We were only here for three nights but a packed programme had been laid on for us, with High Tea on arrival and a welcome dinner that evening, a full day tour the second day then a morning of games on the final day and a farewell dinner!  Sarah had been in increasing pain from Sciatica so opted out of the tour.  Phil went on the first part which was a visit to a palm oil refinery.  Palm oil is a mainstay of the economy in Malaysia where it is regarded as a sustainable source of oils as the trees fruit every month for up to 25 years.  The games morning included some childhood favourites: hopscotch and jacks played with pebbles (much harder than the metal knucklebones and rubber ball we knew).

After a busy few days we were ready to relax at our next spot.  Bohay Dulang, in the Tun Sakaran National Park is one of two islands forming the sides of a lagoon, with reef on the other sides.  We had six nights planned here with no dinners or cultural events.  We were free to climb the trail to the top of the island and snorkel the reefs around us.  It was lovely to be swimming in clear water without fear of crocodiles again, and the activity resolved Sarah's sciatica.

The one trip we had planned for this week was to Sipadan Island. Sipadan Island is known as a world class dive site but also as the place where, in 2010, 18 tourists were kidnapped, taken to the Philippines  and held for ransom.  This incident was one that resulted in the formation of ESSCOM, the security collaboration that has been guarding the rally down the east coast of Sabah.  There is still a strong police and military presence throughout this area.

Most of the year visitor numbers at Sipaden are limited to 120, but on the 21st of August each year the participants on our rally get to go in addition to the 120.  The day didn’t start well, with overcast skies and when we transferred to our dive boats in the nearby town of Semporna the heavens opened and we were soon all soaked.  The rain was so heavy the driver had to stop the boat on a couple of occasions because he couldn’t see!  The rain cleared by the time we got to Sipadan, but the skies remained grey and we felt cold for the first time in months.  We have been a bit disappointed in the snorkelling recently, but not here.  Although the coral wasn’t the best we have seen the sea life was amazing with huge shoals of fish, and some huge individuals.  And there were so many turtles we rapidly lost count.  We visited three sites and at each we saw something we hadn’t seen before, possibly due to having a guide with us to point things out.

The rally schedule had us anchoring at Semporna for the final rally dinner, but the Semporna anchorage didn’t look attractive with strong tides and lots of boat traffic so we ended up leaving our boats at Bohay Dulang and getting speedboats to take us to the town.  The dinner, at a hotel, was quite an emotional affair as the fleet, most of which had been together for four or five months, would begin splitting up the next day and heading for a number of different destinations.  We finished the evening with a birthday party for Manuel on board Anima.

We had one more day in the lagoon before sailing to Tawau, just north of the Indonesian border.  Here we are anchored off the Tawau Yacht Club while we wait for our Indonesian visas to come through.

 Some of the rally friends we are going to miss