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.

Back on Palawan

With the wind dying we continued on our way west stopping at Caladagan Island we purchased octopus from a fisherman and snorkeled with shrimp fish amongst ther things. Although we have mastered the art of cleaning Octopus the gettingit tender still proves to be a challenge.

The Palawan coast is littered with uninhabited postcard Islandssurrounded by reef some of them tougher than our Octopus to negotiate.

With the wind completely gone now Amanda picked Maraguit Island as a spot to stop probably because of the abundant coconut supply that both her and Michelle are now adding to their rum. When in Rome…

To cool off we took the dingy over to the main land and up a river. Hoping for a waterfall we proceeded on foot once it became too shallow for the dingy.

Michelle’s Mum who thinks she’s on a cruise ship offered some advice before she left the U.S. “Stay with the group Michelle”. I’m guessing she’s not aware the group is 3.

We lucked out on the waterfall and settled for swimming at the dingy. Going against my number 1 rule – if it’s not f….. don’t fix it, I decided to improve the carburetor which ended in us rowing downstream to the main road where a young girl took us to a Vulcanizer (tyre repair shop). Here I borrowed her fathers compressor, solved the problem and we got back underway.

After dotting our way through Honda bay we reached Puerto Princesa for our Philippines outwards clearance.

Farewell Kinabatangan

Hunter’s departure saw meat back on the menu… in a big way! On the flip side we were now running solo without our hockey star to remove the log jams from the anchor chain.

On the way back out we stopped by at the village of Abai for some of those yummy fresh water prawns. This was my favorite stop! Elephants passed by not far from the boat and we fell asleep to the sound of their trumpet. Our nightly ritual of showering on the back deck with the cold river water could now be conducted ‘sans clothing’.

The next morning we strolled around town meeting the locals. Here we met Ghafar and Jarima who run the Moido Waloi Homestay. They immediately invited us for a tour of their garden and rice paddy, and then showered us with fresh coconuts, biscuits and mangoes. We made plans for them to visit the boat later that day with promises of smoked fish and fresh veges. Yummy! It was a great afternoon with lots of laughs – the no smiling in photos must be a cultural thing?

Further down the river Sloop managed to sneak in the dinghy for a trip down a creek where we met more monkeys, proboscis, eagles and kingfishers.


We managed to get out the river with only 5cm to spare under the keel. Sloop was rewarded finding a fish on the foredeck that jumped onto the boat – sadly no one would fillet and steam it for him. Off to Sandakan for some chores and preparing for the next leg to the Semporna & Sipidan area.

This is the East coast at Sandakan and our planned route to Tawau - our turn around point.

Note: If you were interested to stay in the Moido Waloi Homestay, this can be arranged through Ghafar on +60109314303 or the Sandakan Tourist Information centre. Highly recommended - great people and lovely location - living with the locals.

Call of the Wild - Sukau

Finally we made Sukau after dogging and pressing through the log jams in the river. I thought Hunter would possess some Canadian Lumber jack skills however he was a little reluctant to jump on a jam after hearing crocodiles inhabit the river.

Another boat Alice, who had entered the river at the same time as us ended up with a big log stuck across the front of their boat while they were away. We tried to move it until they came back without success.


The main objective of coming all the way up the river was to see the Asian Pigmy elephants of which officially only around 130 of still exist. The locals think real numbers are only 70. We took a local boat upstream as it looked as if Thyme might not fit under the power lines, passing the Croc that was waiting for Hunter to jump on a log jam.

We were not disappointed with the turn out. Our driver told us that the Palm oil plantation owners shoot the elephants to keep them from trampling around in their plantations. The female elephant on the right has a scar from a gunshot wound on her right cheek.





Our driver took us home via an Ox Bow lake that’s being slowly over taken by Hyacinth.

The next morning Amanda and I headed out early (early and Hunter don’t work well together) looking for monkeys, birds etc. We nosily passed a few unimpressed tourist boats before finding an old swing bridge made from canvas hose.


Hunter having completed his 2 weeks relatively unscathed, headed back to Sandakan to start his journey back to Toronto and us needing to renew our visa began the trip back down the river. The tide lets us out on the 8th.

Jungles of Borneo - off to the Kinabatangan River

From Tegipil we carried on to Lankayan getting lost in the reef before being pointed in the direction of a mooring owned by the resort located on the island. The snorkeling here was very good; we even spotted a giant stingray.


The Turtle islands was to be our next stop however after anchoring the Park officials paddled out on their surf ski with their “talky talky” so the “big boss” could tell us to go “far far away”. Turns out we did not have a landing permit which apparently we should have got from KK. The fact we weren’t landing was beside the point. We moved far away to the next island but were again told the same thing prompting us to move far far away. During the night we had a good squall 30+ knots and Hunter reviewed his personal belief of not using insect repellant.

