We arrived in Penang on Monday 16 February after a 2-day hop motoring most of the way down from Langkawi via Pulau Bidan. The leg to Bidan had us eating fish once more as we caught three 38-43 cm tuna. Not very big by tuna standards but very nice to eat. It was unfortunate that there was no-one else in the anchorage to share our catch.
There were about 17 Malaysian purse seiners fishing in an area not much larger than about 2 square miles about 3 miles from our anchorage. As evening closed in, they commenced their return to base and several of them decided that a close pass by our boat at anchor was in order. They were all very cheery and waved and called out to us and then we noticed that several of them had flames pouring out of a couple of low-set 'chimneys' on the aft deck. The crew were working like crazy, obviously processing and cooking the day's catch. One passing just on dusk looked like it was on fire!
It is not unusual to have one of these large vessels pass us and then suddenly decide to cross our bow and start laying out their net in a big circle, causing us to change course. The picture is of one which did just that off Ko Tarutoa just inside the Thai border.
The following morning we had in fact been joined by another boat. It was a small gaff-rigged catamaran crewed by three local Malays which we had seen sailing about after we had anchored. It was a very basic looking craft and after they had pulled in their anchor one of them started the engine which was on deck and off they happily went, waving as they motored past.
We set off not long after, passing all the purse seiners from the previous evening on their way back out to the fishing grounds. It was a hazy entrance into Penang where we tied up once more at the Tanjong City Marina to the PA announcements emanating from the close-by ferry terminal. The loudspeakers blare out the names of the ferries as they are about to depart for Butterworth, across the harbour. All of the ferries are named after Malaysian islands and when we first arrived in 2006 it took a while to work out what in fact was being announced. It is the name of the ferry and Pulau Penang (Penang Island) sounds like Ploppy Nong, Pulau Payar sounds like Ploppy Yar, Pulau Rimau sounds like Plurry Moe, Pulau Angsa sounds like Plangsaa, so our nickname for Penang is Ploppy Nong.
Hazy morning 'paints' this watercolour for us of two fishermen north of Ploppy Nong
There were about 17 Malaysian purse seiners fishing in an area not much larger than about 2 square miles about 3 miles from our anchorage. As evening closed in, they commenced their return to base and several of them decided that a close pass by our boat at anchor was in order. They were all very cheery and waved and called out to us and then we noticed that several of them had flames pouring out of a couple of low-set 'chimneys' on the aft deck. The crew were working like crazy, obviously processing and cooking the day's catch. One passing just on dusk looked like it was on fire!
It is not unusual to have one of these large vessels pass us and then suddenly decide to cross our bow and start laying out their net in a big circle, causing us to change course. The picture is of one which did just that off Ko Tarutoa just inside the Thai border.The following morning we had in fact been joined by another boat. It was a small gaff-rigged catamaran crewed by three local Malays which we had seen sailing about after we had anchored. It was a very basic looking craft and after they had pulled in their anchor one of them started the engine which was on deck and off they happily went, waving as they motored past.
We set off not long after, passing all the purse seiners from the previous evening on their way back out to the fishing grounds. It was a hazy entrance into Penang where we tied up once more at the Tanjong City Marina to the PA announcements emanating from the close-by ferry terminal. The loudspeakers blare out the names of the ferries as they are about to depart for Butterworth, across the harbour. All of the ferries are named after Malaysian islands and when we first arrived in 2006 it took a while to work out what in fact was being announced. It is the name of the ferry and Pulau Penang (Penang Island) sounds like Ploppy Nong, Pulau Payar sounds like Ploppy Yar, Pulau Rimau sounds like Plurry Moe, Pulau Angsa sounds like Plangsaa, so our nickname for Penang is Ploppy Nong.
Hazy morning 'paints' this watercolour for us of two fishermen north of Ploppy Nong