Labuan 2008

End of October we left Brunei for Labuan. That’s the third place where you get duty free alcohol. Unfortunately the new Hull transmitter was not working properly and I had to send it back to Singapore.

I inquired to have the radar fixed and it came out that it cost ¾ of a new one to have it fixed. I bought the same one he had on stock after comparing prices from the States and Singapore. Considering sending costs and waiting time the deal was ok. I also got back my HF radio.


On the left you can see oil platforms. They are there for maintenance.

One week later we left for KK (Kota Kinabalu). We anchored in the front of the hotel “La Promenade”.

When you come along the little artificial Island pos 5°58.72N 116°03.75E, stay close to it, the reef is not far away! You will see the terrace of a restaurant, when you come around the corner you see the Hotel Promenade you can anchor just in front, the entire place is dredged out.

There will be 2 little sand beaches where you can land with the dingy, then go around the fence to be in town. It’s a busy modern city very touristy. We found the place expensive, and didn’t stay long.

November, we moved to Teluk Usukan (pos: 6°22.30N 116°20.18E), nice anchorage. From there the Mount Kinablu is impressive (more than 4’090m high). Then we stopped at Pulau Mantanani Besar (pos: 6°42.68N 116°21.10E) and had a nice snorkeling in company of Lise and Wally from Blue Tango.

Brunei 2008

End of September we moved to Brunei. We made the clearance in Belait (River entrance position: 4°35.29 N; 114°10.94 E). We got a landing pass. It means we are permitted to enter and remain in Brunei while vessel still at port. No visa hassle for Pui.

The restriction of this landing pass is that you must sleep on the yacht, but it seems that nobody cares. Silence is gold. We had a nice meal there, and next day we continued our trip to Muara.

On the way wind and sea built up luckily from behind. It was quite uncomfortable for Pui. We stopped at Gerudong (Pos: 4°57.70 N; 114°48.51 E). It’s a breakwater who has the form of a horseshoe and belongs to the property of the brother of the Sultan of Brunei. We appreciated to get sheltered there. There is a little Island inside we anchored close to.



October 3rd we anchored at Serasa Yacht club (RBYC).
We met again Helena zwo and SabiStar.







From October 3rd to October 5th was Hari Raya. After the Ramadan, The Sultan of Brunei opens his palace to his folk, and every body is invited to come and shake his hand. The first day over 20’000 people visited the palace.

We went the second day with Ian and Christine. At eight o’clock we began the journey with a copious breakfast. Then we started to wait (4 hours in total) to get to the highlight of the day: shake Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah’s hand. Men’s and women go separate ways. There is a first hall cooled by fans were you get a seat lined in rows.

It’s a continuous ballet of people sitting in a row and other standing up in the next one to get to the next hall, amazing how it went smooth. The second one was air-conditioned. Finally you enter the chamber were the Sultan and his surrounding stays to be greeted. It was a big emotion to shake the Sultan’s hand.

Then you leave the room and by the exit you get a certificate and a box of sweeties. Women shake Sultan’s wife hand. Pui’s certificate has number 27’821; mine has number 32’112. Next day Christine and Pui were in pictured in the local newspaper.

On the picture left, Christine shakes the hand form the wife of the Sultan and Pui stays in the background.

By one o’clock we came out and went to Darussalam meet Allan Riches, he is in charge of Brunei Bay Radio and the Sailmail station in Brunei to pick up my spear parts, my order from West marine already arrived. You can have spares sent in Brunei tax free. Details to proceed can be found at:

www.bruneibay.net/intrepidyachting

Email: yachting@bruneibay.net

In the evening we got invited by Ian and Christine for her Birthday. We went to the Empire Hotel & Country Club. That’s the place were the Sultan’s guests stay when they come to visit him. We spend a nice evening having dinner at an Italian restaurant to reasonable price. My dressing code was not to standard and I had to jump in a pair of pans that was worth than what I had on (Thai fisherman pans). Finally I could enter like I was.

