Hi Friends and family!
How time flies when you are enjoying yourself. I missed last month’s news letter (thanks those who reminded me!) but felt that the jumbo one the month before made up for it.
This past charter season has been long and busy. Most of our guests were people who had chartered with us before, which was very heartening and wonderful to renew acquaintances with friends again. It also made us look for new adventure and we found some wonderful out-of-the-way places for those who had seen the old haunts and towards the end of the season when the weather became unpredictable we discovered our “own” island, Langkawi and saw it all through new eyes. With our Island surrounded by 99 others in the archipelago there were lots of anchorages to chose from, and discovering caves and nooks and crannies with eagles nests and one bay where about 50 dolphin cavorted and mated for over an hour around Katrine was spectacular. We have had the most glorious time over the past few months with friends new and old….Katey’s Pilgrims over New Year and Bill at the end of the season and in between it all a visit from Dezzi that was so special. Only parents know that warm fuzzy feeling of pride in sharing the success of their offspring, and we were able to live her triumph in winning the recent photographic competition held in Aspen Colorado all over again in close contact. If you haven’t seen the photo, have a look at her website: www.photosbydes.com and while you are there, she has made a poster of it which is for sale and can be ordered on line. It truly is a masterpiece.
We arrived back from the Andaman Islands in March with our tails up - and were they wagging! We had an amazing time and even three months later are heaving great big sighs at the memory of it all. And so we have decided….we are keeping the month of February next year open for a trip back……so all you intrepid fishermen, snorkelers and seekers of adventure who are up for a real get-away-from-it-all awesome time; get booking on your favourite website…. www.yachtkatrine.com
We are only taking 4 people at a time so book early. You have two options
- fly in to the Andaman Islands via Chenang and fly out (its only an hour and a half flight from India)
- Or fly in to Phuket, sail 3 days with us to the Andaman’s spend a while then fly out from there.
I promise you – you won’t be sorry.
May has arrived and seasons all around the world are changing. I see photos from our friends Cath and Francois who are back in France, of green fields covered with white daisies, red poppies nodding in Spain in pictures from Sue ex Coalminers Dream who has relocated there and Di in England, of her beautiful multi-coloured spring planted bulbs. Looking into the jungle from my back “porch” creepers are hanging their yellow masses of flowers in tendrils, and trees – much like the Pride of India, are splotched with purple amongst the green. It is a beautiful time of the year, in which we are blessed to be able to stop and smell the roses. But to temper our spirits, the great Sumatra winds, named after the direction from whence they come, have arrived. The alarm that sounds with a whistle in the rigging is our wake up call in the middle of the night and it’s a frantic “all hands on deck” in the anchorage, while bare bodies under the glare of cockpit lights scramble to grab at cushions, awnings and anything that might have been left loose during the evening. The noise intensifies to a shriek as we are bombarded with 40 to 50 knots of wind that hurls itself down the mountainside at us followed by great gollops of rain. Oh what fun…as we watch for boats dragging around the anchorage in the not-so-good holding of our bay outside Telaga. But we are safe with our great big 65 kg anchor that is our mooring firmly embedded in the mud.
The last month has been busy with the tail-end of local charter. Drips and drabs came in from Guy – a Frenchman who runs a charter business here and handed some work over our way. Three catamarans went out with 100 Frenchies between us, rafted together at aperitif time and then again off the island of Singa Besah for a beach barbeque. Then a repeat the following day with a further 100. The weather was really kind and once again we marvelled at our fortune to be able to earn a bit of cash while having a great time.
In between the “work” we have been making our beef sausages and the business is growing by the day. Although we will never be able to reach “halaal” status, there are enough yachties and Chinese around to buy them and their reputation is beginning to spread.
So now we have time to give to our local friends before the real work begins. Caroline and Simon invited us to their son’s birthday party which was an experience of Malay/Indian/ Chinese cuisine. Afterwards we were subjected, with great gusto, to their uninhibited karaoke! It amazes me that from the youngest kid to the oldest gran, with voices from hell, they can stand up with a microphone and wail to their hearts content with total abandon. It is delightful and a huge family bonding that, when we finally escaped, left our ears ringing but a warmth in our heart.
They are such a delightful couple (he has the surname Fernandez which smacks of his way-back Portuguese heritage; but more Chinese –Malaysian you couldn’t get!) who have taken us under their wing and spoil us rotten. We in return have them on board to fish, a past-time they relish, along with hoards of others that they invite to join in (in typical Malaysian style!)
Next month we will be taking Katrine out of the water for maintenance and repair work and I can hear her grumbling already. Having missed last years haul-out, there is double to catch up on and for a change we will use a nearby slipway called Rebak rather than our usual Ratanachai in Thailand. But there is heaps to do in preparation beforehand, so for the next few weeks our days will be filled. Fortunately, with the evenings on the beach off Katrine’s back door and the view of our beautiful mountain, cascading with water at this time of the year, the eagles and the awesome sunsets, we still can say, How blessed we are to have been given all of this.
Our love to you all.
Don and Jeanne
