Passing the Time in Miri

Just over a week until Jon has more of a suspicious spot excised from his scalp after which we can think of leaving Miri.

A few jobs to keep us busy as usual.  Jon has been hauled up the mast to remove the mainsail halyard sheave - the little roller that the halyard passes over and into the mast.  Somehow a screw had come loose and was stuck between the plates, scratching the faces and making it difficult to haul up the mainsail.  This was soon cleaned up and put back together ready for another trip up the mast - the view is good!




Our little Karcher had a workout as well when Jon used it to power clean our boom tent to clean off all the green that has grown on it over the last 12 months - has it been that long!

The canvas has lost its waterproofing and the drips on the underneath gather moss so it was time to remove it.  Jon also took the opportunity to clean bits of green off other parts of the boat as well.






Shopping in Miri is a little different from the experience in Australia.  Although you can buy fresh and frozen meats in the supermarket, the freshest pork comes directly from the pork men, located near the Central Markets.  Here you can buy almost any part of the pig you want - head (left), toes (middle), ribs (right), loins (centre right), bellies (foreground) and all sorts of offal (not pictured).  You can even choose a nice lean piece of loin and have it minced rather than buy the pre-minced stuff which is 30% fat.  Now that's service and it is also very cheap.

 Saturday night we took a trip out to the Saberkas night market which runs from Thursday through to Sunday.  It is a fairly typical night market with a big selection of local fruits and vegetables, hawker food and general things like clothing and other bits and pieces.


We got brave and tried some durian between us and we bought a small jackfruit and other fruit.

Then it was into the hawker food section where we tried pulut panggang (grilled sticky rice in banana leaf) and rempah udang (grilled sticky rice with prawn in banana leaf) - very tasty.

 We didn't eat everything we saw but here are a few pics of what was on offer:

 Fish and ray wings grilled on banana leaf

 Smokey grilled fish 

 Thousands of satay sticks to choose from

 And, something for the sweet tooth - Kek lapis Sarawak (Sarawakian layer cake).  As you can imagine you can't whip these up in a few hours!  Many layers and patterns AND (in these modern times) very bright food colouring. The heavy smoke from the charcoal grills finally drove us out of the place but it was an interesting place to visit.

We seemed to have formed a habit of having Sunday breakfast at a Chinese yum cha restaurant.  We have found several with two of them a bit more of a bike ride away.  One is about 7.5 km away, is airconditioned, crowded and has carts bringing a huge selection of steamed and fried goodies to eat.  Another, 2020 Cafe, is about 5.5 km away which spills onto the pavement area and is always crowded.  The choice is probably not so huge and here you choose the baskets you want and a nice person brings them to your table for you.  They are both incredibly cheap and require an early morning start to arrive before it gets too hot. 

Here, Pam gets ready to tuck in while Jon has chosen bubur ikan (rice porridge with fish) to start the day.

 A Sunday morning fish market on the Miri River - straight from the fishing boats

 Looks like low tide at the stilt village.

At Home Aboard Tweed in Miri

 Four months away from Tweed! 

More than two months since the last blog!

Will we ever go sailing again?

Tweed has been in this marina since November, 2011, when Jon arrived from Japan.

Pam hasn't been sailing since May, 2011!

Our "new" grandaughter is fast approaching ten weeks old!

 

Yes, we hope to set off from Miri within a week to ten days.

Apart from getting the boat tidied up for cruising again, we have had a few jobs to do - 

Tracking down and purchasing antifoul paint,

Sending the anchor chain off for regalvanizing,

Rebedding a couple of chainplates and deck prisms,

Replacing the impeller on the Brooks and Gatehouse speed log ---

a serendipidous find in Yacht Grot in Fremantle where Jon picked up 2 new ones and an old one for A$50!  

Little jobs that seem to take a day or more to finish....

Like, how long does it take to re-cable an external stereo speaker??**

Plus, Jon has had to have a suspicious lump removed from his scalp,

and another new dental crown which is still to be finished.

Medical and dental services here in Miri are very good.

The weather is as hot and humid as it always is here but the aircon makes life bearable.

