Bass Harbour off the capital town of Kuah

Islands on the south entrance to Langkawi

Interesting map of Langkawi archipelago on rock face

Streetscape Kuah

Sunset over Royal Langkawi Marina

Food stall at the night market

Great dinner for little money!

Langkawi, Malaysia

Bass Harbour off the capital town of Kuah

Feb.21 2016

Langkawi is a group of islands off the northwest coast of Malaysia. There are between 77 and 104 islands depending on which guide book you read and what you call an island. The largest island is called Langkawi, also. The name means "reddish brown eagle" and there is a park with a huge statue of one along the waterfront. Three large areas of the archipelago have been designated as geoparks by Unesco for their geological features and flora and fauna. The large limestone and marble mountains and steep cliffs are from very ancient earth history (500 million yrs). With beaches and rainforest and diving it is a popular tourist destination.

So far we are still anchored off the main town of Kuah. There is good holding and lots of room in the shallow bay. It is good to see some sailboats again after a lonely trip up the coast. I don't see many  with flags so don't know where they are from. We have walked around most of the town exploring. As it is duty free we have been filling up the cupboards with what we can carry. Luc arranged for us to get our visas for reentering Indonesia from the consulate in Penang, which is an island a daysail's further south of here. We didn't get that email before sailing past the island. We have decided to take the ferry to Penang from here instead of Maggie. It runs 3 times a day in 3 hours inexpensively. We'll stay in a hotel and sightsee there until the process is complete-not supposed to take too long. In the meantime we have arranged for someone to (hopefully) fix the slow leak in our dinghy. It was new in Papeete but has been losing air in one pontoon since Aug.

The guidebooks all rave about Malaysia's great street food. We haven't been disappointed with the meals we have eaten out. One night we tried "steamboat and grill", popular here and in Thailand. It is like a fondue but with a pot of chicken soup in which you cook vegetables, noodles, and seafood. Around the sides is room to grill the meats or fry an egg. There is a buffet of ingredients to choose from. (cost was about $7). Sat night we went to the night market, where fresh fish and fruits are sold, as well as clothing and toys, etc. Dinner food in hawker stalls is sold for usually less than $1 an item. We snacked our way down the street on spring rolls, satay, samosas, noodles and fried rice. Yum!

Most restaurants do not sell alcohol because it is a Muslim country. Craving a beer yesterday we found a store selling pizza that offered beer. It turned out to be a good stop for us. A couple, Ian and Jam, who are anchored near us also came in for lunch. We had a long visit getting useful info on the area and the trip up to Thailand. Ian has sent us some guide material and charts. They have spent many seasons cruising here as well as living in Thailand.

No Regrets arrived Fri am. Tim, a friend of his with his daughter, and Bob and Barb, have been aboard since Penang. We had a chance for a visit Fri before they moved on to a quieter spot. Bob had a chance to leave a duffel bag of his things to have on Maggie for his return in May. It was good to have a visit and some planning in person.