The yacht club in Sandakan was a good stop for more supplies, the dentist for me and a chance to watch the All Blacks flog France in the rugby. The bar staff needed a little bit of convincing to change the channel from the badminton but we got there in the finish.

Of course the rugby turned into beers and once back at the boat. Hunter after not coming up with a bomb for Canada that could rival the Aussie "Star Horsie" or the US "Flying Wombat", pulled out the beer shot gun. I must say I was impressed. Not to be attempted without adult supervision it goes something like, Step 1 pierce the can and fold in the torn aluminum. Step 2-hold hole to mouth with tear tab at highest point and open. Two - Five seconds later your no longer thirsty.

With the tides still in our favor we left Sanderkan at 4.30am to cross the Northern bar into the Kinabatangan at 8.00am. All went well and we started the slow trip up stream.

At our first anchorage I managed to get 6 large river prawns off a fisherman going past for the evening BBQ.

We also spotted our first troop of Proboscis Monkeys in the trees near the boat. A closer inspection almost got us lost.

After a night of fireflies we took the dingy to a near by lake early in the morning before heading to the metropolises of Sukau further upstream.

Nuts in the River - leaving the Lassa

Using the outgoing tide most of the time we made or way down the river system to the mouth of the Lassa some 65 miles further north of where we entered the Rajang. Having a little bit of time on our hands waiting for the tide we decided to try some Betel Nut purchased from the market in Sibu for 3RM ($1).

The idea as far as we could tell was to combine the 3 ingredients into the green leaf and roll it up like a cigar. The Beer was in case everything went pear shaped.

The white paste was very bitter, numbed the tongue and tasted something like chalk with a generous splash of paint thinner. Don’t ask how I know what thinners taste like. We pushed on hoping that the combination of all the items would produce some magical flavor… it didn’t.

After 3 bites and the urge to vomit it went in the bin and the only euphoric sensation we got was the one associated with knowing we didn’t have to eat any more. An Internet search later revealed the mouldy leaf was probably tobacco. The green leaf from the betel nut or correctly named Areca Palm and the white paste is a mystery. Its often lime powder but not so in this case. The whole concoction is known to remove intestinal parasites and cause cancer. Maybe that’s what kills the parasites?
Next stop Bintulu.

Blown apart gulf – Joseph Bonaparte Gulf

We nervously headed out the Berkely at 8pm in the dark. The moon was not expected up for another few hours and Simon fought to hold our course in the dark against the cross currents just out the river. We knew we were going to cross the worst sandbanks about 1nm out and were literally sweating on there being enough water. We breezed over in the last hour of the tide without hiccup and set a course for Darwin.

We had varied wind – some good, light and calm and sailed, motor sailed and just motored our way across the gulf. On the last night out we got hit with a particulrly nasty storm. I was on watch and when I saw lightening hitting the water up ahead I thought it was time to wake Simon up. I had already tried to get him to shorten our sail without success so when he came up and said, “Shit it’s black” I suspected we were in for trouble. We had no time to reef the main as within seconds we were hit, the wind going from calm to 45knots instantly. We heeled right over and we swung into battle stations. Si at the helm, me battening down, all the while our path being lit up by lightening bolts. The thunder was deafening, the wind was tossing us around like a rag doll and then the rain starting sheeting down. The worst was over in 30 mins and the fear receded to the back of my mind like a distant scene from a movie and with my eyes heavy we carried on Darwin bound.

We anchored the next night before Darwin waiting for Barra B to sail the last leg in company. As it turned out they were held up in another storm and we only caught sight of them heading into Darwin. Chatting on the VHF, a voice came up calling Barramanda. That’s me I thought and replied, “this is Barramanda go ahead”. I was promptly advised, “this is the Australian Navy, please change to another frequency Barramanda”. Looks like the nickname is going to well and truly stick around now, even the Navy is onto me.

Oh well, Darwin here we are! First stop the vet this afternoon for Baby T.

Berkley River – early November

We left King George early the following morning hoping to get to the Berkely with some light and favourable tide. This was now the only river not yet visited. While the entrance is littered with sand banks, the rolling swell out the front motivated us to enter on the rising tide – after sunset. We agreed on turning around if the sounder got to 2.8mtrs (leaving 60cm under the hull) but we both could feel the pull of calm water and a good nights sleep so we ploughed on bumping over the banks with the swell and finally dropping into deep water at the mouth. Phew! Now all we had to do was find an anchorage in the dark… we were both grateful for a quiet beer once we anchored. The next morning at low we had a dinghy recon to check out our exit path – we were now on falling tides and had better find a deeper exit path or we’ll be here until December!


While the Berkely was stunning, by this stage I was keen to just make it back out the river and head to the big smoke, the vet, people, shops and supplies! The creeks were mostly stagnant, more red cliffs and mangroves. Sorry… I just couldn’t summon any real excitement at being here. 14 weeks and I’m all Kimberlied out.

