TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Happy New Year from the good ship Sand Dollar! We spent it on the Bernam River, and a busy river it is, with all kinds of fishing boats to-ing and fro-ing. We were anchored near to a small grove of trees that evidently had great appeal for a large flock of birds. They had selected it to roost in and from its branches they made a big ruckus morning and evening. We didn’t mind it though; it sure beat karaoke!

We got underway this morning at 0900 and rode the ebb tide down the river. Soon after getting some sea room, we experienced a small, short-spaced swell just ahead of the beam. And to top it all off, there wasn’t any wind; the sea was like glass. We flew the mainsail to help dampen the roll. But no complaints, the swell could have been on the nose! We got a little boost from the current and averaged 5.3 knots SOG (speed over ground) for the 32-mile passage.

Once we were clear of the fishing fleet and their pesky nets, we had a fairly monotonous passage. But we’ll take monotony over the “thrill” of heavy weather any day! Several times we spotted one odd type of long-ish, narrow fish that would leap to the surface and skip across the top of the wavelets on its tail! Mystifying and peculiar, but quite entertaining. We also occasionally passed small flocks of little terns, bobbing on the surface like a bunch of bathtub toys. They were cute as the dickens, but they haven’t got much sense. As Sand Dollar neared a flock, the birds would get nervous and take off, but they’d invariably settle down again about 100 yards directly ahead of us. Naturally, every time we approached them, they’d have to repeat the escape plan.

At about 1500, We arrived at a nice little bay on the SW side of Pulau (Malay for island) Pangkor, just on the other side of the channel from Lumut. For a change, the water wasn’t brown, so we took advantage of it and went for a swim to rinse off the grime and cool ourselves down. Ken did some bottom-cleaning on Sand Dollar, which is a never-ending task in these waters. The anchorage is very comfortable, as the swell isn’t getting into the bay. We’re hoping for another good night’s rest. Tomorrow we plan on making the short 2-mile passage to Sungai Dindings and the village of Lumut. This is a destination for us, so we plan on hanging around here for a couple of weeks.

To see where we are, click on the “Map” tab. To see our pictures, click on the “Photos” tab. When we have internet access, we can be reached at sanddollar_n4ks@yahoo.com