If these options don’t pan out, we’ll, unfortunately, have no other alternative, but to take our chances on a flight with COVID-19 infected passengers, who are supposed to have negative tests before boarding, but somehow arrive at their destinations infected, an extremely high risk for Elaine, not to mention, actually finding flights in operation. It doesn’t help that counterfeit operations in various parts of the world have been discovered forging COVID-19 test results for a fee, then finding out that false COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed too. What has this world come to!
Regardless, we wish Time Bandit (Anne and Stuart) and Georgia (Chris and Paul) fair winds, following seas and a safe passage to South Africa.
It was the beautiful full moon, glistening off the calm waters of the marina, that helped us set aside all these feelings and concerns. Being an unusually clear night, with a fabulous breeze and cooler temperatures, even with the light pollution, we could see stars; the first time in who knows how long!
By Saturday morning we were wondering what the next steps might be for the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia, as daily new cases continued to hit record highs. Would the government impose tighter restrictions, would the current MCO (Movement Control Order) be extended or would we move to a less severe Conditional MCO, as the government tries to balance the impacts on the economy and the fact that there isn’t one COVID-19-free State currently on Peninsular Malaysia; even the Langkawi archipelago is now “orange”, a similar status to the suburb, Tanjung Tokong, where Paw Paw is berthed.
Elaine decided that the best way she could deal with all of this was to “spring clean” Paw Paw. So, while Roy got stuck into cleaning Paw Paw’s exterior, including the waterline at the spring high tide, Elaine spent her day cleaning the interior. Her cleaning frenzy, however, forced her back to bed after breakfast on Sunday morning, waking hours later, but feeling human again. Roy, in the meantime, had whiled away his morning by baking for himself; choc-chip muffins and a ciabatta loaf. Our second attempt at baking gluten-free soda bread, though, was not entirely a disaster, but, although it looked like soda bread and had the texture of soda bread, it definitely didn’t taste like soda bread, ultimately deciding that we will not be trying that again.
To give Roy a break from cooking, Elaine prepared dinner on Sunday night; nothing special, but what she could safely manage, spaghetti bolognese.
By the time yesterday rolled around, it was laundry day again, but Elaine got the opportunity to return to her painting and Roy returned to the enhancements on his Anchor Plus application.
Besides our regular daily exercises, dealing with our yacht insurance coverage for the next year, brief chats to our floating neighbours off Catamini, and Kuda Laut, it is the phone / video calls to / from family and friends that have helped keep us connected to the “outside” world; Keenan in the US, Elaine’s folks and sister in Ireland, Roy’s brother in South Africa, Terence in Australia, Justine in England, Maria off Cattiva in Canada, but the story is the same; everyone in lockdown, taking each day as it comes, trying to stay sane!
It was the news of Captain Tom Moore being admitted to hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, not only tinged us with sadness, but also had us reflecting on our own achievements of this past year, given that this remarkable individual had set out to raise £1000 for the National Health Services by walking laps around his garden, but, instead, raised more than £30 million / $41 million USD, broke two Guinness world records, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, scored a Number One single, wrote an autobiography and helped set up a charity, all at the age of 100. There’s hope for us yet! We do, however, wish him a full and speedy recovery!
In our defence, though, we have completed an inordinate number of yacht projects, caught up on numerous website articles and videos of our travels and supported a number of charitable causes in our host country, including donating our spare headsail to the Sea Monkeys Project, who have taken materials considered trash from all over SE Asia, as well as received old used sails from cruisers like ourselves and from sail makers, to make sustainable backpacks, tote bags and hip bags, donations to the UMMC (University of Malaysia Medical Centre) to help with the purchase of the much needed PPEs (Personal Protection Equipment) for the frontliners fighting this awful disease, donating our lightly used clothes to one of the charity organisations and donating our excess, unexpired emergency equipment to the fishermen for their boats, as well as giving the locals working in the marina the opportunity to take whatever equipment we have replaced that was still in working condition, albeit reaching end of life or fully operational equipment that we simply no longer use. The gratitude shown in these instances never ceases to overwhelm us, but it’s the least we can do in these trying times for everyone.
Chatting to the grandsons on Wednesday evening and from the photographs received during the day, it was clear they were having a blast building a tunnel and attempts at building an igloo.
