WEEK 17: Sandakan to Kinabatangan River to Sandakan

Saturday 6 August – Sandakan
Did the walking tour of Sandakan with Cilantro and went to Agnes Keith’s house which was rebuilt after the war. She was a USA author who lived in Sandakan with her husband and children for some years before the war and spent the war as POW’s. Sandakan was basically obliterated during the war. A replica of the Keith’s house was built in the same place. The big stone church and the Chinese temple survived. Agnes wrote The Land Beneath the Wind about their time in Borneo, then Three Came Home which was about their time as POWs and was made into a movie and then she wrote The White Man Returns. They came back for four or so years after the war. After we saw their lovely house we went next door to an equally stunning colonial building for an English tea – scones with jam and cream, cucumber sandwiches and pastries on royal doulton plates – oh so nice! You could also have a game of croquet if you so desired. We went to the market after that and got fresh fruit and veg then had a swim in the Yacht Club pool, a wonderful shower and dinner at the Yacht Club.

Sunday 7 August – Sandakan – Dewhurst Bay
05°33.809N / 118°33.874E (9m)
We upanchored at 6am and headed to Dewhurst Bay up the southern entrance of the river. Wavesweeper decided to try the northern entrance and seemed to be doing ok so we followed him. But when we got down to 0.3m and then 0.1m under the keel we decided to turn back. We then heard that Wavesweeper was aground on a mud bank. We continued to the southern bay and Wavesweeper extricated themselves and followed. As we were going along a small fish jumped right out of the water and almost landed on the deck. We came across the bar going down to 2.6m of water and into the river. We found good water after that but again in the river went to 2.5m before getting to Dewhurst Bay where we anchored in 8m water at 4.30pm. The cats and Rubicon Star went through the northern entrance and went down to 1.7m and we have a 1.8m keel so obviously we would not have made it through. Lots of Nipa palm around but a pleasant place to be.
Miles: 49 TTT: 2,294

Monday 8 August – Dewhurst Bay – Kinabatangan River
05°40.227N / 118°23.266 (5.7m)
Happy Birthday Margaret
We radioed the other boats at 7.10 but had the grumbles from a couple of boats that it was a bit early. We knew we had a long way to go and had to catch the tide for the shallows. At 8.30 we upanchored and headed out and everyone else was behind us. We followed the waypoints we had – we had three lots of notes but the notes from Sazli were good. We went down to 2.2m depth (.4m under the keel). All the others found deeper water on the left side of the river but we had to go up the right tributary. Nimbus and Wavesweeper decided to follow their path and Cilantro came back round to come with us. It was a bit African Queen like at first and depths fluctuated but it was all good and we took a wide berth on the corners. When we came to the four rivers crossroad we took a left and followed a reasonably wide river and after about five miles the nipah palms began to give way to jungle. The river was very windy and we had to go around the outside of the bends which meant we were constantly zig sagging from one side to the other avoiding logs, branches and other debris. We had good depths all the way and saw a family of macaque monkeys but towards the end it was getting a little tedious. We finally came to the T intersection where there were a few houses and turned left down past a village. Ketoro called us up to give us a waypoint for a small tributary where there was a fire fly tree so we anchored there. On the way we saw two large dark monkeys with long black tails (long tailed macaques). Anchored in front of Baganoff and the trees either side of the river had heaps of Proboscus monkeys – magic. They are the ones with the big bulbous noses and big bellies. The females have a sort of Pinocchio nose before he started telling lies! Just on dark Cilantro picked us up in their dinghy and we went up the tributary. We went a long way in and came out into what we thought was a lake. Couldnt find the tree so headed back in the dark by torchlight. The dinghy wasn’t making much headway and we thought we must have had something around the prop but found we had gone aground! Anyway 200m from the entrance to the tributary we found the fire fly tree! Sat on the deck and listened to the jungle noises
Miles: 25 TTT: 2,319

