15 June 2016 United Kingdom to Admiral Marina, Malaysia
Our flight wasn’t until the evening, so we hung about at Craig’s house, trying to occupy ourselves. We cracked up at 14:30 and decided that we might as well wait at the airport.
On the way, we remembered that we hadn’t paid for toll for the Dartford crossing. They have car registration plate recognition cameras on the toll bridge and you are supposed to pay on-line within 24 hours. When we arrived at the car hire place, they were unable to help us and we were told that there would be a £70 administration handling fee if the hire company had to pay the fine - gutted!
We went on line, but there is no way to pay the late payment until a Penalty Notice is issued. This would be sent to the Hire Company and we would incur a £70 administration fee - Catch 22. We decided to make a payment on line (£2.60) and then sent an email to the Dartford Crossing people explaining what had happened and asking them to accept the payment. Nothing else for it.
The flight was on time and, again, the strategy of two small bottles of wine with dinner gave us five hours sleep and two films filled the rest of the 13 hour flight. After a one hour taxi ride, we were back at boat by 17:30. Thankfully, the boat hasn’t sunk and everything works apart from the galley fridge seems to be playing up, so we switched it off.
We had dinner in the expensive marina bar (£20 for two large meals and four beers - almost UK prices.) and crashed out at 21:00
16 June 2016 Admiral Marina, Malaysia
After our tiring flight, we didn’t wake up until 10:30. We spent the morning pottering about unpacking and tidying up. I checked the galley fridge and it ran okay this morning - it must have been sulking last night.
While in the UK, I’d bought a new radiator cap for the engine (at a huge cost of £60 - I hate Volvo sometimes.) I fitted the radiator cap onto the engine, which looked suitably shiny, but the engine was very moody after being left alone for a month - I managed to coax it into life after bleeding the diesel lines and preheating the injectors - which I’ve never had to do before.
In late afternoon, we went out to local shops to buy some food. I still have a problem with tightness between my shoulder blades, so I was keen to have a massage. We wandered past two massage parlours that looked decidedly dodgy, but eventually found one that looked less seedy, so I went in and paid £10 for a Thai massage. The girl nearly killed me, but it was good and I felt much looser after the pummelling.
17 June 2016 Admiral Marina, Malaysia
Overnight, there was a huge thunderstorm with torrential rain - it lasted about four hours. At the moment, there’s a huge band of cloud over the Malaysian peninsula caused by the South-west monsoon. We’ve been told by local cruisers that these “systems” form every two weeks, give lots of rain for a few days, and then the weather settles down until the next system forms. It looks a little better early next week, so we’re planning to leave on Monday 19th.
We managed to drag ourselves out of bed before eight o’clock and caught a bus into Port Dickson to clear out to Singapore - it costs 1.70 Ringgit (0.34p) each. One of the ladies at the bus stop told us that taxis sometimes stop at the bus stops on their way back into town and should only charge 2.50 to 3.00 Ringgit per person. It’s 15 Ringgit (£3) to get a taxi out of town and, if the marina arranges a taxi, it costs 30 Ringgit…
To clear out, we had to go to the Port Captain, then Customs and then Immigration. It was all very easy. The marina had given us two forms which we had filled in and photocopied. The Port Captain stamped these forms and relieved us of 50 Ringgit (£10) for port fees - I asked for a receipt to prove that it was legitimate.
Customs quickly issued our Port Clearance document. It’s a short walk to the Immigration at the ferry terminal, where we had to fill in two copies of a crew list. I’d told them that we were leaving tomorrow, so the Immigration Officer gave me a short lecture about staying on the boat until we leave - yeah right!
With our administration complete, we walked to the Billion supermarket, stocked up on food and caught a taxi back to the marina. It might only cost 15 Ringgit, but I was in fear of my life as we climbed into a very old, run-down car - I’m surprised that we made it to the marina only 5 miles away.
The jet lag has seriously caught up with us, so we spent the afternoon chilling out and napping.