It's great to know you can be out and about on your bike and have a nice cool cabin to retreat to when finished.  Nightly thunderstorms are the norm at the moment as well.

Boats continue to come and go, with new boats arriving and waving off friends we have got know, with some heading in the direction of Singapore and beyond while others are moving north.  Many seem to be heading for Kudat at the tip of Borneo for haul out - just like us.

So, life goes on.  We have celebrated Jon's birthday with a yum cha breakfast and dinner at a local restaurant.  

Then yum cha at a different restaurant to celebrate another yachtie's birthday.  

Had several Indian meals at the nearby Banana Leaf cafe.  

Enjoying the lower cost of living after the sky-rocketing prices back in Australia.  

Annoyed that our bank (NAB) has suddenly introduced fees and charges to our debit card!  

We now have a $4 ATM fee as well as a 2% fee on cash withdrawals - the same as we had on our ATM card.  

Oh, well, it was good while it lasted.

Jon thoroughly enjoyed his passage aboard Taipan from Cocos Keeling Islands to Mauritius, via Rodriquez, despite being fast and a bit uncomfortable at times.  See previous post for links to that passage.  Unfortunately, he lost his little waterproof Olympus camera so no pictures.

 The thunderstorm came early today and this afternoon a heavy tropical downpour, accompanied by thunder and lightning, reduced visibility in the marina.

The red bucket in this picture was empty a short time before and is now overflowing. The white snowballs are raindrops caught in the flash.

** Three days!!

And The Work Goes On....

The varnishing job is coming along a treat as Jon continues to work hard mostly on the sanding - the more time spent getting the teak smooth and then sanding properly between coats the better the finish.  He has nearly finished the starboard side - hand rails, 'eyebrow' and cap rail plus the steering wheel.  All this rubbing despite receiving treatment for a crook right shoulder at the local physio, a short bike ride away.

Otherwise life in the marina continues with some boats leaving and others arriving.   Friday nights, while the sun sets slowly in the west and weather permitting, the crews generally get together to share a drink and some nibblies to catch up on the week's happenings.


 

The giant seahorse doubles as a lighthouse at the entrance to the marina.

Marinas all over the world seem to attract wedding groups or magazine shoots for that 'romantic' touch.

Celebrating and Working

It is just over a month now since we celebrated Christmas in London, quickly followed by New Year celebrations, also in London. Since arriving back in Miri, Sarawak, we have seen Chinese New Year being celebrated by the local community and yesterday, 26th January, the Australian contingent of the yachting community here in the marina celebrated Australia Day. A barbecue on the dock was planned but rain put paid to that and the party moved to the roomy Solita, an Australian flagged motor boat from Darwin ... thanks to John and Sue. The celebrations were shared by our Kiwi friends, an American couple, a French woman and a German - very multicultural, just like Australia.

Big jobs have been the number one priority on board with the starboard fuel tank having an inspection port fitted then being cleaned of diesel 'bug' and finally filled to the top with clean diesel; a problem with the diesel generator was finally traced to the loosening of the retaining nut of the rocker assembly (the cylinder wouldn't work because the valve wouldn't work); new alternator belts have been fitted and aligned; starboard teak handrails and cap rails have been sanded in preparation for re-varnishing... these tasks have been performed admirably and uncomplainingly by Jon while Pam mostly sticks to the not all boring and domestic tasks... visiting the markets, shopping, cooking and cleaning, organising laundry, sewing and mending, etc. and learning the ropes of her new iPad, which includes downloading ebooks - a boon for yachties as it means less books to carry, less weight for the boat and also not having to rely on 'swap' books as you can choose to download what you want to read. Needless to say Belle's Books has been visited and a nice new copy of the Birds of Borneo added to our reference collection.

Sailing plans are a bit up in the air at the moment. Our Aussie based daughter is getting married in April in the UK so where to go and what to do? We are considering setting off towards Kuching and Santubong, further SW along this part of the Borneo coast, and then across the South China Sea to Singapore and into the Jahore Straits, where we would leave Tweed in the marina at Danga Bay. Like all sailing plans there could be many changes... mmmm, we'll let you know as it happens.

Sent from my iPad

The Passage in Review

The following description was written by Chris who crewed with Jon on the passage from Okinawa to Miri.

