I'm on a boat

Today I spent seven hours on an amazing 40ft catamaran, The MV Rampant. I've always been a water baby and although I'd never entertain the idea of getting on board one of those floating coffins (aka a cruise ship), I love yachts and speedboats and sailing. I booked this trip a few months ago based on TripAdvisor recommendations and as usual, the good people of TripAdvisor were right. This was the highlight of my trip to Langkawi!

I had to be at the marina at 9.45am sharp, so I grabbed breakfast at The Loaf and jumped a cab to Resorts World Langkawi, formerly known as Awana Porto Malai. It's a massive resort with it's own marina and a couple of pools, from which I splashed some chlorinated water on my poor itchy hives. Yes, they are still nasty this morning. Boo!

I walked around and took a couple of photos before parking up by the gates to the jetty. Within seconds, Carel found me and took me out to the Rampant on a tender (that's a fancy word for a rubber dinghy with a pretty good motor). 

I climbed on board with Bea's help and sat down to enjoy my breakfast while chatting with Bea and listening to Abba. Carel is from South Africa and Bea is swiss. They met while working on yachts, bought their own yacht and sailed off into the sunset-drenched waters of Langkawi, where they have been running their amazing tours for the past several years.

With the other guests on board by 10am, we set off under engine power towards Pulau Dayang Bunting, Pregnant Maiden Island. You can read more about that island in my posts from my July/August 2013 trip to Langkawi, so I'm not covering it again here. Passing Dayang Bunting, we got into the Langkawi Fijords, a mass of limestone islands of all sizes. This area is just stunning and I took some pretty awesome photos.

Passing through the Fijords, I saw an eagle overhead and decided since I was on a boat, it was time to bust out boat post and eagle pose. Flora from Singapore joined me for tree pose and the photos are pretty cool! It was hard work balancing on a  trampoline criss-cross net on the front of a boat in open water and we fell a few times, but it was way more fun that on dry land!

Bea and Carel let loose with the Jacuzzi net shortly after our yoga on a boat session. Having not swum a single stroke since blowing out my shoulder three years ago, I was pretty apprehensive about jumping off a perfectly good yacht and into a net - in case I missed and ended up being the "soul overboard". With the help of another guest, Terry the Englishman, I was soon in the net and enjoying some very warm water (a saltwater jacuzzi!) while sitting in a fishing net being pulled along behind a 40-foot yacht. 

Back on deck half an hour later, we sunned ourselves while heading for a private bay where we enjoyed sea kayaking, swimming with pool noodles and sunning ourselves on the deck. Carel found a nasty-looking fire worm thing which he swiftly confiscated using his trusty net and dumped it into a bucket of seawater. Creepy part was, it was about 30 seconds after I'd jumped off the stern for a swim and about two feet from where I'd hit the water. Ugh, so very creepy!

After a bit of sun, it was time for lunch. We had rice, satay chicken, grilled chicken, four or five different salads and all the icy cold drinks we could consume. I don't drink alcohol, so I enjoyed lots of water, iced lemon tea and pineapple juice to keep my fluid levels up. 

After lunch, we pulled up the anchor and set off into the open water heading for an island with a private beach where we could swim and do an optional jungle walk with Bea. Rampant has been calling at this island for years, but sadly some people decided to just sail in one day and build a restaurant on the beach. Some tour operators take their clients there for lunch, but the guys that run it really don't seem to give a rats continental about the environment and have basically trashed the beach. 

The monkeys on this island now rely on the scraps from the restaurant for food, like they rely on tourists to provide snacks at Dayang Bunting. Bea warned us not to take any plastic bags on shore as plastic bags are like the spruikers at Queen Vic Market, so I packed my water and camera into my dry bag and jumped into the tender for a trip to shore. I had the option to swim in, but since I haven't being doing the swim thing since 2011, I decided not to push my luck. Besides, I didn't want jellyfish cuddles. 