18 June 2016 Admiral Marina, Malaysia
While we back in the UK, I spent some time with my 82 year-old mother, starting to gather information on our family history. I spent the morning building a family tree using an on-line web site, but it just raised lots of other questions. I’m going to start firing off emails as I think of them - it’ll give my mum something to do..
Glenys pottered about doing a few jobs in the morning and then spent the afternoon playing her ukulele. I motivated myself enough to do some jobs in the afternoon, including filling a dive tank ready to fit the new rope stripper parts to the propeller shaft tomorrow.
While back in the UK, I’d bought a new, genuine Samsung toner cartridge for our printer, but when I fitted it, the bloody printer says that it is incompatible. The printer still works with the old cartridge, so I suspect that Samsung have put in some kind of regional protection - I bought the printer in Panama, which I guess is in the USA region. I hate Samsung and the printer is destined for the skip.
19 June 2016 Admiral Marina, Malaysia
It was a peaceful night, with no rain or thunder, so we’re definitely going tomorrow.
I donned my scuba gear and dived down under the boat to fit the rope stripper. The visibility was only a couple of feet, but good enough for me to do the job. I needed four hands and I had some tense moments where I had parts balanced on the propeller shaft, while I tried to fit a clamp with Allen screws. If I’d dropped one of the parts they would have been lost in the sludge on the sea bed forever…
In the afternoon, we tested the water maker and our 15hp outboard engine. They’re both working fine, so we’re ready to go.
It was a rainy evening with lightning around, so we huddled down below to watch a movie. There were a few power surges caused by lightning and unfortunately, our LED projector suddenly went dim and was unwatchable. I suspect that the power surges have damaged the LED lamp in the projector - I’ll have to try to get it repaired in Singapore (or buy a new one…)
20 June 2016 Admiral Marina, Malaysia
We woke early to the sound of rain and, after looking at the weather forecast for the next 3 days, we decided to stay another day - we don’t like setting off in the rain. Instead of sailing for three days with two overnight stops in dodgy, open anchorages, we’re going to leave tomorrow and sail overnight to get in to Singapore on the 22nd.
Our 15 year old main-sail has been getting baggier and has had several repairs, so with the prospect of strong winds next year on our trip to South Africa and another 13,000 miles to complete our circumnavigation, we’re thinking that it’s time to bite the bullet and get a new mainsail. I’ve already had a couple of quotes, but I sent off a few more emails to sailmakers asking for a quotation.
In the afternoon, I sent off the required Advance Notice of Arrival to the Singapore Port Authority and then sent an email to One:15 marina in Singapore to confirm our booking. A few hours later, they confirmed the marina berth, but told me that the Immigration regulations have changed and that I needed to appoint an agent. Bummer... I fired off emails to five agents and, by eight o’clock I’d appointed a Mr Foo Say Juan, who charges £15 for clearing in and £15 for clearing out.
It appears that the Singapore Immigration has set up a new computer system, where agents can enter the crew and passenger details of a vessel. I guess that this is more efficient and cost effective for the Immigration department, but obviously pushes the administration expense onto the arriving vessel. By nine o’clock, I’d sent Mr Foo all my details and I’ll have to wait until tomorrow for him to do the administration tomorrow.
21 June 2016 Admiral Marina to One:15 Marina, Singapore (Day 1)
We woke to a beautiful morning with the sun shining - it was a good call to wait another day. Glenys went off to pay the marina while I checked our email and was pleased to see that the immigration Advance Notice of Arrival has been issued by Mr Juan. We were clear of the marina and on our way by 09:30.
After weaving our way past the sandbank outside the marina, we edged out to the shipping lanes and set a course ½ mile from the edge of the lane. There was no wind, so we resigned ourselves to motoring, although after lunch we had a little excitement when the wind picked up and we pulled out the sails - only lasted 30 minutes…
The newly fitted Rope Stripper rattles a tiny bit, but seems to be okay, which is a relief. However, our iPad had decided to play up again and won’t show us our current position. After resetting it and messing about for an hour, it looks like the GPS has stopped working. We’ve had it repaired twice over the past year, so it looks like the past four years have been hard on the poor thing and we need to get a new one. This trip to Singapore is going to be expensive with a new LED projector, a new printer and a new iPad.