Just a shortish note describing a passage with my sailing friend (Jon Choate) bringing his yacht from Okinawa in Japan to Miri, Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

The yacht is a Hans Christian 43 rigged as a cutter, set up for offshore cruising and weighs in at around 17 tonnes. Tweed is quite a hefty girl but is sea kindly and is very safe.

I left Daun in charge of “More Magic” on Tuesday 25^th October, after convincing her that I would be back in Miri  “…in just a couple of weeks…” I arrived I Okinawa on Wednesday after flying from Kota Kinabalu to HK, thence on the Okinawa. 

There were a few jobs to do before we could leave Okinawa which took a few days to complete.

After getting the local marine department, and customs approvals we set out from the west coast of Okinawa early on Saturday 29^th October. The local weather forecast was for moderate to strong nor’easters to Ishigaki some 260 miles to the south. Almost as soon as we headed out with reefed main and genoa we settled into good sailing conditions and were reaching at good speeds in a mostly dry cockpit. The occasional wave would fill the leeward deck space and swoosh up to the stern plopping over the cockpit coamings and send us a wake up call.

We soon settled into regular night watches of 3 hours swapping over every day so one of us would get to catch up on sleep. Jon did all the cooking and I did the cleaning up and tea and coffee so we shared the load. Sort of.

We had a go at fishing but the lures were all very large for big game fish really, while the lines were quite small so we didn’t hold out for a fish dinner. We kept trying but the fish were wary and scarce. We did however, land lots of flying fish at night. Jon said it must have been the breeding season.

We arrived at Ishigaki around 10 pm on the Sunday giving us a relatively fast 40 hour passage. As we were unfamiliar with the harbour we anchored in the middle of a basin in the inner harbour towards what looked like yacht masts. We were woken at 6am by the wash from several departing one man fishing boats. 

After finding our pre arranged berth we spent two days and three nights in Ishigaki refueling, re-victualling and watering as well as enjoying the local seafood and pork while sampling the famous Ishigaki beef.

We departed Ishigaki for Subic Bay in the Philippines on Wednesday morning after clearing out with immigration the previous day. The weather from the nor’east was well established and continuing to dominate the patterns so it still promised to be a great sail.

During the later afternoon we spotted a large pod of Bryde’s Beaked Whales heading south from Japan away from the whaling fleet. Unfortunately we were unable to get a decent photo but Jon and I were convinced of the identity of these beautiful cetaceans from a comprehensive whale book.

Our route took us generally south to the Luzon Passage north of the main island of the Philippines, then west thru the passage and south again along the coast of north west Luzon. When we turned south west to go through the Luzon Passage on Friday we were able to pole out the genoa and had a great day’s sailing almost dead downwind.  We were later able to gybe and head south west towards the northern tip of Luzon in freshening conditions.

On Saturday as we approached the northern coast of Luzon we ran into the north bound Luzon current which slowed our progress considerably. The conditions were really great for sailing for the first three days but gradually deteriorated in the latter stage of the passage. On Sunday afternoon approaching the Gulf of Lingayan midway down the west coast of Luzon a breeze sprang from the south so we motor sailed for a few hours before a savage squall put us on our ear and we reduced sail and hove to for 6 hours before resuming our passage south. The next day was more of the same and so we headed for Port Matalavi for a nights respite. 

Only 60 miles to go to Subic Bay so we were off bright and early Wednesday in calm conditions. The breeze gradually filled in from the south west to give us a work towards Subic. As we neared the coast in the afternoon on a strar’bd tack we picked up a nice lift off the mountains which took us another 15 miles towards the Bay. We arrived in Subic at 10 that night and anchored outside the marina.

The next day we headed for the marina and a procession of Philippine officials all with their hand out for US$50 to clear in. We again re-victualled, collected more fuel, went to the extensive fresh market 2 days in a row, and passed another US$50 to the nice Immigration official to leave the country. Boy, were we pleased to be out of that place.

