We ended up staying at the anchorage in Bass Harbour for a few weeks rather than the few days we had intended.
Firstly it was the social life in Kuah. Who’s going to say no to an invitation to a seafood barbeque, I ask you? That was so much fun, we made new friends and it was a hell of a delicious spread.
And how could we resist the free cocktail party put on by the Indonesian organisers of the Sabang rally at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club? It was actually a sit down dinner complete with Indonesian dancing girls in traditional dress performing an elegant sort of haka, all the wine and beer we could drink, endless food at the buffet. It was very well attended by the local yachties, surprise surprise. I’m not sure if anyone actually signed up to join the rally, but there are a lot sailors walking around in the free T-shirt from the show bags we were
given.
Then it started raining. And didn’t stop for six days. Forget sailing in torrential downpours and associated white outs during the sumatras.
Finally when the weather cleared it was the end of Ramadan and Merdeka (Independence Day) holidays. All the shops were closed for more than a week so we couldn’t buy fresh provisions.
Finally we weighed anchor on 4 September. We spent the first couple of nights at a beautiful anchorage on the north side of Pulau Bumbon, just around the corner from Kuah. A magic spot with a sweet little sand beach and oh joy a fresh water well. I love swimming in the ocean, but it’s always lovely to rinse off the salt at the end of the day.
 |
| Pulau Bumbon |
It was a change waking up to bird call rather than the call to prayer. And eating plain old home made steak and mash rather than spicy Malaysian and Thai food.