It might be mindless doing all this motoring, but at least the seas were calm and we were making good progress. The first half of the night was idyllic, with clearing skies and a nearly full moon.
22 June 2016 Admiral Marina to One:15 Marina, Singapore (Day 2)
At 02:00, a thunderstorm built up behind us with towering clouds and large flashes of lightning illuminating the cockpit. I switched on the radar and was pleased to see that it was 20 miles behind us and not as close as it looked. Interestingly, it was a long line of clouds about 4-5 miles wide that were streaming out to sea in a line that was 90 degrees to the shore - everywhere else around us was clear.
I went to bed at 04:00, leaving Glenys to worry about the thunderstorm and was woken at 07:00 to find that the storm never caught us up and that we were already in the Singapore Straits with only 20 miles to go.
Glenys sloped off to bed for an hour or two, leaving me to cope with the busy shipping lanes with all sorts of vessels entering and leaving the various anchorages. However, it wasn’t too bad, with only one anxious moment. A tanker was coming out of the port and I expected it to pass ½ mile in front of us, but it suddenly slowed down to allow the Port Pilot to leave the ship. (The Pilot scrambles down a ladder and boards his Pilot Boat while the ship is still under way at 5-10 knots.) This put us on a collision course, so I had to speed up to pass in front of the tanker’s bow, which is not my favourite tactic, but we made it with 400 metres to spare.
After rounding Raffles Lighthouse, which is on a cute little island, we arrived at the Western Quarantine area at Sisters Island. Despite having used an agent to submit an Advance Notice of Arrival with all of the crew details, I still had to present three signed crew lists and our passports. While we drifted around in the Quarantine anchorage, an Immigration boat came alongside and I placed my documents in to a fishing net held by an officer.
Apparently, I should have printed out the official crew list sent to me by the agent because they rejected my “Alba” crew lists and printed out their own, handing them back in the net for me to sign. It’s a strange system, but it seems to work and they probably have hundreds of boats to clear in every day.
We were in our berth in One:15 Marina by 11:30. It was a good 26 hour trip and much better than doing it as three, long day sails. After a quick bite to eat, we caught the marina’s courtesy bus to Vivo City and then had a 5 minute ride on a public bus to the One-stop Port clearance centre. I had a moment of panic when I discovered that the marina office had kept the original port clearance from Malaysia and given us their photocopy. However, the lady clearing us in was very nice and let me off with the photocopy. Phew!
After catching the bus back to Vivo City Shopping Mall, we wandered about looking at new printers and a replacement for the iPad. I refuse to buy another Samsung printer because I’ve had so much trouble with the draconian control of their cartridges, so it looks like a cheap Brother laser printer will do.
The replacement of the iPad was a quandary. We know how the iPad works, but I hate Apple’s bloody-mindedness and the way that I have no control of the synchronisation process in the (loathed) iTunes, so we think that we’ll get a Samsung Tab S2, which is an Android device. I need to check that the Navionics chart software works on it and that it has good GPS - we’ll be checking the prices tomorrow when we get to Sim Lin Square.
We had dinner on the boat and went to bed early, exhausted by the lack of sleep last night and the frenzy of running about today.
23 June 2016 One:15 Marina, Singapore
At £30 per night, it’s relatively expensive to stay in One:15 marina, but it’s so convenient - only 10 minutes on the free courtesy bus to the huge shopping mall at Vivo City, where the fabulous “MRT” underground system starts. From there, it’s easy to explore the whole of Singapore City.