The forecast was not so good from Subic but Miri was calling us so off we went, early on Sunday morning we motor sailed south to the west coast of Mindoro towards the Sulu Sea. Our route took us into the Sulu Sea to take advantage of the southward current. We made good time and as the sun went down the breeze came up giving a good nights passage towards Borneo. The same pattern followed the next day so after 3 days we were closing on the main channel of Balabac Strait. Early in the afternoon we headed south west to take advantage of the shelter of Banggi Island and anchored for the night on Thursday in a sheltered bay on the east side of the island.

By now we were low on diesel and planned to call into either Kudat on the northern tip of Borneo or press on the Kota Kinabalu 80 miles to the south. Gradually the breeze filled in on Friday from the west and we were able to reach down the coast to KK. One unfortunate side line to sailing in Borneo is the number of logs floating just below the surface many of them up to 15 metres in length and 3 metres diameter. We encountered one of these “beauties” just as we rounded the Northern Tip which caught the prop and put a small bend in the shaft, enough to make the motor shudder at 1800 revs.  We missed several other logs in the same area.

We made it to KK early Saturday morning and tied up at the Marina ready to take on water and fuel and catch up with some friends. We dined out at the best Peking Duck restaurant in KK the King Hu Saturday evening and headed for sea the next day at 6am.

Next stop was Labuan 60 miles to the south and duty free shopping. We had a nice reach down the coast in the afternoon and reached Labuan port at 10 Sunday night.

Our final passage was fast approaching and after a quick trip to shore we up-anchored and headed for Miri 100 miles further south. An uneventful passage with the exception of a close call with an anchored dive boat as we sailed along in smooth water at 6 knots with a 15 knot sou’ wester. We arrive at the Miri Marina at 9am Tuesday 22 November, four weeks to the day after flying out, and was greeted by one very happy Daun complete with sweaty body after a frantic pedal from the market. 

In all we sailed 1600 miles in about 16 days with a few stops on the way. We had favourable sailing conditions for about 70% of the time and consumed about 400 litres of diesel at 3.5 litres an hour. 

During the passage we experienced fuel starvation caused by contamination in the tanks thru biocide treatment. At Subic Bay we removed both fuel filters and thoroughly cleaned them before blowing out the fuel lines and replacing the 10 micron filters. In KK we replaced the engine fuel filter and the filters looked much cleaner than previously.

It was a great passage and terrific experience in a well found, heavy displacement  cruising yacht.

Thanks, Chris!! ... And some more figures from Jon:


Total distance from Okinawa to Miri: 1837 nautical miles
Total number of days: 25
Days under full sail: 13
Days motoring/motor/sailing: 7
Days in port: 5
Diesel consumed: 586 litres 

Arrival Miri!

A good night's sail down the coast of Brunei with a light breeze.  Arrived in Miri Marina at 0800 yesterday morning, 22 November.  Jon and Chris left Okinawa in Japan on 29 October and covered approximately 1400 nautical miles in 24 days.  Tweed performed well apart from a minor fuel problem and another problem with the generator.  All in all a great experience.

Next Stop - Miri

Arrived in Victoria Harbour, Labuan, about 2100 last night and dropped the anchor.  Slept well and then spent this morning buying up some duty free - Labuan is one of three duty free ports in Malaysia.  The other two are Langkawi and Tioman Islands.  Following lunch ashore we then set sail for Miri about 1300 for an overnight passage to Miri, our final port.  With flattish seas and wind from NW to N about 10-15 knots we have been sailing since 1315 at 6+ knots.  We expect the winds to decrease a bit shortly and should arrive in the marina at Miri about 0900-1000 tomorrow.  Phew!

Fuel and Duty Free Stops

A great night and able to turn off the engine at 1830 Friday evening and sail until 0240 Saturday morning, so a good out come.  We arrived in Sutera Harbour Marina about lunchtime and spent the afternoon organising fuel so had to stay the night.  Left early this morning, Sunday, for Labuan.  Flat seas and light winds again despite the Malaysian weather forecast for 15-20 knots.  We will stock up on duty free in Labuan before leaving on our last leg to Miri, Sarawak.

