Friday 7 March 2014

Pulau Angsa Lat. north 3 degrees 11.1' Long. east 101 degrees 13.1"

We left Admiral Marina, Port Dickson at 0800 on the 6th. and have now travelled a further 70 miles north west towards our destination at Langkawi.
Yesterday we went as far as the entrance to Port Klang (the main port for Malaysia) and it was like the dodgems dodging all the shipping around the approaches. There were the usual tugs and barges and one very large bulk carrier discharging what looked like coal into barges alongside out in the roadstead. The visibility was extremely poor and this blighted the passage. It seems ridiculous that there is so much smoke being generated from illegal burnoffs that it affects the country and coastal waters to such an extent. Apparently the burnoffs are seasonal - it being the dry season at present. And it has been unseasonably dry; Selangor has introduced water rationing. However, it makes decisions based on observation of other vessels difficult to say the least. All we can say is thank goodness for the chartplotter because almost all of the time the coast (although close) was invisible or very indistinct and it would have been impossible to take any useful compass bearings. The wind followed the usual pattern - steadily increasing NE monsoon during the morning, then dying away and going WSW and increasing again up to 20 knots. Very welcome, not only for sailing, but also for cooling things down.
During the latter stages of the passage we had the benefit of the ebbing tide and our speed across the ground increased to over 8 knots. We waited until 2 large container ships had passed us on their way into Klang and then set off in their wake all the while looking astern into the haze to see whether there were any more coming up behind to run us over! Half way in we branched off to the left to take a channel between 2 islands next to the main shipping channel. The water shoaled rapidly as we went in and we chose a spot to drop the anchor hopefully clear of local fishing boats as they leave and enter the channel. There was about 2 knots of tide running but that didn't worry us unduly. We had an early dinner, set our strobe light going along with the normal anchor light and went to bed fairly exhausted.
This morning all was well and we felt refreshed but the smog was thicker than ever. The rising sun just looked like the full moon and very orange in colour. We weighed anchor at 0800 and headed around into the main shipping channel all the while looking for shipping in and out. The volume of ships is amazing and would be the envy of Ports of Auckland we are sure!! Len Brown then wouldn't need any rates to run his empire! We passed endless wharves and rows and rows of container cranes. A conservative estimate would be well over 100 cranes of various sizes. Then there was a very palatial passenger ship terminal with state of the art passenger disembarking overhead ramps (just like aircraft air bridges) - but no ship. And one would have to wonder whether any cruise ship operator would want to bring passengers into this smog laden atmosphere. If Auckland with all its cruise ship visits had a facility like that it would put the Queens Wharf cargo sheds and "the cloud" into the shade.
We continued past rows of moored decommissioned ships, more shore facilities including a large oil refinery and followed a dredged ship channel all the way to Pulau Angsa where we are spending the night. The whole trip through Port Klang was characterised by a totally unexpected lack of ship movements. We had the channel to ourselves after a flurry of ship movements prior to lifting the anchor and had plenty of time to observe and marvel at the number of ships alongside and the sheer size of the place.
Only 23 miles today so we arrived here around 1300 and have had a leisurely afternoon. Angsa consists of 2 small islands 10 miles off the coast almost opposite Kuala Selangor. One is uninhabited and the other larger one has a large radar aerial and a lighthouse. There is also an abandoned and derelict fishing village which had been built on concrete piers over the water - quite picturesque but desolate now. We have been observing large ships using the dredged channel that we had come up a few hours earlier, but once again when we came through we had it to ourselves. Bit of tide effect here but not too much of an issue.
Up early tomorrow as we have a big day to the Sembilan Islands just south of Pangkor - our intermediate destination. It's 74 miles to the Sembilans from here but there is an intermediate anchorage (52 miles) if it seems too far. All depends on the tide and resultant speed although as we get further north the tidal effect lessens so we'll see.
More to come as always.............
Lotsaluv from us,
Jim and Jean
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

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