Our main mission today was to apply for an Indonesian Visa. We’re planning to meet a couple of other boats (“Amulet” and “Sea Monkey”) at Nongsa Point Marina at the end of the month and then sail to the Anambas Islands. We’d like to spend a couple of months exploring the small archipelago; hence we wanted to get a 60 day visa.
The regulations for a yacht entering Indonesia have changed in the past six months. Previously, one had to apply for a “Cruising Application for Indonesian Territory” (CAIT). This was a lengthy process which involved an agent and an Indonesian Sponsor and took weeks to process. Now they have finally simplified the process and a yacht can arrive at a clearance port without any prior permissions or visa. They will give a 30 day visa on arrival and yachts are asked to submit an on-line form 48 hours in advance of arrival.
Our visit to the Indonesian Embassy didn’t go as smoothly as we would have liked. Our first minor problem was that they wouldn’t let me into the embassy because I was wearing shorts. Fortunately, Glenys had made me bring a pair of long trousers in my rucksack, so after a short visit to the toilets, we were soon through to the reception desk.
Unfortunately, no one seems to have told the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore about the demise of the CAIT and they were insisting that we have a full Cruising Permit and an Itinerary of where we would be going. Our arguments about the regulations being changed fell on deaf ears and we were instructed to contact a shipping agent in China Town to get the correct documentation.
One of challenges of cruising is that we often we don’t have a phone, so we had to catch the MRT to China town - 20 minutes away. A nice lady at the Shipping Agents told us that we no longer needed a CAIT, so we were in a Catch 22 situation… The lady gave us a chink of light by giving us a copy of a memorandum issued by the Indonesian Marine Authority, which explained the new regulations in Indonesian. All we could do was to go back to the embassy tomorrow and argue our case.
We spent the rest of the day shopping. Our first stop was at a scuba shop to get some of our gear serviced; then a chandlers to order rope and a few other things; then a dive camera shop to get some parts and ending up at the legendary Sim Lin Square - five stories of shops all selling and repairing electronic and computer items…
We found that prices for a printer and Samsung tablet were the same as in Vivo City, so we might as well buy them there instead of lugging heavy boxes around. Nobody would repair our existing Acer TV projector, so we will have to buy a new one. We wandered around all five floors for a couple of hours, so that I could get a list of all the projectors available and I’ll have to do some research to find which one will fit in our existing space.
24 June 2016 One:15 Marina, Singapore
I was up early, putting together a pack of documents to support our visa application. I filled in and printed a Cruising Declaration form (that we’re supposed to submit to the port captain when we arrive in Indonesia); printed out a copy of the memo explaining the new regulations; and printed a bank statement showing that we had sufficient funds to buy a ticket out of the country..
Fortunately, our arguments worked - the embassy accepted our new documents and fifteen minutes after arriving, we were finished - we pick up our passports with 60 day visas on Tuesday 28th.
Flushed with success, we took the MRT back to Sim Lin Square and I bought a portable VHF radio that we’d looked at yesterday. We also tried to get the GPS repaired on the iPad, but the guy aid that they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Ah well, looks like a new Samsung tablet.
One of the nice things about South-east Asia is the Hawker Centres where there are many small food vendors around centralised eating area - A kind of food court. I love these places. You can get Chinese food, Malaysian food, Indian curries and strange local delicacies like Spicy Frog in Rice Porridge or Pig Offal Soup - Mmmm - maybe the sweet and sour pork would be best.
After lunch, we went back to Vivo City Mall, where we bought a nice, new, shiny Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 for £400 (ouch!) and a Brother laser printer with spare toner for £70 (not so ouch). I took our new toys back to the boat, while Glenys stayed at the mall to do some shopping without me following her around, moaning and groaning.
I set up the new tablet and downloaded the Navionics chart app for Asia and Africa for an astounding £25. The tablet looks great and the GPS is spot in showing us at the correct berth in the marina, so I’m well pleased. All I have to do now is to download the latest detailed charts from Navionics, which will be a slow process on the public network in the marina.
