SV Erica's travels: Trip around Langkawi Island

After Ryan and Maya left we anchored off Kuah town and did some maintenance on the boat, re stocked our supplies, then saw the New Year in with 22 other yachties. We set off on the 2nd of Jan to investigate the rest of the island. Our first stop was at Palau Timun where we had the whole island to ourselves with no people or boats in site, but a troop of monkeys and a monitor lizard. It was great to swim and explore the small caves with stalactites.

The next day we headed for Kilim Geoforest park which is on the eastern side of the main Langkawi island and the hole in the wall entrance. Huge towering limestone, forest covered mountains contrast with the wetland mangroves. The eagles rule here and the cave systems found in the area have contributed to the myths and legends of the islands.

We explored one arm of the river basin( which has fore and aft moorings) by dinghy stopping to have a beer and chips at sundown at the floating restaurant

Our anchorage was still after the tourist boats departed and there were masses of stars so we barbequed on the stern. Eric was so taken by the moment that he wanted to share it with Kellie, forgetting what the time was and waking her in NZ at well after midnight!

The next day at dawn we kayaked up the other arm of the river listening to the sounds of daybreak. Eagles soared above us screeching for food as this is where they are fed by the tourists. Mud crabs scuttled away, lizards left the water, fish rose around us and the mossies and sandflies bit!

We broke the silence when this became too bad and Cathy sang "The hills are alive" in great gusto as the echoes resounded off the towering cliffs. To our astonishment the cliffs did become alive as frightened monkeys raced along the high ledges out of their caves and across the treetops to saftey! We weren't quick enough with the camera

Eric decided he wanted to have a monkey aboard so we anchored close to the shore, only to go aground in the mud overnight. That's our excuse anyway

On Wednesday the 5th Jan we sailed to "The Cave of Legends at Tanjung Rhu and anchored up a river surrounded by high limestone peaks.

While we were there we took a dinghy trip upriver. On the way we watched eagles being fed on chicken by the tourist boat operators. The white bellied sea eagles and brahminy kites are here in very healthy numbers.

We continued on our way after getting some photos. The river was flowing pretty fast in places as it narrowed between high cliffs. After an hr and a half we realised that we were at the bottom reaches of the Hole in the wall where we had taken Erica a couple of days before. No connection was shown on the electronic charting. We enjoyed chips and beer at the local restaurant and had alook around the fish farm.

On the way back we explored the Cave Gua Cerita which means cave legend. As the name suggests, it is shrouded in legendary tales of mystery and romance.
These tourist boats didn't have much room to spare inside

The last stop was to look at the remains of giant igloo-like furnaces where mangrove logs were dried involving a baking process ( up to 220C) in 3 stages over several weeks. 40 tonnes of fresh wood made 10 tonne of charcoal

From here we moved on toTeluk Datai, a beautiful bay on the Northern side of Langkawi in the Anderman sea. There are 3 resorts here and they are surrounded by tropical rainforest

The next morning we got up and slipped over the side for one of our many morning swims followed by a shower on the boarding platform. As we were eating breakfast Eric says " There's a croc in the water and I'm NOT kidding! Sure enough a 2-3m croc has his head visible 20m from the boat. We phoned the nearby resort to let them know as there were people coming out for swims. We waited to see if anything was done about it. The croc was patrolling the beach for about 3 hrs and swimmers were still going in, including small children so Eric phoned again with our concerns.

We did all we could do so left the bay for Telaga harbour on the western side. It was a great sail with 20kn winds.The islands of Thailand were visible through the haze

Telega harbour is a safe and sheltered harbour which has evolved from a small fishing village to a marina and hotels

This is one of the many squid fishing boats. The high candle power lights can be seen for miles at night

On Sunday we hired a motorbike and joined friends Dave and Fran who had recently purchased one, for a land transit of the island. I hadn't ridden for 25yrs but it all came back to me and in no time we were leaning into the corners like pros. The roads are great for bikes.We drove to the highest point of the island where the communication towers are, a viewing tower with resort and cafe at the top. It was a pretty good day for visibility and we were able to see all the places we had been to in "Erica"

We enjoyed cake and coffee at the top, with friends Dave and Fran from SV Melrick 11, then continued on our journey

11 days after leaving Kuah we are now at Rebak island, a small privately owned island with a marina, resort and restaurants. At one end is the marina, very clean hardstand and boaties restaurant. At the other end is the resort and restaurants. There are free ferries operating frequently 12 hrs of the day to the main island of Langkawi..All facilities which include pool, private beach,tennis court, bar and restaurants are available to tthe marina clients. It's rumoured that if you can afford to stay here you'll never leave!