Caves on the Camotes & Bilaran

Our stop over on Gigantangan to find the snake cave proved to be a fruitless adventure and finally when we came across a pile of rocks in the middle of nowhere with an old cross sticking out of it we took the hint and turned back. Amanda and Sloop had the right idea staying aboard.

Pacijan Island (part of the Camotes Island group) further south on the other hand had plenty to see with underground pools, caves and inland lakes.

Poro Island where the boat was anchored had waterfalls that you could swim under and more caves.

The fresh water in these caves changes depth with the tide.

Once our bikes were safely delivered back to there owners we grabbed a few supplies, and stopped at one of the many Karaoke bars for Robins benefit on the way back to the boat. These 3 bars are all located almost side by side and the trick is to pick the one with the loudest speakers.

The allusive Whale Sharks is next on the list of must sees, so with our spotters we headed off to southern Leyte.

Southern Palawan

Looking at Google earth we spotted what looked like a good snorkeling spot as a midday stopover. A fisherman collecting sea urchins showed us how to remove the spines and what part to eat. The village close by also was worth a look even though it felt like we had 2 heads, maybe they thought we were aliens? It wasn’t us with the pig head in the pot.

Now out of the Islands and into Palawan anchorages we were starting to feel the NW swell. This didn’t stop Robin and Pontus from having a go with the drag net … in the rain. We had a big one that got away on the first drag but they only ended up with a toadfish for their efforts.

Malipakan Island was our next stop where the reef made the bay lovely and calm even for Shah who ended up a little closer to the reef than what was planned.


The kids showed Amanda how to shoot hoops with a flat football while the older guys smoked the coconuts. It seems this is the first stage in the making coconut oil process.


Robin was given a cock to demonstrate cockfighting, but just a practice round where no cocks got hurt. In the real event a knife is attached to the foot and the loser is supper.

Our next stop was the big smoke of Quezon, where Robin was a great hit at the Karaoke bar and maybe we all had 1 to many beers and got twisted a little out of shape.


That night I dreamt that the local caves we wanted to visit was on the other side of the hill we were anchored next to and further investigation proved this to be correct so after a hairy ride around through the surf in the dingy we convinced the cave man to let us in with another group. Amanda used her backside negotiate some of the more slippery slopes.


After the tour the option to go back through the surf on the locals boat looked like a safer one. They even had snacks that must taste a little different mixed with salt water.


Once safely around the headland we transferred to Andy’s dingy for the remaining trip.


Another couple days were spent getting supplies, eating pizza, unsuccessfully looking for restaurants and avoiding the Karaoke Bar before heading off.
Loved Quezon.

Clearing Out

I put in a request with the powers that be (Amanda) for a couple of young girls from Sweden as possible crew. Somehow the message got a little mixed up and we collected our new crew Robin and Pontus from Sweden for the trip to the Philippines.
Our first stop was to be Balambangan where caves were rumored to be. After being pointed in the right direction by local fisherman and without finding anything we asked if they could guide us which they were happy to do the following morning.

Turns out although we had been close by yesterday we would never had found our way up through the mud, mangroves and jungle to the entrance without help.

After our caving experience a little bay further north was our next stop where we found some sea gypsy’s anchored. The kids were very happy with the balloons we keep on board for gifts.

A nice lighthouse built by the Spanish was our next destination however the wind and rain kept us away and it was so rolly we had to move around the corner where we convinced Robin to climb a coconut tree for us.

By this stage Andy on the Star Ship Shar had turned up so along with Rubicon Star we all headed for Balabac town. It’s now official, Pontus caught the first fish of the trip. Unfortunately for us it was a Barracuda which isn’t the greatest eating fish but the fisherman rowing around close by with his lure out was over the moon when we dropped it into his boat causing it to sit noticeably lower in the water.

In Balabac town our first Philippine town we stocked up on Tanduay Rum at $2 a bottle and the local beer “Red horse” which has a bit of a kick at 6.9%. Next on the shopping list was a new sim card for our phones and finally some fruit and veges.

