Bike Trip to Comotes Islands

We took a bike trip to Comotes Islands with Greg & Grace and George & Jean. We only stayed one night in a hotel, so the girls said we didn't stay long enough. Everyone wants to go back again and stay longer.

We drove pretty much laa around one of the islands, but only a little on the second.

A lookout point

We anchored for the day there 4 years ago with the boys from Drydock.

Lunch at an American Bistro?

Toe Rail and Chain Plates

Boat work continues. Currently we are replacing the steel under the toe rail that the sail track bolts to.Turns out it was mild steel and not stainless so it rusted away and let water start leaking in. The remnants of the 1 1/4 x 1/4 bar are the pieces laying on the deck. I now have to find some stainless strap and get it drilled and tapped to replace it.

Temmy and Donald taking off the toe rail and cleaning out the rusty steel below.

Temmy, Charles and Boom-Boom epoxying the topsides back together

Before the toe rail, I thought the chain plates were bad. They are fiberglassed into the inside of the hull, mostly behind cabinets. We opened a few places that had been leaking bad water inside. Here are two photos after opening them up. The stainless is not corroded at all. So I'll assume none of them are bad and just continue with the bad wood replacement.

Inside the starboard settee cabinet.

Behind the teak trim in the starboard liquor cabinet.

Behind the shelf in the tool room, almost finished repair.

This is the back room we call the tool room, all the way around behind the engine room.Supplies go on the small upper shelf and the Kubota goes on the lower one. The water maker membranes go under neath the shelf.

The new tool room shelves almost ready to reinstall the Kubota and watermaker.

Puerto Princesa and Port Bonbonon

I realize that this is a little behind but better late then never. A cousin asked for pictures, so here are a few. No pictures from the passage. Who wants to see lumpy water all around, with no dirt showing anyway.

First couple from the Yacht Club restaurant in Puerto Princesa. (For you grammar nazis, that is really how they really spell it here.)

Looking west from Abanico Yacht Club restaurant deck.

That is our boat way out there. Nice when the music was loud at the club, but a long way in the rain or wind. It is really shallow up close to the club. We often watched fishermen waking waist deep with hand held scoop-nets there.

North from the yacht club.

The dinghy dock, a bamboo contraption. But it worked, didn't fall threw even once. There were usually 8 to 10 dinghies with the painters tangled when we would come back from shopping or the Sunday buffet here.

And a few pictures from Port Bonbonon.

Looking south at the entrance channel.

 This would be our backyard here. The wind has blown continuously from the north-northeast so we seem to face the same way all time.

West, the side yard.

Only 3 of these boats have people on them. This is a popular place to leave the boat for trips, or to die. Six boats are from old sailors who passed away while moored here. And several more are abandoned and/or for sale.

Center on shore is one of the 3 restaurants that serve a weekly buffet. It is a very social bay.

North, our front yard.

One friend we met in Majuro 7 years ago says we have the best view of the mountain from here. I would have settled for the shortest row to shore. the second restaurant is the little white triangular peak roof left third of the photo. The third is just around the right edge. Sunday, Wednesday and Friday are the buffets and sometimes a happy hour thrown in. Almost cold beer is about 90 cents USD, only one brand and no wine.

The shore is close by to the east.

A small coconut plantation on the near shore between the huts. So I guess it could look like paradise.

Purple Kraut

One of the few good things about the high average 'room temperature" here is that it only takes 5 days to make a jar of sauerkraut. We ate the smaller jar from last week. It was great.

I recalled someone saying they once had purple kraut. The grocery store had really bad looking green cabbage yesterday, but the purple cabbage looked nice. And only about $4.50/head! Ha! ONLY! But what the heck. So here it is.

A little dark for pictures.

 I keep forgetting to take pictures during the process. Maybe next time. Again, just slice it up thin, add 1 1/2 tablespoons salt per pound and mash the salt into the cabbage till it starts making juice. Then into the jar with a little weight to hold it from floating up out of the salt water. We use a small plastic bowl crammed in the neck of the jar. Then let it set in a cool place till done. Taste it every few days( every day at 90 degree "room temperature") and put it in the ice box when you like the taste. Or just eat it.