Stop, Start

We anchored just off Banggi island north of Kudat late yesterday, 7 11.60 N, 117 16 60 E. We had a navtex message from Malaysia saying strong wind, rough seas 30 to 50 k/hr from NE - OK, no problem with that, but then a new one same statement only wind direction NW for Sabah waters so we amended the plan and came in to hide from the NW wind. As we were motoring finished the starboard fuel tank, changed over to the port tank and engine started to surge again so will blow the fuel line back to the tank, change a filter and if can, go to Kota Kinabalu for more fuel.

Had a good night's sleep.  Cleaned the fuel lines, changed filters and we were under way again at 0830. We will head for KK for fuel as easier to get it there than elsewhere. Then off to Labuan buy some dutyfree, then Miri.

We are now around the tip of Borneo on the way to KK - should be there by morning and only have 78 NM to run.  The wx has been very mild with very light wind and overcast,  light rain now and again.  Not a lot else as we have been playing with the Flasher (MPS) up, poled out, jibe, Flasher down, Flasher up,
great fun but very poor results as wind was so light .

Our posn.is @1640 07 03.13 N, 116 42 91 E, SOG 4.8, COG 235, Dist. 590 N Miles since SUBIC.

Malaysia on the Horizon

We have had a beautiful sail from about 0430 yesterday morning when I turned off the engine until 1400 - water was flat and the breeze was just forward of the beam so sailed 43 miles. The wind then dropped out so motoring again.  Today has dawned with flat seas and very light NE breeze with no cloud.  A beautiful day after a night of thunderstorms all around giving a good light show.  Only got rained on once but not enough to wash all the booby poo off.

We will pass through the Balabac Straits main channel some time this afternoon so we will be out of the Philippines and into Malaysia.

Posn @ 0700 is 7 47.22 N, 118 05.57 E, SOG 4.8, COG 249.

Balambangan Island

Anchored in Teluk Lung on Balambangan Island, 07 deg 16.630N, 116 deg 59.750E, with only 37 NM to the Philippines! Today's passage from Tambuluran started off slowly then the wind came in from the NE - we were hoping for the predicted ENE, especially once we passed the tip of Borneo. Once past the tip we had to motor sail into the stiff breeze which grew from 15-20 to 20-25 knots and kept our speed down considerably. Tacking was pretty much out of the question as the strong west-flowing current allowed for little headway. The waters were very confused and sloppy, making for an unpleasant sail. On the bright side, a line of rain clouds off our starboard stayed there so we didn't get wet and we had sun most of the day. The anchorage is in clear water off a flat peninsula with casuarinas trees lining a white beach and there is some reef between us and the beach.

One More Step

Finally managed to get away from Usukan Bay today. We left about 0600 when there was hardly any breeze and by 0800 we had some wind from the NE. It picked up during the day to about 15-18 knots which was quite comfortable in the considerably reduced sea conditions. We still had to put in a few tacks to make our destination though. We made our anchorage just south of Tanjong Tambuluran, 06 deg 49.560N, 116 deg 39.350 E, just after 1400. Wind blowing off the land at about 15-18 knots but very comfortable in the bay.

Staying Put

Spent today anchored in Usukan once more as the seas are still too rough for our liking. But there's always work to do - nice clean bilge, clean solar panels, another operational fan in the sleeping cabin, a 'sun visor' over the spray dodger front window, finished another book. We have mentioned before that cruising is quite often just doing boat maintenance in exotic locations - clean water, palm fringed beaches, jungle clad rocky headlands, friendly locals. It's nice to stop awhile.

Thumbs Down to Rocking and Rolling

Following a boisterous start to the day we are now re-anchored in Usukan Bay. The conditions in short sharp swells and 20+ knots from the NE were not worth enduring. We turned tail and returned to Usuakan and flat water. The wind is still blowing though. It has not been a waste of time and a few more chores have been completed - the injector fuel pump re-tightened, some re-stitching to the weather cloths, etc. A returning fishing boat came close by so we bought four small tuna mackerel from them for five Ringgits (about $1.70) so lunch was sorted! Several other returning fishing boats gave us the thumbs up for coming back as they knew what it was like out there. Tomorrow is another day so we will see what the morning brings.

And Roll We Did...

