Last run for Langkawi

Having decided to do the trip from Penang to Langkawi in one hit we left before the sun rose and followed Yantara out of the Jerajuk anchorage in the semi dark.

Yantara leads the way as dawn begins to break

The first road bridge and Penang city were still ablaze with street lights as we made our way to the second road bridge which impressively spans the distance between the mainland and Penang Island.

The lights on the first Penang road bridge shine in a the half light

The city lights were blazing too

We were rewarded for the early start with an awesome sun rise. The sun rose a glowing orange-red and every second it became bigger and brighter until light burst over the water in a most spectacular way. What a great start to the day.

The sun peeps over the horizon

A glorious sunrise

By the time we had passed the centre of Penang the sun was shining over the tower blocks, bathing them in a warm rosy glow.

Penang and the bridge bathed in a rosy glow

Even though we have travelled under the two bridges in Penang a number of times and we know there is bags of space between the top of Yantara’s and Bali Hai’s masts and the bottom of the bridge, it always looks terrifyingly as though we are going to knock the top of our masts off.

Buddy boat Yantara’s mast looking dangerously close to the bridge

All is well as Bali Hai travels under the bridge

Of course it was all fine and as we emerged from under the second bridge we saw a beautiful four masted super yacht. With masts that dwarfed the Penang tower blocks I’m quite sure this yacht wouldn’t fit under either of the bridges!

Don’t think I’d try taking this beauty under the bridges

As we approached the end of the island we saw a fleet of small fishing boats whizzing around – all in different directions and all madly laying down fishing nets. There must have been promise of a great catch and every fisherman around was keen to get his share! There seemed to be fishing boats and floats everywhere.

Being behind Yantara meant we could see what was happening and had time to take evasive action but Yantara was in the middle of all the activity before they had time to do anything. Fortunately they managed to negotiate a way out of the maze of nets without coming to any harm.

Yantara negotiating the mass of fishing floats and nets

The rest of the trip was uneventful except for a visitation from a number of tiny little birds (possibly swifts?) who decided to come and have a rest on board with us.

It was lovely to have these tiny visitors on Bali Hai

By early afternoon we could see beautiful Langkawi in front of us and by around 4.30pm we were safely anchored in the northern bay of Pulau Singa Besar, a small island just off the coast of Langkawi.

It had been a good last day of our adventure – averaging 7.5 knots over the 71 nautical mile trip from Penang to Pulau Singa Besar.

The welcome sight of Langkawi and some of the small islands off its coast

It felt a little like coming home as we have come to think of Langkawi as our “home port away from home port”.

Our “home port away from home port”

We had been away from Langkawi almost four months to the day and had in that time travelled 2160 nautical miles (4000 kilometers). It had been an amazing adventure and we had thoroughly enjoyed it all even though we had experienced a few mishaps along the way!

A lovely sunset to welcome us back

To read more about our four month trip start at:

https://dotsailing.wordpress.com/2017/07/08/we-return-to-indonesia/