Travel by boat is over for a few months. We are back in Pangkor, back in the boat yard, and have a lot of work to do before leaving for England at the end of May. This is a working marina and boat yard partly because there is nothing much else to do here so no distractions! Discussions about how to remove corroded bolts, how to treat osmosis in the hull, the best paints and how to use them are avidly listened to. We have international company – Australian, NZ, American, Canadian, S. African, French, Dutch, German, British, and a few local motor launches. Several we have met on and off between Australia and here. The folk on the boat next to us, first met in Indonesia, have a son that used to sail with C in Oxford uni days. He and his girlfriend (plus the team) stayed in our house once. A small world.
We are stripping down the hull back to base, the first time it has been done since we bought the boat. Usually we just rub down the old antifouling and add another coat on top. Time to see what the hull looks like. We want to repaint the deck too, but not sure how much of that we will get done this time. The aim was to strip a square metre a day, but we are already behind schedule. My job has been scraping off the large barnacles that have made their home on the propeller, the rudder and the through-hull holes. Much worse than usual due to a couple of weeks in the warm polluted water of Penang.
When we were here earlier in the year we heard tales of rats getting on to boats, and it is still a problem, in the marina as they can jump from the jetty straight on to a boat. Much more difficult in the boat yard unless anchor chain, or power cable is left dangling. We haven’t seen any rats, and the rubbish bins are emptied several times a day so there is no food lying around for them, but they appear from somewhere at night time. Did see a large monkey swinging from a telegraph wire yesterday but haven’t heard of them causing any trouble.
As it is so hot and humid we investigated local hotels but the most suitable has closed for renovation, and another has very small basic rooms, many without windows. The third is a bit expensive for more than a night or two. Decided we preferred the boat, so have bought an air conditioner. This sits next to the overhead hatch in the saloon, and at night time we blow the cool air into our cabin with a fan. It makes a huge difference in humidity as well as temperature. G is busy making a wooden cover for gap between AC unit and hatch – at the moment it is covered with tarpaulin. We got the bikes out yesterday and cycled to a sawmill for the wood; are definitely out of condition as it took a couple of hours to recover when we returned!
As for food, we have found a few favourite places. There is a little stall that cooks sate on a grill, 10 sticks each plus fresh lemonade costs about £2 each. A restaurant on the marina complex specialises in cheesecake and cream cakes, European style, and very tempting.
Our little gecko is still with us; we think he probably came on board here earlier in the year, so hope he doesn’t leave us for pastures new (or a mate). We are very fond of our little lodger.