I’ve received four quotes for main sails - Extreme Sailing, a North Sails dealer in Singapore; Rolly Tasker in Thailand; Island Planet Sails, a US company that gets the sails made in China; and Elstrom, the maker of the original sail in Sweden. Rolly Tasker came out cheapest at $2300 with the others at $2800-3000.
After a lot of deliberation, I’ve decided to go with North Sails because I can get the rig measured by them, they can deliver and fit the sails in Singapore, plus they can sort out any problems locally. They’re coming to measure up on Tuesday morning. BOAT stands for “Bring Out Another Thousand”.
Yesterday, the UK held a referendum on whether the country should leave the European Union and the result came in today - we are leaving the EU. I don’t know what the future will bring, but the value of the British Pound has plummeted, so everything will cost us more now - Oh Miser!
25 June 2016 One:15 Marina, Singapore
After all our running about over the past few days, we spent morning on board - Glenys did three loads of laundry in the marina launderette while I caught up on some admin and bemoaned the fact that the stock market has wiped thousands of pounds from our pensions because of the UK leaving Europe.
In the afternoon, we went to the Giant supermarket in Vivo City and did a major provisioning - enough food to last for three months in Indonesia. Being a Saturday, the place was heaving and there was a long thirty minute wait for a taxi.
26 June 2016 One:15 Marina, Singapore
We had a quiet Sunday on board. Glenys spent most of the day unpicking the edging tape from our dinghy cover. We bought the tape in New Zealand and it definitely isn’t UV resistant because it is disintegrating.
I spent the morning on various admin jobs and in particular, working out which TV projectors will fit our boat. It’s fairly complicated in that the distance from the projector to the screen is fixed at 1.65 metres and the maximum width of our screen is 1.25 metres - these small LED projectors have no zoom facility. The manufacturers quote various figures including image diagonal sizes and the “Throw Ratio”, which is supposed to be the distance/image width, but the information is conflicting.
I worked out that I needed a Throw Ratio of 1.4, which at 1.65m distance gives us a 1.2 metre wide image. It was then just a matter of downloading the specification sheets for the various models of projectors and comparing the manufacturers’ data. I whittled it down to three models - Vivitek Qumi Q6; Optoma ML750 and Viewsonic PED-W800. They’re all about £450, so it will come down to the deal that I can make tomorrow.
27 June 2016 One:15 Marina, Singapore
It was another Shop-Till-You-Drop morning. I went to Sim Lin Square to buy a TV projector, bought a new tap for the galley sink and then picked up a load of stuff from Marintech, the chandlers. Glenys went to Mustafa’s, a huge store in Little India, where she bought lots of spices and some other bits and pieces.
Back at the boat, Glenys got on with sewing the new UV-resistant edging tape to the dinghy cover - a tedious job. I spent the afternoon fitting our new Qumi Q6 TV Projector on to the ceiling. In the evening, we watched a movie. The new projector is great - brighter and clearer than the old one.
28 June 2016 One:15 Marina, Singapore
I’m getting excited about going cruising again. The other two boats in our little fleet (“Amulet” and “Sea Monkey”) are raring to go. “Amulet” is already in Nongsa Point Marina and “Sea Monkey” will be there tomorrow. I spent a couple of hours putting together the paper work for clearing out of Singapore and into Indonesia.
The local distributor of North Sails came to measure up our rig for the new mainsail - a nice guy called Paul. He runs a sail loft and boat yard in Batam in Indonesia and he’d come over to Singapore on the ferry. His loft is only about 30 minutes from Nongsa Point Marina, where we’re going tomorrow, so if we’d known, he could have met us in Nongsa Point Marina - bummer.
Paul will submit the measurements and then someone in North Sails will design the sail, which will be made in Sri Lanka. We’re hoping that the sail can be made and shipped to Paul by the time that we come back to Nongsa Point Marina at the end of August, so that he can fit and adjust it, if necessary.
