A Hookah in Kota Kinabalu

This is the time of year most people never envisage when they imagine a sailing adventure, so we thought we would share with you why we have paused in KK for 2 months. This is time when the jobs list is too long and you need to stop for a while to catch your breath and prepare the boat for more adventures. I naively thought I was escaping this, my most hated time of year but upon my return, sadly realized, despite Simons hard work the job list was still growing… not shrinking.

While I was assigned the usual array of sanding, varnishing, polishing and larder building and assistant jobs Simon was tackling building a new powerful hookah dive unit in a foreign country with 40kgs of goodies I lugged back from Aussie, parts ordered on the web from India, Malaysian sourced bits and bobs and a Honda motor we brought from the Philippines - fingers crossed they go together.

Loaded down with parts and much to the bemused stares of locals, we boarded the Inanam bus headed to Fast Fit where Mr Pung had agreed to allow Simon to build his machine. It took 3 days to weld and fabricate the body to Simons design with the boys speaking no English!

The drawings, scribbled notes and photos copied from the web slowly became dishelved…

as the unit took shape. Thanks to Alwyn and Ben in the workshop, they did a wonderful job!

With the build complete, we had better test it works so out to Gaya we sailed with plans to clean Thyme’s bottom while testing the hookah unit. It would be silly not to look at the reef too…

What is a Hookah?

Many commercial dive operators the world over use surface fed air compressor units – which is what this is – commonly called a hookah – a little like the power dive units you see but more grunt, reliability and safer fittings. A compressor at the surface, in this case McMillan 19cfm (alloy and stainless for the salt water environs) is belt driven by a petrol motor (Honda GX200). Compressed air is delivered into a reservoir – in this case the stainless steel frame and filtered before being sent down air breathing to a regulator used by the diver. All the fittings are special double action locking TEMA fittings. The filters meet international standards. The unit is capable of getting 2 divers to 40m, or 2 to 20m or so and 2 to 10m, although diving without back up tanks is with no deco within limits. We are always attached to the dinghy when diving, good for when we are diving new and unknown locations, particularly with current.

But wait there's more... the compressor can be used for spray painting, which is what Simon is about to start on – spraying the cabin sides after his port hole repairs. No more leaks!

In between jobs, we have managed to see some strange and interesting sights. A building on fire one morning, staff in a nearby restaurant badly burnt cooking on a grill that was being cleaned at the same time by someone with petrol!, sipping Dom Perignon overlooking the waterfront with some wealthy locals, an amazing fireworks display over the boat to celebrate the beginning of Ramadan, and we also squeezed in time to form a nice friendship with a 2 meter fish. He would appear under the hull every morning and evening and even let us swim with him. From the fish book we can only guess he is a Cobia?

Now the new VHF is installed, the dive machine complete, all hatches and port holes resealed, interior re-varnished, the V-berth painted, the engine cooling pipes re-welded, new coolant in the engine, oil and filter changed, water tanks cleaned out, bilges clean, new timber on back handrails, exterior varnishing complete, brass polished, larder re-stocked, timber where the port holes leaked replaced, cabin sides almost filled and painted now it’s time to start thinking of distant shores – Moluku and Raja Ampat dreaming…

Bach'ing in Kota Kinabalu

Once safely anchored in our old spot out the front of town, Amanda caught her flight to Sydney to visit family while my project to re-seal all the portholes could get underway with total disregard to where the dust went.

My diet also took a dramatic change, sheep and 3 vegetables being a highlight (lamb is a real stretch of the imagination). Amanda was enjoying all that comes with a house kitchen.

On Thyme sloop and I are lying in paint flakes. Amanda in rose petals.

The saloon also had a spa with the windows out and the constant rain showers. Didn’t bother me although Sloop was a little annoyed a leak was above his day bed.

Once the weather cleared I managed to get some paint on. In Sydney Amanda was getting on new swimmers in the winter sales.

3 weeks has gone past and Amanda is preparing to head to the airport. I’m off to purchase my secret weapon to avoid being strangled by a new bikini.

Police Bay

Well, it’s been so long since I had to write something, I have had to look back to what was last reported. It appears we were in Kota Kinabalu waiting for our Layang Layang permit to come through. The permit finally arrived, along with Ivonne, a new crewmember for our trip.

