Being a Sunday, it was also our day to get the decks washed, but, after a terrible night’s sleep, Elaine needed a nap in the afternoon. She’d also spent much of her day working on her special project which is now in the final stages, while Roy completed the testing and final touches to the Anchor Plus application, ready for submission to Apple for approval.
On Friday we woke to photographs of Capri and William holding their baby niece; both delighted with the new arrival. We also had the pleasure of receiving phone calls from Anne, off Time Bandit, who are making their way down the various Maldivian atolls and Craig, off Il Sogno, who is still in Malaysia like ourselves, although he has a bit more sailing freedom being in the Langkawi archipelago. It was lovely to catch up with both of them and fascinating to hear all about sailing in the Maldives; not at all what we imagined. Elaine also busied herself with her cleaning chores, while Roy continued testing and bug fixing on his application. By late afternoon, though, we decided an early dinner on the patio of Nomiya would be the perfect start to our weekend. Fortunately, we were just finishing our meal and refreshments as the crowds arrived; that was our cue to head back to Paw Paw. With cases on the increase again in Penang, less than two weeks since restrictions were eased, we’re going to have to get out a little earlier in future so as to avoid the crowds altogether, assuming, of course, we’re not placed back under an enhanced lockdown of sorts.
This situation, however, lead Elaine to do a little bit more research on what options were possibly open to her, with regards to being vaccinated against COVID-19, something that is becoming imperative with each passing day, although her specialist has indicated this is currently not an option for her.
The research revealed that, besides the US and UK’s public health authorities indicating that immunocompromised individuals should be given the vaccine, as the risks associated with contracting COVID-19 are far greater than any possible side effects of the vaccine itself, there is no data to indicate what those side effects might be and indeed what level of efficacy would be achieved; various clinical trials are still underway. It was, however, encouraging to read that Singapore now concurs with the US and UK in this assessment. More interesting, though, was the Stage III clinical trials underway to test AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 mAb (Monoclonal Antibody) therapeutic treatment, AZD7442, from two different perspectives; PROVENT, the trials of a LAAB (Long-Acting Antibody) combination therapy to provide protection against COVID-19, specifically for immunocompromised patients and STORM CHASER to treat COVID-19 patients, both studies being carried out at the Vaccine Research Centre of UCLH (University College London Hospitals). First discovered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, this medical breakthrough was licensed to AstraZeneca in June last year.
Other possible options include Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, as well as the product used in the Eli Lilly and GSK’s (GlaxoKlineSmith) BLAZE-4 trial, evaluating the administration of an antibody cocktail comprising two neutralising antibodies that bind to different epitopes of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This unique collaboration marks the first time that monoclonal antibodies from separate companies are being brought together to explore potential outcomes.
So, why all this pressure for immunocompromised individuals to be vaccinated with the current available vaccines without clinical data to verify the risks and all this research to provide a possible alternative, when one would assume these individuals make up a small percentage of world’s population? Well, since immunocompromised individuals include all patients who are undergoing cancer treatment, as well as individuals who have HIV or an autoimmune condition, amongst others, surprisingly, accounts for a large enough population of individual countries which will prevent herd immunity if a solution of inoculating this population against COVID-19 cannot be found. Thank goodness, otherwise there’s no doubt the likes of Elaine will be left to live like lepers!
Taking a back-step from the day to day grind of living in a pandemic, we couldn’t help but wonder, though, what Mother Nature truly has in store for the human race, thoughts brought about by the numerous occurrences in recent months of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions that haven’t occurred for centuries, tsunamis, the worst forest fires in living memory, unprecedented floods and catastrophic hurricanes / cyclones at strengths never seen before, the list goes on. Just in these past few days, events have included the eruption of Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes Peninsula which last erupted some 800 years ago, preceded by 40,000 earthquakes in the past three weeks, reaching magnitudes of 3.1. Our last blog had reported the second eruption of Mount Sinabung in the North Sumatra province, with its first eruption a week or so ago, the first in 400 years. Snow storms that have swept US states from the Midwest to the Northeast, breaking snowfall records, including Colorado being hit by the fourth largest snowstorm in its history, as well as snow falling in Tallahassee, Florida, the first time in 28 years, leaving residents of the Sunshine State in disbelief. Add to this the torrential rain in New South Wales, Australia, causing flooding of many rivers, including the Hastings River outside Port Macquarie, where flood levels have surpassed the record set in 2013.
