Ghosting along

Heading south from PD, minding our own business with a light wind forward of the beam - we are of course motoring. Suddenly big noise from aft. Rope around the prop? Engine put hard astern then ahead again. Nothing - apart from more revs. Quick investigation below - the anti vibration disc between the gearbox and the shaft is no longer attached to the gearbox flange. No problem! Sail for a while while the engine cools a bit and rejoin them.

Some time later the engine is cooler but the shaft can be neither rotated nor slid forward - both normally easy. There must still be something around the propeller (or - horror of horrors - a bent shaft). Meanwhile there is now some wind and we are heading towards our  target destination at up to 7 kn. 

We need to close the coast to anchor and dive on the propeller but the coastline is lined with oil jetties and the sea littered with anchored tankers.

Our guardian

Once South of Tanjung Bruas the oil installations finish. By the time Sea Bunny gets there the wind has died to about 3 kn and the tide has turned against us. We crab shorewards avoiding being swept onto anchored ships by the tide and anchor in 7.5 m, hopefully sufficiently inshore not to be in the way of the ships and tugs.

An anchored tug observes our progress and raises its anchor so that we do not drift into her. She re-anchors some 100 m from us and stays there overnight - looking after us, we think.

The pilot variously states the time of the tide change as 1 hour before local LW or 3:30 after HW Penang. The former gives 1530, the latter 1830. At 1600 the tide is still running strongly, so it seems 1830 may be the time. It was - R was able to push the propeller and shaft back from outside while snorkelling - the dive gear had been prepared in anticipation of a longer job. There was in fact no rope around the propeller.

A couple of hours later all was reconnected ready for us to move on the next day to Pualu Besar in the Water Islands, then Pulau Pisang (literally Banana Island). Finally we arrived at Puteri Harbour Marina in The Johor Strait between Malaysia and Singapore.