LWH - Week 5 : Sungai Tadian - Tungku

Saturday 4 July - Sng Tadian - Pulau Lankayan
06 32.973N / 117 42.165E
Well the weather held and we had quite a good night. A little rocky but no roll and calm in the morning. We left at 6.45 and headed towards the island we thought we should have anchored off but when we came out from the reef which had been protecting us it was quite rolly and would have not been good. We slipped through the reefs and shoals and picked up a mooring buoy at Lankayan Island. This island is an absolute paradise and there were more buoys than there were last year which was just as well as Haven was on one and Brother Wind came in later and picked one up too. The water is the most amazing aqua blue and the sand so white. We went to the turtle museum which we gave a cursory glance and thought later we should have spent some time there. We walked out to the restaurant which is an amazing building built out over the water with a big walkway out to it. The chalets along the beach look lovely and we walked around the island which is actually very small. The army had several bunker huts around the island and we had a chat with a soldier occupying one of them. This is close to the Filippino border and it was pleasing to see the security. We went for a snorkel. The island has been managed and protected since 1995 and the coral wasn't too bad. It was the best snorkel we have had in ages and there were heaps of fish. The crew saw what she thought was a diver and swam over there only to see the biggest trigger fish!! The skipper tangled with an attack nemo and then on the drop off we saw the biggest barracuda - it was as big as the crew!! We didn't know they grew that big and we also didn't know if they attacked and the size of his mouth and teeth was enough to make us take a hasty exit!! This island has a turtle conservation programme and later in the afternoon they released 152 hatchlings into the water. By all accounts it was something to see but we missed it as we were aboard. We wondered how many of the poor little things would survive with fish like the baraccuda waiting out there. The whole resort lit up like a Christmas tree all night and we had a lovely calm night.
Miles: 21 TTT: 375

Sunday 5 August - Pulua Lankayan - Sandakan
05 50.469N / 118 07.686E
We decided to go and left around 6.30 and had a lovely sail till 9.30 when we started motor sailing. We saw a huge brown ray leap out of the water. As we were coming in to Sandakan pushing a 2.2 knot current we saw a dead rat amidst all the rubbish in the water. We anchored at 5.30 - there were three other yachts there and Brother Wind came in after us. We moved everything off the deck which we could and cleared the cockpit and the skipper put 9 metres of chain and two locks around Freddy (mercury - outboard) and we stayed on board. We watched workers putting a pylon in just off shore. It rained. The mosque was talking and singing (chanting?) from practically the time we got there and was still going when we went to bed at 9.45 and we heard it again at 3am.
Miles: 50 TTT: 425

Monday 6 August - Sandakan
We did some computer work - fastest internet we have had! When we put Bob in to go ashore we found we were in the middle of a current line with all manner of debris and rubbish floating around us - yuk! Went to town around 10.30. It was very busy and they have a new shopping mall attached to the Sheraton. It makes the town look very modern when viewed from the boat but the town is the same. The shopping mall was supposed to open yesterday and then it was tomorrow - more shops not ready than ready. It was an overcast day - did some shopping then had a scrumptious lunch on the waterfront - we recognised our waitresses from last year. Called in to the fresh market then back to the boat. The skipper did a water run and then we stayed on board. Lots of boats going past and they all wave and shout and in one case threw us a kiss. Another boat had a near miss at hitting us. He had a big water tank in front of him and couldn't see. The skipper thinks he must have seen our mast and just missed us. Some of the big boats and fishing boats come pretty close but they are just curious and they generally give us the thumbs up. A fishing boat went out with their washing hanging at the top and the stench from the boat was horrific - cant imagine what the washing smelt like! It poured through the night and was quite windy.

Tuesday 7 August - Sandakan - Dewhurst Bay
05 38.178N / 118 35.886E
When we pulled up the anchor we did a Wavesweeper and had a huge metal piece of infrastructure hooked all around our anchor chain. Took a little bit of manouvering to get it off! Sandakan was badly bombed during the war and there is a lot of debris in the water. We left at 6.45 amid a very grey sky and did the radio sked at 7. It was high level cloud and everything just looked white for most of the day and it was actually cold - well chilly anyway! We had a wonderful sail for an hour or so but then we motor sailed. There were a few fishing boats out towing their nets so we stayed out of their way. We had two strikes on the line but the fish got away and third time lucky and the skipper pulled in a baraccuda. Had to haul it in as we needed the lure back. Braveheart texted us from Lankayan Island wanting a weather report so the skipper consulted the grib files and they talked on the HF radio. We came across the very calm bar into Dewhurst Bay which is where we headed up to the Kinabatangan River last year. The lowest we got to was 2 metres under the keel and we anchored at 3.20. Scrubby trees on either bank and fishing boats in front of us with a nice breeze. Lots of big logs floating in the water. There was a house or two on one bank and the fishing boats all went out fishing. We had wind against tide for quite a while swinging 180? from side to side and by the evening we weren't sure if we were dragging so we reanchored in the dark and went to bed. Earlier in the 6pm radio sked Cilantro advised that they had hit what they thought was a sea container floating just below the surface and damaged their rudder and would have to return to Kudat for repairs.
Miles: 43 TTT: 468