It’s difficult to set aside the disquiet this pandemic, compounded by all these natural disasters, is creating, but we did our best by enjoying a lazy morning yesterday and a cooked breakfast of another favourite; smoked salmon on toast topped with a poached egg. This was to tide us over until our afternoon outing; another high tea at the fabulous 5-star E&O Hotel in Georgetown and we were definitely not disappointed. It was a wonderful afternoon and one we both needed, although Roy thoroughly enjoyed his ice cold beer as a precursor to the main event. An extraordinary long video call to Elaine’s sister in Ireland sealed the day.
These feelings seemed to resonate more on Tuesday morning when all the yachts bound for Europe by cargo ship, left the marina, destined for their new homes. This exodus left us feeling stuck, in limbo and wondering what the future held for us. It didn’t help matters that, once again, the uncertainty around our visa amnesty has been looming with the MCO rescheduled to end on the 31st March.
Looking at this situation from a different perspective, however, there’s the philosophy of: “better the devil you know”, so we should be content to stay put, we should acknowledge we’re not the only cruisers in this situation, we should be patient, we have everything we need here and, for the most part, we’re safe. However, if we’d lived by this philosophy all our lives, we would never have left Arizona to undertake a circumnavigation in the first place. At the heart of it, we are adventurous souls; the mundane and ordinary bores us to tears, there’s no challenge to keep us stimulated, there’s no excitement like setting sail for pastures new, there’s no thrill like experiencing new cultures, customs, cuisine and history. We’re basically sitting here watching our lives pass us by and, worst of all, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it; not only was the situation too precarious for us to set sail into the unknown across the Indian Ocean at the start of the year, we missed that window of opportunity due to delayed deliveries of parts and spares and now it’s the wrong season to even set sail for Thailand.
So, when St Patrick’s Day rolled around yesterday and we realised we’d been in various forms of lockdown for a year, never mind the fact that we’ve also watched an entire bridge be built in this time, Elaine decided to try and add some festive cheer to Paw Paw and hoisted our flags in celebration. Although, it was a small gesture, it was a gesture nonetheless. Roy added his dash of cheer by ensuring we had our supply of chocolate muffins and cooked up a delicious Irish stew to mark the occasion! Enjoying a Guinness on the patio of the Irish bar a stone’s throw from Paw Paw’s bow, then listening to some Irish music over our dinner, followed by a chat to Elaine’s folks in Ireland, all went a long way to creating a festive mood. A good dollop of perseverance and a freshly baked French pastry thrown into the mix from time to time will, no doubt, help sanity prevail too moving forward!
Receiving a phone call from Keenan on Tuesday night, the first in weeks, was also a pleasant surprise and watching the Americas Cup races have definitely helped too. Congratulations to Emirates Team New Zealand. While the Italian Team, Prada Pirelli Luna Rossa, put up a fantastic fight, the best team ultimately won the cup yesterday. While an entire race day was cancelled on Sunday, along with a race cancellation on Tuesday due to weather, we still witnessed some fabulous racing nonetheless.
On Tuesday our day started with an early morning downpour which was a lovely start to the day, but unfortunately, created very hot and humid conditions for the remainder of the day. Elaine decided the best way to pass her time was to complete the video she was working on, “ Magnolious Malaysia - Malacca”, which brought back wonderful memories, while Roy was invited out for an afternoon coffee by Howard, an owner of one of the motor yachts in the marina, who’s lived in SE Asia for many years and befriended Roy a few months ago.