After lunch, we went to the Indonesian Embassy and were pleased to pick up our 60 day visas. We then went to the Port Authority’s One Stop Centre and cleared out to go to Indonesia tomorrow. There was no charge at all because we’d paid one year’s port fees (£30) when we were here in October last year and I’d remembered to keep the invoice.
We’re all ready to go to Indonesia tomorrow. We just need to get fuel in the morning and pay our marina bill - hopefully we’ll be leaving the marina soon after nine o’clock. I can’t wait to get to the Anambas to do lots of snorkelling and diving on coral reefs.
29 June 2016 One:15 Marina to Nongsa Marina, Indonesia
I leapt out of bed at seven o’clock and rushed about tidying up, checking the engine and getting ready for sea. By eight o’clock, we were ready to go to the fuel dock, but there was a huge power boat moored there. I went over and talked to the captain, who said that they had refuelled yesterday, but were not leaving until eleven o’clock when their pilot would arrive. Bummer…
We spent a frustrating thirty minutes hanging about waiting for the marina staff to arrive, but thankfully, they were able to clear a space on the inside of the dock, so that we could squeeze in and fill our diesel tanks. By half past nine, we were clear of the marina and motoring over to the Immigration Western Quarantine area.
There was a long 30 minute delay while we waiting for the immigration boat to arrive, but they soon sorted us out and we were cleared to leave. It’s only a mile from the quarantine area to the very busy shipping lanes through the Singapore Straits. We had a few anxious moments as we crossed the 1.5 mile lanes and had to stop and wait for ships to pass us a couple of times, but it wasn’t too bad.
Again, there was no wind, so we motored the 20 miles to Nongsa Point Marina (01°11.82N 104°05.83E), keeping well away from the south edge of the shipping lanes. The approach to the marina is okay, but a little confusing because there are two channels marked, the other one going to a ferry terminal. We had the current with us for most of the way so we made good time and arrived at the marina at about 13:30.
The marina is very pleasant, with low red-roofed houses dotted about the slightly sloping land around the beach. Four of the marina staff helped us tie up, then one guy took away our documents to get us cleared in, returning two hours later with our passports - very efficient and the service only cost us 500,000 Rupiah (£25) including both the inward and domestic clearance to the Anambas.
Chris and Nancy from “Anthem” and Carlos, Sarah, Sidney (11) and Indie (8) from “Sea Monkey” are in berths next to us, so we had a chat and agreed that, we’d share a minibus tomorrow to go into town and do some last minute shopping. The plan is to get our domestic clearance to the Anambas tomorrow afternoon and we’ll all leave together on Friday morning.
Glenys and I had a quick walk around the marina, which has a hotel with a swimming pool which we can use. There’s a small shop selling alcohol, snacks and souvenirs, so we bought a couple of cases of Bintang beer for 450,000 Rupiah (£22) each. Otherwise, there’s not a lot else to see or do - the nearest town is 12 miles away.
We had a quiet night in and watched a movie.
30 June 2016 Nongsa Marina, Indonesia
The clocks are one hour further back than Singapore, so I was awake at 06:00 when the sun came up - I much prefer these lighter mornings.
We pottered about for a few hours and I replaced our topping loft with some new rope that I bought in Singapore. In the middle of the morning we all piled onto a minibus, which took us into town. I was hoping to go into the town centre and have a wander about, but the bus driver dropped up off at a very posh mall - it felt like being back in Singapore.
Glenys and I left the others and had a quick wander about outside the mall. There was a ferry terminal and a Hawker centre for food, but being Ramadan, all the stalls were closed. We found a kind of park next to the Shopping Mall, which looks like it was built for an expo or something, not terribly interesting, but we got to stretch our legs for half an hour.
After doing a little bit more shopping for fresh food, the minibus dropped us back at the marina. It cost 700,000 Rupiah (£35) for the trip, which is expensive, but with six of us it wasn’t too bad. We chilled out for the rest of the afternoon, tidying up ready to leave tomorrow.