No regrets at leaving Labuan but glad to have seen it as an island that is part of a key economic sector not only of Sabah but of Malaysia as a whole. In fact the oil riches of Borneo being sucked into the wider Malaysian economy is a political issue for the people of Sarawak and Sabah much like the Scottish/UK debate. Interesting to see what will happen in the longer term. Sarawak and Sabah retain certain autonomy within the country, as visiting yachtsmen we have to check in and out with their separate harbour, customs and immigration authorities although our  Malaysian Visa remains valid.

Both Sarawak and Sabah are rich in oil and timber. Tugs pulling massive barges loaded with hardwoods are often on the horizon and oil palm plantations are spreading fast over the landscape here. However, it still looks like a land of rain forest and has the daily downpour of rain to bear witness. This is rain (and wind) as we rarely experience it in the UK.

Many of the villages we have seen have scant facilities or infrastructure and the run down fishing boats saw better days many years ago. Around the coasts and the islands there are always fishing canoes with one or two guys that spend the night on the water, when it pours down they just pull plastic bags over themselves, that’s all they have. We are talking about hours’ worth of rain and although it always seems warm here, hours’ worth of rain brings a chill to the bones as we know from dealing with it in the safety of the cockpit.

Pulau Tiga, is an attractive island with volcanic mud springs, it makes a good stopping place en route to Kota Kinabalu. The surrounding waters are very shallow. We arrived at about 1400 pm but still had enough light to see the orange shadow of the coral reef not far off so went as far in as we dared dropping the anchor in 4 metres of sandy mud. We had a massive anchorage to ourselves, not even a fishing boat breaking the water. A quick swim revealed beautiful coral in clear water but few fish around.

We were glad to have got in with good firm holding as the afternoon went quickly downhill with the now familiar low cloud and pelting rain closing the headland.

The wind speed under these clouds whips up very quickly, we have had over 40 knots on occasion which is not enjoyable especially when it rains as it invariably does. However, this one moved on leaving a perfect sky for sundowners in its wake.

As evening closed in we wondered if the low black puffs would be moving north and bunching up ready for tomorrow afternoon’s blast.

Shortly after this friends Campbell and Jenny appeared on Charelle. They had taken part in the yacht race that we missed because of our engine problem and had come back down from Kota Kinabalu to return to Miri where they would leave Charelle to go land travelling. A joint visit to the mud springs was arranged for the following day.

A pleasant jungle walk with beautiful butterflies led to the springs and they were indeed muddy and shaped not unlike enormous baths.

Part of the Pulau Tiga Park, the mud volcanoes are still actively emitting gases and have occasional eruptions. Like many smelly things, the mud is believed to possess medicinal and therapeutic values but with nowhere to clean off and over a kilometre to walk back to the sea it was decided not to indulge on this occasion.