Back out there

Our first evening at anchor in a while

Only a day and a half hop up to the Jerejak anchorage in Penang but ever so nice to be on the move again.

You know you've been too long in one place when you find not one, but two, bird's nests in progress aboard your boat.  One was inside the workings of the radar arch which had only been closed up for less than a week so we can't work out how the little guys got in there to start building without us seeing it beforehand.  The other; we only discovered this one when Paul was battling to haul up the main.  The hollow of the boom was chock-a-block filled with the makings of another.  Shame, we sailed away with someone's home but fortunately no babies yet.  Wasps had also set up home in one of the jammers clogging it up with mud.  It was definitely time to move on!

High tide in Penang wasn't until three in the afternoon so we only got under way at two.  We chose to overnight at a little island just 15nm away leaving us with about 65nm for the following day.  There are so many fishing boats with nets around these parts that it's best to traverse the area in daylight if possible.  

With only about half a mile to go that first day, we suddenly started shaking badly.  Paul went down to check the engine mountings, all OK.  We thought we may have lost a blade on our prop but he felt it would be much worse if that was the case.  We slowly crawled into the anchorage and dropped anchor so he could dive overboard to check things out.  Lo and behold, a massive thick plastic bag was wrapped right around the prop.  Problem easily solved thank goodness.

We left before dawn and managed just a little bit of sailing but were fortunate to have a knot of current with us most of the way.  As we arrived at our destination just as the sun was setting, we found two boats we know well and joy of joys, they were busy having their sundowners as we set anchor.  A lovely start to being back in cruising mode.

Approaching the new Penang Bridge

It carries on as far as the eye can see

Passing underneath - it looks closer than it actually is!