Then, while Elaine made crumpets for breakfast and got on with her chores for the day, Roy completed the installation of our new wind generator, given that the rectifiers had arrived the previous day. All we needed was some wind to test it, but hot, humid days, with the occasional rain shower, was definitely not the weather conditions to achieve this. That all changed yesterday, though.
After waking to the most stunning sunrise, by the evening, it was lashing down as a thunderstorm passed over us. That also meant plenty of wind and we were delighted to find that our new wind generator actually worked as designed; the best part being how quiet it was. In fact, it was completely silent; Elaine had to keep watching it before signalling Roy to check the voltage outputs. At last, we had a wind generator that didn’t sound like a hovercraft taking off!
It was, however, a beautiful sunny morning, but Elaine had left her morning walk to slightly later in the day, unfortunately catching the takeaway lunchtime “crowd”, making it less pleasant. This situation changed again on Wednesday, though, when all the gates on the promenade were locked in efforts to contain the number of COVID-19 cases in Tanjung Tokong, which have continued to increase. On the plus side, this significantly reduced the number of people exercising around the marina, but curtailed our access to a decent walking route. Perusing the map of COVID-19 cases across the country, however, was extremely alarming, considering most areas are now “red”. It didn’t help matters that we received confirmation that the private hospitals are now taking COVID-19 patients, with good reason, including the Gleneagles Hospital, where Elaine sees her specialist. It’s starting to feel like we’re in the Lion’s Den, which is unbelievable, considering that most of the country was “green” just a few short months ago.
A chat to Elaine’s folks in Ireland wrapped up our day, followed by a fit of laughter when Elaine tried to get into her pyjamas, not realising Roy had knotted one of the legs for fun. Can’t take him anywhere!
On Wednesday Roy decided to take a break from the yacht projects for a while and, instead, spent his day compiling and uploading his latest video from the galley; restaurant-style pork spareribs. Try them - you won’t be disappointed! Elaine’s task for the day was to repair our Malaysia flag that was looking decidedly tatty, following which she started her “paint-by-numbers” to keep herself occupied. A chat to her sister in Ireland and more Happy Birthday wishes, this time to her brother in South Africa, were the order of the day.
Yesterday, besides our usual exercises, Roy baked Elaine her gluten-free chocolate muffins and continued work on his Anchor Plus application, while Elaine occupied herself with her painting efforts again.
This morning we woke to another video from the Cadman Jr household. This time it was William wearing his new “fitness watch” we’d sent to all the grandchildren and thanking us on behalf of all his siblings. Being the smarty pants that he is, he also announced the time after being prompted by his dad. It was a wonderful start to an otherwise uneventful day filled with chores, errands and the inevitable sanitation regime, which is becoming extremely tiresome.
On the former, Roy slaved away in the heat and humidity from Friday to install the automatic fuel polishing systems in each of the engine compartments, operated on individual timers. Play was interrupted, though, either because of the heat or due to rain that occurred on and off all day Saturday or for additional bits and bobs, like more clamps, electrical wire and heat shrink, that had to be procured at the local hardware shop, but, by yesterday afternoon, everything was operational. All Elaine now has to endure are the pumps waking her at 0800 for the next week or so to give the fuel and tanks a good cleaning, following which the systems will be reprogrammed to a more convenient time-slot.
Elaine spent her time being the able gofer, as usual, as well as completing the cataloguing and uploading of all our latest photographs covering the last six months; she hadn’t realised we’d got so far behind on this particular activity, then tackled the monthly medical insurance claims. She took a break on Friday from squatting in front of her laptop and enjoyed her walk at the quietest time of the day. Besides the wonderful cool breeze, the seascape was stunning with the various shades of jade and especially the crystal clear water which we haven’t seen before. Today’s walk revealed a seascape that was different again, with beautiful shades of light blue. If only there weren’t so many crows out scavenging!
While Roy took a break from working in the heat or the rain, he updated the Anchor Basic application to support a position fix using an external GPS, since the latter had also arrived in the post after eventually being cleared by Customs too.
On Friday evening, since neither of us could be bothered to cook, we ordered Thai takeaways from Chilli Head, since our favourite restaurant in Straits Quay, Nomiya, has been closed since the lockdown started. In fact, many of the restaurants are completely closed, limiting the choice. It’s been surprising just how few patrons the open restaurants have had; the place is deserted, except for folks exercising in the mornings and some in the evenings.
On Saturday morning the alarm woke Elaine, otherwise she’d still be sleeping, but, unfortunately we woke to the news that a child in William’s class had tested positive for COVID-19, setting off all sorts of scenarios in our heads. Keenan was, however, flying, when he received the news, so it wasn’t until yesterday morning when we were able to get the details. Obviously these events had ramifications on Keenan flying too, specifically, whether or not he would have to stop flying immediately and quarantine in his hotel in Orlando. As things transpired, he’d had a precautionary COVID-19 test a few days earlier, which was negative, and hadn’t been home when all this developed. Poor little William, though, has to be tested before him or his brothers can return to school, but, assuming his test is negative, Keenan and Brooke have decided to keep William at home regardless, until a suitable time has passed to ensure no other classmates develop symptoms of infection in the interim. What a carry-on for kindergarteners!
That said, though, the teacher told Keenan that, given how conscientious William is in keeping his mask on and keeping his hands sanitised, she’d be surprised if he’d got infected. Apparently William won’t take his mask off at all until he’s at home, not even in the car: “I like wearing my mask, Daddy. I feel like a doctor”, he tells Keenan. It’s a sad world when a kindergarten sets a far greater example than many adults! It helped that the teacher also caught the fever of the child immediately through the temperature checks carried out throughout the day.
Onboard we had our own incident to deal with as Roy suffered mild chemical burns on his hands and no matter how we’ve wrecked our brains, we have absolutely no idea how this could have happened, except that he’d used the “hand sanitiser” at the laundromat on Wednesday and by that night his hands were itching and inflamed. Although he’s still suffering today, the burn treatment has definitely helped, but who would have thought! Definitely going to be more cautious about using public hand sanitising stations in future!
There was, however, a different incident that had Elaine patting herself on the back, but we have to set the scene first. Some time ago, Elaine purchased a long-arm reaching gripper. At the time Roy had said this was a slippery slope for her, but no matter how Elaine had tried to force her body to move in certain ways in order to gain access to various items stored in our bunks, lockers or under the floorboards, it was impossible, always forcing her to call on Roy for assistance. Frustrated beyond belief, she was delighted when she found one of these apparatus, knowing it would make life so much easier for her. But, guess who was actually the first person to use it onboard? You guessed it; Captain Roy!
On Saturday, while embroiled in the starboard engine compartment, Roy dropped his crimping tool. Of course, it didn’t land anywhere accessible to retrieve it easily. After the obligatory string of choice words, the relief that washed over his face when Elaine offered him her nifty apparatus, was clearly evident and not without a huge smile when he retrieved the crimper with ease! Sometimes the Admiral knows best!
Yesterday morning, while Roy slowly cooked himself in the port engine compartment, Elaine had a lovely morning in Keenan’s “company” while he was on a stopover in New York. It was wonderful to just sit and chat about all sorts without interruptions. It was close to 1100 our time, 2200 his Saturday night, by the time Elaine said good night to Keenan, given that he had a flight to Cancun the following morning.
Dinner and an early movie has sealed our days, both exhausted from the heat, humidity and activities onboard. However, while Roy was out at the post office in Georgetown this morning, Elaine was able to enjoy breakfast in the cockpit for a change, given the cool breeze blowing straight into the marina. Afterwards, it was time for the fortnightly walk to Cold Storage for our fresh produce and the few items which Sam’s Groceria doesn’t stock, followed by a continuation of the sanitisation exercise before everything was stowed.
However, life isn’t all work and no play on Paw Paw, all things considered under the lockdown. The fact that our mid-morning coffee breaks can be accompanied by a delicious freshly baked French pastry from Sam’s Groceria any time we choose, goes a long way to setting our world to rights!
Elaine’s experience at the hospital, the first under a MCO (Movement Control Order), was rather different with all the staff kitted out in masks and full visors and the hospital being almost deserted, compared to previous visits. Getting a bite to eat and drink after fasting for her blood work was almost impossible with all the cafés only serving limited takeaways and there was nowhere to sit to eat any purchases anyway. It didn’t help matters that everyone seemed to be on edge too and with good reason, as cases continue to climb in Malaysia, including in Penang State and in Tanjung Tokong, the neighbourhood where both Straits Quay and the Gleneagles Hospital are located. Elaine was just too pleased to be back on Paw Paw; of course, not before another major sanitation exercise.