Today was a relatively quiet day onboard; Elaine continued work on her next video, “Magnolious Malaysia - Langkawi Archipelago”, while Roy applied some finishing touches to his latest version of the Anchor Plus application.
On Friday after the race, Roy enjoyed a long chat to Lucie and Roger, off Catamini, regarding their sailing seasons in SE Asia over the years that they’ve been in this part of the world. That meant he was a tad rushed to squeeze in his errand for the day; walking to Cold Storage to stock up on our fresh produce, with the usual sanitation exercise required before stowing everything. While Roy was out, though, Elaine ensured nothing went to waste on Paw Paw; her old “boat dresses” were cut up to serve as cleaning clothes. Later in the day, Roy had barely left to collect our takeaway dinner from the Kapitan restaurant when the heavens opened. He was completely drenched just walking the short distance back to Paw Paw from the entrance to the mall, where he had been dropped off by a young man who had offered Roy a ride back to Straits Quay. While delighted with the offer, there was that initial “COVID-19 hesitation” of getting into a car with an unknown person, but the well-spoken young man was, not only kind enough to extend the offer and was wearing a mask, he too was, in fact, exposing himself. It was a poignant moment indeed! The rain, however, was a welcome relief from the heat. Fortunately, we’ve had an additional downpour since then which has helped keep the soaring temperatures somewhat under control, but, more importantly, saved us the time and energy of having to wash the decks. Apparently these thunderstorms are a regular occurrence at this time of the year during the transition period of the monsoons.
On Friday we also received the news that Mount Sinabung in the North Sumatra province had erupted again, shooting smoke and ash as high as 1,000 metres into the air and hot ash clouds being blowing 3Km to the southeast, thankfully in the opposite direction to where we are located from Sumatra.
After the Americas Cup races on Saturday, we tackled one of our most important projects onboard; checking and carrying out maintenance on our steering system, as neither of us ever want a repeat of our passage from New Zealand to Fiji. Once that was completed, Elaine continued work on our next video in the Malaysian series, while Roy continued his testing efforts on the Anchor Plus application. We were also delighted to receive a few more spares, including our spare alternator. The highlight of the day, though, was a video chat with Elaine’s siblings.
Unfortunately the Americas Cup races were cancelled yesterday due to light winds, so Elaine took advantage of the extra time in her day to do her stretch exercises on the transom before we tackled the gas leak in our starboard air-conditioning unit; something we discovered a year ago, but it was not a priority project. We definitely had the fire extinguisher on hand, though, to be sure, to be sure, given the open flame required to make the repairs.
Afterwards, being Mother’s Day in the UK, Elaine took the rest of the day to herself. However, we couldn’t help but notice that the promenade was absolutely heaving, with very limited social distancing and a splattering of masks being worn, from what we could observe, to the point that we thought it might well be Mother’s Day in Malaysia too. Research revealed that it wasn’t, so it’ll be interesting to see what the COVID-19 numbers look like over the next week or two. Nonetheless, Happy Mother’s Day to all those fabulous mothers out there!
With the races back on today, the laundry chore as well as Elaine’s walk was left to the afternoon, following which we both spent the rest of our day working on our respective projects.
Desperate to get out of the concrete jungle, we both craved a walk on the beach, with waves lapping around our ankles, followed by a nice lunch in a garden setting; Batu Ferringhi and Shangri-La's 5-Star, Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, seemed the perfect choice and Tuesday seemed the perfect day.
On Monday, however, we had a yacht project we’d set in motion to complete, given the materials had been delivered; redo the fire retardant sound-proofing around our generator. Like all projects on Paw Paw, although photographs always depict Roy slaving away, Elaine’s efforts are not usually captured, since she is the photographer. However, more often than not, similar to all yachts the world over, these projects require the effort of both of us and Monday’s project was no exception. While Roy scrapped and cleaned the panels, Elaine sized and replaced the proofing; teamwork being the name of the game on board! Elaine, however, needed an afternoon nap afterwards, but woke refreshed and enjoyed a nice chat to her mom in Ireland. She also finished our latest video, “Magnolious Malaysia - Johor Bahru”, but this will not be uploaded until the series is completed. Roy, on the other hand, continued the Testing Phase of his latest major enhancements to the Anchor Plus Application, expected to be released in the not too distant future.
