Malacca Straits

Motor-sailing up these Straits is somewhat confusing.  It would seem to make sense that the currents either flood to the north or ebb to the south.  Initial research indicated the former.  Why then when we lifted our anchor right before low tide, did we get about two knots of positive current when it should have been slack, then a bit more positive current for the next couple of hours before it decided to reverse itself just at the time it should have been at it best?  Even if we are 100% wrong and it ebbs north, this still doesn't make any sense.   We met up with an Austrian chap who had been on the rally with us two years ago and he's also flummoxed.  I guess it's a case of 'go with the flow' if there is any.

We had insufficient fuel to motor for the next 250nm to get to Pangkor and we couldn't make any headway with both winds and currents against us as we tried to keep within the restrictive narrow gap outside of the shipping channels so we looked for safe anchorages to sit out the negative currents.  By this time, we knew we were going to miss our haul-out appointment so it made more sense to stop in at Port Dickson for fuel.  This also gave us the golden opportunity to revisit our favourite curry restaurant there and it didn't disappoint.  A delicious meal for two of Tandoori chicken, roti canai and sauces with a cool drink all for the incredible sum of US$4.42 in total! 

We were also able to get a new Malaysian SIM card for the phone so we could contact Pangkor regarding our delay.  No problem, James there is really a great guy and he said he'd be able to shift things around to accommodate us when we got there but we felt a bit bad about missing our time slot.

We're now safely in Pangkor.  Due to schedule commitments and tidal issues, we'll only get hauled out on Monday afternoon but we have a myriad of little jobs to do on board as well as some research to do and paints and materials to source and purchase beforehand anyway.   

James kindly drove us around the various immigration, port authority and customs offices to book into Malaysia so we're now legal.  What a difference!  The photos below show our paperwork from Indonesia compared to that of Malaysia.  I kid you not, and to top it all off, unlike the horrendous charges at every turn in Indonesia, entry into Malaysia is absolutely free!  No wonder there are so many cruisers here in comparison.  As we've tried to point out to the agent back there, the cruisers only contribute to the economy and take nothing away but photos and memories.  Why then do they discourage us with such heavy expenses and red tape?

Spot the difference!

Indonesian paperwork:

Malaysian paperwork: