Three months in Galle Port (Sri Lanka)

Old deflated volleyball +
plastic bags = 'bowl'. Not
for soup though!

You know it's been boring when the best we can lead off with is a knitted bowl.  Not much has changed here for us in Sri Lanka. From what we can gather from our brief, Navy-escorted forays and reports from those fortunate enough to be able to leave the port, Galle seems to have returned to 'normal'.

A net to keep garbage from collecting
alongside the boat. Otherwise it builds up and
bumps, bumps, bumps, the boat all night long

We got our hopes raised and then dashed when the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka told us that they had talked to an Immigration official that said we could go to Colombo (the Capital) to request visas, which might allow us to go outside the port on our own. Unfortunately (frustratingly), the trip to Colombo didn't get organized in time and we supposedly lost our 'window of opportunity'.

There have been some rumblings that Sri Lanka might open up to tourism on August 1 with strict restrictions (including 3 Covid-19 tests and being required to stay in a 5-star hotel). This plan has not been made official and there is no guarantee that we would be given visas.

We are fortunate to be relatively safe in a place that has made good efforts on the Covid-19 front. Things could definitely be worse. 

But they could be better. It is hard to see other tourists being allowed to go about their business and spend much-needed tourism dollars, when we have to go through extraordinary measures just to get groceries. It is now over two and a half weeks since our last outing and our agent has been too busy to take us shopping.

In other minor grumblings, there doesn't seem to be any real garbage disposal here in the port, so we do our best to reduce the amount of waste that we produce. I'm back to crocheting plastic bags into something more useful (see photos above). It also helps keep my insanity at bay.

Let's see, what else? It rains most days, if only briefly. We continue to fight the rubbish in the water (it collects between our boat and the wall and clunks loudly against the boat in the wee hours) and the crows (they drop bits of food and poo on the boat and have managed to bend one of the tabs on our Windex). The cement factory is gearing up for business again. When operating it sounds like the worlds largest commercial clothes drier where someone is trying to dry their shoes.

We have received permission to go to the Seychelles, which is Covid-19 free, and are considering whether or not to go. Unfortunately, the trip to the Seychelles would be a couple weeks and the start would be an ugly bash into wind and waves. Also, the path to South Africa is still blocked for now as both it and Madagascar have closed borders. 

Once in the the Seychelles, there is a pretty small weather window to make it to South Africa (basically the month of October) and if South Africa (and probably Madagascar) doesn't open up by then, we would have to figure out what to do and where to go.  With the virus ramping up in mainland Africa right now, the best plan may just to be to stay put.  

Still in Sri Lanka

The view from our stern

There is not much to report here, which is why I haven't done an update in awhile. As for most of the world, the Covid-19 virus has hit the pause button on life for us. 


Sri Lanka put tough curfew measures into place and has been aggressive in its contact tracing and quarantine measures, with promising results. Although the country has been in curfew (lock down) during most of our visit, things are starting to ease.

Perry next to the wall.
Lots of garbage makes its
way into the harbor.

Unfortunately, we have continued to be confined to the Galle port area (it's coming up on two months now). Thanks to the efforts of a kind-hearted and influential Sri Lankan Navy Commodore, we have at least been briefly allowed out two times. This has enabled us to go grocery shopping and run other errands like taking out money, buying cooking gas, and looking for boat parts. We can only do this with a Navy escort and representatives from our local agency (you have to use an agent while you are in Sri Lanka if you are a cruiser). There is a lot of paperwork and manpower involved in these outings. It's a far cry from our usual excursions pre-virus, which involved a lot of walking with oft-whiny kids.

In the forty days before we were allowed outside, we had to have our groceries delivered to the harbor. I will spare you the sordid details, primarily because we are still here for the foreseeable future. Suffice it to say that in any 'crisis' or time of need, you are fortunate to encounter gems like our friend the Commodore. On the flip-side, there will be those that seek to profit from the hardship of others. 

