills. The staff at the Nipah Deli put out some fruit for the hornbills that live in a tree nearby. The hornbill ma and pa cautiously made there way to the table, and the plate of fruit, where they filled their bellies before going back to feed their two chicks.
We chose to stay at the Marlin Marina in Cairns, as it was central to everything and, once again, we needed to get a heap of work done. Cairns is our last stop in a large town until we get to Darwin so we needed to do our final chores to become self-sufficient .i.e. get the water-maker installed.We stayed for nine nights and our first job was to find someone to patch the dinghy and fix the outboard motor…
We left Cape Gloucester after Rendezvous 2014, with several other boats all going north. Our first stop was Cape Upstart where we all anchored and went ashore and cooked dinner over the fire with the crews from The Tardis and Irish Mist.
We moved on the next day to Cape Bowling Green where we had dinner aboard The Tardis with Helen and Graham. From there we went to Townsville. We got a good sail, catching and overtaking all the boats that left the bay before us! We eventually had to put a reef in the main sail as we were over powered and it was getting a bit uncomfortable.
The rendezvous is a four day party better expressed with photos. Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club was a concept created as a “network for cruising yachties and individuals who enjoy boating”. Their yearly rendezvous raises money for prostate cancer. Over $80,000 was raised this year! To learn more visit the the SICYC website.
We had a good sail to Hunter Island. Once there, we went for a walk and discovered deer when we accidently frightened them from where they were sleeping in the long grass. I’m not sure who got more of a fright me or the deer! That night we had a few drinks around a fire on the beach with John and Mara from SV Chikita and also Irwin and George from SV Walt-zee.