A Brief Respite - Heading Out To Pulau Kapas

Sunday was the day for our ride to Pulau Kapas for a weekend getaway. Azeim and I had flown in on Saturday and we had had a great time with my younger brother and his family. Muni and Adeen were to catch the morning Firefly service from Subang, take a taxi to our hotel and then we all continue on to Marang for the boat connection to Pulau Kapas.

Firefly, the subsidiary airline of MAS, offers thrice-daily flights to Kuala Terengganu (KT) taking off from Subang Airport. It's very convenient for us who reside in the Subang Jaya area - just 10 minutes away, thereabouts - given the right jamless window, that is. For Azeim and I, that Saturday morning was perfect; we arrived in good time for checking in, breakfast and that which comes after breakfast. And me having a cheery younger brother and his equally cheery family to fetch us at KT airport just about wrapped up the journey into a bow-tied package.

Muni had already been booked on that Sunday morning flight but Adeen wasn't too sure he could get a ticket, going by the people already in line at check-in. Adeen is a Second-Officer with MAS and is entitled to a 75% discount off the normal price, provided there are still seats when the check-in counter closes. Alhamdulillah he got a seat but the flight was indeed full - something I did not expect - it being a Sunday. I suppose that catch-phrase "now everyone can fly" is quite true.

KT is a short hop by propeller plane and by 12 noon that day all of us were already at the Marang jetty ready to meet up with the Pirate King of Pulau Kapas aka Chief of Captain's Longhouse aka Skipper of the good vessel East Coast Blue Water aka Chef de Beach Cuisine.

With so many roles and responsibilities as befitting his string of titles, this former helicopter pilot who has made Pulau Kapas his home and sanctuary as well as his cash-generator, only caught up with us a little later at an eating place close by. Many errands Captain had to run while on-shore, so we had a leisurely lunch, did our solats at the surau, and Azeim even had his long hair chopped off by the local tukang gunting.

Though hubby and I had only got to know Captain through us frequenting and commenting on each other's blogs and more recently on Facebook, meeting him in real life was just the same as when I met other blogger friends for the first time - there were hardly any awkward moments and  the transition from virtual to real was as seamless as meeting old classmates at a reunion, perhaps because we've already been familiarised with each other's thoughts and thinking and lives through our blog stories and FB status and comments.

 Captain's fearsome profile picture on Facebook

And it was through these media that Azeim was introduced to Captain who subsequently went out of his way to connect Azeim with the head-honchos of the Terengganu boatbuilding industry at Pulau Duyong and to secure places for Azeim to do his practical training. I seriously do not know how to  thank the  good Captain enough for this. Azeim, by the way, will be in his final year of studies in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering after this stint, starting October.

So that was how it came to be that we were at that jetty and then aboard Captain's boat heading out from the river mouth into open sea, thence to Pulau Kapas, to deliver Azeim to the Pirate King for a crack at boatbuilding and survival.

The boys with Captain's matey, Baharum

Adeen gets a chance at the helm

(to be continued)