Will We Ever Get Out of Here?

The day of departure arrives and the little marina is absolutely jam-packed. We are sandwiched in with two charter catamarans rafted up behind us with two large ferries rafted the other side of them!! Maybe they will all wake up soon and leave. Tweed's grey hull can just be glimpsed behind the left hand catamaran.

D-Day Minus 1

Tomorrow we depart Tioman Island off the east coast of Malaysia for Santubong in Sarawak. Below is a chart of our proposed route across the South China Sea, passing close by the Indonesian islands of the Anambas. The passage is about 400 NM and should take 3 days, possibly 4. Three days will put us outside the Santubong River to await the high tide in the morning when we will be able to enter the muddy waters to anchor off the small village of Santubong.

Arrival Tioman Island

Tuesday morning and similar conditions to Monday with a couple of hours of sailing as we approached the Pahang River. We anchored just north of the river where a lot of earthworks, dredging and building of a seawall is going on. Several tugs with barges were anchored off and the work continued until about 10:00 p.m. It seems another engineered river entrance is underway, creating another safe harbour for boats.

Just as we were about to drop our anchor, a swiftlet flew into the cockpit, landed on a cushion and promptly closed its eyes. We were only about half a mile offshore but maybe it had come from further out and was just too exhausted to continue. We moved it to a more protective environment and about three hours later it flew off and headed for shore. We have had birds join us before on occasion but usually further out. We once had a tern roost on our pulput on the bow and stay there all night. It didn't fly away until the sun was well and truly up.

Wednesday was our last leg to Tioman and the day we had the most wind. It was frustrating day, however, as it was just a bit tight on for our heavy boat to make the most of it. Along the way we noticed what at first we thought were just some black flags marking some fishing floats and bobbing about in the small waves. Then, they appeared to be moving. As they passed about three metres alongside us we realised it was a school of sailfish busily feeding on smaller fish!! Then we noticed there were at least six groups scattered in the vicinity all with a flock of terns circling and diving for the scraps. This was a first as we had never seen this occurrence before.

We are now in the marina at Tioman Island for a few days to replenish the ships stores and prepare for heading across the South China Sea to Sarawak. The island is duty free so we are able to top up our wine and beer. The other big draw to Tioman was to catch up with David and Kris from Taipan who have recently returned from five months in Australia where we helped celebrate their wedding in April.

Weather Fair, Sailing So-So

Two days of fair weather with not much wind has meant a lot of motoring, especially as the current has been running against us. However, we have had peaceful nights in good anchorages. Saturday night at Pulau Kapas, anchored over sand in 5 metres where we were able to have a swim and then last night at Pulau Tenggol anchored again over sand but this time in 20 metres. A calm night only to be awakened by thunder and lightning - more like an alarm really as it was very short-lived and was gone before we got the anchor up. Now we are anchored in the river at Kemerman, 04 deg. 14.510N, 103 deg. 26.742 E. The entrance was nothing like the chart and a breakwater has been installed near the entrance which was quite safe to enter with the tide still having 1 metre to fall.

The Kemerman entrance from the anchorage

There has been a stream of fishing boats coming in and now going out. Several have beached themselves on the shore near us to load up with bags of sand - not sure of the purpose - before also leaving for the night's fishing. Hope they do better than we did today.

All In All, A Good Day

We departed the marina at Terengganu yesterday about 11:00 on the high tide. We had beautiful wind from the southeast and had a good sail all of the way to Pulau Redang, 32 NM to the north. What's more we caught our first fish in a while and it was a lovely Narrow-barred mackerel - plenty for four to share for dinner on Tweed. A line of big clouds along the coastline looked threatening for a while but even they decided to leave us alone. Fresh fish on the barbecue accompanied by a delightful Thai salad a la Daun was a fitting finish to a great day.

Postcard from Terengganu

Whoa! We have been back in Terangganu since 30th July. We have now checked
out with Customs and Harbour Master and will leave tomorrow for Tioman
Island. We should arrive there in about 6 days time. Apologies about lack
of blog updates but will try and get something readable up soon!!

In the meantime here are some links to pictures from our travels:

Chiang Rai to Mae Salong

The Golden Triangle

Mekong River to Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang to Vientiane

Vientiane

Goodbye to the Islands

We are now back in Kuala Terengganu, after almost two weeks of enjoying the clear waters of the Redang and Perhentian Islands, and preparing for our departure to Borneo.