Tuesday 9 August – Kinabatangan River to Kampong Sikau
05°30.497N / 118°17.701 (6m)
We watched the monkeys for a while – how wonderful to be able to wake up on a river in the jungle and watch monkeys!! Cilantro collected us again and we went up the tributary in daylight. It was very pretty. We saw two large hornbills and two smaller hornbill birds. They make a kind of clacking noise. Also lots of large eagles. When we came back to the boats we went in close to the monkeys and got a close up of a large male Proboscus monkey eating with both hands. We know he was a male because he had a large bulbous nose and as the Lonely Planet says the male is in a continual state of excitement! We left at 9 and headed up the river and all we saw all day were a couple of monitor lizards It was jungle all the way but then we saw a hill and it was covered in palm oil trees all over the hill and down to the river! What a shame. We zig zagged our way up the river meeting a tug and a barge so we ducked across in front of the tug and went on the inside as the barge swang very wide on the end of its line. Saw heaps of white herons. In fact one seemed to fly on ahead of us and pose for a photo and then fly off just before we got there! We arrived at Kampong Sukau around 2pm and anchored between the 4 cats and Rubicon Star who were already there. We cannot go any further up the river than this because of the power lines across the river. It was very hot. A quiet night on board except for the mosque.
Miles: 19 TTT: 2,338

Wednesday 10 August – Kampong Sukau
We got up at 5.30am in the dark and along with Braveheart and Cilantro took our dinghies up past the powerlines and up a tributary to the right. Prosboscis monkeys were leaping all over the place. It was a little dark for good photos and the skipper was just getting used to his camera. We saw macaques and different birds - kingfishers and Oriental Darters. Two tour boats came in behind us so every time they went in to look at something we would have a look too. Think a couple of times they must have been looking at rare plants because we couldn’t see anything! A little later they told us orangutan and told us to hold on to their boat so we could see. Then we went into a little inlet with Braveheart and the tour boat also came in. Then two juvenile orangutans appeared in the tree in front of us. One was most agitated and wanted us to go away so shook the branches so all the water dropped on our heads. We watched for a while longer and asked the guide how we could see the elephants and he said to go to the village to see if we could get a boat to take us. We then made our way out of the inlet and went to a homestay cafe for breakfast with all the other boats. This Way Up and Kitorro departed soon after to go with the rally to Tawau where the rally concludes. We have now officially left the rally. We asked Jody at the homestay about getting a boat and he gave us a name to ask for in the village and said they charged a price for the boat – not individually. So we walked 15 minutes to the village and asked around and found a girl who could speak English who made a couple of phone calls and found us a boat for 150RM - $50! The boatman (Ronie) picked eight of us up at 4pm and we headed up the river under the powerlines and went for about half an hour then turned into a tributary. Along the way he stopped to show us a crocodile – we could see its head and its tail – about 2m long. We saw birds and monitor lizards and could see evidence of elephants having been there but no elephants. We eventually started heading out and we were very disappointed thinking we weren’t going to see the elephants – there are no guarantees. We stopped to look at Prosboscis monkeys when we saw the guide from this morning who seemed quite pleased we had taken is advice and he asked us if we had seen the elephants. When we said no he hold us where they were so we shot out of the tributary and went a bit further up the river and there they were – a herd of pygmy elephants. Ronie managed to get us right in the front and I had just said I wanted to see them in the water when two came out and the first one turned around and climbed backwards into the water like a child going downstairs. The second one turned too soon and flopped on his bottom to turn around and he went backwards in too and then we watched them frolicking, swimming ducking in the water. It was really awesome and our timing was impeccable. We watched for a while then left for the 3/4hr boatride back getting back just before dark. Its dangerous to travel at night as there are so many branches and logs in the water. What a fantastic day – Proboscis, Orangutan and elephant!!

