Sinking ships?

Monsoon season is nearly upon us - as evidenced by the massive thunderstorms that have begun rolling through most afternoons.  Here on the west coast things don't get so bad, but the east coast gets the full brunt of it and as such slowly closes down between October and November.  The east coast is home to Malaysia's best beaches and islands so it seemed sensible for us to make a quick trip before the end of the season.

We're off to Pulau Tioman - where one has the option of either flying or going by ferry.  It's a short flight and thus a very small plane (I don't do light aircraft) so I convinced Ian that going by ferry was surely the best option.  Then yesterday I got a vague email from the proprietor of our hotel that there was about to be 'severe disruption' to the ferry service.  At first I assumed he just meant that the monsoons were early and that was causing delays, oh no - according to Bernama (the Malaysian equivalent of Reuters of the AP) this is the problem:

PULAU TIOMAN, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- Four of the eight ferries serving Tioman Island were grounded since they did not comply to safety requirements and equipment required under the Marine Department rules.

East Coast Region Marine Department director, Wan Endok Wan Salleh said the ferries, which were en route to the island via Tanjung Gemok-Tioman-Mersing, would resume service after the ferry operators had fulfilled the safety requirements.

He said their non compliance of safety requirements was found after the department held a four-day awareness campaign, that commenced last Friday, in collaboration with the marine police, Marine Park Department and the Maritime Enforcement Agencies.

"About 44 summons were issued to ferry and passenger boat operators during the campaign," he told reporters after a safety campaign for jetty, ferry and passenger boats here.

He said the summons were issued for operating without license, employing incompetent captains, overloading and insufficient safety equipment.

Splendid.  This is what my fear of flying gets me - and this is particularly worrying because:

A. I (alongside two cousins and a friend) have already been on this ferry service twice this year (on the bright side I'm alive to tell the tale).
B. As you may have guessed, Malaysia isn't exactly at the top of the public health and safety charts - so my fear is things must have been quite bad for this to happen.

Oh well, we're off . . . .  hopefully for a weekend of snorkeling and relaxing in the sun - not floating in the middle of the South China Sea as shark bait.