With the closure of the Tanjong City Marina, obtaining a marina berth or safe anchorage in Penang can be difficult. In order not to miss all that Penang has to offer, many cruisers choose to leave their boat in Langkawi and visit Penang by ferry - staying in one of the many cheap but decent hotels in Georgetown.
Docking Options
If arriving from the south, you can travel the Western Channel (between Pulau Pinang and Pulau Jerjak) to the Marina Batu Uban. The bridge near the marina has an air height of approximately 6m at high tide. Or use the Main Channel (under the Penang Bridge), to reach the Junk Anchorage.
Arriving from the north, the Junk Anchorage is handy. Also, the new Straits Quay Marina located on the NE end of Penang Island is now an option. Or you could continue along the Main Channel, under the bridge, and round Pulau Jerjak to the Western Channel and Marina Batu Uban.
The old Tanjong City Marina in the heart of World Heritage Listed Georgetown has now closed due to heavy silting and poor repair. It may be still possible to leave your dinghy there if you anchor nearby in the Junk Anchorage, however, the docks are pretty much all broken up now.
It is no longer permissible to anchor at either the Seagate or East Gate anchorage.
Anchorages
The Junk Anchorage
The Straits Quay Marina Anchorage
The Batu Uban Public Marina Anchorage
The Fishermen's Wharf Anchorage
Marinas
Marina Batu Uban is on the Western Channel and is an unpretentious public marina. This marina is not convenient for sightseeing and shopping, being a 15-minute bike ride to Queensbay Shopping Mall (and buses). Anchoring off this marina in order to use it for dinghy access incurs a charge.
NOTE: The bridge in this area near the marina is NOT passable for yachts. It has an air height of approximately 6 metres at high tide.
Straits Quay Marina (photo below, courtesy of SY Totem). Entry to the marina is a little tricky at low tide since the silt outside the marina moves around. Call ahead to get information on the latest recommended track in. Maintenance dredging of the approach channel and marina basin is carried out regularly allowing access to yachts with up to the 3m draft, although entering near HW is still advisable.
Security
AHOY Penang was set up by long-term SE Asia cruiser Jennifer Rouse in May 2016, as a group for cruisers to share important information and fun things about destinations in the Straits of Melaka - Penang. It is also a good place to report any security incidents whilst cruising in Malaysian waters.
Last updated: December 2018
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I just had my Plastimo 4 man offshore life raft serviced by Ocean Success in Penang. I found the staff, including the on-site manager Rahma Shareef to be courteous and professional. We called a few days ahead of time, asking if they could service our life raft and which day would be best for them.
We drove up from Pangkor (approximately 3 hours) and when we arrived at 1100am, they immediately got to work on it. They took the life raft out of its canister, examining all bits and pieces and then inflating the raft with their air system. We came back two days later, and the life raft was all packed up with new flares etc – and all for a very reasonable price.
Our cost was RM837 ($279CDN) but any raft’s cost will be highly influenced by what has to be replaced. In our case, we had 3 flares replaced and a few batteries, no food/water/medicine. I wouldn’t hesitate to bring a life raft to this facility, it is clean, tidy and very professional. The last service our life raft had was in the Eastern Caribbean at twice the price and half the quality.
Have just had our 2 liferafts serviced by Ocean Success in Penang. Overall they were very professional and did a good job with a rapid turn around and reasonable rates by international standards.
I found them very pleasant to work with and was able to specify exactly what equipment I wanted packing into the raft. Replacement items to SOLAS specs (such as flares, food rations and water)standards were readily available at reasonable rates.
Contact Nadya at Ocean Success on _+60331662503
Paul Johnson
SY Asia
Yeow Cheong Foundry in Penang has moved to 296, Pengkalan Weld, MacCallum Street, but their phone number is the same. Wholly recommend them.
The manager of Ocean Success can be a cantankerous old woman. “You don’t have to be here to watch us repack your life raft. Go and come back. What, you don’t trust us?” With that, there was no doubt we would be there to watch each step of the inspection process, especially since she refused to give us a written statement of the charges for the packing and items to be replaced.
She would not photocopy her handwritten information for us nor allow us to photograph the information. For whatever reasons, miscommunications or otherwise, it seems we would have been charged for items in the repacking process that in the end did not get done, like replacing the wire triggering lanyard and the internal visual inspection of the gas inflation bottle.
Because of this, our expected bill was reduced to a total of $175.00 including having one of their employees pick us and the raft up from our marina and taking us to the Ocean Success shop. That one-way trip cost us $20. We took an Uber taxi for the return trip cost us $5.
Only after we were home with our inspected raft did I realize the inspector did not inflate the floor of the raft for inspection. I completely overlooked what should have been the inspectors standard routine.
Of the 4 state licensed life raft inspection stations I have visited in Malaysia, none would qualify for licensing in the United States, New Zealand or Australia and quite possibly many other countries. Nor would these stations qualify for being a service centre for many known brands of rafts used on pleasure boats.
First, the inspection room is not a sealed room with a climate controlled environment. Garage size doors open to the outside allowing ambient tropical temperatures and humidity to contaminate the rubber of the life raft. The inspection area should be a comfortable temperature with low humidity air, sealed from the outside environment.
The second deviation is the air used to inflate the raft for air holding ability is not filtered to remove contaminants and humidity. It should be very clean and dry, like what goes into a SCUBA tank. After deflating, the unfiltered air can adversely affect the integrity of the rubber over time.
Third, the inspection surface is the painted concrete floor which everyone walks on with their shoes. Sand and dirt from the floor will cling to the life raft upon repacking causing abrasion. There was no attention to vacuuming the floor prior to or during the inspection of our raft.
On the positive side, Ocean Success allows the customer to choose what items they want to go back into their raft, unlike in Australia and New Zealand and America. In those countries, the mandatory replacement of loose items and their exorbitant cost structure, can make the purchase of a new raft, rather than repacking, an attractive alternative.
So in the end, like many boat projects, you can’t just blindly turn the project over to a contractor and hope for the best. You have to be an active project manager and keep a watchful eye on the process.
Re: Clearance in the Penang, Malaysia profile
23 September 2016
As of September 1, 2016, Jabatan Laut (Harbor Master/Port Captain) relocated to the Jabatan Laut Wilayah Utara building on Jalan Aquarium, Gelugor, Penang. The clearance office is located directly to the left, behind the sliding glass doors, as you enter the front door.
The building is located approximately 1 mile south of the Gelugor Tesco Hypermarket and although the building backs onto Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Highway, you can only reach it from back roads. Google for directions.
Nancy Paterson
SV Amulet