Sea Hazards and Some Duty Free Shopping

Very flat seas greeted us as we left the river mouth at Muara for our short leg to Labuan.  For a country that does not log its rainforests Brunei cannot escape the arrival of floating logs and other rubbish that litters this area of the world.  There are hundreds if not thousands of logs drifting around and it would be difficult to keep a watch where one would not come close to or actually hit the hull.  Especially if the seas are not flat or at night.  In the anchorage at Serasa we watched in almost disbelief as the incoming tide brought floating debris into Brunei Bay.  On one of our walks along the nearby spit of land we took a picture of this virtually unusable boat-launching ramp.

In the flat seas across to Labuan this large log and two clumps of Nipah palms were easily spotted but maybe not so if travelling at night.  We have seen much larger clumps of Nipah than this before!  Also notice the barge being towed by a tug.  These can be another hazard that one has to keep particular watch for at night.  Most do not carry AIS (Automatic Identification System) that allow us to track them.  The tugs are usually correctly lit with their three white lights one above the other and the usual nav lights but the barges usually have only the tiniest red visible at close range.  We saw one come into the anchorage at Kuala Belait recently and the light was on a stick stuck into the top of the mound of gravel but had fallen over! 

Just short of Labuan we were greeted by a 20-knot ESE wind which seemed a bit strange.  It was blowing straight into the anchorage at Port Victoria until it finally shifted to the NE later in the day, where it should have been coming from! 

This is a busy port with passenger and car ferries arriving from Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak all day and evening.  Tiny water taxis are on the move as well, ferrying passengers in all directions around the harbour.  The entrance to the harbour has about thirty rig support vessels as well as a couple of ships anchored about.  Labuan is a Federal Territory of Malaysia and enjoys duty free status so most yachties call by here to top up supplies of chocolate and other goodies ... oh, and alcohol. 

The marina here has broken up for the umpteenth time and is not available for yachts to berth.  We are anchored well up the harbour and just a short water taxi ride across to the town.  We just have to try and get one of the boatmen's attention.