It was our second time commuting to Skylark and my parents were going to visit for a week. My mom had a birthday during this time and they were anxiously waiting to meet their "grand boat." My sister has two children and I have zero, but my parents told me a boat is like a baby, so they are grandparents to the boat. They were coming to help with our new "baby" and to also meet her.
Chris and I both finished work and flew to Langkawi via Kuala Lumpur. We spent the night in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at a transit hotel. For domestic transit, so long as you did not have a checked bag, the hotel would allow you to stay since you did not have to clear immigration until the morning . Thankfully, my parents, who flew to Malaysia a few days earlier, brought my bag with six large pillows, sheets, duvets, and probably a few Nespresso sleeves jammed in. There's no love like a parents love!
We arrived at the Royal Langkawi Yacht club exhausted around 9am. We had a small nap and I met my parents around 3pm at the ferry terminal. It turned out that my suggestion to take the ferry from Penang to Langkawi, a trip that I assumed was a "fun journey and more direct than driving or flying," was incorrect. I am not sure who was more exhausted. Chris and I after spending the last two days in work/transit or my jet-lagged parents riding on a three-hour crowded ferry with a massive bag for me. Luckily, it was almost time for happy hour so we could kick back and relax.
We spent several days in the marina cleaning and becoming familiar with Skylark. My parents were very helpful with cleaning and we were grateful for everything they did. We began reorganizing and finding places for all of our things. Skylark was beginning to feel more and more like ours.
The previous owner left us many spares, tools, and other useful things. The boat was stocked and ready to go! We just needed to find where everything was so we didn't go out and buy something that we already had on board.
Thankfully, our berth at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) had a great view of the sunset! It was also easy to maneuver in and out of.
Our first night out was on my mom's birthday. We anchored in a beautiful river, Monkey Creek, surrounded by spectacular cliffs. It was very protected.
During the afternoon, there were many jet ski tours. Not only could we hear the roaring jet skis, there was a sound echo giving us the opportunity to hear what they were saying many times. One adult jet skier kept on yelling "MAAAAMAAAAA." Maybe he was trying to wish my maaaamaaa a happy birthday? Thankfully, they cleared out by late afternoon and we had the peaceful anchorage to ourselves.
Afternoon swimming and champagne was such a treat after many days in the marina doing boat work. This is what we bought a boat for!
Later that evening, my parents cooked a birthday meal. My mom was excited to cook something for us after all the meals out, so we allowed her to cook on her own birthday. Amazing to have some home cooking!
We returned to the marina the following day and my parents treated us to a Malaysian feast with our friends Darcy and Slater, whom we met earlier that week on the dock. My parents went to bed at sailors' midnight (9pm) and Chris and I stayed out.
There is a karaoke room in the RLYC complex. We always love karaoke after a few drinks. We had a brand new karaoke room with every Taylor Swift song ever recorded available and beers cost only 50 cents. We were having so much fun we kept extending hour by hour until we forced ourselves to leave and get to bed. We had to say goodbye to my parents in the morning and did not want to have to cancel my parents flight plans to make them stay and take care of us.
I walked my parents to their grab taxi early the next morning, feeling pleased that we didn't stay up a minute longer despite all the fun we were having. I hugged them goodbye and waved them off to the airport all while it was still dark outside. It was sad to see them go.
Later in the morning, we provisioned at the Billion supermarket with all of the wonderful dutyfree products of Langkawi and cast off.
There was not much wind so we could not sail, but we had a great time nonetheless. We ate spicy tuna wraps enroute and chatted about the boat. We anchored at ‘Hole in the wall’. As you can see below it is super protected and beautiful.
We did not have a functional dingy at this point. Our dingy was falling apart and the outboard engine didn't work. We were planning to order a new dingy for our next trip on the boat since there was none in stock in Langkawi that we wanted. We saw a passing longtail driver and asked him if he had any fish. He did not, but he told us he could take us to the restaurant and we could buy fish there. Darcy and Chris stayed on the boat and Slater and I hopped into the long-tail to see what was available.
The restaurant was touristy, with a fish farm attached. The fish were quite expensive, priced by the kilo for tourists, so we just bought a calamari appetizer. While we waited for this to be cooked, we fed stingrays.
We got our calamari and the long-tail driver took us back to the boat. He offered us a mangrove tour, however, we wanted to enjoy the sunset on Skylark with a glass of Prosecco, so we politely declined.
That evening, we made a Mexican feast with shrimp and chicken fajitas! We prepared all of the food in the galley, and used our camping grill on the center of the table to keep the fajita mix warm. We had all the typical fixings, including cheese, guacamole, chips, tortillas, and salsa! A great second evening out on Skylark. We are excited to get a BBQ to make more outdoor meals.
The following day we went back to the marina and prepared Skylark for our departure back to work. The time had flown by and now it was time to go fly.