Wednesday 8 August - Dewhurst Bay - Tambisan Island
Happy Birthday Margaret
05 26.953N / 119 08.486E
Awoke to absolute stillness with no one else around. Sat and enjoyed the serenity and then did 7am sked when we found out that Cilantro had been visited by 9 army personnel at 11pm who wanted to see their passports and paperwork and asked for beer (which was not given). A very scary incident for them and today they are off back to Kudat to haul out for repairs to the rudder. We left after the sked around 7.30 and passed all the fishing boats coming back in. We went down to 1.4m under the keel. The sun was shining, a slight breeze - (on the nose) and the seas flat as we start on the section of our journey where we have not been before. Well at lunch time the wind came up on the nose but we had current with us which made the seas buck up a bit and we were really pushing it for two hours to get up around the island and into the channel. As we were coming in we thought we heard coastguard calling us so we answered and the skipper was asked all manner of questions including which country were we in. We later heard him calling Green Express and we suspect it was Coastguard Philippines!! Well now everyone knows we are here! We came in between the channel between the island and the mainland. The chartplotter was way out. We went down to 3m under the keel and anchored off the island at the end of a stilt fishing village and people seemed very friendly We could see an electrical storm at the other end of the island but it just missed us. It is very sheltered in here.
Miles: 40 TTT: 508

Thursday 9 August - Tambisan Island
We left just after 6 in beautiful conditions with current with us. We took a bit of a different track out and had a little bit more water. The skipper did his usual check only to find the bilge full of water so it was on with the bilge pump with the crew doing the manual pump while the skipper tried to find where the water was coming from - nothing scarier! We did the 7am sked and no one could hear us. We returned to Tambisan against the current, which had been so kind to us earlier We got back in and anchored thinking all sorts of terrible things. The skipper discovered the water was coming from the exhaust water lock. He pulled it out and there were two small holes which had rusted through so he put kneaded epoxy putty on the holes then a layer of epoxy filler over the whole base. So thank the Lord its good to go. Cilantro couldn't hear us on the sked so texted to see if we were alright - bless em. They have their fibre glasser on the job fixing the rudder and other damage and hope to be back in the water Saturday or Sunday. The skipper changed the microphone and it works much better now. Ended up being a boat day!! Lovely still quiet night.
Miles: 6 TTT: 514

Friday 10 August - Tambisan Island - Tungku
05 00.920N / 118 53.563E
We upanchored at 6. The crew is now pushing the chain down in the anchor locker as it comes up instead of the skipper running down to do it - don't know why we never thought of it before!! Motored out past the fishermen who all waved and one videoed us on his phone. We came out to a rising sun heading directly into the reflection of the sun and birds swirling about, lovely flat sea - beautiful. A rainbow refraction around the sun and clouds on the horizon. The skipper paranoidly checking checking checking - the crew feels better when he looks up and grins and gives the thumbs up! Bilge still dry!! We had over 2 knots of current with us and wind on the nose and the waves were up a bit as we rounded the tip - would hate to do that with the current against us. This was one leg we had not been looking forward to as we could see the Tawi Tawi Islands in the Philippines just twenty short miles away and they have been known to take people hostage. However, there was a surveillance plane and Malaysian warshisp there which made us feel much better and stopped the crew from looking very suspiciously at all the fishing boats!! It also stopped us from worrying about all our secrets we had blurted out on the radio to Coast Watch Philippines yesterday!!! We passed a tug towing a barge and behind the barge hanging off a line were five small fishing boats, one behind the other having a free ride! The skipper saw a yellow and black banded seasnake about two inches in diameter and 4 feet long and we saw a few huge turtles which dived as soon as they saw us. So they haven't all been eaten by the baraccuda! We motor sailed till 1pm when we turned the motor off and had the loveliest sail. As we were approaching where we were going to anchor - which is in the open off a beach - we pulled the sails in and started the motor only to find we weren't pumping water so we had to turn the motor off and put part of the headsail out again to sail to our anchorage then turn up into the wind, pull the sail in and drop the anchor (3pm). Turned out it was the impellor so the skipper changed that and we are all good again now. We are hoping the weather holds as we are very exposed here but it is a very pretty spot. The whole coast was really pretty except it is all oil palms the whole way down. What happened to the jungle and the animals and birds and bugs!! Passed lots of fishermen in tiny little boats a long way off shore. It was pretty rocky at first but then the wind started to die off and the seas calmed and we had a lovely calm night.
Miles: 49 TTT: 563

Well we hope our run of things going wrong is over. We are currently anchored in a little bit of paradise and will spend a few days here.
Happy Birthday to Pam - not sure when it is but know its soon! And all best wishes to Maureen for her birthday.
Calm seas and fair winds
Love
Dell and Peter

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