LWH - Week 7 : Mabul Island - Tawau

Sat 18 August - P Mabul - Nr Baluk River
04 17.319N / 118 14.206E
Today is Hari Raya - like our Christmas. The weather held and we had a very comfortable night but we had heard a few grumblings from the anchor chain and were a bit afraid we were on reef. We tossed up whether to stay another day or go so we decided to head down to another couple of reefs to see if they were any good. We were heading in to Horn Reef but there was no land around and the reef was under the water and we both looked at each other and said even if it was fantastic reef we would not be game to jump in in the middle of the ocean! So we kept going and motored in oily calm waters to Roach Reef where there was purported to be a buoy. Roach Reef apparently was just a sandspit but someone has put barriers all around it and filled it with dirt/rocks to build it up into an island and built some cottages. It doesn't look finished yet. The buoy wasn't there and we could have anchored in 17m but it was too close to the reef if a storm blew up. So we left there and anchored in 4m off the mainland at 2pm. It was very hot. We plan to go back to Roach Reef tomorrow for the day
Miles: 8 TTT: 639

Sunday 19 August - Nr Baluk River
Well what a difference a day makes. It was overcast and we could see rain over Mabul, Roach Reef and Tawau so we had a boat day. We decided that we hadn't been terribly comfortable trying to anchor at Roach. We didn't know if there was a floating line from the missing buoy and what it was anchored to and it was very close the reef so we didn't feel bad about it.

Monday 20 August - Baluk River - Tawau
04 15.007N / 117 52.444E
We left after Rubicon Star called us up on the HF radio at 7am heading towards Tawau. Seems there are ten boats only one or two days behind us. Their original plan had been not to leave till September hence thats why we were ahead as we wanted to go a week or more before that. But they have all decided to do Sail Moratai now and will have to move quickly to be there by 12 September. They get their CAIT fee refunded (~$200) and 100 litres of free fuel for doing it. But we have looked at it and do not want to have to be on a timeframe and hurry through and do the extra miles. There are hundreds of huge big fish trap structures with little huts on top of each along the way here. We checked them on the radar last night and they do show up so thats heartening. We motored for ages and had a 2.5 knot current against us so it took forever to get to Tawau. We could see the stilt villages on the foreshore and a huge mosque. It looks a really interesting town. It is a very low tide so we have anchored in 3.5m off the yacht club. There is one other yacht here - a yellow one called Amber Nectar. We walked into town but most of the shops were closed and there were heaps of people around all dressed in their best clothes. Today is the second day of Hari Raya. We finally found a restaurant that was open and had dinner. On the way back we noticed lots of tables being set up and we figured we had been a bit too early for eating.
Miles: 27 TTT: 646

Tuesday 21 August - Tawau
We tried to find Mr Tan, the manager at the Yacht Club but he was still on holidays so we managed to phone him to organise some fuel for tomorrow. We walked all round town - the generator shops were closed but the shoe shops were open so the crew bought another two pairs of shoes. We chatted to a couple of locals of Chinese descent and they were really lovely. We came back to the Yacht Club in the afternoon and chatted to another Chinese man who told us we should use the gym upstairs. This is a pretty good club with swimming pool, gym, sauna, tennis courts, all of which we could use. We watched the first of the rally boats come in. Of course the big catamarans were the first ones in. We had a lovely meal in the restaurant - there is no menu - the chef just cooks you up anything you want. There are some rather large monitor lizards hanging around the rocks near the kitchen.

Wednesday 22 August - Tawau
We finally caught up with lovely Mr Tan who phoned his brother who came with his ute to do the fuel run. The tide was very low and the boat ramp very slippery so the skipper only took one load of fuel out - it is a 2.8m tide. We took the other load out later in the evening. We went to town and checked out with the Harbour Master and Customs and went to immigration but the lovely lady there who was the big boss wouldn't check us out because we said we weren't leaving till Friday. We pointed out that our visa was running out but she said that was ok come back tomorrow. We had a roti telur for lunch and then went looking at generators as our old one doesn't want to work. The skipper finally got it so it starts really easy but it doesn't put in any charge. We found one for 450RM and the shopkeeper immediately bargained it down to 300RM. Its certainly something when they bargain themselves down! So for $100 we have another (Chinese) genny. We caught a taxi back and had another lovely shower at the pool and had dinner with a lot of people.

Thursday 23 August - Tawau
It seems everyone left early to go get their Indonesian visas (which took them most of the day). The skipper did the water run and then we went to Immigration and saw our lovely lady and she checked us out so we are good to go. We went for another roti but he forgot to put the egg on it so we had another one! Yum. We went to the market and bought our fruit and veges then the skipper took his sewing machine over to Rubicon Star to help them repair their ripped sail and then we went in for a shower and dinner. The group at dinner has grown rather large.

Friday 24 August - Tawau
Well here we sit with 14 boats around us, seven of which are cats. I guess we will be travelling loosely in company. The skipper ran the new genny all day giving the batteries a really good boost and the crew went shopping. We went ashore in the afternoon for the Sail Moratai briefing and heard nothing which changed our minds. In fact it convinced us more than ever that it is not for us. Then a bus picked us all up to take us to the rally dinner which apparently was just a five minute walk away. The dinner, which was hosted by the Tawau Town Board, was a steamboat which wasn't really our cup of tea but they also had other food so we got a good feed. The bus was brand new and still had the plastic on the seats but somehow one skipper managed to break his seat! We had a farewell drink back at the Yacht Club because some people had drink vouchers to use up. (you have to buy vouchers to buy drinks).
There are no photos as these missives will now be sent in by sailmail over the HF radio as we have no internet. We are currently doing the big crossing (2 days and 2 nights) across to Sulawesi - will report on that next week. Meanwhile everyone stay safe.
Fair Winds and Calm Seas
Love
Dell and Peter

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