Once on shore, we went for a short jungle walk. Bea showed us all kinds of flora and fauna, including geckos, crabs, fig trees, spiky palms, mud lobsters and more crabs. Fortunately we didn't see any snakes today but I know they were in that jungle.

After the jungle walk, we came back out onto the beach and had the option of swimming back to the boat. Again I declined, but I will seriously need to start swimming again when I get back to Melbourne. Bea took another couple of photos of us moseying on out to the boat. 

We passed a floating fish farm on the way out and were lucky that the storms you can see in the photos above decided to blow straight on past us. We had a few spits of rain, but nothing like what the clouds were carrying.

After the island stop, it was time to head back toward the marina. Carel was very closely monitoring the wind, in the hope that we could maybe, possibly, hopefully raise the sails, kill the engine and actually sail back. The winds played with us for about half an hour while we ate the freshly cut fruit that Bea brought us on cute platters, but we finally managed to get enough of a breeze to raise the sails!

 

Before long, the wind dropped again and Carel sadly had to pop the engines back on. We did manage to actually sail for about 10 minutes on our way back to the marina, which was great. It was so quiet and peaceful, just staring at the water and the islands. Well, until we were in fits of laughter when Bea told us the legend of Wet Rice Island (Pulau Beras Besah). I'd been here on the island hopping trip last year, but just for a swim. I didn't know the story behind this Island and the ones nearby!

Of course, there are a couple of versions of the story. One version goes along the lines of some fisherman being capsized with their boat on the island in a terrible storm. Miles from main Langkawi island, they were soon starving after a few days. They stumbled upon some barrels of rice, but when they opened them, the rice was all wet and mouldy. They were so hungry that they cooked and ate the rice anyway - but the rice attacked them and gave them terrible indigestion, the effects of which created two islands nearby - Pulau Kentut Besar (big Fart Island) and Pulau Kentut Kecil (small Fart Island)! Bea told us that these islands are now called Big Diamond and Small Diamond. 

Before long, we were back at the marina. Carel ferried us back to shore in the tender and we passed through the jetty gates. Terry the Englishman very kindly gave the couple from Finland and me a ride back to our hotels in his rental car. All the excitement of the day took it's toll and after a final swim at Cenang, I had a nap. I was just exhausted and as I'd been itching my hives all day, it was time for a shower and some more magic potion of gamut and bite gel, washed down with an antihistamine. 

I woke up a few hours later and feeling hungry, jumped a cab to L'Osteria, the best Italian restaurant in Tengah which actually has an Italian chef. I ordered spaghetti alla carbonara, as there were no onions or spring onions in it (I even said, saya tidak boleh makan bawang - I can not eat onions), but when it arrived it was covered in spring onions! I sent it back, explaining again saya tidak boleh makan bawang and ten minutes later it came back, tidak bawang (no onions). Yay! I had demolished the grissini while the dish was being re-fired though.

I decided to have another massage and headed over the road to Alun-Alun Spa in Tengah as although I love Noi and the girls up at the Cenang branch, I just couldn't be stuffed going all the way there tonight. I stopped in the tropical resort gift shop first and grabbed a cushion cover for my bed and some soaps and trinkets for my staff. I was lucky to enjoy a one hour traditional Malay massage with special oils as I showed the girls my hives. They whacked something special together for me and sixty minutes later, I was relaxed, oily and itch-free. Amen, sister!

I walked out of the treatment room on puffy clouds for feet, to the sight of sheet lightning outside. The girls arranged for their driver to take me back to the hotel, which was over 30 minutes walk away. Just as well, as the second I jumped out of their van it started to rain massive raindrops. I got into my room and one of the most spectacular tropical thunderous downpours hit Cenang. The poor party animals at the beach bar next door had to stop their Swedish House Mafia and run inside. Ha ha! 

So, I'm exhausted and about to hit the hay and enjoy this storm. I'm leaving Langkawi for KL tomorrow and still have to pack, so it's goodnight from me and goodnight from Larry the Lizard who is STILL in my room!