Our plan on Tuesday morning was to get a Grab to drop us off about a kilometre or so further along from the resort, walk along the beach and enjoy lunch at the beach restaurant. Since we’d been to Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa a number of times before, we expected this to be just what we needed to rejuvenate ourselves.
Well, as always, we couldn’t make this up if we tried; the first part of our beach walk was spent avoiding all the debris washed up on the shore, including broken glass and the second part was nonexistent, literally; the entire stretch of this previously beautiful beach had been washed away by a large tidal wave. It was so sad to see! Then, our meal was actually the worst we’ve had in Malaysia and at an exorbitant price; a deep-fried mess of satays, calamari and chicken dishes. Compared to the outstanding meals we’d enjoyed at this resort previously, this was such a disappointment and, in fact, we left most of it uneaten. By the time we got back to Straits Quay, after having to tell our Grab driver twice to please wear his mask properly, we were both very reluctant to venture out again.
It was such a shame really, because we have wonderful memories of previous visits to this establishment, but, given the hotel had just reopened having been closed since the MCO was implemented just after New Year, on hindsight, maybe we hadn’t chosen the best time to visit again or indeed, like everywhere, the impacts on the economy of this pandemic and the numerous lockdowns has chipped away at our “previous world” more than we realised. We may well have to lower our expectations moving forward and simply enjoy the best of the outing, whatever it presents.
Deciding to try and recover our day, we settled down on the patio of Winter Warmers to savour an afternoon beverage. What could possibly go wrong with ordering a cup of tea and a coffee. Nothing, except that Elaine was nearly bitten by a very nasty looking spider that had decided its new home had been invaded. She then barely made it to the toilet, leaving Roy on the patio, before her lunch went straight through her. It really was not a good outing!
An email on the East Malaysia Rally and a phone call from Craig, off Il Sogno during our lunch, also sent our sailing plans in a direction we hadn’t considered before and, by this evening, the World Cruising Routes was out, cruising guides were out, WhatsApp messages were being sent, timelines were being discussed and alternative destinations considered.
Yesterday, however, was spent dealing with far less interesting matters, although extremely frustrating; medical insurance issues, but our day was not lost as we thoroughly enjoyed the first race of the Americas Cup between the defending champions, New Zealand and the challengers, Italy. We’d last watched this historic pinnacle of yacht racing in Fiji when Team New Zealand beat the Americans.
Elaine’s late afternoon walk in a rather fresh breeze, in lieu of watching the Americas Cup in the morning, presented something else she hadn’t seen before in this neck of the woods; kite surfers out enjoying the breeze too.
A video of the grandchildren talking about the coronavirus and how one can contract COVID-19 was another sobering reminder of the world we now occupy, including the fact that it was a year ago today that the WHO (World Health Organisation) declared the pandemic, which has resulted in more than 116 million cases and 2.5 million deaths across nearly 200 countries.
On this dismal anniversary, we decided, however, to do something as normal as possible for our second outing; go shopping at the mall. Roy needed decent sandals and Elaine needed new cotton dresses to wear onboard, as well as to top up her vitamin supply. A delicious lunch was enjoyed at our favourite Dim Sum restaurant, Dim Tai Fung, rounding off a far more successful outing. This, together with another afternoon nap, the news that the Biden Administration relief package had been approved and that more than 150 million doses of vaccines have been administered worldwide to date, are, at least, steps in the right direction and keep us hopeful that life will indeed return to normal at some point. In the interim, we’ll just have to take what we can get!
We’ve definitely started to feel like this pair; deciding on what to cook these days to try and keep some variety in our lives has definitely been a challenge, but should improve now that Penang is under the Conditional MCO (Movement Control Order) as of Friday and no longer restricted to essential travel only. We decided, however, to enjoy dinner on the patio of Nomiya on Thursday evening before the weekend rush and look forward to venturing further afield again over the coming weeks.
