Guest blog post by visitor Cassie

Worth the wait, Cassie has kindly written a guest blog post from their visit on Sophia in the second half of April. Visitors are such a great reminder of how fantastic our cruising life is and Cassie's post below is a testimony to that. Thanks so much for coming to visit us and for writing this.

" I wanted freedom, open air and adventure. I found it on the sea " - Alaine Gerbault

With these words in mind, we set off for our own adventure on board SY Sophia!

Leaving behind the growing chilliness of Argentina and after re packing some summer essentials in Sydney we landed in the Malaysian night to a wall of humidity and boy did that make me happy! Astrid wasn't lying when she said 'no long pants or sleeves required!'

We awoke the next morning to a beautiful Langkawi morning, boats docked all around, the sound of water lapping at the boat, we were in heaven.

That same day we headed off to Thailand! I hadn't been onboard a yacht since Phil's Mum and Dad, Colleen and Ron had their old Beneteau cruising around the Whitsunday Islands and wasn't sure how this body was going to be on water again! Worse still was Pablo, being a mountain man rarely ever on water he had as I discovered been popping his sea sickness tablets from the night before! Luckily neither of us felt sick and we cruised happily into Lipe Island that evening.

Lipe was quintessential postcard Thailand! From the long boats, white sand beaches and azure blue waters it couldn't have looked more idyllic. We drank coconut and mango shakes, ate Pad Thai and curries and of course got our white untouched skin completely burnt! There is nothing better than being able to jump into sea water at any time the heat requires it!

We headed off in search of good snorkelling and weren't disappointed. On the other side of Lipe was beautiful coral reefs, full of vibrant fish and coloured anemones. We spent hours in these waters emerged in another world and time.

Exploring on Sophia opened up a whole new world of travel. There are places you can access and thing you can see are just not possible via land. We explored islands and trekked to waterfalls. We dove and swam and explored. We ate and drank and played too many games of Settlers of Catan! (Phil you are a monster!)

Its a wonderful world amongst this boating community, always there are welcoming neighbours to share stories and advice.. and not to mention recipes! Lucky for us we had the best cook around, Astrid is, as all the other boat families know, is a great cook! We were lucky to have fresh baked bread in the mornings and cakes for afternoon tea. (and thanks to Phil for being the best washer up around!)

After spending a blissful week or so around Thailand's wonderful islands and spending more time to the water than out, we headed back to Langkawi thoroughly toasted, salted and happy.

These two are living the dream! We enjoyed our time on Sophia so much and I in particular have been re inspired to pursue this lifestyle in the future! (currently familiarising myself with all things catamaran!)

Thankful to have such a great cousin in Phil and he in turn having such a great girlfriend in Astrid! Thank you both for the weeks of wonderful adventures and opening up your gorgeous home on the water to us! We will be seeing you soon, very very soon!

Cassa and Pablo

Guest post by Sarah and Anton: river cruising and tropical island time

Sarah and Anton came to visit the previous week, and we had a short, but fantastic time together, and without much further ado, here's a post Anton wrote, maybe with a bit of input from Sarah. Thanks for writing it, and thanks a lot for coming to visit.

Anton and Sarah chilling in the cockpit while underway to Tiga. Shade is essential, hence all the sarongs...

Well I have to say from wo to go I was amazed with our Hostess, the fantastic Astrid. Having someone to navigate the local restaurants and choose something that was not going to get us sick and also something that we ended up loving was the key to actually trying a little local cuisine! Have taken photo of the menu board so that I can remember the name of the meal.  Like an egg and vego omelet sandwiched between two crepes, yummy!

Despite professing some anxiety to going solo taking charge of the boat, Astrid was totally at ease as Captain.  Even to the point of navigating up the Klias River. At our anchorage about half way up the river we saw dozens of crocodiles (ok read floating logs… but at least 2 were heading upstream and we all agreed they had eyes). We also saw monkeys!!! Astrid was lucky enough to spy a proboscis one which if you use your imagination is captured in the photo below (notice the red patch?). The second leg of the trip saw us head North. We ambitiously put the sails up with a light aft wind before taking the main down again 20 minutes later. They don’t call Borneo “the land below the wind” for nothing! No danger of us capsizing. The next couple of days were spent snorkelling and hiking round Pulau Tiga. Astrid, spoiled by the underwater beauty of Palau and the Philippines, was unimpressed with the reef, but Sarah and I enjoyed some cool coral and fish.