Thursday 11 August – Kampong Sukau
Happy Birthday Dad
A quiet day to catch our breath. There is a barge ferry attached to a tug which goes up and down past us. When all the boats were there it went up and down on the right but now it comes up and either goes behind us and up on the left or cuts in front of us and behind Braveheart. Thank goodness he seems to know how to drive it. Everyone is very friendly and they all wave The mosque goes on for a couple of hours at night and there are lots of bangs like crackers and we think they must be celebrating ramahdam. They seem to put something like gunpowder in bamboo and light it and some bangs are certainly louder than others. A tug towing a barge came wide on the corner behind us but he seemed to have the barge well under control when he went past us – bit disconcerting. We have been surprised that there are not lots of mosquitos – just flies! Sat and watched macaques going across the creek on a wire. They kept slipping under it – it was very funny to watch. We got picked up from our boats at 8pm for a night tour by Ahmad. This bloke charged per person so at 35RM each it was expensive We saw some Kingfishers – they seem to go to sleep at night so they don’t fly off – a couple of owls, frogs. Lizard, oriental darter and a sleeping short tailed macaque and a couple of very small crocs and that was about it. It started sprinkling rain and we were back at our boats at 10.20. We didn’t think this was terribly good value for money. Another noisy night with the mosque.

Friday 12 August – Kampon Sukau – Kinabatangan River
05°40.221N / 118°23.248E
Happy Birthday Bernie
It rained all night and was still sprinkling but we went up a little tributary but not much was about. We found some mud birds’ nests on the cliff and saw a tiny kingfisher feeding its young. Lots of little birds flying around and also lots of bats hanging in the clefts of the rock. We were going to have breakfast again as Rubicon Star has got under the powerlines and will be going up the river. The guest houses only have enough food for their guests as a rule and we lucked out this morning. Said our farewells and we upanchored around 9.45 and followed Braveheart and Cilantro down the river zigzagging around the bends. We reached our original anchorage around 2. It is wonderful to be able to sit on your boat in the middle of the jungle and listen to the birds and animals. The palm oil trees are encroaching and in some cases are along the river, we wonder how much jungle is actually behind what we can see along the river. The river is brown and silty now but we have been told 20 years ago it was blue but all the logging and jungle clearing has silted it up. Judy from Braveheart invited us all over for a fish curry which was absolutely beautiful. There was much Proboscis activity and we watched them leaping from branch to branch. They seemed to like getting really high and leaping down and out to the next branches. One poor little guy mistimed and took a tumble to the ground! After dinner we took our dinghies up the creek to see the firefly tree but it was a full moon so we couldn’t see many fireflies. Judy and Chris’ dinghy had drifted towards the bank and there was a splash beside it which startled them and then there was a big splash and poor Chris almost jumped out of the dinghy! We of course nearly fell out of ours laughing but we didn’t go much further up the creek after that and adjourned to our respective boats and just sat and listened to the jungle noises.
Miles: 19 TTT: 2,357

Saturday 13 August – Kinabantangan River – Sandakan
05°50.465N / 118°07.623E
It started raining around midnight and didn’t stop till mid morning. We upanchored at 6.30 and with Braveheart (a cat) out the front we followed them down the river to the junction and turned left instead of right. We are taking the shallow shortcut out which will save us 1 ½ days and many miles. The river looped right around on itself till there was only a river bank between both arms of the river – amazing. We have been down to 1m under the keel which is worrying and we still have the very shallow (and long) bar to negotiate. It will be a nerve wracking morning for us as we have the deepest keel. The river was quite shallow in places and we did really well till about the last bend when Cilantro called that they had zero under their 1.5m keel and then they were in deep water. When our depth sounder shows 1.4m we are on the ground and we watched it drop 1.5, 1.4, 1.3, 1.2, 1.1!!!!! and the skipper put the revs on – we stopped for a bit and then she powered through the mud and then we were in deep water – whew!!! The bar was good – the minimum we got down to was 2.8m true depth (1.4 under the keel). We arrived in Sandakan at 2pm– so much rubbish in the water – dirty nappies – the lot! We went ashore around 5 and had a shower and then a very nice dinner with some people who spent four days up the river last year and didn’t see an elephant or an orangutan!!! How lucky are we. We chained Bob to the back of the boat and locked the motor on the back – back in “civilisation”!!!
Miles: 31 TTT: 2,388

Sorry this is so long but it has been quite a week. We are currently making our way back to Miri where we will leave the boat. The weather has been very stormy at night. Hope you are all well and appreciate that your bed is not in danger of blowing away during the night!!!
May all your storms be small ones!!!!
Dell and Peter