After moving to a little bay north we were awaken by gunfire early the following morning. Once the shooting had stopped I came out and was looking for any signs of bullet holes when I spotted a hole near the top of the mast. Amanda got on the radio to Rubicon Star who had already sailed north to tell them about our possible injury. I climbed the mast to find it was a rivet hole but everywhere we go now other Yachts ask us if we heard Rubicon Star got shot on Balabac? The cruising grapevine is in full force!
The Police came and arrested 2 locals while we swiftly headed to Candaraman Island where the locals gave us coconuts. Amanda has discovered this goes well with the local Tanduay Rum and we now have a daily coconut quota to fill.

Before heading north towards Palawan we made the most of the local reef drift snorkelling on the outer edge.

Bintulu to Miri with the Yii's

After leaving the mouth of the Lassa at the very civilized time of 11am we traveled through the night to our next stop at Bintulu. After hearing about yachts before us having stuff stolen off them while anchored in the river we opted for the secure port 10 miles further north. From here it was a pain in the ass to get to town involving a long trip in the dingy through the Port before, in the words of the port official, hijacking out on the main road. The 24hour security made up for the inconvenience.


The weather being unsettled we stayed 3 days. When in town on day 1 we got sausage-making ingredients and filled in the other days making sausages. Hippy Amanda went all out even attempting to make Feta cheese as well as other things.

Another overnighter saw us through to Miri, arriving early in the morning with a blood splattered hull after catching 2 fish and running into a 35 foot long log in the middle of the night. After walking into town we found that Miri does not have anywhere to hires a motorbike. Everywhere we went I asked the locals if I could hire their bike for 4 days until we found a spare one. With wheels we found a great electrical shop that should have Avalanche danger signs posted and of course the friendly local Butcher.

Yii, the Butcher was a little surprised when we turned up wanting Pig intestines but after explaining what they were for he ordered them for an early pick up the next morning. He must have mentioned the crazy tourists making western sausages to his wife as we then got a message inquiring if we could do a sausage making class for her and her friend. Sounds like fun.

After a batch of Old English Pork Yii and his family took us under their wing and couldn’t do enough for us. We mentioned taking our bike the 100kms down to Niah Caves, but they would not hear of it insisting on driving us down.

After only 1 wrong turn we found our way through the cave system to the paintings on the other side.

Being a weekday not many people were about therefore the bats, cave Wetas etc were relatively undisturbed.

Once back at the marina we thought since the Miri Marina was full of boats, a taste test evening would help present our superior product to the marketplace. It ended up being such a success we did the same the following evening managing to sell out (24 half kilo packets) as well as back orders. This caused a delayed departure to make more sausages and Amanda was keen to go out with Yii’s wife and family while I got the boat prepared. Their plan of sneaking over the bridge to Brunei had its problems I believe.

A week later with sausages in the freezer again we headed off for Brunei. Thanks Yii and family for the great time we had while in Miri.

Kiwis loose in Thailand

Sandra and Karen decided a holiday was long overdue and headed to Asia to visit Simon and Amanda on the yacht Thyme.

After kicking up their heels around Thailand, Sandra and Karen arrived in Ao Chalong straight into the arms of a bargirl. Trevor insisted this was a good place to shelter from the rain?!?!?! The tune of, “I love you my mother” and “When you happy, I happy” were set to become our mantra for the trip.

The weather put on a good show and we pounded our way Phi Phi Don in the rain. Phi Phi was beautiful but very crowded and in the evening we retreated to the quiet of the boat to watch what else but The Beach.

The next day we headed for the Emerald cave on Koh Muk. Sandra and Karen practiced steering their hovercraft around Thyme before braving the pitch black of the 200m long cave.

We bravely battled past the stinging jelly fish, through the roar of the surge in the dark, past the bats and finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel. We popped out of the tunnel into a jungle green open cave with a white sand beach. Ahhh, heaven. It was well worth the jelly stings.

With the bar set high for adventure, we had a tough act to follow the next day. Where could we find some more excitement? Koh Taratau of course, wasn’t that the setting for a survivor series? Day 1 found us exploring the mangrove creeks looking for Crocodile Cave. After a few hours, some wrong turns, a little debate over dinghy fuel levels we finally stumbled upon a run down concrete wharf of sorts. Curious we dimembarked, followed the trail and entered another cave we found some kayaks and paddles kindly awaiting our attention. Si and I jumped in and were off… just to make sure the path was safe… NO – of course we weren’t waiting to get photos if they fell in!