Our first stop was Palau Gaya where we had a communal BBQ with prawns and Daryl’s special Papaya marinated steak.

The evening as usual turned into beers, wine and even champagne. Trevor then cranked up the Guitar to scare off any monkeys that may have been lurking nearby.

The next morning we moved around the corner into the next Bay where a yacht unfriendly resort was rumored to be located. After some diving with the electric hooker system 3 of us headed over to the resort to see if we could sneak a swim. Our plan was to run up the beach and jump in before being kicked out. The plan went swimmingly with Trevor and me floating about the infinity pool feeling pleased with ourselves waiting for security. Gabrielle who had decided against the swim then turned up with a free cocktail which somewhat took the wind out of our sails. Hearing the guests get the first drink free and not to be out done Trevor and I headed in search of the bar, Trevor ending up with the house special and me a Long Island Ice Tea. The manager did inquire if I arrived that day which I could honestly answer yes. Thanks guys.
The following morning much to Sloops disgust we headed out to travel the 150 miles to Layang Layang.

Some photos above are stolen from Ivonne - check out her site - www.inspirationworldwide.com

It was still another 3 days before Amanda’s parents were due to arrive so with previous crewmember Josh and his friend Ben in the neighborhood the plan to head out for some diving was hatched.


While to four of us were diving the sound of boats could be heard above us and after surfacing we discovered Trevor from Gadfly, Darryl from Matana and Dave from Mirage were anchored in the next bay. As we hadn’t seen Trevor for 4 months beers seemed like a good idea. This of course led to a bombing competition with moves like the Flying Wombat, Star Horsey, Staple and the Layback all being demonstrated.



Trevor managed to lose his sunnies but with the assistance of dive gear recovered them after a 15 min search.


That night we had a fire on the beach with marshmallows before heading from Gaya around to Edgell Patches the following morning. The plan was to do the open sea dive before the wind came up but conditions weren’t great so we dropped Josh and Amanda off and returned to the general area ½ an hour later. I kept thinking if the GPS was to lose the waypoint or there was a strong current below the surface how would we find them? None of these things happened so alls well that ends well.
With the arrival of Amanda’s parents we hit the Tourist trail heading over to Poring hot springs.

They also have a rain forest canopy walk, which consists of Aluminum ladders bolted together, overlaid with planks and hung in the treetops.



Town also had its sights such as 6-foot long Monitor lizards living in the street drains and some pretty interesting cuisine being live stonefish at 10 RM per 100 grams.



After a few days I was pretty much touristed out so moved onto boat jobs giving Amanda, Derek and Janet some time alone to visit the wild life park, Islands etc. They got a good taste of local safety on the boat trip having to wear kids life jackets that won’t do up and a life ring that’s going to the bottom of the sea with the boat if it sinks.



Amanda says – I had an absolute ball with my parents here – 8 days was too short! Wildlife spotting, mountain and jungle walks, hot springs, islands – we enjoyed it all. I hope you come back to visit soon – miss you already.

Racing against Thyme...

The trip to Kinabalu was largely done with the motor running, the only real excitement was provided by the Malaysian armed forces.

As we were not part of the rally or the race we anchored just south of the marina on our arrival. The next day the race organizers convinced us to do the Kota Kinabalu races therefore be entitled to free marina usage for 5 days. Count us in.


Even though the wind was practically none existent we headed out for our first ever race in Thyme. The course was shortened and we drifted around, coming a respectable 3^rd for our class. I don’t think anyone spotted my small mistake of in my excitement of putting the inner jib on upside down.

I woke up early the next morning to the noise of the wind in the rigging. The afternoon races were anything but lacking in wind. Being only the 2 of us we had our hands full getting around the course and seriously considered reefing the main at one point. We were rewarded with a 2^nd for our efforts and as the boat that came 3^rd was still a long way back, this put as second over all. At the dinner and prize giving we picked up our first silverware… maybe I need to build a trophy cabinet?


Once our 5 days were up we moved out back on anchor even though a swell was still coming in from the earlier weather. The roll although acceptable was a bit much after the marina so I scouted a new spot with the sounder in the dingy. This found us later that afternoon up a canal, tied up to large traditional boat just across from town.