Week 11 - Santubong River to Bintalu

Week 10 photos now on
Sunday 26 June –Santubong River
Had a boat day. The skipper went up the mast again to move the halyard to the other side of the block. He is particularly pleased with his Mastmate purchase which is webbing steps to climb the mast – fits in the mainsail track. It is so much easier than winching him up in the bosun’s chair. He repaired the headsail then we hoisted it and it is now nicely furled where it is supposed to be. Half the fleet left today. Internet still not working

Monday 27 June – Santubong River
Took the diesel jerries to shore. Braveheart has organised for them to be filled. As we went ashore at 8.45am to meet Cilantro it started to rain and bucketed down for about half an hour so we missed the 9am bus. The bus heading out picked us up at 9.45 and we went on a little trip to finish the run and then he headed back towards town. This was quite a pleasant journey and only took an hour - $1.30 each. Took Peter ages to get the internet sorted – eventually bought a new simcard. We walked down to check out the City Inn which is an extremely basic, tired room but clean so booked for 7 – 11th for the Rainforest Festival - $20 a night. Had lunch with Cilantro then caught a taxi to a good supermarket which was having an Australian Festival so lots of good food – even got some chico babies (lollies). Caught a taxi back to the boats. Checked the internet worked and checked on flights.

Tuesday 28 June – Santubong River to Palau Lakei
01°44.665N / 110°29.537E
Happy Anniversary to us
Single Malt left early. Booked flight from Kuching to Miri for the 11th. Price had gone up 50RM ($16) since last night! Pub Bob on the deck and prepared to leave on a rising tide. Naga (a trimaran) was beached nearby as he had some repair work to do from the crossing. Braveheart took four hours to get their anchor up as it was caught on the fish farm anchor. They eventually got it up. Cilantro and Wave Sweeper got up ok and the skipper had to cut the fishing net off our anchor chain but no worries. We left at 11am and followed our track out of the river – went down to 2.3m under the keel. It was overcast and rainy but cleared later in the day. We put the headsail out and motor sailed to Pulau Lakei and anchored in 5.2m at 3.30pm with four others. The skipper cooked crumbed lamb chops and we opened a bottle of red to celebrate our anniversary – 36 years!
Miles: 22 TTT: 1569

Wednesday 29 June – Pulau Lakei toTg Sirik
02°35.913N / 111°15.185E
Happy Birthday Yvette
We all left as soon as it was light enough to see around 6am and put the sails up and had a good sail till 12 noon and then motor sailed. A pleasant day – not too hot for a change. The sea was how it was supposed to be when we did the crossing The skipper even put the staysail up as well so we had three sails going! We arrived at the coast having crossed a gulf and just pulled in close to the shore and anchored at 6.30pm. Nimbus and Wave Sweeper decided to go in the river to anchor but we would have lost a lot of miles to do that. It rained a bit but then the breeze dropped off and the sea settled and we had a comfortable night.
Miles: 69 TTT: 1638

Thursday 30 June – Tg Sirik to near Mukah
02°55.790N / 112°03.375E
It was pouring rain so postponed our start till 6.30 and upanchored in the rain. We motorsailed up around the cape and turned up towards Miri. It turned into a lovely day with not a lot of wind but Braveheart put their spinnaker up and the challenge was on! All the spinnakers came out including Single Malt who was up ahead. They flew for a while but then it was motor against the current. We thought we saw an unmarked rock and then realised our rock was floating – it turned out to be a great big tree truck with old fishing net wrapped around it. Nimbus caught us up during the afternoon and we anchored after everyone else at 6.15pm again just off the coast. A wind came up and it poured rain and we all turned our deck lights on so Wave Sweeper could see us and he came in at 8pm. It was a comfortable night though.
Miles: 66 TTT: 1704

Friday 1 July – Mukah to Bintalu
03°20.579N / 113°07.687E
Happy Birthday Jeremy
We left at 6.15am feeling quite chilly and had a wonderful sail with the three sails up. Best sail we have had in ages. The skipper enjoyed it and the crew went below and made coleslaw and cut out and made a shirt which took away the boredom. We did the washing along the way. Its a pretty busy area with lots of fishing boats towing nets, tugs pulling huge barges piled high with logs, the odd small buoy or plastic bottles tied to lines (pots perhaps) and we can see the oil platforms off to our port side. We are thinking of our nephew Jeremy as not only is it his birthday today, but he used to work on these oil platforms somewhere up here. The wind died around 12.30 and we motored. The skipper is worried about the oil pressure gauge. It goes off the scale when we start the motor but after about 10-15 minutes reverts to where it is supposed to be. Any clues anyone??? We thought we saw a whale 50m off to the starboard but when we looked discovered it was two of those big logs that the barges carry tied together – that could really hurt if you hit it. Had to go past the Port of Bintalu – there are lots of oil/gas pipes there and is a huge no anchoring zone. Anchored off the coast at 6.10pm.
Miles: 67 TTT: 1771

I have been watching the first series of Packed to the Rafters and have got quite hooked!! Looking for the second series – anyone taped it?? Anyway we should be in Miri by Sunday in time to go into the marina on a high tide.
Take care, much love
Dell and Peter
May the wind be always at your back