Dutch visitor, Thomas Kothuis gathers a few sailing buddies to discover that the 99 islands in the Langkawi archipelago offer more than just a holiday in the sun, surf and sand. They charter a Sunsail yacht with a skipper who is familiar with the local waters for a relaxing five-day sail around the main island and to several of the outer islands. The group enjoys the peace and tranquility of the near-deserted islands as well as some of the good life at two Langkawi marinas.
We had been searching the web for different sailing options in Malaysia and found an international yacht charter company called Sunsail based on the island of Langkawi in northwest Malaysia near the maritime border with Thailand. Sunsail has operations all around the world and has now opened an office at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.
The decision was made to sail with them since it was our first time in that part of the world and the company has a good reputation as it operates resorts and flotillas in many of the world’s best sailing destinations.
Langkawi was also chosen because we were hoping that the rainy season would give us some good wind, which is an essential ingredient for great sailing.
Langkawi was also chosen because we were hoping that the rainy season would give us some good wind, which is an essential ingredient for great sailing. The five-day trip was organised by one of the members of the group and the crew that went sailing was made up of a Swede, a Swiss, a German and three Dutch guys. All but one of us had extensive sailing experience but we decided that a local skipper would be engaged for the duration of the sailing expedition.
When we arrived at the Langkawi International Airport, we were met by a Sunsail representative and the yacht’s skipper. The skipper was hired so we could have a real holiday and not worry too much about things like where to moor, where not to and other essential local knowledge.
Sunsail also fully stocked the boat with all the food, drinks and supplies for the whole duration so this really saved us a lot of time. We stayed at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club for the first night and enjoyed the friendly facilities and the restaurant here.
The next morning we got ready and were out at sea by mid morning. We motored at first as we wanted to check out the larger multi-masted boats which were anchored in the bay. Langkawi really has a lot of yachts moored here and our skipper told us that with four marinas, Langkawi is really becoming known as the centre for yachting in South East Asia.
Rain followed us and for the first two hours we got totally drenched. Not a good start we thought, but for usIt was cool to be able to walk around the island and see some monkeys in their natural habitat and check out the strange fruits growing on the trees. There wasn’t a soul in sight and we knew we were really in a tropical paradise far from the cares of the world. Europeans it was a welcome reminder that we were in the tropics and although wet, we were still warm and having fun.
Skippy took us to a few of the smaller islands around Langkawi and we anchored off one with a small white beach and made our first Robinson Crusoe beach landing in the boat’s dingy. It was cool to be able to walk around the island and see some monkeys in their natural habitat and check out the strange fruits growing on the trees. There wasn’t a soul in sight and we knew we were really in a tropical paradise far from the cares of the world.
Days slipped past and none of us could remember what day it was and more importantly, nobody really cared. We continued our sailing around the main island and had some amazing sailing days with really strong wind as well as some days with no wind at all, which were used to swim and relax.
We anchored off islands each night, cooked barbecues on the back of the boat and on some nights, we would come ashore.
One of the most picturesque moorings was the small but beautiful marina called Telaga Harbour. The facilities were amazing and the harbour master and his crew were very helpful and friendly. This place is going to develop into one of Langkawi’s main attractions as the bars, restaurants and shops lining the marina attract One of the most picturesque moorings was the small but beautiful marina called Telaga Harbour. The facilities were amazing and the harbour master and his crew were very helpful and friendly.many holidaymakers from the surrounding hotels as well as sailors.
The last night was spent in a spectacular location, surrounded by mangroves. It’s called "hole in the wall" and it is an amazing large opening in a mass of rock which our boat could pass through and once you are through there are vast mangrove forests. Streams flowing in from the sides create canals through which small boats take tourists around to see eagles fish, big bat-caves as well as the many wonders of the mangrove forests. It was an excellent place that even had a few small restaurants on stilts with their own fish farms.
It’s called "hole in the wall" and it is an amazing large opening in a mass of rock which our boat could pass through and once you are through there are vast mangrove forests.We had one of the small boats collect us that night and take us through the darkened mangroves at high speed to one of Langkawi’s better-known Thai restaurants called Barn Thai. We accessed the restaurant via a plank onto the jetty since it was low tide and the boat could not get into the jetty. The boat driver and his son joined us for dinner and we had a fantastic evening feasting on seafood cooked with Thai spices.
It always seems that holidays are never long enough. On our five-day sailing trip around Langkawi we barely scratched the surface of what is possible here. We calculated that we had visited about five islands in the group so we still have many more to explore when we return