At the laundromat, Roy wasn’t allowed inside other than to load and unload the washers and dryers he was using. That meant all the folding had to be done back on Paw Paw. Oh the joys of lockdown, but at least the laundromats were open again and Elaine had access to healthcare, a definite improvement on the four months under the previous MCO with no access to a specialist and having to scramble to get her medications. Being on Penang Island was definitely a vast improvement in this regard, albeit under more alarming conditions with the number of COVID-19 cases. This, unfortunately, was the trade off.
After dinner and a movie, we wrapped up our day in the best possible way; firstly watching Donald Trump leave the White House. It was such a relief to see the back of this man and, for us, it was a matter of good riddance. Then watching the tribute of lights at the Pool of Remembrance to the more than 400,000 Americans who have lost their lives to this dreadful pandemic as a result of the total mismanagement thereof by Trump. It was lovely to see the Biden / Harris ticket and cities all around the country acknowledge and honour this loss and pay tribute in such a wonderful way; the first time this has officially been done since this disastrous situation unfolded.
Today we woke to all the videos of the inauguration and what a wonderfully presidential and tasteful event it was. We felt like our world was full of hope again with decent, intelligent human beings leading America moving forward. Watching the “Celebrating America” concert, hosted by Tom Hanks, was indeed a fitting way to celebrate such a unique and historic occasion during unprecedented times. They did a marvellous job of highlighting the best of America and her people in a safe, responsible manner and, in so doing, together with the news of the various vaccination programs underway around the world, opened the door to all the possibilities of a better future, one the world so desperately needs right now!
Elaine eventually got off Paw Paw at around 1130 to enjoy her Monday morning walk, the one she looks forward to the most, after being yacht bound for three days. By 1400, though, baking efforts were still underway, but all well worth the effort. There was just one small hiccup; our oven wasn’t big enough to fit two cake pans, so some improvisation was required by using the heat deflectors from the barbecue to create another shelf. As they say: “a boer mak a plan!” Regardless, Elaine ended up with a fabulous decadent chocolate cake cover in Lindt chocolate and hazelnut flakes; well done Captain Roy!
Once the balloons were up and the party outfit decided, we were able to relax for the remainder of the day.
As for today, Elaine was definitely spoilt. Besides waking up to a flurry of birthday messages from around the world, Roy prepared breakfast and sang Happy Birthday to her while she blew out her candle, sliced her cake and made her birthday wish. He was hilarious and had Elaine in absolute stitches. Fortunately he also managed to get Elaine’s birthday gift long before the lockdown; a beautiful pale pink purse from the same designer as the handbag he’d bought her for Christmas. Elaine was definitely one happy lady!
Her special day continued with more birthday wishes and phone calls from around the world, including one from her folks who sang Happy Birthday to her too. It was, however, Justine’s singing proficiency, or rather complete lack thereof, that had Elaine in fits of laughter; like Roy, singing is definitely not Justine’s strong point, but very special, nonetheless!
Her day was topped off with her requested birthday dinner; Roy’s famous homemade, wholesome and hearty, vegetable soup. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!
Some unexpected chores have popped up too, like having to hand-wash Roy’s topping mattress cover after steeping it overnight, as well as a few yacht maintenance activities that turned into repair jobs, taking all day to troubleshoot, then fix, where possible. These included the battery watering system which developed a leak and required the pipes to be rerouted. Then the generator coolant system developed a leak too after a rubber plug disintegrated. Unfortunately this little issue couldn’t be fixed immediately as we don’t have the spare part necessary, but while investigating the root cause as to why the generator was suddenly running hot, the mishap of loosing the radiator cap overboard also occurred, and, yes, we don’t have a spare for that either, having used the spare we did have in Australia.
Fortunately all the other maintenance activities, like giving both engines a freshwater flush, cleaning the shower pump filters, checking all the electronic instrumentation, by placing the depth sensor in a bucket of water, to ensure everything was functioning as expected, updating the software on the chartplotter, the course computer and the autopilot actuator and refurbishing the spare wifi extender, were all completed without incident.
Thursday was a baking day; gluten-free muffins for Elaine, chocolate croissants for Roy. The only other highlight of that day was enjoying a long chat and a laugh with Elaine’s folks in Ireland, who are still under lockdown too.
Friday was spent catching up with Keenan, then a nice long chat to Anne off Time Bandit and not much else, as Elaine took a rather peculiar turn on her walk later that morning, which sent her to bed for most of the afternoon.
