Nords Wharf

Now anchored at Nords Wharf, but not out the front of our house of course, and catching up with friends. My mobile number is 0437821206.

Lake Macquarie - home!

This journey started in Kota Kinabalu in July when Liz and the girls joined me after I put the boat back in the water after it sat waiting in the shipyard in Kudat for many months. The first two months saw us, as a family (as it always should be) sail around Sabah then across most of Indonesia and down to Darwin.

From there I sailed Reflections to Cairns on my own, experiencing all that solo sailing in contrary condition could have to offer. From Cairns I had the company of young travellers and without their knowledge of how good the conditions really were, ripped down the east cost of Australia.

So now I am back where we started from. I feel pleased that I was able to deliver her back here safely and intact. Now I wait to be reunited with my girls in December.

Love to all who read this...

Esmeralda Cove, Broughton Island

The wind and current has really pushed us along, with the boat sitting on 9-11 knots for a lot of the last 24 hours. I wanted to arrive at Swansea entrance at first light but the extra speed has put us too close so I decided to anchor here for the night and then arrive at the entrance for the higher early afternoon tide.

The strong northerly wind may make the bar a bit of a hazard, so its best to pick a better tide in full daylight.

Looking forward to a full nights sleep.

Hard to believe that tomorrow Reflections IV will be back in Lake Macquarie after leaving in April 2000. I so wish Liz and the girls were with me to do this final run home.

Passing Cape Byron

Half way from Bundy to Swansea!

After the lumpy start motor sailing out across Hervey Bay we found, in 200+ metre deep water, the south setting current and turned south to find an easterly wind around 15-20 knots and away we went. And that's been the story ever since. Sailing the boat slowly with the cutter and full main we've averaged 6.5 knots since leaving Bundaberg.

Being 25 miles offshore and in deep water the sea/swell has been gentle and the boat is moving very comfortably. The current has picked as we pass the eastern most point of the coast and the boat has been doing 8-10 knots for the last six hours.

The forecast looks good for continuing through to Lake Macquarie (the finish line!)and ETA is sometime on Monday.

Off Fraser Island and hunting the EAC

Left Bundaberg early (4am) this morning and headed out across Hervey Bay in less than ideal conditions but a tolerable 15 knot easterly wind that we motor-sailed out and over Sandy Cape hunting for deep water, smoother seas, and warm water that is the tell tale of the East Australia Current that set south and may give us a an extra knot or two.

I seem to remember the 100 fathom line (200m deep) is the sweet spot. I downloaded a thermal image from the weather bureau web site and that seems to match up. Still motor sailing now, moving easterly away from the tip of Fraser Island. Soon will turn south and follow a way-point off Cape Byron. If the weather forecast holds true will we have a bumpy ride down to the NSW border and then get a more northerly wind from there on.

I have one crew, Michael, who did the run from Airlie Beach.

Hoping this will be the final leg.

Bundaberg

All afternoon and most of the evening gave us 15-20 knots of N-NW wind and we ran downwind with the headsail poled out and holding 8-9 knots. This put Bundaberg clearly in our sights and we reached the leads of the Burnett river at 2:30am.
Coming in at night was relativity easy with clear navigation aids. All the port and starboard lights are synchronised to flash together, giving a real airport landing strip effect. We found many boats at anchor around the Port Bundaberg Marina and we anchored just out of the main channel and had a nice calm sleep for the rest of the night.
My two german crew, Denise and Birta, have left the boat and Michael intends to stay with me through to Newcastle. The girls were absolutely thrilled when a pod of dolphins came to the bow just on dark and stayed for ages. With Reflections really surging the water away and pushing the bow down at eight knots, the dolphins were almost in touching distance.
The expected southerly change came through with gusto and dumped lots of rain. I was able to fill my water tanks, saving a trip to a jetty. Really noticing the temperature falling as I continue south. The strong southerly winds now blowing will keep me here for three or four days at least.

Just out of reach of Fraser Islamd

Since leaving Airlie Beach we've had a good run without any stops. The wind has been mostly Northe East or Easterly and around 10-15 knots. Everyone on board seems happy and the first day upset stomachs seem to have settled.

Our first night took us past Hay Point Coal terminal and we sailed through the large fleet of anchored ships. The crew performed well, waking me at the right time as we approached a ship.

A southerly change is due on Monday morning and at our current pace we will just fall short of reaching the protection of Sandy Cape before the change comes through. The plan is to head to 1770 and probably head into there. With a stiff sea breeze we may go a bit further and go into Bundaberg.

The girls want to visit Fraser Island, so they will probably get off at the next port.

Leaving Airlie Beach with 3 crew

Just left Airlie Beach this morning with Michael, Birta and Denise, all young Germans. The two girls want to go to the Gold Coast and Michael is aiming for Sydney.

The first hours have been OK with an easterly wind allowing us to sail our course. I am hoping that they work out OK and we can go straight through to Surfers Paradise. The forecast is very promising.