On Thursday Elaine also enjoyed a lovely long chat to our granddaughter, Capri, for her birthday. It’s been so long since we’ve had this opportunity, but it was wonderful to catch up. Of course, the conversation resolved around the constraints in her life right now due to the pandemic; home-schooling, limited interaction with her friends, keeping herself busy with her reading and practising her cheerleading, but when she asked, with a degree of desperation in her voice: “when are we going to see you again Grandma, it’s been too long”, your heart wants to break into a million pieces, because, of course, the answer is: “we just don’t know sweetheart”.
Setting these upsetting thoughts aside, our yacht task for the day was to test our 30,000 litres / 8,000 gallons per hour, high volume pump and give it a fresh water flush. The last time we’d used this pump was on Tanner Island, Vanuatu, to wash off all the volcanic ash that had landed on Paw Paw overnight from Mt Yasur. We were relieved to find the pump still worked as designed and Elaine was delighted at her creative method for testing it. Other tasks over the past few days have included stirring up the fuel tanks to ensure the fuel polishing system is cleaning the fuel tanks properly, hoisting a new courtesy flag, given that yet another one had disintegrated, adjusting a few hatches to prevent them from flopping closed and washing the decks, topsides, cockpit, helmstation and interior soles. Being a much cooler day yesterday, with a welcomed rain shower in the afternoon, was the perfect day for our cleaning chores as the rain also dislodged all the soot from the rigging.
Other activities aboard have included Elaine completing one of her special projects, which was very much appreciated by Paul, celebrating his big Five-O birthday on Friday, under lockdown too. Also Elaine completed and uploaded our video, “Rebak Private Island Resort & Marina Under MCO” and started the next one, “Magnolious Malaysia - Johor Bahru”; she’s slowly catching up on these. Work on her second special project continued as well, as did Roy’s testing phase for his latest major enhancements to the Anchor Plus application.
From a “virtual” socialising perspective, besides the video call from Paul and Justine, we also received a video call from Anne, off Time Bandit, who are still in the Maldives making their way south along the island chain and we also enjoyed a video call to Elaine’s sister, Dianne, in Ireland. We were, however, fascinated at hearing all about the sailing conditions and experiences that Anne and Stuart were enjoying and realised, having cruising friends ahead of us for a change definitely, had its benefits.
On Friday morning, though, we woke to all shorts of news on the seismic, atmospheric and pandemic fronts; three separate earthquakes and tsunami warnings, with various authorities in the South Pacific islands instructing citizens in certain areas of their respective countries to: “immediately evacuate to higher ground” and: “anyone near the coast who felt a long or strong quake, should move immediately to the nearest high ground or as far inland as you can", as well as urgent calls for: “people evacuating should walk, run or cycle, if possible, to reduce the chance of getting stuck in traffic. Do not return until the all-clear is given by Civil Defence" or raising awareness of: “strong / unusual currents may occur. People should keep out of the water” or: “expect dangerous rips, currents and some localised overflowing at the water's edge”. Varying levels of these alerts were issued in New Zealand for the northeastern parts of North Island, Australia's Norfolk Island, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia and Hawaii. This mayhem was the result of three powerful earthquakes that occurred in the span of a few hours; first a 7.3 magnitude striking east of Te Araroa at 0227 (NZ Time), a 7.4 earthquake near Raoul Island at 0641 (NZ Time) and then the stronger 8.1 magnitude earthquake near the Kermadec Islands, about 1000Km north of New Zealand. The latter quake is reportedly the highest magnitude earthquake recorded since the one that struck a remote part of the Amazon jungle in Peru in 2019.
Then the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre reported a collection of cyclones developing in the South Indian and Pacific Oceans, including one tracked to run the full length of New Caledonia from the northwestern tip to the southeastern tip, this at a time when many cruisers would ordinarily have moved their yachts to either New Zealand or Australia for the cyclone season, but have been forbidden to do so by these governments, sighting full border closures due to the pandemic.
