Admiral Marina - Port Dickson Lat. North 02 degrees 28.518' Long. East 101 degrees 50.735'

Hi to all,
It's a bit hard to know where to start as the final weeks of our NZ sojourn have all become a bit of a blur! We went back up to Whangarei for Pauline's 70th. birthday and said goodbye to the folks at Norsand Boatyard, Noel and Litara, and Hamish and Sara with whom we have spent many happy days staying. Thank you Hamish and Sara again for everything. Then last but not least, Monique who is a French doctor who sailed her catamaran from France a few years ago and returns to NZ every year to advance the extensive refit a little more as time and funds permit. She is an amazing person, full of joie de vivre! As we've said many times, this is the worst of this transient life - constantly saying goodbye to people and wondering whether we'll ever see them again.
Then back in Auckland and a round of visits to Jim's cousins, John Mains and Rosemary Morton. It seems more vital than ever to maintain these contacts as we get older. Also a poignant visit to Jim's history teacher at St. Kentigern College at Pakuranga, Auckland in the early 1960's - Alastair Whitelaw and his wife Joan - both in their 80's. Joan is very unwell but it was wonderful to see them both. Jim still has his old school reports with Alastair's brief comments at the end of every term!! Jim enjoyed history and that was in no small measure due to Alastair's teaching. A pleasant coffee break in Ponsonby with Jim's brother Alec and his wife, Linda who is much better after her recent serious and scary illness. Jim's 67th. birthday on the 27th. and celebrated with a leg of lamb and 2 of Tracie's friends on the deck at Nile Rd. That was on the actual day, but before that we went to a BBQ at Alan and Lorraine's (Tracie's mother and stepfather) at Red Beach where 3 birthdays on the 26th. and 27th. Jan. were celebrated. Jim's, Alan's and Grant's - a brother in law of Tracie's. Most enjoyable and Jim was the grateful recipient of chocolates and a bottle of wine. Thank you Alan and Lorraine.
It was Keith's (Jean's brother) 70th. on the Saturday before we were due to leave. It was held in the woolshed on the former Izard farm which Keith manages just south of Wellsford. A great time was had by all marking the great occasion and included alcoholic recollections of Keith at former times by various friends and family. The food was spectacular and the tables were fair groaning with it. On the way back to Auckland we went via Huapai and again met Kia and John from "Atea" - a NZ boat we had met back in Danga Bay. That night dinner with Lizzie and Wayne at St. Heliers - Lizzie is an old family friend of Jean's.
Then more visits with Jim's daughter Rozanne and Chris and their two beautiful boys, Harry Jonathon and Callum Patrick. Callum, like Carter James is changing almost daily as they do at 3-4 months. When we next see them they will be so different again. Harry is great at 3 and already showing promise at Soccer and Basketball. And then of course Carter - Perry and Tracie's new son and Jean's 1st grandson. More bonding - even up to the morning we left when Jean announced she was honoured to have had the chance to change the last poohey nappy! But all joking aside, such a wrench to leave. It was sad not to have seen Jim's other 2 daughters, Charlotte and Amanda again but Charlotte was back in Christchurch and Amanda has been flat out as a midwife delivering babies!! Babies have no regard for schedules.
And of course Heather who is living at Albany. So good to see her improving all the time and she made Jean a dress which has been worn more than once since we arrived back. We have been invited to Jean's nephew's wedding (Rakesh and Geraldine) in April but sadly by then will probably be up to our elbows in the maintenance refit in Thailand. Then of course there is Jiveen and Jenny's wedding in Scotland in May. So sorry we won't be able to be there for either happy event.
And then there were happy visits with Jean's other nephew Kagan and his sister, Rhea. Jean spent an afternoon with Kagan and Rhea was at a BBQ at Milford. All good catchups.
Perry took us to the airport and then we were on Jetstar for the flight to Singapore. Once again we had bulkhead seats so the legroom was reasonable.
This account of family and friends would not be complete without grateful and heartfelt thanks to Perry and Tracie. We intruded into their lives for the best part of two and a half months and used their cars for all our visiting and errands. We cannot say thankyou enough as without you our visit would not have been possible for the length of time and all the travelling that we did.
We again stayed at the Santa Grand in Chinatown while we took care of some banking business and then it was back to Danga Bay. We were picked up at the hotel and then had a seamless ride across the Tuas Bridge into Malaysia where we had sailed under back in October. The boat was fine, if a little dusty but lots of hosing fixed that. We fitted an original new Ford fuel pump obtained locally and then we were ready to leave. Provisioning and thanks to Gene and Sheri of "Reflection", we found Harvest Frozen Foods in JB. They had by far the best selection of meat at reasonable prices that we had seen since being in Malaysia and we bought a whole fillet of beef which they cut for us into steaks. Salmon, lamb chops and sausages completed the picture and all into the freezer which had needed re-gassing. Jim feels complete again with a full freezer!!!
We arrived at Port Dickson 2 days ago on the 1st. March after sailing 159 miles from Danga Bay, Johor Bahru. We left JB at 0700 on the 27th Feb. and negotiated our way south west down the Straits of Johor under the Tuas Bridge connecting Malaysia and Singapore, past Puteri and Raffles Marinas and down into the busy waterways off Singapore and the new port in southern Johor, Tanjun Pelepas. As usual the number of ships at anchor was mind blowing - huge container ships, bulk carriers and tankers of all types. All waiting to berth at either Singapore or Tanjung Pelepas. But no worries - we picked our way through the anchorage and were soon off the SW corner of Malaysia, Tanjung Piai. Another milestone for us and the old girl as we left the Straits of Johor and entered the Straits of Malacca (Melaka).
