5 Weeks at Sea - Our Sailing Trip from Malaysia to Thailand

Hi guys,

We hope you are all doing well! The past 5 weeks have been very exciting for us and a completely new experience on our journey... we sailed as a crew on a catamaran sailboat up the west coast of Malaysia to Thailand... it has always been Sergi's dream to sail on a boat as the wide open sea symbolizes peace and independence for him, and the sailor stories he has devoured in the past have always inspired him. I loved the idea and of course, I was on board right away! 😊

So during the past few months of our trip, Sergi eagerly searched for a suitable boat for us on an online portal (www.findacrew.net) that would align with our travel plans. The portal works on a principle similar to a dating app. You create a profile with a photo and personal description, and the portal tells you which boat or crew is most compatible with you. If you find a "match," you move on to the next stage... one person expresses interest in the other, the other person either reciprocates or declines... match or no match... if there is a mutual interest, you start messaging back and forth (of course, only if one of the parties has paid the membership fee, which is usually the crew and not the captain) and if the initial personal contact is also positive, you meet up for a coffee or beer to see if the chemistry is right in real life... when we were in Kuala Lumpur, Sergi successfully "matched" with our captain Gilles and "won him over" with his unmistakable charm 🤓. Since KL wasn't our favorite city, we decided to visit Gilles in his current port, Port Dickson, which was more or less around the corner... a few beers and a lamb curry later, we were all excited to sail together... HAPPINESS!!! 😊

Since Gilles had a few things to take care of on the boat, we used the time to sail to Melaka for 2 nights to mentally and geographically say goodbye to our land part in Malaysia... and then we set off... on December 13th, we set sail with Gilles and the beautiful Samara II into the Malaysian Sea!

Our Sailing Route 13.12.18 - 23.01.19

Malaysia:

Port Dickson (Marina) - Klang (Marina) - Pangkor Marina Island (Marina) - Penang (Anchor/Marina) - Langkawi (Anchor/Marina)

Thailand:

Ko Tarutao (Anchor) - Koh Pethra (Anchor) - Koh Muk (Anchor) - Koh Lanta (Anchor) - Koh Phi Phi (Anchor) - Phuket (Anchor/Marina)

• We had more stops, but we only included the most familiar ones here!

We were really lucky with our captain, Gilles is a great and very interesting guy! You never know what you're going to get before you have to live together in a small space for 5 weeks! ;) He is originally from France and has been living at sea for over 10 years. Before that, he lived in India with his wife and children for 20 years, but then he had to leave the country and decided to make the wide sea his home after some time.

At first, we were a little nervous about how our stomachs would handle the sea or if we would get seasick, as that can quickly ruin the whole trip... fortunately, it seems that we both have sturdy sailor stomachs and had no problems apart from a small adjustment period at the beginning... as I said, living on a boat is a completely different way of traveling compared to being on land... you are only dependent on the boat, the sea, and yourself, and occasionally a marina to refuel or fill up water... but if you have consistently good wind and, in our case, a water treatment system that converts saltwater into freshwater, even that is minimized... we learned a lot about steering a sailboat, interpreting wind conditions correctly, and reading charts... although we are still far from being able to navigate a sailboat completely independently, we gained a good insight into what it takes and what comes with living on a boat. In addition to all the navigation-related things, you also need some handyman skills to maintain all the machines and do all the necessary repairs yourself. If you have to call a mechanic every time something breaks, you will be stuck in one place for a long time and spend a lot of money... so we would have to take another course because in our 5 weeks, something broke all the time. Was it our fault...? who knows... 🤓

But for now, we were "only" the crew... Our main task during the navigation was to guide the boat through the countless fishing nets that are marked with colorful flags and stretch across the entire Strait of Malacca to Thailand. They are everywhere! If such a net gets caught in the propeller of the engines, it can destroy the boat. Asia has more fishing boats than any other place Gilles has ever sailed, so he was doubly glad to have a crew on board.

One day, when we were getting closer to Thailand, we decided to cast the fishing line for the first (and last) time during the journey... everyone was excited and focused on fishing and briefly looked away, and suddenly a damn net appeared out of nowhere right in front of our boat; the captain quickly applied the brakes and reversed, and suddenly the fishing line was taut... "wow, there must be a huge fish on there"... we followed the fishing line and disappointingly realized that the line, including the bait, got tangled in the propeller... yeah, yeah, big fish 😂... it took the guys 2 hours to untangle the line... 🙉

Besides watching for fishing nets, we also unfurled the sail when we had good wind, and Sergi always helped with that, while Mine took care of cold drinks and took over the watching 😆.

Otherwise, the trips were always very relaxing, and we could enjoy the sun and experience the beautiful sea in all its facets. Even when we encountered a small storm, the sea was beautiful, and its immense power was literally palpable... 

... and the sunsets that painted the sky and the sea in the most vibrant shades of red and orange were amazing!

At most anchorages, we unpacked Gilles' canoe and paddled to the small beaches in the area, explored the surroundings, and watched the sunset from the canoe in the evening.

It's hard to believe because the food in Asia is simply amazing, but we really enjoyed cooking on board after such a long time as backpackers... we absolutely love Asian food, but sometimes a simple spaghetti Bolognese or a homemade vegetable stir-fry is just the best! 😋 Gilles also really enjoyed being cooked for again! ;)

With Gilles and Li, a sweet Malay girl with Chinese roots who visited us on the boat for a few days, we revisited Georgetown and the clan jetties that we didn't have time for last time. We also explored Langkawi more intensively because we spent a longer time there and alcohol is ridiculously cheap here.

We spent Christmas at Pangkor Marina Island and New Year's Eve in Langkawi, where we watched the fireworks from the boat - also a super beautiful and new experience, even for Sergi, who is not a Christmas fan 🎅🏼.

The last 3 nights in Phuket, our dear friend Sascha joined us on the boat, with whom we are currently on our way to Chiang Mai via Koh Tao! We're excited! More about that in the next post.

There's not much else to say... just take a look at the pictures... ;)

Now we are back on land and are happy that the backpacker life continues. This way, we get to experience the country and the culture even more intensely... :)

We send you all a big hug and lots of love back home! ❤️