And, as if that wasn’t enough bad news on the global stage for one day, Malaysia reported the detection of a new COVID-19 variant that is thought to be more transmissible and resistant to antibodies, known as the B1525 variant. It was found in two people who had travelled from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Analysis of the associated COVID-19 tests indicated the presence of mutations including E484K and a similar suite of protein deletions seen in a variant of the virus first detected in Britain. The E484K protein spike mutation is of particular concern as this mutation has been reported to evade the immune system and, therefore, possibly reduce the effectiveness of vaccines. The B1525 variant has also been detected in England, Nigeria, Denmark and Canada.
It seems Mother Nature is truly unleashing her wrath in more ways than one!
On a far more cheerful note, we enjoyed a video of the twins, who had decided, of their own accord, to confuse their teacher, Miss April, by switching shoes; her only means of telling them apart and they were totally gleeful at their devious plan. Oh boy! Little rascals!
Today we decided we needed a day without chores, without yacht repairs and without yacht projects and, although we were supposed to watch the finals of the Americas Cup which was postponed due to the snap lockdown in Auckland, Elaine caught up on the blogs and continued her efforts on our website videos, while Roy baked and continued his testing.
We also had a bit of fun recording a video for Keenan’s birthday and wished Justine a happy birthday too.
Saturday was a somewhat slow day for Elaine, although she completed the last of her yacht projects. These included replacing the frayed bungee with a rope to secure our step ladders to Paw Paw, which we use to get on and off her; definitely didn’t want them ending up in the water. She also added the last of the items to our Grab Bag, including our new satellite phone and a smaller waterproof bag with a strap to hold the copies of our passports, yacht papers, insurance documentation, etc, some money, our spare credit cards and a charging cable for our phone and Iridium-Go, to be taken with us in the event of a rescue at sea from our liferaft. Obviously ending up in our liferaft to begin with, is the last situation we ever want to find ourselves in, but loosing our friends, Del and Craig, off Ohana-Uli, last year refocussed our minds on all our emergency procedures aboard, to ensure we are prepared as best as humanly possible.
On the other hand, Roy woke up full of beans on Saturday morning. After filling the water tanks, given that the leak was definitely fixed in the one tank, he then got stuck into getting our generator up and running, having replaced the coolant, unblocked one of the fuel pipes and fixed the temperature sensor, although a spare has been ordered, to be sure, to be sure. After that, we gave both engines a fresh water flush, gave the engines a wash, completed some cable tying and packed all the tools away.
On Sunday morning, after a terrible night’s sleep, Elaine woke up feeling less than human, exacerbated by her weekly dose of Methotrexate, but cleaning Paw Paw’s interior was completed, nonetheless, while Roy did the exterior. It didn’t take Elaine long thereafter, though, to make a beeline for her bed. Thankfully, after a few hours of sleep, she woke up this time feeling as right as rain. The deck, however, was filthy, primarily due to the soot from the practice of burning the sugarcane fields on the mainland, which has also created such a haze that we can barely see the coastline of Peninsular Malaysia. This is something we experienced in Fiji as well, but fortunately it’s seasonal and doesn’t last too long.
It didn’t help matters, though, that Mount Sinabung, located in the North Sumatra province of Indonesia, erupted on Tuesday, spewing columns of ash and smoke as high as 5 Km. This latest eruption of the 2,460 metre high volcano, which became active in 2010 after being dormant for 400 years, is the latest in a series that began in 2013. We just hope the southerly winds currently blowing continuing for a few more days so we’re not having to deal with volcanic ash too.
We also received the disturbing news that the motor yacht, Epic Princess, which left Straits Quay marina a few days ago to collect the Sultan of Kedah, hit rocks just south of Pulau Lalang in the Langkawi Archipelago, tipped onto its side and partially sank soon after the Sultan had disembarked on Langkawi Island. Fortunately the captain and the three crew members, a group of men we’ve become familiar with over the months, were rescued by a patrol vessel and there were no injuries, thankfully.
