A beautiful day for messing about on the water

  Rampant Sailing Langkawi , Kedah, Malaysia Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Bryan had seen this trip was very highly rated on trip advisor (99% and No. 1 attraction in Langkawi) so booked it a few days ago. We were definitely looking forward to it and were up and off early to the jetty where they set sail from. We knew that we would be in a party of up to 10 people so were bracing ourselves and anticipating sharing the day with 8 loud Chinese people as they seem to be the majority of the tourists here. Carl met us in his little dingy and bussed us over to his beautiful catamaran, the Rampant. There we were met by Bea who welcomed us aboard and handed out drinks whilst we waited for our other shipmates to arrive. We were eventually joined by Paul & Tracey who had had a long dash from the other side of the island, and Gemma who was on her own, making a total of 5 of us - and all from England. Jody especially was relieved in some ways, as she still had memories of the boat trip in Koh Samet where none of the boatful of Chinese people spoke to her or sat with her the whole day! Once we had gone through the safety briefing and ensured everyone had drinks, Carl started the engine to get us out of the harbour. When we were out and had cleared the harbour wall, he set the sail and we cruised under wind power towards an island to the south, just one of 99 islands that make up the Langkawi archipelago. Most are uninhabited and only 4 islands have people living on them in small communities. As we sailed further south, the wind speeds dropped as we were sheltered by islands and Carl needed the engine to keep us moving along, so Bea invited us into the jacuzzi net. This is a net strung from the back of the boat and when they are moving slowly, it is great to clamber down the net and hold on, dragging yourself along in the water. Of course, here it is fun. In England it would just be too cold (for normal people anyway - Bryan would never say it was too cold!). Carl had checked the water temperature today and it was 30.7 degrees which is only 7 degrees colder than Jody used to keep her hot tub!We headed for a beautiful cove where the water was a gorgeous turquoise and it was very, very sheltered. They dropped the anchor and got the kayaks out as all around the cove there were small caves to explore. As there were only two kayaks, the rest of us jumped in for a swim anyway as the day was so hot and the water so tempting. They had these floating noodles on board which were perfect for just floating on in deep water. At one point we were all discussing the film where everyone had jumped in the water off the boat, then realised they hadn't hung the ladder out so none of them could get back in and they all died. Remember that one? well luckily that didn't happen to us today :-) By the time we had all finished in the water, Bea had dinner on the table. There was a fabulous spread of a dozen different dishes and then she offered wine. We really can't afford good quality wine very often so it was great to take advantage and have a couple with our lunch today. Lunch took a while as everyone was so nice we were all enjoying sitting and chatting and compare travel stories. Gemma seemed well travelled but was only on a two week flying tour this time. Paul and Tracey were escaping the Christmas madness for a few weeks before they too had to go back home. Carl set off again and this time we headed for a small private beach on a deserted island. Only to find another boat had set up there. Never-mind, they didn't stay very long and we had the beach to ourselves then. We had the option to take the boat to shore or swim. It was a no-brainer for Bryan but Jody and Gemma also chose to swim for it - but took a noodle with them. Just to be on the safe side. Bryan, Bea and Gemma did a trek into the forest to look at .... trees of all things. Jody, Paul & Tracey stayed on the beach and in the water. Going back to the boat, Bryan, Jody and Gemma all did the swim again whilst the others took the dingy back. Then we all headed on deck to dry off and catch the last bit of sun. Bea passed around the fresh pineapple and watermelon which was wonderful. We love the fresh fruit out here. It wasn't long before we were back in the harbour again and realised the day had just flown by too quickly. Carl & Bea were fabulous hosts and we think have the patience of saints as they also live on this boat. Several times a week they fill the boat with up to 10 strangers at a time and look after them brilliantly. If you ever go to Langkawi, we would definitely recommend you spend a day with them. We had had a really fabulous day. We took loads of pictures and Bryan has put together one of his brilliant movies. You can see it here if you want to   [gallery columns="4" ids="9481,9491,9500,9510,9519,9523,9531,9539,9550,9557,9563,9573,9585,9592,9605,9614,9621,9630,9643,9654,9666,9676,9687,9702,9712,9722,9735,9745,9753,9758,9769,9787,9799,9809,9818,9826,9833,9862,9867,9875,9882,9885,9894,9901,9903,9911"]