It's the northeast monsoon season and as we are heading northeast we have to put up with a northeasterly swell. Today it was about 2-3 metres and quite short which means uncomfortable!! The wind was light so we motor-sailed most of the way before deciding to call it a day. We are anchored up in Usukan Bay doing a few final putting-away chores. This is a lovely bay with several white sandy beaches and one small stilt village on the southern side. Not far from us is a jetty where last time we were here five big rig tenders were rafted together. With a clear blue sky the water looks very inviting and to east behind some small hills rises Mt Kinabalu covered in cloud as usual.
Position: 06 deg 22.390 N, 116 deg 20.620 E

Ready to Rock and Roll... Again

The inverter has been installed and everything is working well aboard Tweed. Fresh provisions have been stowed, Customs and Immigration procedures finalised and the marina paid up so we will untie our docklines tomorrow morning, 11 February, and depart for Palawan Island in the Philippines. We have not decided yet whether to stopover in one anchorage further north and then do an overnight passage to Palawan or whether to just take it easy day by day. We still have well over five months before we want to be back in Kota Kinabalu so maybe the second option. Time will tell.

Here is a chart showing Sabah on the northern section of the island of Borneo with the island of Palawan extending northeast of the tip. More parts of the Philippines can be seen as well. So now you have an idea of where we will be going.

Marina Life

The marina at Sutera Harbour in Kota Kinabalu is one of the cleanest we have ever stayed in. In fact some days it feels like we are floating in an aquarium as fish swim around and under the boat. Recently, there has been a large school of trevally patrolling the waters in here, maybe to feed off the large schools of small fingerlings which are doing their best to grow into big fish. Most marinas are just like huge fish attracting devices but normally you don't get to see many of the fish in the murky waters.

Here is a picture of just a few of the trevally swimming though the sunlight shining under the big boat next to us. No, we don't try and catch them as they are more like pets than fish for the table.







We still have no departure date for the Philippines as our new inverter is still on its way from Singapore - about three hours away by plane. Everything takes time, especially customs clearance!

Back To The Start

Arrived back in Kota Kinabalu yesterday, Australia Day, just before 5.30 p.m. after some great downwind sailing. Now in the process of replacing our 1800W pure sine wave inverter which we will probably have to have sent in. Also need to check with Immigration what our visa status is as we had already checked out. Never a dull moment!

Twice Around The Top in Two Days!

After a nice evening in Teluk Lung, nicely protected from the prevailing winds we had an interrupted night when a freshwater hose came free in the back of the boat and drenched our 1800 Watt inverter!! Jon spent some time removing the beast and trying to dry it out but on testing it in the morning it just went snap, crackle and pop plus a bit of smoke. The inverter is necessary to run out 240 volt refrigeration so we had a big problem - a fridge full of meat, cheeses and other goodies to last us for our first month or two in the Philippines. Our friends on Ambrosia offered us the use of a 240 volt generator but it did not have the capacity to run our fridge so we decided to turn tail and head back to Kota Kinabalu.
This was a downwind run after four days of hard on the wind sailing in pretty good conditions. The leg back across the top of Borneo was fast and boisterous as the wind was stronger than yesterday and the waves built as we got further out into open water but we made good time. We didn't leave until after 12:00 so time was against us to reach our previous anchorage at Tambuluran before dark. After rounding the Top sea conditions improved and we had a much more comfortable sail. We arrived just before 7.30 p.m. well after sunset but with a moon to give us a bit of light as we came into the darkened bay.

Within Reach of the Top

The wind blew quite strongly from the east during the evening and night and dropped off during the early hours of the morning. It was calm when we left at 0600 for the leg to a bay just south of Tambuluran. The wind picked up early on and we had good sailing although the wind tended to die at times. Rain showers over the land appeared to increase the speed for us. We managed to almost make our destination without putting in any tacks - just one at the end when we motored into the bay and dropped the anchor at 06 deg 49.637 N, 116 deg 39.409 E where we have very flat water despite gusty winds from the east. A few fishermen are active in their long skinny fishing boats although there is no village to be seen, just a few huts. There are some beautiful looking long white beaches but we won't have time to explore them this visit. Tomorrow should see us pass the tip of Borneo on our way to Balambangan Island.