A modern well-equipped catamaran is the perfect luxury yacht on which to cruise and explore Malaysia’s marvelous tropical waterway wonderland.

"Wow!" Look at the size of this cat!

Catamarans are roomy, stable, have luxury queen-size cabins with en-suite bathroom facilities, come with large entertainment, lounging and sun-bathing areas, a modern kitchen packed with all mod-cons, air-conditioning, plenty of refrigeration, sound-surround TV and music systems. And that is just at first glance! Also they are equipped with all the latest electronic navigation wizardry to make passage-making and finding your dream destination quick, easy and very safe. All sheets are brought back to the helm and are controlled by four electronic sheet-winches making trimming the sails, raising, reefing, or dropping the large fully battened main-sail and furling or un-furling the beautiful head-sail, a one-man job. A modern electronic full-color chart-plotter, GPS, wind speed and direction gauges, auto-pilot, radar, engine RPM, temperature and oil pressure gauges and a large comfortable leather covered stainless steel wheel at the helm up on the fly bridge makes the Captain’s job a dream, even in inclement weather!

"Ten" and Gudrun up on the fly bridge

Luxury catamarans sail and motor/sail, thanks to two powerful diesel engines, without tipping over at the sometimes alarming angles experienced in mono-hull yachts that can spill your coffee or your evening cock-tail. This fact is much loved by the fairer sex and many macho-men too like to stand up straight when enjoying a beer!

Gudrun and I are both always looking for sea-miles as “Skipper” or “Crew” in order to complete our Royal Yachting Association (RYA) “Yachtmaster” certificates of competence, so we were delighted to accept an offer from our close friends, Simon and Ruby at Simpson Marine in Port Dickson, of a trip from Pulau Tioman to Singapore and back on a beautiful Lagoon 500 Catamaran. This nearly new luxury vessel needed to have its water-maker repaired. As it transpired our journey as crew on this trip ended up lasting for one whole glorious week and added another 312 nautical miles to our RYA log-books and wonderful experience and memories to our MM2H lives.

Here I am at the helm and just loving it!

Yes, you read correctly…this big “fat-cat” even has a water-maker. As a result long, hot (or cold) fresh-water showers can be taken by everyone on board after a day of sight-seeing, sailing, fishing or snorkeling in the amazingly crystal-clear waters found off Malaysia’s East Coast, a very popular location during the south-west monsoon also known as the wet season! These seasonal, prevailing “trade-winds” blow from May through September in the region of the Indian sub-continent and SE Asia. During this time the weather on the West Coast is monsoonal, which translates into hot, humid, windy and wet! The Malaysian peninsular provides perfect protection from the SW monsoon and the East Coast is a sheltered tropical wonderland. The opposite weather patterns occur during the period from October through April when the North East monsoon blows, making the East Coast a “lee shore” and rather boisterous with the resulting surf much-loved by ardent wind-surfers but providing perfect sheltered weather on the West Coast. Thus it is that one can enjoy brilliant warm conditions ALL the time somewhere in the wonderful waters surrounding the Malay peninsular.

Our latest crew “work” had us catching an early morning Berjaya Air flight direct from Subang to Pulau Tioman. This lovely one hour flight landed on Tioman Island a mere fifteen minute walk from the modern marina! After meeting Captain Badru Tendri, just call me “Ten”, we walked to the local “supermarket” and after buying some essential provisions for the next few days we set sail and beat a direct course to Raffles Marina in Singapore.

Sunset at Raffles Marina in Singapore

It took expert marine-engineers several days to source the necessary spare parts and repair the errant water-maker. The time taken was mainly due to the fact that we were berthed in this delightful marina from Friday through Monday, over a week-end. Fantastic! We were able to once again enjoy the lovely restaurants and facilities found at this award-winning marina for a few care-free days.

During most of the time “at sea” whether sailing or motor/sailing we put a few fishing rigs, comprising modern roller-guide fishing rods and top-quality Penn International game-fishing reels loaded with braid-line terminating in an enticing minnow lure, “out the back” and soon after we left Singapore we had a “strike”. A large but unfortunate Barracuda was duly landed, photographed in all of its toothy glory and then dispatched by our Indonesian skipper, “Ten”, to the ice-box.