One of the first tourist boats to arrive

The morning we left Redang we decided to stop off at the small island of Pinang, just across the channel on the southwestern tip of Redang. There is a very good snorkelling area there and we hoped to beat the daily tourist rush on the area. Unfortunately, we were already a bit late at 9:00 and the hordes had already started to arrived.

A few of the tourist boats

We had a quick snorkel on an old wreck before heading for the other end of the reef to drift back with the current. Drifting along, we viewed lovely coral gardens with clams and heaps of fish with the most notable being a very large cod - grouper or garupa, depending on where you come from! He was next to a large bommie looking very relaxed with his big mouth open to allow the feeder fish entry to clean his teeth. We also saw a large, khaki-coloured eel wrapped around some coral. We had seen an even bigger one a couple of days before when snorkelling in a small bay at Redang.

View of the wreck and some of the snorkellers under the jetty

Back at the wreck another large cod was spotted (and he was spotted, too) but he was a bit more active and disappeared before we could get a good look at him. By this time the water was becoming distinctly murky. All the day trippers had come loaded with bags of bread to feed the fish and with hundreds of them dispersing the contents of their bags, the water was nowhere near as clear as when we arrived. Time to say goodbye to the islands and continue on our way to Kuala Terengganu once more. It has been an unforgettable few weeks and it will be a long time before we have the luxury of swimming once more in clear waters.

Just Cruising, Still

After nine days anchored around the Redang and Perhentian Islands we returned to the marina in Kuala Terengganu for a few days to get some jobs done and buy some more food. Also enjoyed some meals out including a steamboat at one of the local Chinese restaurants.

While in Chinatown we have discovered that the Chinese delicacy, bird nests, are actually 'farmed' in converted shophouses or swiftlet hotels. It can be a very lucrative business, returning between 4000-18000 Ringgits per kilo, and one estimate of 200 new business per per month.

One species of wildlife which we have noticed both in Tioman Island and now in the river at Terengganu is the Water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator). We have seen them in other places but these ones are the biggest we have ever seen and must be at least two metres long. They certainly look well-fed. This one has been seen quite often at the marina.

We were soon over being back in the marina and after five days set off once again for the Redang and Perhentian Islands. Sailing up the coast we managed to get a shot of the Terengganu State Outdoor Stadium. Barely a week before the roof had collapsed, just one year after completion at a cost of RM300 million. Miraculously, no-one was injured and luckily (?) the building is still within its 2-year warranty period! You can just make out the collapsed roof sections in this photo.


While at Redang we did a jungle walk from the bay where we were anchored through to a bay on the east side of the island. It took about an hour each way and it was lovely to be in cool shade for most of the walk, crossing cool, freshwater streams along the way. We found ourselves at the Coral Redang Resort where we enjoyed a morning cuppa and noticed a Plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus) in the rafters.

Reading, Relaxing and Reanchoring

The islands off the state of Terengganu are mainly composed of granite and sedimentary rocks and a distinct contrast to the islands in the Phuket/Langkawi area which are predominantly limestone karst formations. On arrival at Pulau Redang (Redang Island) on 22 May we were met by beautiful white beaches, and rocky headlands and shores where the granite boulders and cliffs fell steeply into the clear waters. On a dinghy ride along these shores, wide cracks in the rocks could be seen continuing on beneath the water, the aquamarine colouring darkening to deep turquoise as the depth quickly fell away. Most beaches have a fringing coral reef out from the shore and the snorkelling was stunning with all types of corals and hundreds of fish to be seen. It was turtle breeding season during our visit and one evening we counted at least six turtles cruising around off the beach near us. We had seen some tracks on the beach but most of them are robbed fairly quickly by large monitor lizards - or, disappointingly, possibly humans as there were lots of turtle eggs for sale in the Terengganu markets.

Our first anchorage was just off Pulau Pinang, on the south western end of Redang; 05 deg 44.80 N, 103 deg 07.860 E. This would give us protection from the prevailing SW monsoon as well as the NE seabreeze. However, on the second night it did not give us any protection from a SE wind and after bouncing around all night we left early the next morning to anchor in the big NE-facing bay which is home to the Berjaya Resort, 05 deg 27.230 N, 103 deg 01.170 E. This bay proved to give excellent protection against the SE breeze which continued to blow for the next couple of days. As well as a resort ashore there was also access to the road which runs down the centre of the island through the local village. We did a walk to the village to pick up some fresh veg and a chicken as we had not caught any fish to supplement our freezer! Apart from swimming, snorkelling and beach walking, we spent a lot of our time just plain relaxing and reading. During the day up to 8 fishing boats would come in the bay so Jon approached one of them to buy some fish or squid and came back with three nice pan-size fish which the fisherman gave to him.

