This year is the first time the rally has visited the small town of Tuaran, 16 miles from Kota Kinabalu.  The river entrance is protected by a bar and we were advised to cross at high water which was about 0830 on the day we arrived and we were met by a fleet of small boats to guide us through the entrance, over a bar about 3 meters deep and between small breaking waves into the anchorage below a bridge. The river seemed like it would easily take the rally fleet, but as the tide started going out against the westerly wind boats started swinging from side to side across the river and normally comfortable spacing suddenly wasn’t enough.  We felt penned in between three boats and moved further away from town down the river. Over the course of the day several boats moved and by afternoon, with the turn of the tide, things had settled down.

The town was really enthusiastic about having us there and laid on a great party in the open air restaurant on the quay. We were offered snacks followed by a buffet meal provided by the restaurant and really tasty.  Each boat was given an ice bucket containing beer and soft drinks, which was topped up if you finished it.  The speeches were short and in English and then we had some really good entertainment. A local troupe performed traditional music and dances including Magunatip, the bamboo dance of the Murut warriors: bamboo poles are laid parallel on the ground with someone holding each end, they are then banged on the ground and knocked together in time to the music and dancers dance between the moving poles with the music getting faster all the time.  It was amazing to watch.   There were also two lion dancers who are also so skilful in the way they move together and make the lion so expressive.  A highlight was seeing one of the lions do the bamboo dance.

After dinner it was audience participation time and we were given the chance to try things, with prizes on offer.  A couple of people tried playing a simple tune on the gongs, some had a go at the bamboo dance, and when they wanted a woman to have a go with the blow pipe and no one else offered, Sarah went forward. She managed to burst a ballon with her dart, winning dinner for two at a local resort!  It was a really fun evening with the cruisers feeling welcome and involved.

It seemed like we had only just got to sleep when we were woken by our wind turbine starting to turn in the wind (we normally turn it off at night but had forgotten).  Sarah went on deck to deal with it and realised it was already raining and the wind was rising fast.  It went from nothing to over 30 knots like a train going through and our anchor alarm went off.  We could see from our alarm app that we had dragged a short distance but the anchor was holding again, however we thought it was best to let a bit more chain out to make sure we didn’t drag again. Our instruments recorded a top wind speed of 39 knots.  Three boats dragged badly and had to re-anchor, but the only real damage was a masthead light on one that came into contact with the bridge.  One boat got a rope round its propeller trying to move and it was only after diving in to clear it that the owner thought to ask if there were crocodiles.  The answer was ‘yes’.  In the morning, we realised the nights antics had put us too close to 9 Lives, so we had to move again.
We were due to stay in Tuaran for four days, but decided after we had moved that we weren’t happy in the anchorage and would leave the next day.  The river would have been fine for just a few boats, but the rally was too big in those conditions.  We gave away the dinner voucher (we weren’t keen on a resort meal anyway) and got ready to leave.  It turned out many others felt the same and probably half the fleet left at the same time. Ironically that meant it would probably have been fine to stay and it was a real pity for the town who were so welcoming to us.
We followed our inward track out through the entrance and motored 17 miles north to a possible anchorage.  Kaihanu, who was ahead of us reported that it was protected but uninteresting so we unrolled our Genoa in the rising breeze and sailed another 3 miles to the next bay.  It was a nice spot but a bit open to the westerly swell, and with stronger westerly winds forecast for the coming days we moved on the next morning having a good sail round the northern tip of Borneo to anchor on our own in the lee of the island out of the swell and ready to go into our next port in the morning.