Yesterday we woke to the family chat line abuzz with comments, photographs and videos of various golfing exploits by the third generation of golfers in the family; Keenan in the US and Dean in the UK, all sporting their skills, having been introduced to the game by Elaine’s dad when they were toddlers, as well as the new, forth generation of golfers in the making; William in the US and Jordan in South Africa. This family tradition also includes Elaine and her brother, Laurence, who starting playing as teenagers and Laurence’s son, David. In fact, Keenan still bears the scar of Dean hitting him on the forehead by accident with a golf club when they were all kids practicing in the back garden of their grandparents’ home. Elaine’s dad sure started something! Additionally, our grandsons were showing off the lego cars they’d built with their daddy. The day was wrapped up with another long chat to Elaine’s sister in Ireland.
The only good aspects of this pandemic, if such a statement can be made, is how it has brought a family, who are scattered all over the world, together, using social media to share experiences we wouldn’t ordinarily have done.
Feeling very optimistic or indeed in preparation regardless, Elaine also completed the collation of our notes for the Indian and Atlantic Ocean crossings. It was, however, the COVID-19 cases in Malaysia that alarmed us, given that it’s been a while since we looked at the numbers across the country, especially those in our immediate neighbourhood where cases had shot up from 1 to 14 in just a few days.
A movie night tonight helped distract us from the realities of our world, albeit momentarily.
It was a good job we’d run around like headless chickens yesterday, though, because, as things transpired, we’d misunderstood the commencement date of the lockdown. For some weird and wonderful reason, we’d thought it started after midnight tonight when, in fact, it started at one minute past midnight in the early hours of this morning, which meant we woke up to another lockdown.
Fortunately Elaine was feeling more human yesterday as well, so, while Roy took our heavier laundry items to the laundromat, Elaine used the marina’s facilities for the lighter items, since all self-service laundromats were being closed for the lockdown. Roy then took the time to purchase an electronic thermometer for our daily temperature checks, a few over-the-counter supplies at the local pharmacy and some extra provisions, since shelves were looking rather empty at the local supermarkets. Apparently Penang Island saw a 50% increase in grocery purchases in just one day. Finally, he walked to the hardware store for some additional electrical connectors as we’d run out of them while replacing the solar panels. By the end of yesterday, there was an awful lot of sanitising, organising and stowing to be done aboard Paw Paw.
With regard to our yacht projects, getting the old wind generator down yesterday, was the first order of the day and never an easy feat, since it sits on the top of a 3.5 metre / 11.5 ft stainless pole. Besides her usual gofer activities, Elaine also squeezed in some time to start collating our Indian Ocean sailing notes that she’s collected over the months from yachts that had undertaken the crossing in 2020, as well as enjoyed her usual mid-morning walk. With all the running around, though, we decided to leave the fridge / freezer undertaking until today.
During all this activity, Malaysia's King Al-Sultan Abdullah declared a state of emergency yesterday across the country as a proactive measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 and address the daily increase of positive cases that have continuously reached four figures since December. The state of emergency is scheduled to last until 1st August or earlier, depending on the state of infections over the coming months.
We had our own challenges aboard Paw Paw too, as we discovered a little too late in the day yesterday that Roy’s topping mattress cover needed a wash, but first needed to be soaked in bleach overnight. That meant sleeping together last night, giving us both a terrible night’s sleep with the heat, requiring a much needed afternoon nap today, which, surprisingly, we managed without any fuss; the difference being the cabin air-conditioning unit running. It probably helped too that we were both exhausted from all the tossing and turning the night before.
It was, however, only tonight that the magnitude of the lockdown hit us; Straits Quay was deserted. We’d seen all the shops closed during the day, but seeing all the restaurants and cafés open for takeaways only and then close by 2000, left an eerie silence and darkness over the marina. Not even the Chinese New Year lanterns were lit.
Since we’d spent our last lockdown on the private resort island of Rebak in the Langkawi archipelago, we expected the desertion then, but seeing the impacts on the usually bustling nightlife of Straits Quay created a sense of unease and sadness.
The depressing news reports from around the world didn’t help matters either, especially out of Ireland and the US; the US death toll from COVID-19 had hit a new record of 4,470 deaths by 2030 EST as the health crisis raged out of control and Ireland now held the unhappy title of the nation with the highest transmission rate in the world.
We decided to put these depressing aspects of our world aside by enjoying a romantic fantasy movie, a new genre for us.