Hang on "Ten" those teeth are sharp!

On the return journey we were not under any time constraints so we decided to moor overnight at Pulau Aur.

A safe and gorgeous mooring at Pulau Aur

On the way to our overnight destination we encountered a strong storm squall with winds exceeding forty knots and torrential rain.

A bit of a blow!

The big cat handled this interruption with dignity and aplomb and after we furled the head-sail, she did not miss a beat riding out the storm for the next hour and a half before proceeding to spend the night at the picturesque sheltered mooring chosen by Captain Ten at Pulau Aur.

The next day we cruised to some of the delightful and very special islands and diving/snorkelling locations easily accessed around Pulau Tioman.

The fish was "that" big...fair dinkum!

We spent a wonderful morning snorkelling at Pulau Tulai, also known as Coral Island, due to the plentiful coral, tropical fish and other marine life found at this very popular dive location. We were very pleased to note that this beautiful place is now part of a Marine Conservation Park, as indeed is the entire Pulau Tioman area, which means, amongst other things, that visiting boats must use moorings and not heavy anchors that could damage the delicate coral. A lot of the coral we enjoyed had been severely damaged by the old practice used by traditional fishermen of “dynamiting” the area. This practice of using high-explosives to literally blow the fish out of the water is a highly effective fishing technique as all fish in the immediate area are stunned and float to the surface for easy collection. Unfortunately it is also extraordinarily damaging to the coral much of which has been smashed and killed. The good news is that the old practices around Pulau Tioman have been stopped and the environment is showing definite signs of recovery although it will be a long, slow process. This underlines the need for everyone to practice constant vigilance to prevent any further environmental degradation.

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

Gudrun and I are very passionate about the world in which we are blessed to find ourselves and feel deeply about the need and responsibility we all have to make sure that we leave the world a better place for our children and their children’s children. We are the proud co-founders of “Edu-Cat-Malaysia”, an organisation that is now the only Malaysian member of the “Clean up the World” organisation. Supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) “Clean up the World” is a global environmental initiative that attracts an estimated 35 million participants from 130 countries each year. Through “Edu-Cat-Malaysia” we plan to implement activities in Malaysia that will result, through specific and targeted initiatives and continued education programs, in a sustainable cleaner and greener environment. Please see http://edu-cat-malaysia.blogspot.com

In our element

After we had our fill of snorkeling amid beautiful tropical fish, clams, sea-urchins, sea-slugs (beche-de –mer) and coral at Pulau Tulai, our final evening was spent at the small resort town of Salang at the northern tip of Pulau Tioman. Salang is famous for delicious fresh sea-food BBQ restaurants.

Moored at Salang beach, Pulau Tioman

We moored here and launched the very smart Caribe RIB tender powered by a 40 hp 4-stroke outboard for the short journey to the beach right out-side a famous sea-food BBQ restaurant. This proved to be a very special choice as the food and the service was exceptional, the location superb and the ambiance fabulous, as we watched the sun set over the ocean and enjoyed our delicious meal reminiscing about what a great week we had just spent together.

Later we motored the few miles back to the marina where we spent a final night in the luxury of our extremely comfortable cabin complete with its full-sized en-suite, one of four such luxury cabins found on board. Then we were up at dawn the next morning in order to check in at the airport at eight am, go to the local Makan for delicious “Roti Canai” and “Teh Tarik kurang manis” before boarding for our flight home.

Roti Canai and Teh Tarik.......just can't beat it!

Our impromptu week as crew on a superb Lagoon 500 catamaran could not have been better. Is it any wonder we love living here in Malaysia so much?

Big “cats” are proving extremely popular as the perfect get-away machine for a few days or longer and Simpson Marine has a specially selected number of these beautiful craft available for charter at all times and from more Asian locations than other charter operators.

The beautiful big cat moored at Pulau Tulai

If you would like to explore the wonders of Pulau Tioman, Pulau Tulai or any of the other brilliant tropical locations around Malaysia, contact Ruby at http://www.simpsonmarine.com/en/about-us/port-dickson.aspx for details.

Here is the Berjaya Air Dash 7 to take us back to reality!