We highly recommend Seafair Grocery for being a life-saver by delivering much-needed food to us and accepting U.S. dollars (as well as putting up with the port bureaucracy). They also have the best selection that we have seen so far (which admittedly isn't saying much from our limited vantage point).

Recently, we have also been allowed to buy baked goods from the local choon paan man. When we hear 'For Elise' playing, Matt sprints to the gate before the bread tuk-tuk moves on. At only 33 cents per loaf, it sure beats heating the boat up by baking our own bread. It's an oppressive 95 degrees in the boat on many days, without firing up the oven.

It is seeming unlikely that we will be able to buy a replacement for our broken sail batten, so it looks like Matt will need to sacrifice his favorite fishing pole spear. Our computer fan will have to wait until deliveries can be made from Colombo. On the plus side, Matt was able to fix the mounts for our grill, which had rusted through and threatened to plop everything into the deep blue at some inopportune moment. A local 'fabrication' place (read: one drill press and lots of hammers) miraculously (and on the first try!) fashioned some stainless steel clamping mounts for us based on a detailed drawing and much gesticulating by Matt and (with only a couple extra mystery parts being manufactured as a result of the communication barrier).

We continue to wait for countries to open up so that we can escape the impending large swells of the southwest monsoon that have the potential to smash our boat into the adjacent concrete wall with great force. 

The following article, although mostly focused on the Caribbean, does a good job explaining the predicament that we and a lot of fellow cruisers find ourselves in. Peace and light to you all.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/12/long-journey-home-the-stranded-sailboats-in-a-race-to-beat-the-hurricanes

Galle, Sri Lanka

Photo taken by our friend Tycho from
the mast of a neighboring boat

After a relatively fast sail, Perry is in Galle Harbour, Sri Lanka. Before we left Phuket, there were no cases of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and there were no issues for a foreign yacht checking into the country. Cases in Italy were rising, but no major changes in travel policies were occurring worldwide. By the time we arrived over a week later and even within a day of our arrival, the situation was rapidly changing.

Broken (shredded really) batten

We enjoyed favorable winds and current on our trip from Phuket and all was good until just before we entered Galle Harbour. A squall hit and we got our mainsail down just before a 60-knot wind came roaring through. The batten pictured above (the top one from our mast) was luckily the only casualty. It could have been a lot worse. We will attempt to get it fixed here in Sri Lanka but we have some options on board that should work (a much larger batten that we can cut down or even a fishing polespear if needed). 

Here in Sri Lanka, the government has stopped airlines from bringing passengers into Sri Lanka and has closed its borders. There is currently a 24-hour curfew that lasts through this weekend, confining us to the boat. Even after the curfew is lifted (IF it's lifted) we ourselves will remain confined to the port area until at least the end of the month and cannot leave, even to buy groceries. 

But we consider ourselves fortunate. New yachts are not allowed in except to get fuel and water and then are pushed out. Other nearby countries have gone a step beyond a 14-day quarantine and have completely banned yachts from entering their borders. This can leave boats in a serious situation without necessary fuel and water and with nowhere else to go. Our best strategy at the moment is to wait and see how things go over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, we are playing volleyball in the port area with fellow cruisers (when there isn't a curfew), rediscovering baking, and playing card games. And I in particular am grateful for what we do have.

Stay healthy and safe, everyone. This too shall pass.

Langkawi to Phuket (Thailand)

Splash Out Water Park
Photo by Amber Lim

In Langkawi, we met up with our friends on Irie, Angel Wing and Whisky Jack in Langkawi, lowered our waterline with booze and provisions, and then headed up to Thailand.

Ko Phi Phi

We wanted to cruise some of the areas in Thailand that we missed the first time, as well as shake down the boat and pick up some parts. So we headed up to Phuket.

The beach from "The Beach" movie.
Closed off but lots of tour boats coming to look.

