LWH – Week 6 : Tungku – Mabul Island

Sat 11 August – Tungku – Pulau Gaya
04⁰42.526N / 118⁰46.274E
We had a lovely calm night which was a pleasant surprise. The call to prayer came at 4.40am. We had five minutes of heavy rain then upanchored at 6.20am under heavy skies. The sea was like glass for a time then we had a breeze and motor sailed. Pulau Gaya is a half horseshoe shaped island of large karsts covered in trees. The other half of the horseshoe is reef but you cant see it. As we were coming in we could see beautiful islands with white sand beaches and aqua water and the whole place looked beautiful. A real wow factor. We anchored off a small island with a stilt village on the other side. There are actually lots of stilt villages around – built on the reefs. We anchored at 11.45 in lovely coloured water but there was lots of rubbish . This cleared later in the afternoon and it was quite pleasant but when the wind came up a lot of rubbish washed through – seems to have come in waves! Paradise interrupted!! The sun had a full halo round it today. We watched some huge electrical storms out the back of the boat and were grateful we weren’t in them. But at 1am a squall went through with very strong winds and the skipper had to do anchor watch for 1 ½ hours.

Sun 12 August – Pulau Gaya
It was a lovely morning and the water was so clear we could see the white sand bottom. A fisherman in a dugout canoe came by and wanted a light for his cigarette so we gave him a lighter. He tried to return it but we told him to keep it. Other than that no visitors and we had a quiet day enjoying the scenery but in the afternoon a strong breeze blew up and it is very exposed here.

Mon 13 August – Palau Gaya
Happy Birthday Maureen
Still very windy and though it was very pretty and the water a lovely colour the rubbish started drifting in around 10.30. The crew read a whole book today – The Crying of the Wind by Charles Gidley (appropriate title don’t you think!!). It was very good.

Tues 14 August – P Gaya – Nth Semporna Channel
04⁰31.608N / 118⁰33.630E
A big wind came up early this morning and it was overcast. We could see another yacht anchored over the way and wondered who it was. We had a quick swim and motor sailed with a pretty brisk breeze past some lovely islands and past Semporna and its rubbish and anchored close to shore in a sheltered position in 14m. There was a ring around the sun again today. Had a peaceful afternoon and calm evening.

Wed 15 August – Sth Semporna – Nth Semporna Channel
04⁰21.670N / 118⁰33.427E
Had such a wonderful calm night and left at 9.30 to catch the favourable current through the Semporna Channel. As we came around towards the Channel we found that it was actually quite windy. There was quite a lot of rubbish in the water. We went past a Maritime Malaysia boat and a police boat. Semporna is the jump off point for visiting the outer reefs including Sipadan which was said by Jaques Costeau to be the best in the world. So Semporna is a thriving place and looked incredibly interesting and we would have loved to stop but there is nowhere to anchor – lots of reef and very busy. It has the new with the old look about it with stilt villages built all along the foreshores on the reefs. We had a 2 knot current with us and would have hated to have done it with current against us. We passed three tugs towing barges about 300 metres behind them. It was interesting that going into the channel we had the green buoys to starboard and when we got past the town it changed so we had the red buoys to starboard. It was pretty clear where the reefs were though. It was very pretty but as we came further up the channel the winds increased on the nose which put wind against current and the waves bucked up a bit. We anchored just behind the headland and reef and given the wind strength it is surprisingly comfortable.
Miles: 17 TTT: 622

Thurs 16 August – Sth Semporna Channel
Too windy to go out to the island so stayed. Wind dropped off in the afternoon and we watched frigate birds (they look quite prehistoric) just cruise in and pick up little fish which are foolishly jumping all over the surface. This could possibly be because bigger fish are feeding on them from below! Caught between a rock and a hard place. The crew has lost her adversity to eating fresh fish because if she doesn’t eat them they will just eat some other smaller fish! Had the most comfortable night.

Fri 17 August – Semporna Channel – Mabul Island
04⁰15.120N / 118⁰37.938E
It was a bit cloudy but no wind and we finally managed to talk to Braveheart on the HF radio. We upanchored out of good holding thick mud. The skipper said we were going nowhere! It is so strange to see whole villages looking like they are perched in the middle of the ocean – but of course they are built on reef. We motored across to Mabul Island and anchored at 10am. We anchored between the oil rig (which has been converted to a resort) and the island in 18m going back to 14m but the depths were all over the place. There are five jetties coming off the island and they all have their areas partitioned off with little white buoys. As soon as we anchored two Chinese girls came out in their clear plastic canoe to ask about our boat – they couldn’t swim but were happy in their life jackets. They were quite amazed with the boat. We would have invited them onboard but weren’t sure about their ability to get in and out of the canoe. Then a Chinese couple came out – she goes to Canberra University in China (and there is a Curtin Uni in Malaysia). She had a look below but he declined. We don’t they they like the movement of the boat! It is spring tide so super low and we could see only one place to get Bob ashore and thats where the little local boats went. We motored in then rowed over the reef and past the sea gypsies’ boat in which they were living and didn’t want to leave Bob in front of the sea gypsies’ extremely poor village so went under the jetty and pulled him up on a white sandy beach in front of a resort. This island is an enigma. There are about five resorts, a pretty standard village on the right which has a school and a mosque and a souvenir shop and the sea gypsies village for those that have moved ashore. These people are stateless and very poor and its right in the middle of all the resorts. It doesn’t seem right. Because it was a super low tide we could see all the rubbish – some islands should keep their secrets! Mind you the water was so clear we probably would have seen it anyway. We walked around the island – extensive reef around and walked out along a really rickety jetty to a homestay which is very basic accommodation but very clean and the food looked good – lots of European backpackers at $23 per night including meals. You could see the starfish in the water under the house. People come to Mabul to dive and also to dive Sipadan which we could see in the distance. We noticed three dives at Mabul was 250RM ($83) and three dives at Sipadan was 900RM ($300) I think thats right but don’t quote me!!! We watched some kids playing ‘marbles’ with coins and another kid had a stick with half a thong and a wheel at the end and it went click click when he pushed it – so inventive! We had a quick squiz at a couple of the resorts then went back to the boat. The tide was coming in so we hung off the back of the boat and let the current take us. If we had let go we would have just about hit the mainland! We didn’t snorkel. People seemed to be snorkeling in front of the jetties and people seemed to be learning to scuba dive there also. Lots of tourist boats with heaps of tourists and the place left us with a funny feeling with this very poor village in the midst of it all. So much poverty in the middle of so much money! We just sat and watched all the comings and goings.
Miles: 9 TTT: 631

As I type this Amy is riding her first 100km for the Cancer Foundation – she has another 100km to do tomorrow. She has worked so hard for this and well done to her.
All the fluffy clouds look like Rosie!!
Love to all
Fair Winds and Calm Seas
Dell and Peter