We've crossed the equator many times in a plane. The captain made no announcements. The staff didn't hand out champagne. There was nothing of note on any flights. Just the normal ho hum of a long flight.
On our boat it was a very different story. We've sailed, okay and motored, many miles for many weeks now to reach this latitude. Crossing from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere is a big deal. We kept an eye out for the signpost and once we arrived at the magical green line my captain made a fuss, the 1st mate ( a.k.a. me) poured drinks and the video camera rolled.
King Neptune was treated to a nip of 18 year old Glenmorangie whisky to appease him in the hope that he grants us fair winds and following seas from here on in. Of course, we also treated ourselves to a nip of the same calibre of whiskey. Hubby lit a cigar and we toasted ourselves, our accomplishment, our many nautical miles and our boat.
Cheers King Neptune
the magical green line
There are many traditional ways of celebrating the crossing of the equator. Other yachties travelling the same route as us celebrated, or not, in other ways. Deo Juvante passed over the equator at night while Paul slept and Eugenie handled a squall. The weather certainly didn't entice her to share a whisky with Neptune.
Catamaran Soggy Paws crossed the equator for the 12th time. They're old hats at it but we do wonder if the 13th time for them might fall under a more enhanced superstition. SV Rambler stopped the engines, drank rum, ate lunch and jumped in for a swim.
Whichever way you choose to celebrate this feat, because a feat it is, is up to each Captain. If I'd have had a bottle of champagne, bubbles would have been great but an aged whisky did the job nicely.
A crossing of a different kind was one of our next big challenges. And a challenge it was. The Singapore Strait. With up to 300 ships a day using this Strait, we were going to have to keep our wits about us.
We'd been having a wee bit of trouble with our raw water pump. This pump pushes seawater through the engine to keep it cool, which is pretty important. Our pump had developed a leak. It was a very inconvenient leak that Hubby had tried to fix, to no avail. It was a job for a professional. In the meantime it meant that the bilge needed to be emptied by hand pump, by me, every hour or so of motor use. Until the morning of the Singapore Strait crossing.
Up bright and early ready to tackle the Strait and with no wind in our favour, I cranked up the motor, checked the water pump leakage situation and freaked out immediately. Hubby had to see this for himself. This was leakage on a whole new level. Would we even make it to the Strait, let alone get across both lanes of ships?
All I could do was pump that hand pump pretty much continuously. I'd pump water out for 10 minutes then have a 5 minute break. For 3 & 1/2 hours I did this. Crouched over the hot engine in the hot cabin, red faced and dripping with sweat. 3 & 1/2 hours! Then Hubby had an idea - to sacrifice our portable electric fuel pump to use to pump out the saltwater filled bilge. Only took him, yes I'll say it again, 3 & 1/2 hours of watching me to get this brilliant idea 🤨.
Now I could pump for 5 mins and have 15 min breaks. Woohoo!
And then we were at 'The Straits'. With the wind on the nose, motoring into the swell and 5 ships coming at us, the east bound shipping lane was a little daunting. Hubby radioed the lead ship and stated that our intention was to maintain course and pass across his bow. After approving this, same lead ship called us up a short time later to "increase your speed a little please". To which Hubby replied "Err... I'll try". At high revs already, a water pump pouring water out of it, and an alternator playing up because it's getting sprayed with water, there was not much extra in our little engine. But Watusi 2 did it. Got us safely across. Phew!
Then we saw the west bound channel. "Holy Ship!" was what passed my lips. So many ships. Where's the bottle of whiskey now? Not only were there westbound ships but also tug boats, tug boats towing barges, police boats, immigration boats and eastbound ships. What the...?
This is what you call playing chicken with the big boys. And we thought 5 eastbound ships at once was interesting.
all the green things are ships, so many ships
Well, we did it. We navigated our way through them all in the westbound lane. We only had to change course once, ironically for an eastbound ship. Time to pick a lane, I say.
We motored past a tug towing a barge full of sand. Who knew we could motor faster than any of the boats in the water. We motored past part of the Singapore wharves, with massive drilling exploration ships lined up. We motored on up the Johor Strait and motored right under the Second Link Bridge, connecting Malaysia and Singapore.
That there was the last heart stopping moment of this passage. The bridge was 25 metres high. We are about 18 metres high. There was clearance for us to pass under the bridge. Logically, we knew that. But just as we were about to pass under Hubby had an "Oh shit!" moment. Too late to turn around then. And under we glided. Phew! Again.
Singapore wharves
Eek! Will we fit under?
We left Australia at the start of July, sailed through Indonesia for 4 months and have now arrived in Malaysia. Wow. A whole new country to explore.
Until next time, Watusi Woman - Bilge Pumper Extraordinaire, out.
A warm welcome to Malaysia. Let me know when you get to Kuching.
Thanku 🙏 Kuching. OK, if I get there I will certainly let you know.
Welcome to Malaysia! Roughly when will you hit Kuala Lumpur?
On second thought, may be I can come to Malacca to meet you up.
We're sailing to Port Dickson, should be there on Monday or Tuesday next week. We do an overnight in Malacca on Wednesday 23rd then a day trip to KL on Friday 25th.
Ok. I am hoping to have a short meet with you at port Dickson. It's about an hour and a half drive from Kuala Lumpur.
Malacca is out of the way since it's on Wednesday, I won't have time to travel there. Kuala Lumpur Friday may be we can meet again 😁
So maybe Friday coffee or lunch. Somewhere with the amazing food you post about all the time 😉
We are thinking of hiring a car to drive ourselves to malacca then on to kl on Thursday afternoon, stay for 1 night and a day for sightseeing or eating then back to Port Dickson Friday afternoon.
Stay longer in Malacca. More history stuff over there. Port Dickson got not much there 🤣 my working hour is quite flexible, so I'm good with meeting up.
Can you recommend an area for a hotel or B&B with easy access to public transport? If we leave Malacca early enough we could do dinner somewhere on Thursday night.
Below reply from home minister
And I found a bunch at Trivago price comparison. Suddenly I feels like wanna book for a staycation as well 🤣
https://www.trivago.com.my/en-MY/oar/my-hotel-bukit-bintang-kuala-lumpur?search=100-2269232;dr-20221124-20221125;rc-1-2
WOW
Cheers to crossing the Equator and congratulations on your safe arrival in Malaysia.
Thanku very much @me2selah, looking forward to some exploring.
!PIZZA !WINEX cheers !BEER
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
Wow❗❗I'm so happy for you😄😄 knowing how uneasy it is to cross seas..we're also slightly above the equator and near malaysia👍👍 congratulations to all of you there, always be safe and happy sailing😊😊
Thanku @janesuiren . Where do you live? We are heading up the Malacca Strait, stopping at islands and marinas on the mainland as we sail north.
In the middle islands of the philippines🙌🙌 i hope to see your ship traveling on our islands, i'll go to the beach took photos of your ship then😊😊
We are hoping to travel through the Philippines at some point, probably a year away yet tho. Your islands there look so beautiful 😍
Thank you! I hope to see you soon🤗
I'm looking forward to exploring all the Malaysia has to offer.
Thanku @mack99 , we are enjoying our high sea adventure. Well, most of the time haha. Not when the storms hit us.