Our Jabsco Rule pump that got stuck on and
heated up so much that the plastic melted.
We seem to go through a lot of these that become
defective for one reason or another.

It has been good to get Perry into shape for our next voyage in a place where parts are readily accessible. Of course, being in a 'good place' to do things leaves us open to the time sink of actually doing them.

We found a place in Phuket that would fill our hard-to-fill fire extinguisher that was accidentally set off in Pangkor. If there is a fire in our engine room, it is meant to automatically release an engine-safe gas. We figured it would be a good idea to have it in place for our next journey and it is very hard to find a place to fill it. The special 'cold room' gas meant it needed to be sent to Bangkok, which was supposed to take 3-5 business days. 

As the winds that would have allowed us a relatively fast passage to Sri Lanka started dying and we started to question our decision to have the fire extinguisher filled, we finally got to the day it was supposed to arrive and started making preparations to leave.

But, no.  Somehow, the fire extinguisher began to leak or was deployed in transit and needed to be refilled again. So now we are in round two of waiting (hopefully not as long this time).

At least the kids have been enjoying being in clear water once again. Hopefully our next post will be from Sri Lanka.

Party time in Malaysia

Tossing the Prosperity Salad for
Chinese New Year on Marina Island.
Sort of a sedate food fight

Perry needed a few tweaks to get going after being out of the water for so long, but it wasn't too bad.

Mark petting the lion

We finished up the essentials and started out towards Langkawi, where we would pick up our new outboard engine, AIS wiring and antennas, and tachometers (all casualties of old age and/or months of disuse).

The boys with beautiful birthday-girl
Booker and Brenda (so many b's)

Before we left, we joined one last marina barbecue and a dock party to celebrate our good friend Booker's birthday (Dave and Booker on Tortuguita have a Privilege too). It was bittersweet to say goodbye ('for now') to all our cruiser friends, old and new.

The dock is substantial but still
wiggled a bit with all the visitors

We made sure to stop in Penang on our way to Langkawi. Our friends Patrick and Elizabeth of Labarque have been telling us about the Hindu festival Thaipusam for some time. We really wanted to go last year and couldn't make it. So this year, we did our best to get there.

The original silver chariot.
Unfortunately the lights weren't working.

We got up at 5 a.m. so that we could be there for the start of the chariots at 6 a.m. Bleary-eyed, we got there in time and then waited around with the devotees and other spectators for the chariots to start their processions to the Arulmigu Balathanda-yuthapani Temple. 

The gold chariot was bigger
and better this year (and its
lights were working)

The silver chariot is the "original" one but the upstart gold chariot is bigger and there is a brand new model this year. In past years there has been a bit of a rivalry between the two (like one chariot accusing the other of blocking its route) but they seem to have worked out their differences. The silver chariot seemed to have more followers. At least in the places we observed, there were many more devotees and offerings for the silver chariot.

Smashing coconuts

Even though the chariots only travel around 8 km (less than 5 miles) to the temple, the journey takes more than 12 hours because of the frequent stops for coconut throwing and offerings. On the day before Thaipusam, the chariots travel up to the temple and on the day after, they travel back down (another 12+ hours).

Pre-smashing coconut piles abound

Coconut cleaners at the ready

Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple

Devotees show their devotion through rituals involving piercings and by carrying offerings.

All these milk containers are held
directly onto the skin with hooks and pins

Not pictured are the people pulling
back on the lines connected to the hooks

Part of the festival involves feeding (for free) all the attendees.

Yep, each of those rods is pierced into his skin.

Another ritual is the shaving of your head. Twenty or
so barbers were working overtime...

In addition to Thaipusam, the weekend featured the final day of Chinese New Year (Chap Goh Meh) and-- best of all--Mark and Michael from Field Trip made a special trip to see us in Penang. It was a surprise for all three boys and they were ecstatic. It was a good thing we met in the park because of all the screaming, hugging, and jumping around. Mark and Conrad had not known when they might see their best friend again, so they truly treasured the visit.