We motorsailed as the wind was variable and we needed to get to our first anchorage before dark - a total of 47 miles for the 1st. day to Pulau (Island) Pisang. The weather pattern seems to be reliable and consists of the NE Monsoon which increases in velocity during the mid morning up to 20-25 knots. This is a good wind direction for us (starboard beam) as our course is generally NW and the sea is flat as it is an offshore wind; however, around midday the wind would start to decrease and gradually go round to the west which is the local equivalent of a sea breeze. Again it would blow with some velocity and this suited us fine. Effectively we "went about" without changing course! The difficulty arose when anchoring in the late afternoon because the westerly created a lee shore. However, at Pisang we crept as far as we dared into the lee until we were forced to stop due to rapidly shallowing water. Still, the anchorage was OK albeit with some strong tide sometimes against the wind. We should make mention of the tide. It's effect gets less as one goes further north with a tidal range at Malacca of around 2 metres as opposed to around 3 metres at Singapore. Nevertheless it gives a very useful boost to one's progress as it seemed we had up to 2 knots extra when it was ebbing north. The southwards flow does not seem to be as strong. The other phenomenon which is very noticeable is the thick haze which means that the clear air we are used to in NZ is non existent, although it does seem to be improving somewhat as we head north. The coast is very low lying and very shallow so we are usually at least 5 miles off which means one cannot see the coast at all and even when approaching an island to anchor it is very difficult to discern any landmarks until closer than about 3 miles. Again thank goodness for GPS!! The source of the haze appears to be mainly smoke from Sumatra 30 miles across the Straits of Malacca but when the wind was from the NE there was smoke and no doubt industrial haze from the Malaysian mainland as well. We should also mention that the sun doesn't rise until 0700 and sets at around 1930 so it seems that Malaysia has its permanent daylight saving!
After Pisang the next stop was Pulau Besar - a further 69 miles. This was a big day but the tide helped us greatly. The chart shows shallow water all around Besar and we crept in very gingerly in water as shallow as 12 feet but as we started to get a lee from the westerlies the water depth increased most unexpectedly to over 50'! We eventually anchored in about 20' off a small village and in view of the historic city of Malacca some 5 miles distant. One could imagine the early Chinese ocean going junks, Portugese caravels and later the Dutch merchantmen in these waters over 1500 years ago in the case of the Chinese. The British were relative latecomers on the scene. We could discern some high rise buildings in the haze. However, the island was pretty and the anchorage calm so we passed a peaceful night.
So far we have been sailing on the inshore edge of the shipping lanes through the Straits of Malacca. This is accepted practice to avoid the large ships barrelling up and down there at around 15 knots but it does put us in the inshore shipping lane which is inhabited by tugs and barges and smaller coastal vessels. One needs to keep a good watch because sometimes it can be difficult and deceptive to ascertain just which course the tugs and barges in particular are steering, especially given the poor visibility. The main shipping lanes are strictly controlled and marked and southbound ships are nearest Sumatra to the west with northbound traffic on the Malaysia side. This is because the Rules of the Road at Sea state that opposing vessels keep to the right - not like driving on the left!
And then there are the local fishing boats and their nets!! They are the main reason why we do not want to sail at night. Several times north of Malacca we had to take avoiding action so as not to run over their nets but occasionally we had no choice and put the engine out of gear as we passed between the very hard to see net floats. This was to try to not get their lines around the prop but they always seemed deep enough as we haven't fouled any yet. North of Malacca is a very extensive area for oil and gas tankers to anchor offshore and discharge or load via undersea pipelines. The coast is for the most part too shallow for a conventional port although we did see some smaller ships alongside in one particular place. Once again there seemed to be an endless row of LNG and petroleum tankers and related shore facilities and it was fascinating to just observe the scale of operations. Makes Marsden Point look like child's play by comparison.
We continued north helped along by the favourable current until we came to Cape Rachado about 6 miles south of Port Dickson. Here we turned 90 degrees to starboard to approach the marina through a channel between the beach and a shoal just offshore. Coming around the cape there were whirlpools and overfalls created by the tidal current as it swirled around the headland and we attained the dizzy speed of 10.2 knots over the ground. The old girl has never been so fast in her life!!
We followed the line of beaches around with many high rise resorts evident. We had been in touch with the marina by phone and radio and the approach was easy and well documented (compared to some we could mention!!). We were met at our berth (C33) by friendly staff who took our lines and made the berthing a breeze. We had stayed here in a hotel overlooking the marina 3 years ago and so there was another sense of quiet achievement arriving here on the Tiare. The marina is surrounded by architecturally attractive condominiums and has a pool and excellent facilities including a bar and restaurant - all available to yachty guests to use. Weekends are busy here with holidaying families from surrounding urban areas (Kuala Lumpur is quite close), but during the week apparently all goes quiet so might be able to get some lengths in the pool! We are yet to clear Customs as we made the mistake of mentioning Port Dickson on our clearance out from Johor so now we'll have to get onward clearance from here to Langkawi. Strange since we are not yet leaving Malaysia but like Indonesia these places run on paperwork - although not so bad here.
Apart from Sail Malaysia's sailing directions, we have had further useful advice from Emma and Graham on "Lippylippy" and Ian on an Australian boat here in the marina at PD. We're accumulating as much advice as possible for the coast north of here because, especially around Port Kelang which is the main commercial port for Malaysia, it is very congested and tricky navigation between extensive shoals.
As always we'll keep you posted!
Cheers and love for now
Jim and Jean

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