Our crossing from Tioman
Island (east coast
Malaysia) to
Kuching (north west
Borneo) was mostly uneventful. The South China
Sea has an unsavoury reputation, partly due to piracy, however we
had good conditions, calm seas and fortunately no pirates. At one point we had about 40nm of
shipping lane to cross and being the sea route between
China and
Singapore it was
peak hour traffic. Imagine trying
to cross a six lane highway in a peddle car and you have a fairly good picture
of what we were trying to accomplish.
Fortunately we have a very good computer system called AIS that provides
us with each ship’s name, speed and course so we are able to call a ship if
necessary. The ships are able to
track our progress on radar and it was very reassuring to see a couple change
their course to avoid us, before we needed to call them.
We approached the north western
cape of Borneo with a clear sky
but increasing winds that quickly blew to 40kts. Kuching was too far to reach within
daylight hours so with a reef in the mainsail we ran for cover to anchor behind
a lovely little island that was listed on our chart as a marine reserve. We arrived to find a Malaysian police
boat already anchored with two fishing rods dangling over the side. We weren’t sure if they were conducting
a “survey” or catching their dinner.
Kuching, which in Malay means “cat”, is a very modern
city and we were surprised at its large size and rich history. It has many museums but we limited our
tour to just two. The cultural
displays of the many tribes and ethnicities were impressive but what impressed
us even more was our trip to visit the Iban river people a few days later.
The Rajang
River became our waterway and for six
days we left the ocean to sail and motor about 140nm of vast river system. The first day was incredible as we were
able to sail almost the whole day.
There were many bends in the river, sometimes changing direction by
90-130 degrees and yet we always seemed to have the wind with us. It didn’t seem possible, or logical, yet
with every turn in the river our sails would fill and we’d continue to slide
along. Mills and timber yards were
numerous, as were the number of tugs towing barges loaded with logs. We wondered at the scale of logging in
this region of
Malaysia and
guessed from the girth of the logs that they were rainforest variety and not
plantation grown. It was very
sobering to witness a part of the chain in the saw of de-forestation. Also very sobering to keep a vigilant
watch for the many logs escaped into the river that presented a real threat to
our boat.
Word of mouth via other yachties had provided us with the basic
directions to reach a friendly river family far up river. After two full days of travelling up
river, and branching off into a couple of different tributaries, we eventually
anchored in a narrow stretch of river.
This section of river is home to the Iban people who live a subsistence
lifestyle very similar to their ancestors.
Although they have access to modern conveniences they choose to live a
simple life in harmony with their environment. Their accommodation is the very
distinctive longhouses that are added to, end on end, as their families wed,
extend and grow.
The longhouse we visited was at least 100m long and set back from the
river, surrounded by rice paddies.
At the riverside jetty we met our host Jampie, in the company of his
grandchildren. To approach the
longhouse we traversed a walkway built on stilts above the ripening grain, the
narrow planks polished smooth by generations of bare feet. It was one of those priceless moments to
sit on a homemade woven mat, drink rice wine made from home grown rice and watch
the children play ball inside the enormous corridor of the longhouse. We sampled a delicious jungle
fruit that tasted like a mix of banana, orange and mango and looked through a
photo album of weddings, visiting yachties and fresh water
crocodiles.
Over the next couple of days we enjoyed the seclusion of the river
paradise we had found and luxuriated in endless buckets of cool fresh water
tipped over our hot heads. Although
the river was still strongly affected by tidal forces the water was entirely
fresh. Emily swam with her new
friends, holding hands and jumping off the jetty and David made many new friends
by taking every kid for a ride behind our dingy on the inflatable donut. It was such a picturesque spot that we
could easily have stayed longer but, not wanting to outstay the hospitality of
our hosts, and keen to explore more of Borneo we started
our trip back down river. It took
us a further two days to reach the river mouth and seeing the ocean again after
six days away was like a welcome homecoming.
Our course then took us along an exposed stretch of coastline to
Labuan
Island with almost no shelter for
280nm. This presented no problem
while the weather was fine and we could anchor for the night close to shore in
shallow depth and favourable conditions.
However, the weather had other plans for us. Isolated storm cells caught us a couple
of times and although brief in duration (30mins-1hr), we had winds of 50kts,
horizontal rain and seas up to 3m.
David could see one storm approaching on his radar and dropped all
sails. We then “sailed” before the
storm with only bare masts and still we were doing 9kts! Times like this I was glad to be below
decks looking after the children.
Actually I really would have preferred to be anywhere else but where we
were!
After a couple of days the unsettled weather abated and we enjoyed a
lovely sail to Tiga
Island. Days like this I didn’t want to be
anywhere else! Mother’s Day at
Tiga
Island was all about adventure and
new experiences. We followed a
jungle path barefoot (I’d forgotten to bring everyone’s shoes), and after 1km we
arrived at volcanic mud pools in the middle of the rainforest. Here we wallowed and floated and paddled
in the thick grey gooey mud.
Although bubbling and plopping, the mud was actually cool. Bizarre and quite hilarious to be
bathing in mud, on Mother’s Day, surrounded by beautiful jungle and meditating
to bird calls. We thought the mud
would be like quicksand but it wasn’t.
It was incredibly buoyant.
Swimming in it was like paddling through soup on top of a surfboard. Alana was the only one not to keen to
emerge herself in the spirit of the occasion. She really didn’t care for all that
mud. We walked out of the jungle
and straight into the ocean to wash off the mud. The water was clear and blue, except for
the grey cloud around our bodies.
Emily and I then enjoyed a relaxing snorkel on the reef just off the
beach. It really was a fantastic
day and I thought a lot about my Mum who I knew would have relished every moment
of that mad morning.
We are now at Kota Kinabalu and berthed at
Sutera
Harbour. It is an awesome layout with two hotels
and a country club, all of which we are entitled to use with our complimentary
memberships. We also use the free
shuttle bus service to town and shopping has never been easier. It’s total luxury to choose between six
pools to swim in, ten pin bowling, free cinema, free kids club etc. etc. All this is available to us for the
princely sum of AUD$25 per night berthing fee. The sunsets are incredible, equal to the
famous Darwin sunsets, and the back
drop of Mount
Kinabalu is spectacular. I think we all feel that we could
happily spend more time here, yet we do have to get moving soon and sail through
the Philippines
before the typhoon season becomes more intense.
Our plans to move on have been delayed by three weeks due to unexpected
repairs. Replacing the engine
mounts has become critical and we are unable to motor until new ones are
installed. We also had the
misfortune of being hit by a speedboat that lost control. It was very frustrating, especially as
we were tied up in the marina at the time.
What makes the story even more unbelievable is that the speedboat was
being driven by a “communications tycoon” whose super yacht was anchored outside
the marina. This particular vessel
is the largest sailing yacht in the world, about 100m in length, and cost about
$300 million to build. We are still
waiting for quotes to repair the superficial damage (loose change to this
guy). Although in the business of
“communication”, this guy is obviously a poor communicator. He docked the speedboat after the
collision and then he, and his crew, walked off without coming to speak with
David, or to assess damage, or to make an apology. Negotiations are still on the
table.
We continue to enjoy the company of sailing friends who we catch up with
from time to time. And we are
making new friends, all who share the common bond of boats and ocean. Family is always our greatest joy and we
feel so lucky to be having this quality time to watch our girls grow up and
fully participate in their development.
Hope you are also enjoying the company of loved ones and doing something
you love...