After four nights we decided to move along to the Perhentian Islands where we anchored off Long Beach on Pulau Perhentian Kecil (Small Perhentian Island), 05 deg 55.045 N, 102 deg 43.520 E. This was another exquisite sandy-bottomed bay with backpacker-style resorts ashore and of course the accompanying noise - not the worst we have ever anchored off though and the music in the evening was actually quite relaxing. Most of the activity was caused by smaller local power boats racing out to meet larger ones ferrying holiday makers to their resort. They would be off-loaded onto the smaller ones and pay two Ringgits to get ashore. At the approach of one of the ferries, between two and four smaller boats would race to be the first one to pick up the passengers!

Again, snorkelling in the clear waters was very good with the highlight being when we saw a school of at least 14 large Bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum). They slowly moved ahead of us chomping at the coral with their large prominent front teeth while at the same time excreting large clouds of processed coral - and we were swimming in it!! They soon turned and suddenly disappeared into the murk.

Kuala Terengganu is the capital of the Malaysian state of Terengganu and being located on the north eastern coastline of the peninsula has always been a bit remote from the rest of the country along with the state of Kalantan, the northern most state south of the Thai border. This has been partly because of the lack of roads into the state. The guide books describe it as more traditional and conservative than other states but this being said it is no less friendly than the other states towards visitors. Sailing along the coastline, it was easy to pick out each village or town with at least one mosque visible, the domes and minarets standing out quite easily.

The Heritage Bay Club Marina is on an island in the estuary of the Terengganu River where a lot of work is being done to make the waterway more navigable. Extensive rock walls are being built either along the banks or within the river itself to create man-made islands, and dredging is going on to pump mud from the shallow water and mud flats to fill in behind the retaining rock walls. As well, two rock groins have been built, extending out beyond the original river heads to create a safe and deep entrance. It would be interesting to return in a year or two to view the results of all this work.

While in the marina we did the usual - check-in procedures, refuelling, reprovisioning, laundry - and managed to find our way across the river in our dinghy to Chinatown where we enjoyed a couple of dinners out and also to the central markets which front the river to buy fresh provisions. The market was one of the bigger ones we have been to and had everything we needed. At both destinations, we were able to tie our dinghy up at local ferry jetties where they were quite safe while unattended.

Our 'day out' the day before we left was a trip up the river to the Crystal Mosque, so called because it is built from steel and glass. It was all part of a riverside complex called Taman Tamadun Islam (Islamic Civilisation Park). We passed the traditional boat building yard where there were two large boats which looked to be almost completed. On our return journey we passed the water police and just beyond that saw some large fishing boats which had been confiscated from illegal Thai, Indonesian and Cambodian fishermen. Some seem to have been there so long they were about to sink or had sunk. In Australia, they just would have burnt them!

Look, no sails!!

East Coast Update

We arrived at Kuala Terengganu yesterday afternoon, 18 May, after four day hops up the coast from Tioman Island. Our first two nights we anchored off the coast, the first being a bit rolly, and the last night at Pulau Kapas. The first two legs were about 60NM each and wind conditions were such that we had to motor or motor sail the whole way. We were able to turn off the engine for four hours on our leg to Kapas and arrived late afternoon. Not long after setting our anchor we had a rain squall come through so were unable to check out the neighbouring coral reefs.

Rain squall approaching Pulau Gumia

The coast along the eastern side of the peninsula has been strikingly different from that along the west in the Malacca Straits. We have had long stretches of beautiful beaches most of the way, not so many fishing boats to contend with, and much clearer waters. We have managed to catch two small tuna and missed two strikes so the fish count continues.

Before leaving for Terengganu, which was only an 11NM leg, we were able to spend a good couple of hours snorkelling the reef on Kapas and the tiny island to the north, Pulau Gumia. We were rewarded with beautiful coral gardens, thousands of beautiful and colourful fish, a couple of black-tipped reef sharks, a turtle and rocks smothered in sea anemones.

We will spend a few days in Terengganu refuelling, reprovisioning and doing some sight-seeing before heading out to the rest of the islands off the state of Terengganu. All promise to have sparkling, clear waters with excellent snorkelling.

Typical local boat design around Terengganu

Where Did That Month Go?