So far so good. It's a lovely day to sail out through the Whitsunday Islands.

Hayman Island - Whitsundays

After two excellent days sailing with north east winds between 10 and twenty knots Reflections iV raced along and delivered us Hayman Island at the top of the Whitsundays at 4am this morning. A full moon and Emily worked together to sight a mooring which we picked up and now after bit more sleep we are off for a snorkel.

The sailing as I said, went well and the girls were a big help furling sails as several unsuccessful strikes on the fishing lure broke up the day. Yesterday we passed close to a large reef quite a way offshore and anchored adjacent to go for a swim/snorkel. The tide was high and with no reef or land visible, it was quite an unnerving experience for the girls to swim out off the boat in the open sea, so to speak.

Last night had stronger wind and we reefed down to slow the boat down to arrive just on light, but the boat seems to be in a fast sailing mood as we still held 6 knots with two reefs in and the cutter flying in only twenty knots.

Will deliver the girls to Airlie either this afternoon or tommorrow and then look for some crew to go further south.

Fitzroy Island and crew!

After two pleasant days sailing from Hope Island to the Low Islands I came into phone range and made contact with Ali, a Canadian girl who with her friend Emily from Ireland were interested in sailing to the Whitsundays.

I sailed into Yorkeys Knob at the northern end of Cairns and met the girls and the next day (today) we sailed out of the marina and had a very relaxed cruise to Fitzroy Island just south of Cairns. All seem to go well and now the plan is to sail, most likely non-stop to the Whitsundays.

The weather forecast is for light and variable but with a bit of luck there will be sufficient land and sea breezes to keep us moving. I am finding it very enjoyable to have company aboard after such a long stint on my own.

We did several tacks and had to furl the sails and the girls were really helpful and made my day much easier than normal.

We met up with many other yachties on the beach at sunset today and met Peter Long who I worked with at TAFE. Small world.

Looking forward to getting some miles done over the next few days.

Out of Cooktown and at the Hope Islands

And the hope is for some wind to sail by.

The Hope Islands are two small cays twenty miles south of Cooktown. Punched into 15 knots of SE all morning to get here and decided that was enough. Not real rough, but not real comfortable either. The forecast is looking better for tomorrow. I feel quite desperate to get further south and get into some NE to NW wind.

Ten days in Cooktown was about nine days too long. The SE wind was up hard and there was no chance of leaving. I placed a sign at a backpackers and had a girl lined up who didn't show when it was time to leave.

The Endeavour river at Cooktown is very shallow and I spent as much time sitting on the bottom as much as floating. The big drama was saved for my last day there. Going over to the fuel jetty I went a little wide to enable me to turn into the jetty. The boat slowly bumped onto a sand bank and as I went into reverse to back up the motor stalled. It stalled again and then going forward I felt the engine load up and stall. It was either going to be the gearbox or a line wrapped on the shaft.

In the next few minutes the boat is laying over on the sand bank with the tide racing in pushing it further into the shallows. Brent off Playground, who has been going south as well, came to my aid and took the anchor out to deep water and I was able to put some tension on it so that it wouldn't ground further as the tide rose. So then with the water swirling madly around the broadside boat I spent half an hour diving down to cut away the culprit.

It was my fault, as it was the end of the dinghy line, known as the painter, must have fallen over the side a few days ago and, while running the motor to charge batteries/cool frig, got itself around the shaft. The shaft turns with the current when the motor runs. I always check the painter is clear before moving but didn't notice the painter had become shorter.

During the diving effort the tide came in enough for the boat to swing back into deep water and the motor started and propelled OK with no damage done. Now I am away, full of fuel, water and fuel, and now just wanting weather to get me south.

Getting very tired of this trip!

Cooktown

My window of good weather has just closed.

With accurate coastal waters weather forecasts I was able to know two days ago that the SE would kick in hard on Saturday and was able to adjust my runs each day and made it to the Cooktown and am now anchored in the Endeavour river, which is very shallow and begs the question:

How much water did Cook's Endeavour draw?

For those that don't know, in 1770 James Cook ran the Endeavour onto a reef a few miles south and came in here to make repairs. Luckily for him the coral head he hit snapped off and formed a plug in the hull. For me it was a serious of shallow! - stop - back up - turn - try there - shallow! - stop - etc... A smart ass comment from one of the twenty or so game-fishing boats choking up the waterway was really helpful. Luckily Brent off one of the boats I have been travelling with, came in his dingy
and showed me the way, which still entailed pushing through sand until getting to slightly deeper water.

Cooktown is similar in size to Thursday Island (two or three streets wide), but connected to the rest of Queensland by a reasonable road. History and the reef trips are the big things here. with a few museums and lots of Cook monuments and murals depicting indigenous life before and after his visit.

To add to the historical theme of the arrival into Cooktown I passed Bounty, the replica of Captain Bligh's Bounty a few miles out. It was heading north, using a non-authentic motor.

