Day tour at Kudat before the start of our escorted convoy. 06:53.3N, 116:51.4E
Serenity of Swanwick
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Thu 25 Jul 2024 07:18
Having spent a peaceful night anchored about 4.5 miles South of the Tip of Borneo we made our way down the coast to Kudat another 6miles south.This is where we are to start receiving an escort by ESSCOM, Eastern Sabah Security Command a multi agency force set up to protect Eastern Sabah from piracy, smuggling and migration from the Southern Phillipines. The international border here is very close and we will be escorted for the rest of the rally from Kudat to Tawau. There have been no incidents involving rally boats in all the time the rally has been running. Kudat is a relatively small town but has a marina and, a reportedly, very cheap boatyard. The marina is full with no space for visiting yachts but there is plenty of room to med-moor around the walls or anchor off outside. We med-moored stern to the hotel. Access to town is easy by taxi or walking and we could get laundry done and restock food stores from the market or small supermarkets. The next day while Sarah stayed on board doing jobs, Phil walked into town with the laundry and did the small amount of shopping we needed. The service wash in the laundrette was very good, completed in two hours at a cost of 11MYR, just under £2. A tour was offered for Thursday courtesy of Cobra from Kudat Misompuru Homestay. Picked up by coach in the morning we visited a gong making village, a longhouse, had lunch at the homestay and in the afternoon the honey centre, beach and the tip of Borneo. So generous of Cobra, all we paid was the entry fees. Pictures will show this day better.  Gong village. Originally the gongs were made of brass but now they are welded out of tinplate and tuned by hammering.  Minimal Health and Safety  Inside a Longhouse, each 'room' is home to one family, at 14yrs boys move out of the family room and sleep on the long platform to the right. Girls sleep with the parents until they are married  Each family has a kitchen with open fire.  Embroidery at the homestay. This is a head covering it will be embroidered all over, this takes about 3 months. Phil got to wear one later which was double thickness, embroidered both sides, so 6 months work.  A delicious lunch, all local foods  Inside a hive of No Sting bees, not the normal honeycomb shapes.  We were treated to a dance display and then offered the chance for two volunteers to join the dance. Phill took up the offer as there were no other men willing to make a fool of themselves in the full dress, dancing on the sand. Hot and very tiring.  The North Tip of Borneo, Sarah with Sawyer from yacht Wodan. This evening was our final evening in Kudat and we had to say goodbye to Eliza and Raymond on Kealoha who were returning home to Hong Kong direct from here, an eight or nine day passage. The escorted convoy started on Friday with a 20 mile sail to Karakit and a fairly open anchorage, I don’t think anyone went ashore just got an early night ready for two 50 mile days. First to Pulau Jambongan and then to Pulau Silingan. Our instructions were that we should stay within a box 10 miles by 3 miles whilst on route and all anchor together overnight. Slow boats were to leave first and faster boats later. We were to keep an anchor watch overnight, two boats on watch for two hour shifts, not too arduous a scheme, two hours every other night. Pulau Silingan is within a marine reserve and we can only anchor there because we are with the rally and are invited to visit the turtle centre to watch turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. They get on average an amazing 20 turtles a night laying eggs here and they have had 60. The anchorage was very open and the shallower water was close to reef so anchoring was not easy. We went ashore as invited but while waiting for turtles to arrive the wind started to increase and we headed back on board and spent a restless night with our keel 2 metres above coral. We were glad to leave in the morning for the 20 miles to Sandakan. |