Next day I started to install the new electronics. Few days later came the spares from Singapore. I was still on standby for new radar, because I was told that they have a competent technician in Labuan, still hoping to get the stuff fixed.

We also went to the Malaysian High Commission in Brunei to apply for a three month single entry visa for Pui. First they didn’t want to give the visa, and I asked to talk to a supervisor. We had to battle to get it, showing disappointment versus the visa they gave Pui at the Malaysian Embassy in Singapore. It worked and we got it. We got warned that on arrival she would get only 30 days, but it would be no problem to ask for extension.

Borneo 2008 Sarawak P. Mulu National Park

Mulu National park. If you do it by yourself it’s quite a job to match flights and accommodation dates. We first gave up and then we got the reference from a guesthouse outside the park opposite to the airfield. At this time it was not officially open but ready to operate. So we spent 3 days there with Bruno and Hellen. Pinnacles go over 2370m high and can be climbed, but I think you must hire a guide and for sure it takes more than one day to go up and done.





The canopy walk was very interesting. They made rope bridges 30m above ground level going from one tree to the other, so you can experience what’s going up there on the top of the jungle.
The handicraft village was full of colors and interesting local made souvenirs were offered to the tourists.







Caves were appreciated for their cool temperatures. Clearwater Cave is more than 100km long; Lang’s Cave shows illuminated limestone. Sarawak Chamber has the Guinness Book of World Record to be the largest cave chamber.





Deer cave is the home of 3 million bats. They can be seen coming out every sunset. You see a dark snake moving in the sky, it’s very impressive.



As we were in Miri visa was running out. We went to immigration “1” outside town that told us to make a U turn to Brunei. As we arrive at the border the immigration officer tells us that Pui can not do the U Turn, we must go and see immigration in town. Oh my word!!!! I had to make a huge effort not to explode. As I was already cleared out with the taxi driver, Pui had to get out of the car so we could make the U turn and pick her up on the way back. Simon, our taxi driver got the right information so he drove us to immigration “2” in town, and we got a cost free extension of 30 days.

Borneo 2008 Sarawak P. Bintulu and Miri

End of August we made our way to Bintulu, coming out on the Birutu River. Luckily we could follow Helena zwo. They were of big help. We had no depth sounder working and it was almost impossible to work with a manual one. We steered by hand, it was no fun. It’s amazing the comfort an auto pilot brings. We anchored in Mukah (pos: 5°56.20 N; 112°06.34 E). It’s not protected but the conditions were calm to make an over night stop.



In Bintulu you have two options, anchor in the river in town or go to the industrial harbor.

In town, the river is very busy and a friend of mine got his dingy stolen after sundown as he was on board. The dingy was in the water, he was planning later to go back to town. Usually he always has the dingy on the davits.

In the harbor, the security will ask you to anchor in a basin outside the main basin. The place is safe but there is a long way with the dingy to get to the police dock where the exit of the harbor is. In earlier times you were anchoring at the top end of the main basin close to the police and tug dock.

Then you have to organize a car to get to town. Security can arrange a taxi to come (probably a fellow on leave will come with his private car), negotiate the price before. The town was not of special interest. It’s a good over night stop if you are doing day trips.


Next stop was in Miri.
There is a marina; you can not miss the entrance by day (pos: 4°22.93 N; 113°58.16 E), leave on port side a big seahorse. There are no facilities, water and electricity is provided.

In Miri, the city of the seahorse, we organized to have our electronic repaired. Unfortunately the references given by SY Crystal Blues were not good. The Takzim Company was useless and came only with problems instate of solutions. He was only interested to sell new stuff to prohibitive prices. We wasted two weeks waiting for a quotation that never came. When I got the equipment back, they put the wrong HF radio in the box. I only realized that in Brunei, and had to organize the exchange in Labuan. Finally I ordered new equipments from West Marine and Singapore to be delivered in Brunei.

From Canada Hill you have a nice overview of the city. It is also the place where oil was found. A museum tells about the grand old lady.