Boat besties

We're now in Langkawi and have our duty-free booze, new outboard and AIS wiring and antenna. Once our package arrives, we will be able to head up to Thailand.

Splish splash

Perry ready to splash. Photo courtesy
of Dave of Tortuguita (as are all the
splash photos).

Perry is now in the water after ten months on the hard. Since our return from land traveling around Cambodia and Vietnam, we have been working double-time to get her ready to splash.

What comes down, must go back up.

The parts we needed came in on time and the rigging company got our mast up 2 days before we were scheduled to go back into the water. There are only certain times of the month when the tide allows boats to be put back in (or taken out of) the water. If we had missed our launch date, the delay would have put us more than a week behind schedule.

Au Wei of Doyle Malaysia working
diligently on our rigging

Can't we just leave it like this?  It's a nice breeze...

In the meantime, we replaced our cockpit windows because the sealant/glue was coming off the windows. Despite our best efforts, the old Plexiglas broke when we tried to remove it. Oh well, it was a bit crazed and hazy anyway.  Fortunately, Pangkor Marina had new Plexiglas on hand. We were very grateful for this because the lead time on ordering new Plexiglas could have caused another major delay.

Matt with his big gun.  Because the big 
caulk comes in "sausages".  Yes, lots of 5th
grade humor there...

Our friends on another boat suggested using a guitar string to cut the old sealant and it worked pretty well. The messiest and most time-consuming part of the process was removing the old sealant. A multi-tool and hours with a razor blade and 100-grit sandpaper did the trick. 

The new glass waiting to go in.

Cutting the new Plexiglas, shaping it, and painting it went relatively smoothly. Matt carefully planned the placement and used bolts and washers to hold the Plexiglas in place while the sealant cured (the proper spacing had to be maintained around the sides, front and back of the window). Amazingly, we had ordered the right amount of sealant (Dowsil 795) and didn't make too much of a mess.

Splash day arrived and Perry was back in the lift. She still groaned a bit about being lifted from the middle, being a heavy gal, but tolerated the 300-foot ride to the water.

The skilled lift-driver, Abeh

Matt had a bit of a freak out when the guys (underneath the boat) started to
 push Perry away.  He couldn't see the guys and didn't understand why the
boat was accelerating, though out of gear. Quickly
sorted, though.

Once in the water, we checked to make sure that there were no leaks. There was a small leak in the starboard engine heat exchanger that the mechanics had worked on, but it was manageable and could be fixed later. 

We held our breaths to see if the engines would run after being out of the water for so long. The starboard engine fired up just fine. The port engine, on the other hand, just made a clicking noise. Matt hit the starter with a hammer, but it still didn't work. A small knot of fellow cruisers was on shore watching our launch and providing moral support. They yelled, 'Hit it with a hammer' and when we said we had, they yelled, 'Hit it harder!' That actually did the trick and the port engine fired up.

Joss sticks (giant sticks
of incense) for Chinese New Year

Matt is in the midst of fixing the things that have broken after many months of disuse: the tachometers for the engines and Conrad's toilet (that stubborn port starter works just fine after being banged around a bit). The generator seems to be working and the outboard eventually got going after a bit of convincing. He finished up the final caulking of the cockpit windows, re-connecting the wiring in the mast, and replacing the kinked hose for our holding tank.

Pretty soon, the only things keeping us here will be a visit from mechanics for our engine and outboard to re-fix some previous fixes and a package coming from the States (with boat stuff of course). We are enjoying the Chinese New Year festivities at Marina Island while we wait. It is celebrated over multiple days and you can hear fireworks every night.

We have also revised our plans for the upcoming year. Instead of sailing to Europe via the Red Sea, we will likely head across the Indian Ocean towards South Africa. While we'd love to see the Med and parts of the Middle East, the decision not to go is primarily due to timing. For the Red Sea route, we should be leaving now to get the right winds and we just aren't ready yet. If we've learned one thing over the past few years, it's not smart to fight the weather.