Last weeks big jar, sea salt and the fresh purple kraut

Trinda put some crackers in the salt cause it was damp when she bought it... didn't help. The humidity is too high for bulk salt, but that is the only salt without iodine available.

The foam in last weeks jar is normal, just skim it off. If it has an unpleasant order, then toss it. If some of the cabbage gets above the water and molds, just skim it too.

Homemade Sauerkraut and Yogurt

We have started making a few things of our own on the boat. First, we seldom find sauerkraut in the stores here. When we do find it it is a German brand with spices we are not used to. I remembered that when we were in Mexico, some years go, we saw a restaurant making a 5 gallon jar of sauerkraut out back. That gave me the idea. Therefore a quick google and lots of information.

 This is all it takes:

Salt without iodine and cabbage, a bowl and clean jars.

The directions are simple too. Shred the cabbage. I slice it as thin as I can. Put it in a large bowl. Add one tablespoon salt per pound of cabbage. Stir and mash together with your hands. After the salt is well mixed and you have pressed the salt into the cabbage, it starts to make its own juice, salt water!

Taste it now to see if you got the salt right. It should be like you normally eat it, salty but not too much.It is easy to add more salt. A little harder to shred a second head cause you got too much salt, like in this batch. Don't use the weight from the store for determining the amount of salt, cause you take off a few leaves and leave out most of the cob.

Now pack it into a jar by hand, or a spoon if your hand won't it the jar. pack it down tight so that the natural juice floats above the cabbage. We put a small plastic bowl or lid to keep the cabbage from floating up into the air. It might spoil if it is not covered by the salt water.

Now let it sit in a cool dark place till it is done. They talk about weeks however, one guide suggests to taste it every day. When it tastes like the sauerkraut you like, put it in the refrigerator, or just eat it. I like it best on the 4th day, when there is still some green in the leaves. But we usually seem to wait about  week.

Oh I should mention, room temperature on the boat is between 82 and 92F, so it sets faster here than in cool places.

Smoked sausage and sauerkraut.

Greg also got me started on yogurt. I always thought I hated yogurt. He insisted I taste his homemade. It was much better than I remembered. It could be the low carb/high fat way we're eating lately that has changed my taste buds, or just getting old! But a cold bowl of yogurt with some sugar free blueberry jam or a few sliced strawberries really hits the spot on a hot afternoon. And it is almost lactose free, so Trinda can eat it without worry.

The recipefor the yogurt is actually less work than the sauerkraut. One pouch full fat powdered milk and 4 cups water in a pot. Bring to about 180F, almost a boil. Cool to 115F and add 2 or 3 tablespoons of your last batch. Stir and put in the jars. Screw the lid on tight. I put the jars in a styrofoam 'six-pack' cooler for 4 to 6 hours. Then move to the refrigerator and your good for a week.

The first time you either get some from a friend or buy some from the store. Get unsweetened, plain yogurt with 'live culture' or 'live enzymes'.

If you like it thick and sour, leave it warm longer, like 6 to 8 hours. Or more mild and creamy, then 3 1/2 to 4 hours is good.

The INTERNET says it would be much better if we used the fresh whole milk, but the powdered milk keeps up to a year without refrigeration and it is always available here.We can get good powdered milk here, not only skimmed like in the states. But whole milk, full cream, 2% and skim. And it can be pure spray-dried or a mix of weird chemistry including oils, soy, palm oil, cornstarch, and all the multi-syllable chemicals 'additives allowed by law' it says here. So we read the labels. Some of that stuff just kills the culture and spoils.

The Christmas Tree is UP

Ahh, it is Dec 10th, Gary's BirhDay. We have always put the tree up today. Of course, a few (maybe many) years ago we would get a tree permit and take the jeep up into the mountians of Northern New Mexico to cut a fresh pine. There was usually snow and cold but a fun day out.

No snow here. It was 33C (92F) here inside the boat while Trinda was trimming the small tree.

The little tree inside, about 18" with the star.

We created our own 'artificial' tree for the fore deck. A few wire coat hangers, some heavy duty garland, light duty tinsel and some LED lights. The only lights for sale here are 220 volts, so it requires a step-up transformer. At least the LEDs don't need many amps.

That is a small view of the bay here in Puerto Princesa in the background.

Trinda said it looks like something drug up from Neptune's locker.