Ok, so the Yacht Sophia and our experiences, through my eyes!

S:  Sea, it was so amazing to be swimming and snorkelling in really beautiful warm water. Warm like to spa.
O:  Organised! From the little facecloths that you put on your hand like puppets, to the dishrack that has clips for cups I was amazed how organised and easy to find everything is. Everything has a place and every place has a thing!
P:  Pancakes! I made pancakes one morning after one of my Anton sleep ins, well received by the girls for sure while at the helm to get to Pulau Tiga Island. However on the last day Astrid made the Danish Pancakes, I have to say those nicely browned far thinner pancakes really took first prize for me.
H:  Hot! Amazing how much a person can sweat in the Tropics, being the winter season too, it really was humid. I love Sophia’s fans! As we would sit under those fans in the evening and watch the temperature gauge slowly go down. Heaven forbid we had to do any cooking or make a cup of tea, as it mean’t that it would creep back up and over the really important 30 Degrees!
I:  Icecold drinks. We really loved Sophia’s fridge, it just made such an amazing difference to our body temp to be able to drink some wonderful ice cold drinks! Though not sure on the Coconut milk and Nesquik drink we tried to copy from our time in Bali.
A:  Awesome time! We really and truly loved every minute/hour/day on board Sophia with Astrid, just missed Phil!

PS:  The photos are a mix of mine and Anton's, but the captions are mine (Astrid's)

Croc or log?

Macaque monkey

Early morning on Klias river

Proboscis monkey, spot the red in the green

This was one of the best snorkeling pics from Tiga, unfortnatley it's pretty dead coral and there are only few and very tiny fish

Outboard wouldn't start, so we rowes ashore, but the rest of the time, we just swam in, much easier

Walking across the island we got bitten a fair bit, so at this mud vulcano Sarah and Anton decided to try and use mud as insect repellant

We played Settler of Catan every night, SOOO much fun. We each got a win, but Sarah got two, so she was the overall winner

Bye bye guys, thanks for coming! Sarah and Anton got a local boat to take them to the mainland and from there a bus back to KK, while I sailed back to Brunei by myself over the next two days, over 90 miles (pat on the back!)

Guest post by Sheralee - A to Z guide

We are very sad to have said good bye to Sheralee, it's been really great having her and sharing our fantastic cruising life with her. The ultimate success of the visit is that she (a non-sailor, but keen traveller) is now considering the cruising life as a way to go! Anyway, Sheralee kindly wrote an A to Z guide to her Philipino visit onboard Sophia. We love it, thanks so much Sheralee and thanks for coming to visit us and being our parts and mail mule :-)

ANCHORAGES - most important to find scenic, sheltered and secure! After Limasawa, also stayed at Guindulman for a couple of nights, then Loay near Villa Lumpia resort for another couple of nights (abandoned river anchorage as we crawled through very shallow water surrounded by reef and crowded with fishing boats), then the sheltered port of Tagbilaran where we saw the first other cruising sail boat since Palau.

BAKESHOPS - even on the smallest island you were never more than a few hundred metres from some sort of bakeshop, with bread, sweet buns, cakes etc starting from 2 pesos each (about 7 cents). Yummo! (Also see WEIGHTWATCHERS)

CORAL - stopped at several beautiful snorkelling spots, including popular divespot and Marine Reserve Balicasag Island enroute on Tuesday. Surrounded by coral reef so Phil and Astrid took turns piloting Sophia while we explored. Saw a turtle, lots of big parrot fish, and schools of the greater spotted tourist....

DINGHY - our lifeline from the shore to the boat and vice - versa. Have no idea how they fitted four people when Astrid's parents visited! By the end I had mastered entering and exiting gracefully (quiet Astrid!!!). Travel hint - luggage that fits into two dry bags is recommended (ie, not a big wheelie suitcase). If you wish to offer post-dinner entertainment, do the splits while getting back into Dinghy in the dark.

EMAIL - internet was surprisingly cheap and not too unreliable. 50 pesos ($1,50) per day including Unlitxt (unlimited texting I am guessing). Again, even in the most remote spots there were posters advertising Unlitxt and smartphone rates....

FISHING - 8 days, fish 0. Really need to work on that trawling guys...

GIMBALLED - that stove is a very clever idea, we should all be gimballed in rolly weather on a boat...

