Chalong to Kuah

There’s hot and there’s so hot that you go past caring. And that was our state of heatiness on the way past Phi Phi Island from Ko Yao Yai, where we anchored the night before. Maria’s head was hotter than a welder’s nozzle – hence the t-shirt draped lazily over her head like a fashion accessory at Blackpool Beach.

Overheating

Phi Phi Island

The photo below is the beach made famous by the film The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The book by Alex Garland was good, but the film (and we watched it again to make sure) was truly awful. Vacuousness aside, the beach acts as a holidaymaker’s Santiago de Compostela, except the religion seems to be Insta or TikTok, depending on your tribe, and the sense of satisfaction comes from a selfie. The beach in the photo below might look peaceful, but the crowds are just around the corner waiting to invade.

The Beach

Ko Phetra

Our evening parking spot was Ko Phetra, where our treat for anchoring there was this amazing rainbow.

Rainbow

Ko Tarutao

Next up was the east side of Tarutao Island in a large bay that is shown on some maps as Wanderer Bay. I think Maria is threatening me with that club of hers.

Ko Tarutao

Kuah

And on the 21st April, four days after leaving Chalong, we made it just in time for sunset at Kuah, Langkawi.

Sunset at Kuah

It was too late to clear in, so the next morning, we lowered the dinghy and slowly motored over to Royal Langkawi Yacht Club to park up, then walked over to the ferry terminal to start the clearance process. Fortunately (because we didn’t want to do this twice), we were able to clear in and out at the same time – international in and domestic out.

We managed to take better photographs of the sea eagle monument this time. These eagles are everywhere here – luckily not at this size – and it’s a delight watching them soaring around.

Eagle from the front

Eagle from the side

After clearing in (and out), we called in at Starbucks for a late breakfast and coffee where the staff presented Maria with this:

Nice touch

After buying a few things at Billion supermarket, we headed back to Jamala before returning that evening for dinner at Tayfuns Kitchen at RLYC, where the food was exceptional, and the delay getting the food out adequately compensated by a free glass of wine.

Eileen runs the restaurant with her husband, who used to be the marina’s manager. One of their kids is doing a PHD in AI and Bioscience, and the other a master’s. Despite their strict upbringing (not much telly and no iPhones until they were 15), they speak to their parents. Imagine that?

The next morning, we moved to an anchorage further south at Pulau Dayang Bunting. The entrance between the islands was a bit of a bum-clencher, but the reward was flat calm water, a beautiful sunset and a stunning sunrise.

Calm

Sunset

Sunrise

Our unreasonably early-morning start was so that we could get to Telang, an anchorage close to Pangkor by late afternoon.