For the next 2 days we wore ourselves being attacked by green ants and plunging through thick rainforest trying to find a waterfall. Finally on day two of the expedition we came across the cool freshwater pool and falls. We all jumped in keen to cool off only to be surprised by an attack of thousands of tiny fish.

I think we might be starting to wear them out…

Phang Nga Bay

We dotted our way north West checking out what’s hot and what’s not, finding bats, Hongs and calm waters.

What we didn’t find was a doctor. Amanda was a little nervous about some stomach pains she was experiencing (not pregnant) and after taking various medications on board wanted professional advice. We were still traveling with Gadfly at this stage and he had a friend in Aussie who was a doctor. Next problem, phone service. We headed into the bay in search of reception.

After having no real success we headed back to the boat with the plan of heading to Phuket in the morning if no improvement was felt. Fortunately things were much better so we decided on Ko Hong for a day stop.

We bumped our dinghies through the 100s of tourists in kayaks to visit the numerous tunnels through the island. We even bumped into National Parks who wanted money for visiting the area. We advised them we were just leaving and headed off to Koh Ping Kan for the night. This was a much quieter spot and we found a long tunnel that cut right through the Island.

Once getting to the center of the Island things shallowed up and one of Trevor’s crew went forward to investigate the lay of the land reporting back “impassable”

We headed back to the boats for a meal of prawns procured from local fishermen.

Island Hopping north - Thailand

We continued north enjoying short hops from one white sand beach, limestone cliff and lush jungle to the next. We've reached paradise. Koh Rok Nok, Koh Kraden, Koh Muk and Koh Phi Phi were all on the schedule.





Our favourite was Emerald Cave. This involved donning snorkel gear (for Simon anyway - I used the kayak) and swimming through a tunnel for about 500m. The tunnel was pitch black and had a number of offshoots where we managed to get a bit lost. The roar of the ocean, the surge and overhangs made it quite exciting in the dark. We spotted some light at the end of the tunnel and swam into a crystal clear lagoon with a white sand beach surrounded on all sides by steep limestone cliffs covered in green ferns. The emerald glow that was cast made it live up to it's name. A few minutes after we arrived, the tour boats left and we had the place to ourselves!

Bau Bau

The fairly short hop around to Bau Bau was completed via a stop at what looked like an idyllic coral lagoon. Unfortunately it was rolly and stormy so we left again the following morning at daybreak.

Like most of the other boats, we too decided to anchor just before the main town avoiding the crowds for another few days. It turned out to be in front of a small resort owned by a Norwegian and his wife. A Ramadan free zone.




We did the 15min recon trip to town by motorbike and eventually were encouraged to move around to the town center to enable the officials to show us what a great place Bau Bau is. Tourism is in its infancy here and yes we are the guinea pigs.

Our first excursion was to a cave. This turned out to be far more than we expected. A dodgy generator at the entrance was running half a string of lights (bulbs blown in the rest) and in we crawled… well the braver of the guinea pigs. A candle was lit every now and again I think to monitor oxygen levels and strangely enough no guinea pigs slipped and fell to their deaths at any number of points along the way.

The next day after taking in some of the sights from around the city, we were taken out to the Bau Bau Hollywood sign, once again with a police escort……. of course.

The guinea pigs were herded onto the bus in the afternoon to visit an old fort. Or that was what we thought. Firstly we stopped to see some local crafts been produced.

Then yes we made it to the fort where we were let out to eat some grass. I mean view the fort.

Here is where it got interesting. The bus took us up the road and we disembarked into a crowd of thousands. Different cultural shows were underway and we were eventually herded undercover for what looked like another show. After a lot of confusion we ended up seated one person opposite a girl in traditional dress. Our Girl. Apparently we couldn’t keep her however the idea was she was to feed us traditional food that her family had made. I would have washed and put on good clothes had I known.