Diving Lankayan

Out of bed to late and not wanting the long day to Tegapil I picked a spot off a reef where we met a fisherman catching coral trout for the market with the aid of cyanide! Our evening kicked off with some waterspouts and after a fairly cool but windy night early the next morning we hit the road. Once anchored at Tegapil a solider wielding an M16 got the message through to me that we couldn’t stay. I think my message that the commander last year said it was OK  got mixed up, although the bit about the commander said OK got through so we stayed only to have Sloop fall off the BBQ while cleaning his …. Tail base?  Amanda jumped in, saved him (another life gone) and as I was in the shower at the time he also got treated to one.

A 3am covert shore mission turned up lots of Turtle tracks and 1 attempting to dig its hole in the bush’s but we didn’t get to witness any laying so departed the next day for some diving and almost snared a lobster for lunch. Luckily we didn’t meet any soldiers with guns.

Max aka killer and Nadine patrolled the reef with the hooker looking for dinner.

Sweet Lip ended up on the menu however a passing Jelly fish came out on top after tangling with Amanda.

Lankayan, Malaysia’s famous marine park and island resort in the Sulu sea gave as a chance to dive a few wrecks and reefs teeming with coral trout, sharks, turtles and colorful reef fish. The spear gun didn’t come out as there was also plenty of sharks hanging around… oh and yes it’s a marine park. From here we headed into Sandakan to deliver our crew into the mayhem of Hari Raya, the end of Ramadan. We had such fun diving and cruising around the reefs with Max and Nadine on this leg we were sad to say farewell!

With a week before crew from Poland arrive, we managed to fit in some sewing and other odd jobs while restocking for our departure to Indonesia.

It might be worth mentioning, the area we are headed to is remote (northern Molucus/Molukus) we will be changing to the boat radio email system  as it could be 3 or 4 weeks before we see internet again. Check the where are we now link on the blog for our position.

Who roo.

Diving with Bavarians

 

With the window job finally completed, the feta made,  4kg of smoked pork (a great recipe from sv Braveheart), and our new crew Max and Nadine we upped anchor for the last time in KK and headed out to Gaya to introduce our crew to hookah diving. What better place to start then scrubbing the hull.

With a few dives under our belts and a covert mission to the canopy walk behind the resort followed by a swim in the pool at the royal villa we began the trip to Sandakan with a stiff following breeze.

 

Our arrival in Kudat brought with it the usual jobs, fuel, gas, and ships stores. We did however manage to fit in a legal swim at the resort and catch up with Sarazan the golf caddy from last year while taking Sloop for an early morning stroll through the sand bunkers. Max and Nadine trying to escape the heat from in the boat slept on deck much to the delight of the resident mosquitoes.

Pulau Silk looked good on the chart and was chosen as the next stop. The residents of a water village were also the lucky recipients of some second hand cloths Max and Nadine had brought with them to give away

Tibakkan a sand cay on the way to Tigabu made a great afternoon stop. My lips are sealed…  We were also pleasantly surprised by the recovery of the reef. Snorkeling here was like swimming in a huge aquarium.

Amanda had printed some good photos from last year featuring the local fisherman who took us under his wing and showed us around. We gave them to a passing boat and an hour latter had a visit from a very impressed local clutching his photos. Unfortunately he was on his way out fishing so we only caught up briefly.

A snorkel in the area where Amanda had previously been sprayed with squid ink turned up a huge turtle scratching its back on a lump of coral.

We’re off southwards in the hope of finding turtles laying at Tegapil in the coming days.

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.

Wildlife in the Klias Wetlands

One word best describes our trip up the Klias. Hot. Even after being in the heat of Asia for a few years we still found the temperature overwhelming. It didn’t help that swimming is out due to the presence of crocodiles. I almost got a look in a steamy palm plantation but the moat prevented entry.

Can you guess which of the following photos are upside down?

If you guessed all of them you would be correct. They are photos taken of reflections in the Klias.

After a bit of hunting around we did find some probiscus and silver leaf but not being used to tourists, they were a little more camera shy than their brothers in the Kinabatangan. An encounter with a curious black and yellow water snake that looked like it was going to climb in the dingy had Amanda and Hannu diving to the floor for cover.

 With time running short we stayed one more night seeing fire flies around the boat before heading back to Labuan to clear out and onto Brunei for fuel.
A local tourist operator told me that Brunei has 1.2 million vehicles which is considerable as the population is only 398,000. Could be related to no income tax and fuel at 21 cents per litre.
Brunei was where Maria and Hanu departed after kindly helping to refuel the good ship Thyme. With all that spare space in the forepeak cabin we headed back to Labuan to clear in and resupply.

With only 5 more sleeps before Amanda’s long awaited trip back to Australia for a 3 week visit, we weighed anchor and headed back to Kota Kinabalu for her flight.
I’m left the boss of the beer… oh yes and boat jobs.