Year 2- 7th November 2025 – Langkawi

It was pouring with rain when we woke and in fact it started raining heavily in the night causing us to shut all hatches. The rain was forecast to continue for most of the morning. The fridge man was supposed to come at 9.00am. We had breakfast and discussed what to do as it was likely to be a wet day. We had not yet visited the duty-free stops yet and this is the place to stick up on booze and potentially other items. There is also a good aquarium – in fact the largest in Southeast Asia which may be worth a visit.

The others went off to swim and do emails etc and I waited for the Fridge man. I also started to look at the various anchorages around Langkawi that we could visit when we leave the marina, as the islands are the main things to see here. The Fridge man did not come until 11.30am and blamed the rain. I was not impressed but bit my tongue. He took the lid off and cut out the section the hinges went into and took it away to prepare a new piece and he will return tomorrow to fit it and glue all the sections together. He said 10.00am and I said to him please make it 10.00am as otherwise we are waiting around for him. He apologised and hopefully got my point.

Ruth had met a friend called Lyn who came to say hello and see the boat. She is half Malay and half English and we discussed with her what to do and which anchorages were worthwhile.

We decided to go off to the aquarium as it was in the Pantai Cenang area which is a long beach where holiday makers go and the area is quite lively.

The journey took us about 30 minutes and the area was round the other side of the island going round the curve of the island. Once we were through Kuah, the main town, we were into a large area of countryside and the road went through wooded areas with the odd monkey sitting by the side of the road. There was also a large naval base we passed before we came into the Cenang area. This was a typical beach area with small hotels, restaurants and bars etc.

Steve was feeling hungry so we all had a quick bite to eat and then headed into the aquarium. We were all over 60 so got a senior citizen discount!!

The aquarium was quite good and had some birds as well as fish. They had some flamingos, parrots’ iguanas and monkeys in a sort of walkthrough area with some fish tanks. There were, however, some large tanks which contained white tip and black tip sharks. There was a large tank which held an enormous grouper, some sharks and some very large fish and we saw a diver go in and feed them. They also had some African penguins and some Rockhopper Penguins from South America and we saw them being fed viewing from the top and underneath in a tunnel. There were many tanks with a variety of tropical fish, jelly fish etc. We spent a couple of enjoyable hours wondering around on a wet day in the dry.

Once we left we wondered on to the beach which was just behind and it was a long beach going on for miles but it was North facing and there was quite a large swell. It was exposed to the wind which was quite strong today as it came with the rain. It had actually stopped but it was grey and looked angry. We walked along for about 400 metres and found a bar to have a drink which was nice.

We left the beach and caught a cab to the Langkawi First Mall which was a large shopping mall with a big supermarket and a duty-free area. We stocked up a on gin, rum and whisky and some beer. As the fridge was out of action we got a few things from the supermarket and with all of this we took it back in a cab. By the time we got back and it was stowed away it was 6.30pm. Our plan had been to cook on board but we had nothing cold and we did not feel like cooking. We therefore returned to Ocean 11 and had a light meal.

We hope the fridge will be repaired tomorrow and we can then think of moving out and visiting some of the surrounding islands.

The picture of the day is the grouper in the tank who I nicknamed Wally.

Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com