Malaysian Magic

I love Malacca. There's no other way to put it. This town (or is it a city?) is simply the best. The colour, the history, there is just so much to see in this place. I couldn't believe the tombstones - some for pirates back in the 1600's. Wow! Chinatown. Incredible. We've been there twice but I would love to go back again. I can't get enough of it.

When we were in a town called Lumit, anchored outside the marina, we ran into a couple on a small catamaran. They had cruised the area for years and advised us where to anchor at Malacca. For monohulls it's not the greatest. There is no protection but for shallow draft vessels there is a great option. We were able to go between a little island, a jetty that was being refurbished as a shopping centre back in 2001 and 2002 and the mainland. We entered as the tide was dropping and, like idiots, didn't take notice of the operator of the little dredge working nearby when he indicated shallow water. Checking the depth sounder which showed plenty of depth, we just smiled at him but when he became insistent we took a look behind us and noticed two long black trails - left by our mini keels - as we ploughed through the soft mud. John immediately stopped at the end of the jetty, near the dredge as the tide dropped and we sat there for hours. We couldn't even use the dinghy. At low tide Sokari sat with mud up to her waterline. The surveyor on the jetty, a Malay-Thai called Bruno, radioed us to make sure we were okay and over the next couple of weeks we became friends. Our final anchoring spot, once the tide rose, was in a beaut protected spot. We were very comfortable.

Bruno introduced us to the greatest chocolates called Cloud Nines. Talk about yummy. He also took us to lunch one day at a satay "restaurant" that had been set up in an incomplete building. (Many building projects in Malaysia seemed to have stopped in mid-stride during the economic turndown in the 90's.) They were the best chicken satays I've ever tasted. We really enjoyed our time in Malacca and would recommend it to anyone travelling up that way.