One day, Pui and I went to the Chinese temple in Miri. As we were getting in the place one of the red light globe fall just in front of Pui. We were lucky this day.

Borneo 2008 Sarawak P. Sibu city

Sibu, the city of the swan.

We anchored opposite of the Chinese Temple. The city is pleasant to walk through. From the top of the temple, there is a nice point of view to be seen.

Cargos anchor there to wait to be unloaded. One did it so close to us, as y asked what his intensions were, I got answered to keep clear for my safety. Isn’t that nice! You don’t argue with big brother, so we re anchored.

Markets are always our target. You find very fresh food.

August 19th 06.00 AM, we got hit by a lightning. Light & sound at the same time. I never got up so quick in my life. As I came up, on the deck I found a left over from my top mast VHF antenna. We started the inventory of the damage, we listed 19 positions. All the electronic were gone except: the laptop, GPS, Pactor, antenna tuner (we find out later). Some items who suffered were on, others where off. What got destroyed are: HF, VHF, Radar, 2 auto pilots, hull transmitter for instrumentation, 12V charger for the laptop, LED lights, computer fans used for ventilation, even an battery operated digital thermometer I used to check temperature in the fridge. 2 days later the alternator gave up. Luckily I had the original one as spare.

From Sibu my friends Hellen and Bruno with Pui made a day trip up to Kapit by ferry, my self stayed on the yacht to replace the alternator. I also had a runner this day, and toilets where my best friends.

The pictures show how high the water can get in a river. The museum is on the top of the steps leading to the pontoon.

Borneo 2008 Sarawak P. up to Sibu

In August, together with Helena and Bruno, we went up Rajang River to Sibu. We made a first stop in Tulau Lakey. The water is clear there, almost no chances to meet Mr. crocodile (they prefer to stay in muddy waters), so we could clean the propeller, anodes and ground plate from the SSB, check the water in and outlets, and check the antifouling. Next day off we go to the Rajang river mouth and anchored 10 nm further up at Sg Lumut.

Notice.
The electronic charts up the river are accurate but Horizontal Datum formatted. On CMap you can set following offset, Lat: +0.05 and Long: -0.25 and you will be on the river. But trust your eyeballs and apply river driving technique witch consist to follow the outside of the river curves. The river is very bright, depths are not of a problem, you will have to watch for traffic and loosen log coming down. We also made progress going up with rising tides, almost no current.

Next day we went 20 nm further up and stopped in Sarikey. The logging industry is huge and presents every where along the river. When you see that; Oh yes! We definitely have to worry about deforestation.

Sarikey is a nice little town well furbished. Fresh stuff is not a problem. We spent two days there.

Next stop was Bintangor 14 nm further up. We anchored stern to stern with Helena zwo because the river was not too wide.

Next day we made our way to Tulay River and anchored opposite a longhouse stern to stern again.

We got invited by the inhabitants. We spent three lovely days, got invited in the evening and had local made rice wine and experienced custom dance.

Hellen makes her own rice vine and brought some. The locals enjoyed it. They where curios about the little difference of Hellen’s one. She puts lemon in the brew.

As the name says, the longhouse is built in length, with a terrace going all the way thru. This is the community part where every family meets in the evening;


At the back of the terrace you see a wall with only doors. Behind each door lives a family. Being close the river these longhouses are built on piles to be sheltered from flooding. The longhouses shown in the cultural village of Santubong and the one we had the opportunity to visit are quit different.

Modernizations talk over the second one, nothing wrong about that. In the day we walked around and close by we saw the rest of a longhouse who got in fire couple of month ago, nothing left but carbonized piles. The inhabitants had just time to run away with what they had on them. It was very sad to look at this scenery. They started reconstruction but individual houses.

Next step was a 28 nm strip up to Sibu. There was a lot of traffic on the way. Cargos come up to deliver they merchandise to Sibu.

We came across boat building industries. Tugs and bid power vessels.