HABEL HABEL - you saw the evidence on the last blog post. 1 driver and 3 whiteys, no helmets. Couldn't believe we made it up the hill, wouldn't have won any speed records though.

ICE CREAM - Astrid is finely tuned to hearing Mr Whippy jangles in NZ, and is now finely tuned at spotting any establishment which sells ice cream. The number of photos of Astrid eating ice cream is not proportionate to the number of ice creams Astrid has eaten :)

JEEPNEYS - brightly coloured small buses with two long bench seats in the covered back. They travel set routes and leave whenever full. For about 8 - 10 pesos per ride they are a bargain - Cheapneys... Travel tip - not recommended for people over 5 ft 5. Unless it is raining then you just jump in anyway.... (TRIKES are similarly colourful, with religious slogans on the back but is a Honda with a covered side wagon with two seats (additional seat on the bike behind driver, or a side 'seat' on the outside. Highly recommended.)

KINDLES - essential for any cruisers. Particularly during day long passages after the scenery has worn off and you are convinced there are no whales sharks or dolphins. Most commonly heard phrase on boat: ’where's my kindle?'

LIONFISH - the most impressive fish I've seen. Better than Nemo's. Go google it. Go on!

MANGOS - mmmmm, mangoes. (Yes both spellings are correct). I am pretty sure we ate mangos everyday, if not it was an unforgivable oversight...

NEXT TO NOTHING - what a lot of people got by on in the villages. Yet all were friendly and looked pretty content (living in paradise ain't too bad). Also defined as 'what they wore on the boat'. I soon got into the swing of this, when with the Danish girl.... And it was hot and saved washing! Travel tip - it is polite to warn Phil before he comes up on deck.

ORCHIDS - so many of the villages had the most beautiful street fronts and these gorgeous flowers would be sprouting out of gardens with pride.

PORK - what most Filipino dishes seem to have in them. Also a lot of Hot Dogs of questionable meat source. I do wonder if the Muslim population in the south have different traditional dishes. The majority of Filipinos are Catholic (and are hopeful that their young cardinal will be in the running to be the next pope!)

QUICKFOOD - Angels hamburgers, 2 for 25 pesos (about 70 cents). Phil and I gave them a go and survived!

RAIN - had only two significant downpours during my trip. The first was after our Chocolate Hills and Zipline ride experience. It pretty much kept raining all afternoon so we gave up trying to dry out or wait it out, and embraced it. We were like drowned rats in the dinghy, then had a full shower back on deck (shampooed out the salt soaked hair). Ahhhh, love the rain. Second downpour was after a perfect morning sailing and snorkelling at Balicasag. We headed upwind to Tagbilaran into a rock and rolly squall and while the crew 'kindled' below deck, the landlubber watched the horizon up in the fresh, wet air. Travel hint - water will pour out of the rolled up mainsail and straight down the back of your neck when seated in the cockpit and going down a wave. But it's not cold, so just embrace the rain!

SNORKELLING - also see CORAL.

TARSIER - the cutest little endangered primates, native to Bohol. See photos and captions on SY Sophia's Facebook page.

UNIFORMS - all schools and shops have neat and colorful uniforms. We looked like slobs in comparison!

VIDEOKE - Nuff said, seriously.

WEIGHTWATCHERS - what you need after a trip on SY Sophia. No fish and vege diet here! There were at least 3 cupboards with chocolates or chupa chups. The XL choc and maple syrup bottles needed their own cupboards. Astrid baked banana/choc bread and butter pudding, pear and choc self saucing pudding, and I had homemade baileys in my coffee at least 4 days.... Travel hint - the food is superb onboard. Enjoy!

XCELLENT - the time I had.

YACHT LIFE - definitely home away from home. Water was a major difference, washing dishes in salt water and rinsing with a spray bottle of rain water. There are 220 (?) litres and a great set up to catch rain water off the Bimini. Surprisingly spacious quarters and had everything you need, even an exhaustive library (I studied the books about cruising, have planted some seeds of a cruising lifestyle, sigh....)

ZIPLINE! - Astrid and I went on a 500 m zip line ride across the Loboc River gorge just so I would have something to put for 'Z'!

Disclaimer: the writer has not been paid for this independent review and contributed to her stay through grocery provision and being a courier for boat parts and 8 months of mail. Your experience may differ from the one described above and only humorous correspondence will be entered into.