St George Basin – early October

We’ve left the Prince Regent River and are now slowly heading back to Darwin. There are heaps of places we never visited on the way round and other favourites we want to return to. I tried to get some better shots of the magnificent St George Basin on the way out. The camera simply does not do this awesome scenery justice.



After our easy trip in we were lulled into a false sense of security for the passage past Strong Tide Pt and Whirlpool Pass. This time being mid run of the biggest spring tide we felt the full force. Old Thyme got up to over 10knots and kept Simon on his toes at the helm. At some points our bow was pointing nearly at right angle to our true direction of travel before being spun around to the opposite angle as were spat out of St George Basin. It was great fun – the most action I’ve seen in weeks! Hard to capture in photos – but here’s my best.

Prince Regent River – Kings Cascades - Beginning October

Despite being over half way thru our fuel, how could we come all the way to the Prince Regent River and not visit the highlight – Kings Cascades? The first day we attempted to get up stream to the falls there was not enough water to cross the sandbanks so we occupied ourselves with some gardening, rope mat making and of course Barra fishing to await the bigger tide tomorrow. Simon is becoming more successful at Barra fishing now and the freezer is starting to fill up for the wet season. Yes, that is a moustache on Simons face… his new look apparently???




The next day, again after many toilet stops we headed up to see Kings Cascades riding the big spring tide. It went without a hitch and we had just enough water to get into the basin and anchor right in front of the falls. We think there must be bad fires nearby as visibility today is really bad – which explains the haze in all the pics. Being a scorcher Simon wasted no time jumping under the falls for a cool down.

We hiked to the top for a swim in the lagoon where the water was so clean and clear. Unfortunately we could only stay for a quick stop as we needed to catch the falling tide back out to avoid being stranded the night on a sand bank. The swim in cool water made it well worthwhile!

Prince Regent River – Beginning October (8 weeks out – seen 2 boats!)

Even though Spring tides had not yet arrived we decided to brave entering the Prince Regent River and were pleasantly surprised by deep water all the way in with just a few reefs to avoid. We found a nice spot to anchor out of the current with plans of barra fishing and exploring.

The following morning bright and early we headed off in the dinghy for the 2mile trip up Camp Creek. We had heard there was fresh water pools and we were dying for a cool down. The temps here have reached new heights – everything is hot – even the soap is warm when you shower, your water bottle is like drinking tea and you could almost fry an egg on the deck! I’ve taken to drinking iced tea which I have to double stubby holder to try and keep cool as only minutes out of the fridge it tastes warm. The cats are now being cooled by a sophisticated method we call the “wet belly cool down”. We wet the skin and fur in between their hind legs under the guise of a pat– apparently the best area for cooling and then sit them somewhere shady with a breeze if possible. Seems to work so far.

After arriving at the rockbar, we quickly tied the dinghy safely – now experts with rockbars and large tides and hiked off along the creek. It was a beautiful walk alongside the creek and around beautiful freshwater lagoons. Oh, I should mention Simon caught a huge Barra just before tying up which we lost while trying to land without a net. Damn Barra!

Not happy with a swim in the low lying lagoons we trudged up past the first waterfall convinced there would be a better pool up the top. Our efforts paid off and with the thermometer saying 35.6 degrees it didn’t take much convincing to dive into the pool at the upper falls.

St George Basin – end of September

With the last good tide for a week we headed off for St George Basin– believe it or not under sail! A combination of the realization that we don’t have enough fuel to get back and now we’ve turned around we have some favourable breeze motivated us. We had a fantastic sail in no small part thanks to the current as we passed headlands with names like Whirlpool Pass and Strong Tide Passage 7 knots in the light winds was easy done.

St George Basin is an awesome sight by boat, you sail snug against dramatic red cliffs in water over 70mtres deep. Once you round the last headland, Strong Tide Passage the bay opens up with the imposing Mt Waterloo and Mt Trafalgar to the north, steep knobby red cliff islands and mangrove and sand fringed bays and coves. Even with the visibility so low on the day we came in it was an awe inspiring sight made all the more magical heeled over under full sail in Thyme.

The whole area is unsurveyed and very deep and the first day it got to the stage where 20mtrs was looking good for the night as the sun was rapidly falling. Sloop always up for a challenge looked over the guides trying to find a spot. Finally I remember a spot Barra Ken had mentioned, so we headed to the South Eastern side of St Andrews Island and finally dropped anchor between two imposing cliffs in a small quickly shoaling bay to watch the setting sun light up the country red and orange.

My photos do not do St George Basin justice. The scenery is so huge and overpowering, surrounding the boat, it was really hard to capture the enormity of it. Hopefully on the way back out visibility has cleared and I can get some better shots.