Dogs of the Port

 

'Red Dog' is one of our favorites

Dogs here in Sri Lanka seem to have it better than in many of the non-First World countries we visited. Maybe it's the predominantly Buddhist culture, but people don't seem to mistreat them as readily.

This is what passes for excitement these days...

 

Galle Port gets a lot of cement and cargo ships of various sizes, but we were surprised to see this ferry pull up a couple weeks ago. It is brand-new and was on its way from its birthplace in Vietnam to its final home in Trinidad and Tobago.

Boring, nerdy sail stuff: How to convert SAS Planet cache files

The Red Mosque of Colombo.  If you are not sailing nerd, this is the last interesting thing you will see in this post.  Run away now.

Your friendly cruise director, Jen, has taken the day off. Unfortunately for you, you're left with Matt to fill the blog void.  And this week, instead of a relentless recap of our boring lives (especially here and now, stuck in Galle), 99.9% of you are going to get treated to something you've probably never wanted: A tutorial on how to convert cache files in SAS Planet. If you've never heard of SAS Planet before, this is probably your cue to shake your head, close the browser, and try your luck again in a week or two. If however, for the remaining 2 or 3 of you, you DO know about SAS Planet, then stick around.

UPDATED Dec 1, 2020- Check the bottom for another option in addition to what's detailed below.

Galle (Sri Lanka) - Still Paused

 

Peace Pagoda

During most of the eight years we have lived on Perry, we have been at anchor rather than at a dock. It's also been somewhat rare that we have stayed in the same spot for more than a few weeks.  And on the occasions that we haven't been moving around, we are usually hauled out and working hard to get some necessary work finished or we are on a road trip.

Yala National Park - Look what we (caution: bad pun ahead) spotted!

 

Yala National Park borders the Indian Ocean

We took our first road trip in Sri Lanka, even if it was only for two days. What's been stopping us? First, we needed to be allowed out of the port. Check. Second, we had to figure out how to leave the boat safely.

Freedom!

 

The lighthouse at
Galle Fort

After four and a half months of being confined to the Port in Galle, we have been granted shore passes. Although we still don't have visas, we can now leave the port on our own. This means we can finally go shopping on our own and actually see some of Sri Lanka.

Waffles, anyone?

When the swell is up, the waves splash
over the rocks and onto this twenty-plus foot hill

'Waffles', because we can't seem to make up our minds about what to do next--stay in Sri Lanka or go to the Seychelles. Of course, waffles are a bit of a sore subject on our boat since I nixed the waffle-maker when we moved aboard and Matt still hasn't quite gotten over it.

Three months in Galle Port (Sri Lanka)

Old deflated volleyball +
plastic bags = 'bowl'. Not
for soup though!

You know it's been boring when the best we can lead off with is a knitted bowl.  Not much has changed here for us in Sri Lanka. From what we can gather from our brief, Navy-escorted forays and reports from those fortunate enough to be able to leave the port, Galle seems to have returned to 'normal'.

Still in Sri Lanka

The view from our stern

There is not much to report here, which is why I haven't done an update in awhile. As for most of the world, the Covid-19 virus has hit the pause button on life for us. 

Galle, Sri Lanka

Photo taken by our friend Tycho from
the mast of a neighboring boat

After a relatively fast sail, Perry is in Galle Harbour, Sri Lanka. Before we left Phuket, there were no cases of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and there were no issues for a foreign yacht checking into the country. Cases in Italy were rising, but no major changes in travel policies were occurring worldwide. By the time we arrived over a week later and even within a day of our arrival, the situation was rapidly changing.

Langkawi to Phuket (Thailand)

Splash Out Water Park
Photo by Amber Lim

In Langkawi, we met up with our friends on Irie, Angel Wing and Whisky Jack in Langkawi, lowered our waterline with booze and provisions, and then headed up to Thailand.

Party time in Malaysia

Tossing the Prosperity Salad for
Chinese New Year on Marina Island.
Sort of a sedate food fight

Perry needed a few tweaks to get going after being out of the water for so long, but it wasn't too bad.

Splish splash

Perry ready to splash. Photo courtesy
of Dave of Tortuguita (as are all the
splash photos).

Perry is now in the water after ten months on the hard. Since our return from land traveling around Cambodia and Vietnam, we have been working double-time to get her ready to splash.

Road Trip Part 2: Vietnam

Sunset in the Mekong Delta

The Vietnam War makes Vietnam part of the American lexicon in a way that Cambodia isn't. We noticed some movie-fueled familiarity: Non Las, rickshaws, rice paddies, and scantily-clad young women offering massages (not exactly 'me love you long time' but a little imagination and artistic license will get you there).

Road trip to Cambodia

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

Our visa run to Cambodia, which we ended up extending to also include Vietnam (pictures to come in the next blog post) because we have to wait for rigging parts, was a nice break from boat work. In Cambodia we spent our time in more citified and touristy areas than we normally visit with the boat. There was no ocean or beaches, though we did end up on a couple boats on the Mekong when we were in Vietnam.