Moving Right Along

A few happenings since the last post.

May

Pam flew off to Brisbane in May to spend a couple of weeks with the quickly growing grandchildren.   The plan was to be back in Miri for us to join three others on a trip from Mulu National Park to Ulu Temburong  National Park in Brunei.  Things came unstuck when Pam caught a cold just after arrival so after two weeks flew across to Perth to stay with her sister to get better.  Cold turned to flu and unfortunately Pam missed out on the trip.  Darn! 

June

Jon flew to Mulu with friends Tim and Bec, and Peter on 14 June.  They did the usual cave walks and then set out on the Headhunters Trail towards Limbang near the Brunei border.  The first afternoon they walked 8 km from Long Berar along the Melinau River to Camp 5, staying overnight in NP accommodation.  Next morning the walk continued 11 km to the Terikan River.  The walk was relatively easy going but not much to see in the way of wildlife.  A boat trip downstream to a longhouse for afternoon tea and it was then an hour and a half by vehicle to stay overnight in a longhouse in Brunei.  Upstream by boat the next day to the Ulu Temburong NP to stay at the river camp - basic but adequate.  Jon slept well but kept everyone else awake with his snoring!  

The tree canopy walk proved to be well worth it, although, again, not much wildlife to see.  They walked this on arrival and then again early the next morning.  It was then off to Bandar Seri Bagawan, the capital of Brunei, and by road back to Miri.  A trip planned in conjunction with Alan Riches from Brunei Bay Radio and well recommended.  

July

Mid-July we both flew to London to visit our newest grandson.  Big Oscar, 10lbs or 4.45kg, arrived on 6 July, necessarily by Caesarian.  Both now doing very well and we look forward to being there again in 2014.  

The Journey Begins - August

After doing some final provisioning, we left Miri on 11 August to make our way across the top of Borneo and down the SE coast of Sabah to Tawau.   We made the usual stops along the Brunei coast, did some necessary duty-free at Labuan, spent three nights in Kota Kinabalu and more day hops of various distances in mostly light winds to Sandakan.  One night in Sandakan where we picked up fuel and fresh provisions, plus had a nice meal at the welcoming Sandakan Yacht Club.  

We had to give the river systems a miss because of time constraints but we anchored off the Kinabitangan River in very calm conditions.

We have now been anchored at Gaya Island since Tuesday morning.  We left our last anchorage at Dent Haven late morning Monday to take advantage of tides to make our way slowly to Gaya.  It was only 60 NM but a day passage would have had us racing to make it before dark in the reef strewn area.  As it was we arrived off Gaya before dawn and had to slow right down to wait for some light.  A very relaxing and easy passage with the engine off for a lot of the time.  As the sun set, a line of anchored squid boats lit up the western horizon parallel to our course.  It was like travelling down a well-lit highway! 

All along this coast we had the Royal Malaysian Navy and the Philippines Navy doing patrols of the area.  This follows on from the Sulu invasion of Lahad Datu earlier in the year, when we were coming back from the Philippines.  Both navies called us several times.  They were very polite and it was comforting to know there was someone out to watch over passing yachts.  

There are many stilt villages in this area and each island, no matter how small seems to have a sea gipsy community.  We have been visited a few times each day by fishermen and families wanting food.  Our stocks are almost depleted now though. 

The clear, turquoise water is such a nice change from what we have been in.  A swim is in order each morning and the hull has been cleaned of barnacles which have grown since hauling out in February.  They don't take long when sitting in a marina.  Our prop is very clean though so the Japanese Peller Clean is working well.  

The downside of the many stilt villages is that the water is full of floating rubbish, mostly plastic bags.  All their rubbish just goes straight into the water to move back and forward on the tide and current.  What will be the consequences of all this plastic polluting most of the waters we travel through?