Road Trip Part 2: Vietnam

Sunset in the Mekong Delta

The Vietnam War makes Vietnam part of the American lexicon in a way that Cambodia isn't. We noticed some movie-fueled familiarity: Non Las, rickshaws, rice paddies, and scantily-clad young women offering massages (not exactly 'me love you long time' but a little imagination and artistic license will get you there).

This post card is a much better
picture of a floating market than
ours.

Vietnam and especially Ho Chi Minh City (which many locals still refer to as Saigon), on the other hand, has skyscrapers, Starbucks, and lots of traffic. There's even a sky deck with a Heineken tour.

A less picturesque view of
the Cai Rang floating market

We took a ferry from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc (boat #1 on our 'road trip'). We met a man who was one of the boat people in the 80's that escaped Vietnam as a refugee, surviving a grueling 6 days at sea where his boat ran out of food and was attacked three times by pirates. The final set of Thai pirates ended up helping the refugees, who were much worse off than the pirates. He lived in the U.S. for twenty years, became a citizen, and retired to Vietnam.

Banh Mi sandwiches from a
vendor on the river

We spent a few days in Can Tho in the Mekong Delta. We visited a couple of floating markets on a sunrise boat trip (road trip boat #2). Boats sell fresh fruits and vegetables to locals in their own boats. Also, there are vendors selling coffee, sandwiches, and noodles. There was even a karaoke bar boat, which didn't have too many takers as the sun was rising.

Our kind driver and
his boat dog

We spent some time at the War Remnants Museum. It used to be called the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes, which gives you an idea of the primary perspective (history is written by the victors). And there wasn't too much about what the Chinese did. It's a comprehensive and sobering reminder of the terrible things that people did to each other during the war. In the museum, most of the blame for atrocities committed falls on the Americans and South Vietnamese (or the "puppet regime" as it was--pretty accurately--called). 

A French guillotine used on prisoners. But the
French also introduced baguettes and croissants...so
their influence wasn't all bad?

Saigon traffic from the public bus
on the way to the Cu Chi tunnels

We visited the Cu Chi tunnels (if you go, the Ben Duoc tunnels are supposedly the more authentic and less crowded area). This was an elaborate system of tunnels used by the Viet Cong to live, hide, and fight from. The resident tour guide (who was excellent) used the phrase 'to kill Americans' several times in describing the primary goal of the guerrilla soldiers. The mostly uneducated peasants came up with some ingenious ways to combat the technologically-superior Americans. Seeing how extensive and well-hidden the tunnels were brings home how difficult a job the American soldiers had.

This tunnel has been enlarged. The
smaller ones would allow a small teen-aged
boy to crawl through.

On our last full day in Ho Chi Minh City, we took a water taxi (third boat on our road trip--we just can't stay off the water) towards the north of the city and walked the rest of the way to the Saigon Zoo, which has a large variety of animals. 

The spectators are a lot closer to the animals than in other zoos we have visited. Usually, in the US there is a barrier in addition to the glass enclosure. At the Saigon Zoo, you can touch the glass enclosures and some cages (like the leopard cage) even have sections of mesh that a small finger could poke through. The animals seem to notice you a lot more and one leopard snarled and leaped at Conrad a few times, banging its body into the glass. It's probably disturbing for them to have people so close.

We're back at the boat yard now, doing boat stuff. When we turned on our fridge, the evaporator plate wasn't getting cold enough, so Matt had to vacuum out the coolant and refill it. Cruisers seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on refrigeration.

The mechanics came to align the starboard shaft and one of them accidentally set off our automatic fire extinguisher by bumping the handle with his head. So now we have to find a place that can refill it with the necessary HFC-227, which can be hard to find. 

If our rigging parts come in when they are supposed to, we go back in the water in about a week. Keep your finger crossed!