Not all those who wander are lost
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AKAMA REPORT 14
5 January 2004
AKAMA Report 14
We left KK on schedule for our trip around the top of north-eastern
Borneo. This was to have been a slow cruise from island to island. We
ended up making miles, as we had winds and nearly continuous rain for
over a week. All the way around from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, we had
one rolly anchorage after another, with few exceptions. The exceptions
were spots we picked more for their shelter from the weather than for
their scenery or attractions.
Most nights we anchored with one or more of the yachtie friends with
whom we have been keeping company here in Borneo. We've written before
about the nearly instant camaraderie among yachties. We are not really
travelling in convoy, but most nights we catch up with one or more of
them or they catch up with us. We often anchor near each other and
sometimes have sundowners or pot luck dinners together. We share
information over the radio about anchorages, sea conditions and local
attractions. Invariably, at major locations such as big towns and yacht
clubs, we help each other out with shopping and repairs.
As usual, equipment quit on this trip. Our friends Steve & Elaine,
who write cruising books for yachties, have a tongue-in-cheek rule that
something breaks down every 600-miles. Maybe they are right, as we have
certainly had our share of failures. First our autopilot went on
strike (broken wire). Then the stabilizers began to make an awful noise
(loose v-belt). Finally, the generator overheated and quit (broken
v-belt). Fortunately, these things were easily fixed.
More seriously, and potentially a show stopper, is the generator set,
which has again failed. In KK we repaired the heat exchanger when we
could not get a new one without delay. Eventually, the new one arrived
and went into ship's stores for the fateful day that it was needed.
That day arrived and we discovered that it is the wrong part. So, we
are using the generator, but have to keep adding fresh water to it, or
the salt will eat away the internals. We emailed the manufacturer,
Westerbeke over a week ago, marked it urgent, and they still have not
yet replied. We are not impressed with this company or their agent in
SE Asia, KUT Diesels.
There were a couple of interesting moments. The first was at Pulau
Malawi, where we stopped to tighten the v-belt on the generator and
anchored for the night. Some locals, two young men and a little girl,
came by in a little boat, got onto AKAMA's swim platform and watched as
Maurice worked. We tried to talk to them, but could find no common
language. They had shells and fish to sell, but had nothing we wanted.
This was unfortunate, as we would have liked to have traded with them.
Their boat was a mess, their clothes were full of holes; they were
clearly destitute and could have used a few dollars.
Another interesting spot was P. Langkayan (another lousy night due to
swells and wind). Here the rain stopped briefly and we had a chance for
a snorkel amid colourful fishes. Alas, the locals have nearly
destroyed most of the nearby reefs. Fortunately, they have recently
discovered tourism and have built a dive resort on the island. This is
good news for the reef, which is making a come-back.
Upon arrival at Sandakan, a city of perhaps 500,000 persons, we anchored
near the local yacht club, which has nice shore facilities but nothing
in the water. The wind blew up from the east and created a very
dangerous situation, as the boats were anchored too close to one
another. Our boat and a small sailboat "kissed" in the night, resulting
in damage to our newly-varnished cap rail and a few hull scratches.
So, we moved farther into the bay to a large, safe anchorage where there
were only two other boats, including one of our friends. Our other
friends soon joined us, as did another yacht. We were all feeling
rather smug and safe when all hell broke loose. Fishing trawlers by the
score arrived to shelter from the seas, which had built up to such an
extent that they could no longer work. These rough wooden boats with
huge diesel engines anchored around us, dangerously close, and powered
by fast enough to rock us, sometimes quite violently. At one point,
there had to be at least fifty of them anchored in the area, often with
insufficient anchors, so that they drifted in the wind and waves.
Sometimes one boat would anchor, with its too-small ground tackle, and
then two or three others would raft off it, exacerbating a bad
situation. Of course, situations vary according to your perspective;
while we were wringing our hands with worry, hoping that our shiny
yachts would not be damaged, the fishermen were having a good time on
their "days off", gunning their engines, manoeuvring among their fleet,
visiting between the boats and so on. The next night, they organized
themselves into groups of up to a dozen boats, and anchored much more
safely. At one point we stopped watching a movie, to go outside and
watch the fishing boats jockeying for position, coming and going. None
of the yachties got much sleep those two nights.
Despite the vigilance we yachties took, one night all of the sailboats
were visited by thieves. Most of them lost their outboard motors and
their accessories. We were fortunate and did not loose anything. AKAMA
is rather large and more difficult to board than the average sailboat.
While this does not preclude theft, it does make her a somewhat less of
a target. Although police reports were made, none of the missing gear
was recovered. After that, we had several police patrol boats anchored
in the area. It gives peace of mind, but is a bit like hiring a
shepherd, after all of the sheep have run off.
One night we had to re-anchor, as AKAMA was too close to another boat
for our liking. Our anchor, a 55-pound plough-style, got caught on
something. When we finally got it free, the stock had been bent like a
pretzel. We deployed one of our emergency anchors and looked for an
engineering shop that could straighten the anchor. This is not as easy
as it seems when you don't speak the local language. Ultimately, we had
to schlep the anchor around from shop to shop until we found one that
could do the job. Two men and a huge hydraulic ram were put to work to
straighten the stock. They bent and measured for quite some time,
ultimately getting it nearly perfectly straight. Now for the good part,
they refused to take any money in payment, not even a "tip"! We went
to the store and bought them some oranges and drinks, which they
reluctantly accepted. There are still some white knights out there.
Christmas found us aboard AKAMA with a bunch of our fellow yachties,
having a communal turkey dinner. It is hard to get into the Christmas
spirit when it is 30-degrees outside and none of our friends and family
are present. But, having our new yachting friends aboard was a close
second; a good time was had by all.
We did not expect much during New Year's Eve at Sandakan; after all,
they are mostly Chinese and their New Year is a month away. How wrong
we were! They decorated the town waterfront with lights, decorated all
the local police and navy boats, and at midnight they shot off a pile of
flares, followed by a nearly world-class fireworks display. We watched
it all from the monkey island (atop the pilot house).
For our wedding anniversary, 2 January, we went to Hawaii...that is the
Hawaii restaurant in Sandakan. We started out at the Sandakan Hotel
dining room, a supposedly 5-star spot. But, when we discovered that
they did not serve alcohol, we shifted to a lesser hotel, where we knew
we could get a drink. The food was surprisingly good, and because we
were there ahead of the peak time for dinner the service was very
attentive. Moreover, we had a 4-course meal, with a couple of drinks,
for only RM20 each (less than ten bucks).
We fuelled up at Sandakan, taking as much as AKAMA would hold (we filled
her three tanks right to the tops of the fill pipes) and On Saturday 3
January, we left. We went only about 70-miles the first day, along the
Borneo coast to a little village called Tambassan. There we anchored
between an island and the island of Borneo, in a delightfully peaceful
spot. It was so nice and we had work to do, so we stayed an extra day,
touring the little village. We visited the police chief who showed us a
mango tree that had been there for well over 100-years. During WWII,
the Japanese used it as a gallows to hang anyone who resisted their
authority during the occupation. Speaking of soldiers, at one point, a
bunch of armed soldiers came over in a big black Zodiac, but all they
wanted was to have their photos taken aboard AKAMA and the other two
boats we were travelling with. Later, others arrived wanting the same
thing.
On 5 January, we left Borneo, setting off on our next journey, a long
passage to New Zealand. We'll write about that in our next report. |
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