On Monday we both enjoyed a day indoors after our walks. Besides undertaking the only yacht task of the day; cleaning the waterline during the afternoon high tide, Elaine worked on our latest website video and Roy continued working on the enhancements to his Anchor Plus application.
By yesterday, though, we were back to the grindstone, albeit for two entirely different tasks. Roy installed our new Victron SmartSolar controller working in the usual tight places of a yacht and Elaine spent her day dealing with various agents and the Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur trying to obtain visas that would allow us entry to Thailand by sea, but, more importantly, allow us to stay until at least January 2022. Although we’ve been given a myriad of options, none can be pursued at this time; we can obtain a Tourist Visa (TR) through an agent in Thailand which allows a stay of 60 days initially, extendable by a further 30 days at a cost of BHT60,000 each; that’s $2000USD each, just for the visa, when we obtained the exact same visa directly from the Thai Consulate in Penang last year for a cost of RM150 ($40USD) each. This visa, however, can then be converted to a Covid Extension Visa for a further 60 days, but this latter type of visa is only valid until 30th May 2021 and we have no idea at what cost. Then there’s the Special Tourist Visa (STV) which provides an initial 90 days, extendable twice by 90 days at a cost of $150USD, but the stay cannot exceed 30th September 2021. What we weren’t told until we read the Checklist is that you have to apply for this visa from your home country or your country of permanent residency or be in Thailand. These criteria apply to the Non-Immigrant O Visa and the Retirement Visa too, although the application information we received stated that, if your visa is denied, all monies paid are forfeited, which would definitely have happened to us had we not noticed the caveats, since were in Malaysia as visitors. Another agent is able to get us an initial 45 days visa on arrival (30 days plus quarantine time), extendable by 30 days, allocated as part of the yacht clearance process, but, after that, there are no guarantees that we could obtain a different type of visa, including an Education Visa to remain in Thailand. So, we currently have no choice but to stay put in the hopes that Malaysia continues to extend their gracious visa amnesty to us, since the hope of the East Malaysia rally seems to have died a terrible death too, with the continuation of the travel restrictions.
The frustrating aspect of this situation is not only the constant uncertainty, but our last three remaining yacht projects, the replacement of the engine mounts, the servicing of the clutch cone on each engine and fixing the saildrive oil seal which is leaking on our starboard side, can only be undertaken by an experienced Yanmar technician, who, yes, you guessed it, is in Thailand.
On a brighter note, we had a number of family “celebrations” over the past few days; Evert’s christening, Chloe’s first birthday and our beautiful granddaughter Capri’s birthday.
Additionally, we received the good news that the MCO (Movement Control Order) placed on Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Penang will be moved to a Conditional MCO from midnight tomorrow night, while the other States of Kedah, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Sarawak and Perak will remain under the Conditional MCO and Melaka, Pahang, Terengganu, Sabah, Putrajaya, Labuan and Perlis will move to the Recovery MCO. Although inter-district travel within a State will be allowed, with the exception of Sabah, interstate travel remains banned, but, regardless, there’s light at the end of the tunnel again, especially with the vaccination programme underway too. We’re so looking forward to getting out and about!
Today was all about getting the laundry done and filling our gas bottles, neither an easy task on a yacht these days; the laundry is hauled about 400 metres to the nearest laundromat, where it cannot be folded once washed and dried due to the MCO restrictions, so Roy charges back to Paw Paw while the cloths are still warm from the dryer so that Elaine can fold them straight away. Then, since Penang State, unlike Kedah, doesn’t fill gas bottles, but delivers pre-filled ones, we then have to transfer the gas to our bottles, using a special pipe, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to use our barbecue; that would be sacrilege on Paw Paw!
A chat to Maria, off Cattiva, this morning however, helped take our minds off yacht projects, chores and visas, albeit for a moment in time.