We arrived back on Tweed on Tuesday 5th May after a wonderful trip back to Perth in Western Australia. Although we have a Queensland address we were both born in WA and so that is where our extended families and a lot of our friends live. One of the reasons for us making the trip which was the first since leaving Darwin in July, 2006, was to attend the wedding of Kris and David from the good ship Taipan. The wedding was held at Narrikup, just north of Albany, on a farm in very primitive surroundings. Those guests who didn't live close by all arrived either in camper vans or equipped with camping gear. We chose to camp and thanks to family managed to put together a tent with a swag to sleep in and were very comfortable. We arrived on the Thursday with the wedding on the Saturday and by that time the venue had been well and truly prepared for the celebrations. The wedding went off without a hitch and the partying went on into the night. It was great fun to celebrate an event we had been waiting for ever since our meeting with Kris and David in 2006!

Travelling to Perth and back from the Tioman Islands was a saga in itself. We had a two-hour ferry trip to Mersing on the mainland. Mersing has a shallow bar so our arrival was delayed waiting for the tide to come up but we made it in time to catch the bus for the six-hour ride to Kuala Lumpur. We decided we would leave a day earlier just in case these connections went awry and stayed overnight in a hotel in Chinatown. We then had to fill in time the next day as our flight didn't leave until after midnight. That meant shopping which really wasn't that arduous but we were glad to finally be on the bus for the one and a half hour bus ride to the airport and then more waiting around. We finally took off on the five-hour flight to Perth only to find we couldn't lay back our seats for some sleep. We arrived in Perth at 5.30 a.m. and after clearing through Immigrations and Customs were picked up by Pam's sister Nola and brother-in-law John in the cold dawn. Over the next month we were able to catch up with most of our friends and rellies and really enjoyed the cooler, dryer weather.

It has been very busy in the marina since we arrived back. Last weekend saw the Sultan Ahmad Shah Eco Challenge, with runners doing a half marathon course through jungle trails on Sunday. In the lead up the marina has been crowded with customs boats, police boats, Maritim Malaysia (coast guard) boats, as well as various other visiting boats. Sunday night was the presentation night with everyone invited to attend the festivities in the marina carpark with the Sultan as the guest of honour. It was a very relaxed affair with no obvious security surrounding the Sultan. Food was typically Malaysian curried chicken, curried fish, curried beef and vegetables with rice. Unfortunately the rice ran out before the curries!! Traditional dancing and several singers entertained us and the finale was a fireworks display right on the marina.

All was well on Tweed on our arrival back at Tioman apart from the fridge which seems to have lost gas. Once it has been re-gassed our plans are to move north along the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula as far as Terengganu before coming south again and then crossing the South China Sea to Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo.

A Good Mix of Work and Play

Since our arrival into the marina at Tekek, Tioman Island, we have been pretty busy. To spend a month away from Tweed there were a few jobs we wanted to get done first so that we can come back ready to go cruising north. This has included polishing the topsides with Polyglow which sounds easy but the previous application had deteriorated rather badly after having been neglected while other work was being done. Jon finished this job which was started by Pam and he did an excellent job.

He also completed a PADI Open Water dive course with Daun from More Magic. Pam is still making up her mind about doing the same.

Daun and Jon doing their homework

We have done a couple of snorkels and the water here is so clear it is just amazing. When snorkelling at Pulau Ringgi we have seen three Black-tipped reef sharks, each time we have been there. Jon has seen turtles while doing his PADI course as well.

Chris and Daun were flying to Perth on 1 April, so before they left we decided to do the walk through the jungle to the village of Juara, about 7 kilometres away on the eastern side of the island. It doesn't sound very far, but it is a narrow jungle track with concrete steps in places, and follows the power line over the hill. We took about three hours to complete the walk, the hardest section being the last part over a concrete road but the downhill slope played havoc with our knees! Otherwise, it was a wonderful walk, in amongst the tall trees of the rainforest listening to all the birds calling. We only saw one squirrel in the way of wildlife but along the last section we saw a few monitor lizards which seem to be quite numerous.

Holiday Time!

Arrived in the lovely marina at Pulau Tioman on Tuesday 17 March. After a very calm, sleep-inducing anchorage at Pulau Sibu, we set sail for the 40NM last leg of our journey to Tioman Island about 90 NM north of the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula. As we progressed further north the water became distinctly clearer than that on the western side and we are looking forward to enjoying some time snorkelling and swimming before our intended visit to Perth in early April.