Jeff's Log ~ Sunday, March 30th 2008

N4 14.091 100 34.511E Pangor, Malaysia

We are continuing our trip down the Malaccan Straights. Yesterday, we had an enjoyable sail to Penang, where we anchored about a half mile south of the ferry docks. The anchorage was filled with industrial type boats, many having large tanks on them. The shore was lined with shack type residences which I could not resist going to see. Mark took me in the dink and dropped me off at the head of the wharf. The wharf extends into the bay a quarter mile or so, and when I walked to the street, it was like being in everybody’s living room, as the walkway was less than six feet wide, and most people had open fencing as a living room barrier. Everyone that I said hello to seemed friendly and smiled and said hello back. Unfortunately, the whole part of the town around the jetty was industrial, with many garages and machine shops. I did see a couple of old Bridgeport milling machines that were still in use, and very clean and well kept. It was very hot, though, so I returned to the boat after a very short while. I did not even sample any of the food that I saw, because the heat had me a little nauseous. I called Pipe Dream on the radio, and Mark picked me up in short order. A couple of cold waters, and some air conditioning, and I was good as new. It was actually kind of nice to see some high rise buildings. Penang looked like a modern city with a lot of high rise buildings and a large suspension bridge that was currently under repair spanning the bay.

We left the anchorage at first light and headed south in overcast and somewhat dreary skies. While I was on watch, at about 10:00, Scott came up and commented about the look of the sky, and how we could have some wind in an hour or so. Ten minutes later, it was blowing hard, and I asked for my rain jacket. The wind continued, and the sea grew to a large confused chop. When I relieved Scott at 2:30, I had a fun time driving for the next two and a half hours. Because of the weather conditions, Scott changed our destination for the day to Pangor. We are anchored in the channel between an island and the mainland with a navy base nearby. There is a quaint fishing community just off our port side. Up on the hill behind the shack type houses is what seems to be a cemetery, and we could see some people at one of the altars burning a large amount of incense, and the sweet smelling smoke drifted over us.

The day ended with a nice stir fry for dinner and a friendly game of sequence which is a card game, and turning in early because we leave at dawn.