Not Before Time

Monday, and New Year's Eve, we took our liferaft in to Motoship Company for servicing.  We had had it done here in 2009 and theoretically it was more than two years out of date (already).  We arrived at the workshop, the raft was unpacked, the CO2 gas cylinder removed for testing and a high pressure gas line connected to inflate the raft.  The equipment bags were then inspected and out of date safety and medical equipment was tagged for replacement.  It was then that Pam noticed that the bottom tube on the raft was soft.  Darn, it was discovered that both tubes had faulty valves but we were promised that new parts would be ordered that day from Singapore and they would be in Labuan on 2nd January - 2 days.

 Back at the boat we decided we did not want to spend another couple of nights rocking around in this harbour so we hauled up the anchor and left for...

...a river...somewhere

Actually, the Klias River, 11NM away in Sabah.  The winds were light and the tide was right to get across the shallow banks about 3 miles out from the entrance.  Crossing the shallowest bank was quite nerve-wracking as we got down to 60cm under the keel.  A light NE kicking up a bit of swell and a car ferry coming right towards us!  We made it across safely, so we had a change of scenery from this :

to this:

It was such a nice change to enter the river and continue on for about 5 miles as the tide continued to flow in.  We dropped anchor in a fairly wide section of the river and had a relaxing time having dinner and watching the sun set.  We were both so tired from the lack of sleep in Labuan that we were in bed by 9:00 p.m.  So much for New Year.

The Klias River is part of the Klias Wetlands and can be navigated about 25NM upstream as far as some power cables which prevents yachts from going any further.  There are no logs to worry about and the current is not that strong that you can't motor into it.  The second day we went about another 15NM further and the third day we went as far as the touristy area where there is a restaurant and lots of noisy tourist boats.  We only spent enough time there to have some lunch as the river was quite narrow and we weren't happy with the swing room. 

The river is lined with mangroves and nipa palms and we had hopes of seeing some of the resident wildlife including macaque and proboscis monkeys as well as some birds including hornbills.  It was very quiet and isolated especially when compared to our last anchorages since leaving Miri.

At night we could hear monkeys scrabbling about as well as a few bird calls.  During the day we managed to see a few troops of macaques but only a couple of troops of proboscis monkeys.  The proboscis monkeys are quite shy so not as easy to spot as the macaques.  We only saw two hornbills flying overhead but too high to identify.  A tropical depression moving down the coast brought some torrential rain for about 12 hours but no wind otherwise we had fine conditions.  We were a bit disappointed to notice that at times we could see beyond the shore vegetation and most of it was covered in oil palm plantations.

A male proboscis monkey watches us warily from the mangroves.

 The common old macaque mother and baby.  Always quite cute!













Wow, a stork-bill kingfisher.  Unfortunately a bit too far away to get a really good shot but very colourful.








Heading back downstream we anchored off the village of Menombok to wait for the right tide to exit the river and the shallows.  The car and fast ferries both come in here a few times a day with at least 4 car ferries plying the route from Labuan.  Passengers disperse from here in all directions.  We had wondered about the number of water taxis but after the arrival of the first ferry we understood.  Many of the passengers can only get to their next destination by water.

Some of the water taxis waiting for their passengers to arrive

We arrived back in Labuan on Sunday 7th January and the next day we discovered that our liferaft was still waiting for parts.  Fortunately, we were able to arrange for the liferaft to be forwarded on to us at Kota Kinabalu and we wouldn't have to spend longer than necessary in the anchorage.  We left early Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m. for the 38NM leg to Tiga Island.

Tiga is a nice little stopover in the right conditions and the anchorage was calm and flat... until about 5:30 p.m. when a bank of cloud came in from the SW hitting us with 15-20 knots for about an hour and a half.  This stirred up the water but the wind dropped back to a gentle SE 5 knots for the rest of the night.  The waves took a lot longer to settle down so it was another rocky and rolly night at anchor.  5º 43.150N, 115º 38.887E.

Wednesday morning had us up and off again at 5:30 a.m. with some stars and the last of the moon.  32NM to Sutera Harbour Marina in Kota Kinabalu where we arrived just on midday.  A very pleasant motor sail with the seas the flattest since we had left Miri.  Now we just have to wait for the liferaft and another package from Australia before continuing on around the Tip of Borneo to Kudat.