The Hole in the wall, Langkawi.

Current Position: North 06*25'171 East 99*51'993 - Kilim River, Langkawi Geopark.

We've moved around to the East coast of Langkawi's main island and are now anchored in the Kilim River, known locally as the 'Hole in the Wall', in Langkawi's Geopark. It's quite literally a hole in the wall as the entrance to the river is flanked by two towering cliff faces just twenty meters wide. Inside there's a labyrinth of mangrove rivers and creeks that we've spent hours exploring alongside huge limestone pinnacles filled with crevices and caves and home to hordes of Bats!

The Geopark is also home to hundreds of Eagles and from the boat we've able to watch them dive down and feed on fish from the murky river. The numerous tour boats stop to throw pieces of chicken out that they grind up in their engine propellers and create a feeding frenzy often with over twenty eagles swooping down to join the feast...quite an impressive sight.

Today took the dingy up the river to the main boat dock and from there walked up to the 'Galeria Perdana', a gallery showcasing over 2,500 Gifts that Malaysia's longest serving Prime Minister received while in office. Apparently it's the only one in the world and I have to admit it's pretty interesting to see what kind of things other countries give...everything from a tiny ceramic cup from Jordan to ornate Chinese vases and a carriage coach from Pakistan. Jimmy on the other hand found the air conditioning to be the most impressive thing and with temperatures outside now up in the high 30*C/90*F range it was a god send to have a break for a couple of hours!!

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Back in Langkawi!

Current Position: North 06*21'721 East 099*40'716 - Anchored off Telaga Marina.

We made it back to Langkawi a couple of days ago and are comfortably anchored off Telaga Marina on the main island. Checking in went very smoothly except for immigration taking a very long and detailed look at our passports to see if we'd been in Mexico recently...I guess Swine flu is effecting everyone. No complaints though as Malaysia don't charge anything to check in or out.

There's not a lot here in Telaga except for the marina but it's a great place to rent a cheap car and run around into town and the surrounding shops to restock on lots of cheap goodies! We're back in the land of plenty (booze and chocolate) all duty free so we're going to make the most of it!! Our plan now is to start work on Blue Moon cleaning and re-varnishing before I fly home for a visit and Jimmy's mum flies out in about four weeks time.

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The Butang Group.

Current Position anchored off Koh Lipe Island: North 06*29'083 East 099*18'083

We've slowly been making our way south and are now anchored in the Butang Island Group just a few miles north of Langkawi and the Malaysian border. Along the way we stopped at the islands of Koh Lanta, Koh Kraden and Koh Bulon Le all of which are extremely beautiful with some great snorkeling and even better beaches.

Today we had our first taste of the South West monsoon weather after being hit by a storm with over 30 knot winds, torrential rain and rough seas, all coming from the way we were headed. Apparently we've become lazy with preparing the boat before a passage as just about everything that wasn't tied down decided to fly around becoming lethal weapons and creating a huge mess. We slowly beat our way up into the island group and finally found a free mooring in nice looking bay with lots of touristy restaurants ashore. It's a little rolly but now that we've managed to dry ourselves off and eaten a warm meal we should sleep just fine!

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