After numerous flushes of the coolant system with a mix of fresh water and radiator flushing detergent, it eventually showed signs of clearing out by late yesterday afternoon, but still required a few more flushes. With daylight fading, that meant another job for another day. However, a faulty non-return valve installed as part of the new fuel polishing system became the next culprit and the possible cause of the spluttering on startup. Unfortunately, we’re, once again, awaiting the delivery of new parts, with a few spares thrown in for good measure, which, we hope, will eventually get our generator working again.
We can’t but wonder, though, if these are all the issues we’re having while residing on Paw Paw and doing our best to tick everything over at scheduled intervals, while not being able to set sail to distant lands of our choosing because of this pandemic and all the associated border closures, we hate to think what issues would have awaited us had we left her unoccupied for months on end! Granted she’s nearly 10 years old, but she’s been well maintained over those years, nonetheless.
Elaine’s walks, however, are a pleasant reminder that we are, in fact , marooned on a tropical island. Under clear blue skies, with a cool breeze blowing, standing under the swaying palm trees, staring out over the Andaman Sea, a spectrum of jade, and watching the fishermen and cargo ships sailing up and down, was indeed the reminder, not to mention the sweat constantly dripping off us! Today’s walk had a few additional pleasures; butterflies, a small monitor lizard, the smallest she’s seen, a variety of birds, other than the horrible crows and the otters frolicking close to the little beach. Of, course, the gardener was also doing his best to provide some relief to the plants deprived of rain water now that the “dry season” is upon us.
Our day ended on Wednesday with a video call from Elaine’s sister in Ireland before heading to bed for an early night and then a video call from Justine last night, both related to Elaine’s special projects, which took up most of her day yesterday, together with a few administrative tasks. The only break we took was for a mid-morning coffee at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, but that turned out to be a complete waste of time; besides not having decaf coffee, they didn’t have any non-dairy milk either, so it was a caffeinated long black for Roy and a green tea for Elaine. Not sure why we bothered really, when we could have had perfectly good coffee onboard. It got us off the yacht, though, which was probably a good thing, although Elaine wasn’t entirely convinced. It didn’t help matters that she’d undertaken her morning walk earlier than she would normally and couldn’t take her mask off, given the number of people that were still out and about. Not getting a coffee then just made for a bothersome morning.
After her lovely walk today, however, she was in the mood to tackle a number of filing activities, including clearing out outdated or obsolete instruction manuals and booklets, given that some equipment onboard has been replaced, as well as sorting through a pile of paperwork to throw out items no longer needed, like old medical insurance claims, etc.
Roy decided he needed a break today from, not only the heat and the sun, but the yacht projects and, instead, spent his day indoors working on his Anchor Plus application, as well as baking Elaine another batch of gluten-free muffins.
While it may appear that all we do is eat freshly baked delights on Paw Paw, these delights freeze well, so, in an effort to keep our weight under control while we lounge around waiting to set sail to somewhere, anywhere, we’ve significantly reduced what we consume in a day, specifically lunch; a small portion of fruit does the trick and in many instances, given the size of the mangoes for example, a half a mango and half an apple is all we can manage.
A video of William playing Flag Football and another of the twins compiling music in dad’s car and singing to their works of art started our day in the best possible way and ended with takeaways from another of our favourite restaurants, the Kapitan. Deserved after a very long week! It was hard to believe we were watching footage of Keenan’s son playing Flag Football when it didn’t seem like that long ago we were watching Keenan play after moving to Arizona in 1998 / 1999.
That aside, we have noticed a number of yachts arriving, apparently being delivered from Pangkor marina further down the coast, for their rendezvous with a cargo ship taking yachts through the Suez Canal and back to the Mediterranean, the yacht owners deciding they would rather have their yachts back in their home countries versus completing a circumnavigation after a 1-2 year hiatus because of the pandemic and having got settled back on land. Our hope, however, is that we will be able to continue our sailing adventures in the not too distant future.