We've been here for a couple of months now, for no particular reason, just chill-in'. Doing a (very) few boat projects, a few computer projects and lots of crochet and movie watching.

But the old saying about dark and distance helps a lot!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Penang to Johor Bahru

Here are a few photos of Penang before we left.

Penang has lots of street art, art created on the sides of buildings and using junk and features available. The street art is keeping up with the times. Minions have appeared all over town.

Some of the Chews, hehehe. We anchored near the Chew Jetty, a village built over the water alongside the pier. Each clan built their own village, thus all the people on this one have the last name Chew. Celene kept my bicycle in her front room while Trinda was in the apartment recovering from the knee surgery.

Queenie Chew and of course Mr. T.

Celene and hubby Sao

In front of their house looking at the Katie Lee.

I'm sure I mentioned on Facebook that as we were coming around the bottom of Singpore we had engine trouble. We were just anchoring for the night by St. John's island when the engine made a terrible noise and quit moving the boat. I was not able to set the anchor properly. That is to put the anchor down, the boat in reverse and backup till the anchor catches something and the boat stops. We were in a well protected spot, so I was not too worried about the anchor dragging.

(I am officially giving notice that Trinda did help a lot during this adventure. It is just easier to type I than she, we, us, Trinda, etc.)

We were tired from watching the traffic all day. Once the AIS showed 536 other boats around us. Most were anchored though. But some were giant freighters moving as fast as 18 knots. We can only motor 6 knots. It wasn/t as bad as some people tell it though as I was able to read a few chapters in my book during the 8 hour trip.

Anyway, I re-started the engine a couple times listening to the noise from several different places and hoping to see the porp shaft turn agan. But no turning. I decided the most likely problem would be the damper drive plate that connects a diesel engine to the transmittion. It is there to reduce the vibration of the engine effecting the gears in the tranny. So It is not something I carry spare for.

The times before that I have pulled the tranny, it took severl hours. Singapore is a very expensive place for thiings like tow boats and labor. So calling for help was really out of the question. St. John's Isand Park is about 40 mile from the Senibong Marina where we had reservations in the next few days. We slept! Next morning, I started it one more time, just to make sure it wasn't a nightmare. HAHA, I wish! So I tied the dinghy to the side of the boat, with a couple fenders for a cushion. Flled it with gas, started it, put it in gear, set the motor straight and turned the throttle up to 3/4. Then I climbed back aboard and steered the boat normally. We got up to 2.4 knots! WOW! not as fast as I would like, but better than nothing.

The current runs as high as 6 knots around Singpore according to the charts. It depends on the phase of the moon, wind and time of day. The route I chose seemed to have only 2 to 3 knots of current. So for 6 hours each days it was going the right directon. We anchored the rest of the time. Most of the time we could make 3 to 4 knots according to the GPS, but occasionally I would get on the wrong side of the current. One spot we took 3 hours to go 2 miles. Singapore is expanding the only way it can. They build a sea wall then fill it in with sand dredged from ythe bottom outside the wall. One new wall was 2 miles further out than when I saw it 2 years ago. I couldn't see it because of all the anchored big ships and haze so I missed it. I could make only 0.9 knots turning back till I got around it.

The slow pace gave me plenty of time to calculate, measure and re-calcu;ate the amount of gas we had for the dinghy. Diesel doesn't work! We barely made it to Penelih the second day. It is the first land in Malasya coming from our direction. It has a small ferry terminal. I was able to find a local willing to take my 3 empty gass jugs to town (29 kiometers away) and bring them back full. He only charged double, but he did do it after dark and brought them out to the boat.

As we approached the marina I fiinally got the manager on the radio. I had sent an e-mal saying we were having engine trouble but were coming slowly. When we pulled into the marina I finally got him on the radio. After I explained the suituation, he changed the assigned slip to one easier to get into. We motored right in. Trinda steered the big boat and I got in the dinghy to help with the sharper turns and control the speed. The manager and am mthe dock hands couldn't believe we came in so easy. I didn't remind them that we had been practicing for the past 4 days, sorta any way.

In the marina with the dinghy still tied along side.

Finally here, we got a ride to the closest grocery/mall, dropped off the laundry, shopped and then celebrated with banana splits!

Trinda and her banana split.

Sunset after the banana splits!