Week 18 - Ariciffe Island to Balabac Town

Sat 5 May - Araciffe Island - BrookesPoint
08°46.252N / 117°49.436E
We left at 7am and motored under a hot clear sky to Brookes Point. We actually got there before we realised but had to go around the point to anchor near the shore. There is a long jetty with a break wall in front of it protecting the ship which was berthed there. It was being loaded with copra. It is very mountainous with lowland along the shore and very pretty. The moon is full and looks wonderful shining cross the water.
Miles: 30 TTT: 1661

Sun 6 May - Brookes Point
Cilantro collected us at 10 to go ashore. The villagers were so friendly. We walked along a footpath between the houses (nipa) to the road and walked to town. We had been excited about seeing this place because we had a brochure on it and it looked really interesting and is the home of the largest pearl in the world This though meant that the pearl was found at Brookes Point but resides in America! There wasn't a lot to see - the market had good fruit and veg and was really cheap. We went to the only bistro in town and had a good lunch. We have just discovered that not only does San Miguel do beer but also does an apple cider - very nice. The boys did a beer run and Cilantro came over for sundowners. Another lovely evening. The break wall has a red and green light at each end so if you came in on a dark night you would run into the break wall! But then we remembered that the Americans do their red and greens to the opposite of us and then it made sense. Seeing large birds (geese?) flying in a V heading north.

Mon 7 May -Brookes Point - Tuba River
08°30.505N / 117°25.516E
Left at 7am and had a long boring trip to the Tuba River. There is a large nickel mine here and tugs with barges were loading the ships. We anchored up the river past a large water village on the right and a smaller settlement on the left. We could see some plants sticking out of the river on both sides and at low tide it was just mud on both sides- about 100m on starboard and 75m to port. The village was large, built out over the water with hundreds of higgeldy piggeldy roofs of all different types. People were very friendly and waved. We didn't go ashore but just on dusk we saw a 2m crocodile (skipper says 3m, crew says 1m so we settled on 2m!) swim across the river in front of the boat. A quiet evening.
Miles: 36 TTT: 1697

Tues 8 My -Tuba River - Cabugan Islands
08°23.29N / 117°15.821E
We saw monkeys in the trees early in the morning but it was a very bushy tree so they were hard to see. Left at 8.30 and the children in the small village waved us off. It was another long boring morning of motoring and we got in behind three islands at 12.00. We came in between two islands and werent expecting reef so got a bit of a shock when we saw it almost across the entire channel. We could see it in the sunshine. About half an hour after we anchored it started to rain so we got in just in time. The night was very still. Something big came up under the depth sounder beside the keel. We didn't see what it was. We see fishermen out to sea in their little canoes without any shelter and no hats and the sun is so fierce.
Miles: 14 TTT: 1711

Wed 9 May - Cabugan Islands- Candaraman Island
Pa turned 90!!! Happy Birthday Dave
08°04.588N / 117°05.838E
We left at 7.am and followed our track out through the reef. It was windy and choppy as we went down a channel between lots of islands dodging reefs and shallow bits and logs. It was a really interesting day and the islands were beautiful. Of course the current was against us and the wind was on the nose but it was lovely. We saw a turtle in the channel and as we turned to motor sail across the bay three manta rays "shoulder to shoulder" came flapping towards the boat and dived just as they got to us - one of those magic moments. A big boat was coming towards us so we went a bit to port - he was just wanting to get a closer look and gave us the thumbs up as he went past. We could see a storm building and rain as we came out of the narrow channel and headed down towards our island destination. Could also see a couple of waterspouts. The storm seemed to just miss us and was heading north. We skirted round reef and came into the most beautiful island and anchored off the reef in the loveliest water with white sand beaches - paradise! Unfortunately we were on lee shore. Once again when we anchored something was under the depth sounder beside the keel as the depth sounder went to zero. We suspect if may have been a turtle. We could see the beautiful purple of the storm off to the west. We had a swim and watched the storm and then realised it had swirled around and was heading towards us. We battened down and started the engine ready to motor into it if we started to drag. Its not the wind that pulls your anchor out - its the waves. Cilantro had decided to go to Balabac and were pulling their anchor up and drifting towards the reef. There was a moment when we thought they were going to lose their boat but then they got going and headed out. The last we saw of them they were heeling over in the wind. Meanwhile we were busy watching the depth sounder and chartplotter to see if we were dragging. We think we moved a few metres but the anchor grabbed again and we sat it out. A big Bangka had come roaring in behind the reef just before the storm hit and the two big boats which had been rafted up together to a pontoon separated and anchored. There was no lightning or thunder just heaps of wind and rain. We had a lovely red sky after the storm passed and some locals went past in a small boat yelling and waving and holding up a large bottle of beer. They were having a great time. We saw a turtle hoiking along with his head out of the water - we didnt know turtles could move that quickly. Anyway we had a lovely evening after a really interesting day.
Miles: 26 TTT: 137

Thurs 10 My - Candaraman Island- Balabac Town
07°59.535N / 117°03.962E
It was an overcast morning - almost sunny one side and stormy again to the west. We had been hoping to spend a few days at this beautiful island but we checked the grib weather files and it wasn't looking good. The storm front to the west was huge and purple so we eventually decided if in doubt get out. One of the big local boats left in a hurry so we pulled up and we could see the storm had turned and was heading our way. We managed to stay just in front of it and the sky turned green. We had wind behind us and current with us and were motoring along at 6.8 knots. Balabac Harbour was only 6 miles away so we followed our old track in and anchored next to Cilantro feeling like drowned rats. The rain has set in.
Miles: 6 TTT: 1743

Fri 11 May - Balabac Town
Cilantro collected us and we went to town. The people are so friendly here. They had good fruit and veges. We walked up to the point but it had a fence around it so went back to the boats. We had asked around if we could get any San Miguel beer but it was all negative. In the afternoon we took in a crate of empties and suddenly people had beer so the boys were happy.
Sorry this is late. We are currently motor sailing down the coast of Borneo at last but will report on that in the next blog.

Our love and thoughts and prayers are with Maureen and Winnie.
All our love
Dell and Peter

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