Chukai and Gem Island

Two day hops later, actually sailing for a few hours once with no motors—wow!!---such is the sailing life in the doldrums—we made our way up the river and anchored with the other rally boats in Chukai. The currents were fierce and so we decided to stern tie to the mangroves behind us (mangroves in our world generally mean mosquitoes). Late in the afternoon we discovered that we were living amongst huge 6 foot long water monitors. Also a large number of monkeys inhabit the trees behind us. After having chased one from our stern line and watched another blatantly climbing out on another boat’s line we decided to take the lesser of two evils and just float with the current. We had seen the havoc they can create at Sebana Cove Marina and did not want them on the boat!! This is a small town where the inhabitants were very excited to see us. They have never had a rally stop there and they are not on the general tourist route. The Muslim tradition continues to be pervasive with many calls to prayer and each evening after the regular chanting which we are used to there are several hours where what appears to be the equivalent of a sermon broadcasted on the loud speakers. We had wondered if this was a special occasion but the locals we asked think that this is normal practice. We have not come across this before. Once again even young girls often wear head coverings. The strong Muslim law banning alcohol for Muslims pervades all of these east coast communities. It is actually illegal for Muslims to even frequent places which serve or sell alcohol. The punishment is a heavy fine and even a prison sentence. We have also learned that it is not possible for a Malay to renounce his Muslim faith which is governed by Sharia Law. If there is intermarriage with another faith the other person must convert. We also heard a Sikh man say that he would renounce his daughter if she married a Muslim and converted. It is sad that these intolerances are still strong in what appears to be a remarkably tolerant country in other respects. Despite these issues we continue to be overwhelmed by the lovely warm greetings we get everywhere. Chukai, a hub for local fishing was spotless. The market was full of wonderful fruit—right now the mango season in Thailand continues and we are still feasting on the most incredible varieties we have ever seen. The chicken appeared to have more flies around than usual—sticky fly paper covered in flies did not add to the appeal so I will wait and buy it from a supermarket where at least I am not witnessing the infestation!! Most things a cruiser may need are readily available. The town is small enough that the custom governing diesel in jerry cans is not observed. Normally we can only buy one 20 litre can at a time which makes filling yourself at the pump an odious chore and we opt to have a local deliver it to us. This makes the pump price of 60cents a litre translate to 90cents a litre. We were sold 7 jerry cans at the pump price happily so we all filled with fuel here—the lack of wind makes this necessary!!! We usually can find a Chinese restaurant which serves beer—the temperature is incredibly hot and super sweet drinks, the norm here, do not appeal with dinner. Wine is a non issue and we have a dwindling supply of poor quality wines left. The storage in the stores of wine is definitely not cellar temperature!! The community organised a bus tour in our honour taking us to release some baby turtles at a turtle sanctuary into the river. The numbers have been diminishing over the years with locals eating the eggs and the river banks being devastated with palm plantations down to the water so they are now trying to raise the numbers again. They dig the eggs up and incubate them until they are viable and will have a good chance of survival. Our next stop was at a zoo—they are making an effort to house the animals in large humane cages but I was still upset watching the sun bear pacing in a small circle. Apparently his new cage is being built so I hope he will be happier. We were driven through the massive Petrona refineries. This part of Malaysia has vast quantities of offshore oil all of which comes into this area to be refined. It was impressive with massive structures with flames burning. If something went wrong in this area you would want to be many miles away!! Our last stop was a fishing village where we bought some lovely squid to take back to the boat. The locals put on a wonderful dinner plying us with various local delicacies with each table having a well educated English speaking person who explained the food. As is common in this part of the world many dishes were predominately fishy—we are always surrounded by dried fish and what you can make from it. A martial arts exhibition was the entertainment and once again we went back to our boats warmed by the wonderful hospitality that we have found in many small Malay and Indonesian towns. The following day we left for the day sail to Kapas and Gem Islands en route to Terangganu the capital city of the region. These islands are idyllic with white sand beaches and palm trees. It is a local holiday spot and we were astonished that the unfortunate women were still clad in long dresses and head coverings despite the heat. Many of them were actually in the water—even snorkelling complete with this clothing. It is so hot that we feel sad that these women are so encumbered but remind ourselves of photos of our ancestors complete with corsets and long dresses despite the climate which in Australia would not have been very different. We took advantage of the lovely clear water and had several dives and were able fill our tanks on shore at a dive shop. The dives were shallow and the coral marginal but we did see new fish each time. The water was warm and it was lovely to be back in the water again after many days in muddy river water. Camille, a catamaran with Judith and Peter were celebrating 50 years of marriage so a pot luck was organised on the beach. Once again in great cruiser style the food and ambiance was wonderful. It is amazing when folding tables and chairs suddenly appear and the variety of food always is a treat—even more so in this part of the world where palm oil fried noodles are a mainstay on any restaurant menu. Our last night was yet one more rally dinner hosted by a local resort which was enjoyed and they, going with the apparent local theme released turtles into the ocean this time. We would now travel (I hesitate to use the word sail any longer!!!) a long day to the City of Terrangau which would be our last official stop on the East Coast of Malaysia.