For me its now a wait for the SE to drop off again and continue south. Most of the trip from the Escape river was a motoring affair in calm conditions. The last afternoon coming in was a different matter, with a stiff NE sea breeze coming up and we sailed along at 8 knots to charge into Cooktown. Lets hope the there are more days like that.

Expecting no change in the weather for four or five days.

Finally out of the Escape river

It was starting to feel like the 'No Escape' river. The lousy conditions I encountered on the way in reinforced my patience and I have sat in here for ten days waiting for the weather to improve. Finally it's arrived and this morning I made the break and am now about ten miles south and so far have a light sea and moderate winds.

The forecast is for several days of these conditions so now the job is to get as far south as possible while the break in the south east trade winds last. The further south the lighter the trade wind is.

My time in the Escape river was broken up by visits from a couple of boats heading north who were both very welcoming and allowed me to 'talk the their heads off'. The last two days have seen three other southbound boats arrive and three of us are now out here,

I did a bit of fishing to break the monotony up and had a bit of luck one day, landing a large queenfish. It was very pleasant in the early morning motoring along the mangroves. Mind you the thought of crocodiles is ever present, and I must say I felt quite vulnerable in my little soft dinghy.

If the weather stays calm I will aim for Cape Grenville today with an arrival in the evening which will be OK as it is an open bay with no reefs. Due to the shipping traffic and tighter waterway I won't be doing any overnight trips for a while.

The Escape River

Well I've moved on from Horn Island and had an OK day getting here. 44 miles I covered and had a bit of everything in the way of conditions. The wind was fairly calm in the morning and I was able to get out into the open water and put my repaired headsail back up, then as I rounded Horn Island the current was with me as the sea was short and sloppy from the run out tide. The wind came up quickly and stayed all day around 15-20 as predicted, but before the sea could build too much I was in the lee
of Albany passage, a strait between the mainland and an island just south of Cape York.

After a nice calm run down the narrow strait I could see the whitecaps waiting for me at the other end. After pushing into 2 knots of current below Horn and through the strait, at least the twenty miles to the Escape river was sped up with 2 knots flowing with me. With the wind right up on 20 knots the trip was pretty rough and I had two or three hard bangs as a wave would force itself over the deck. The Escape river is uninhabited, save for a large pearl farm which takes up any possible anchoring
spot for three miles at the head of the river. There are a few fishing trawlers at anchor here with me.

A lovely sight yesterday afternoon was several flocks of magpie geese flying and turning. (I think)

With the same forecast for the next few days, then increasing, the prospect of doing the seventy miles down to Cape Grenville in such a sea is not inviting.

So with a sense of frustration I have to accept that I am going to be in this river a while....

Cape York - Thursday Island

A nice deep sleep at anchor last night. I arrived at the anchorage off Horn Island, opposite Thursday Island. The last two had some difficult weather with very strong easterly or south-easterly winds. It was very pleasant to see the islands emerge on the horizon and feel the sea flatten as I ran in between the islands.

I was dismayed to find my mobile phone doesn't work here. Telstra? With a money matter to deal with I caught the ferry across to Thursday I to find virtually everything closed due to a show holiday. So no Internet access. I found a payphone and with help from my brother Ross fixed up what I needed to do.

I need to get fuel here and hopefully can do that on Monday.

Cape York - Thursday Island

A nice deep sleep at anchor last night. I arrived at the anchorage off Horn Island, opposite Thursday Island. The last two had some difficult weather with very strong easterly or south-easterly winds. It was very pleasant to see the islands emerge on the horizon and feel the sea flatten as I ran in between the islands.

I was dismayed to find my mobile phone doesn't work here. Telstra? With a money matter to deal with I caught the ferry across to Thursday I to find virtually everything closed due to a show holiday. So no Internet access. I found a payphone and with help from my brother Ross fixed up what I needed to do.

I need to get fuel here and hopefully can do that on Monday.

A great start into the Gulf

This morning I woke to a calm morning. This was the first time since I arrived in the Wessels that the wind was below 15knots.

The forecast is for 15/20 E-SE but heading East tomorrow, so with the calm I decided to give it a go. I motored up and and over the Cape and out into the gulf heading ESE. I was pleasantly surprised that the seas were quite calm and the wind stayed off all morning. Back in 2002 when we sailed from Cape York to Gove the last 10 hours as we approached Gove were terrible, with the swell and sea really confused.

This time - easy!

After lunch the wind came up and stayed around 12 knots from the SE and with a calm sea I've cruised along at 5-6 knots and almost on a direct course for Thursday Island.

Yesterday afternoon a plane crashed at Phuket. Being a Sunday afternoon flight I was concerned that one of the staff or students from the school may have been aboard, as many people on the island go to Bangkok for the weekend. Liz emailed today to say that there was no-one we knew aboard. Still a tragedy no less.

CREW WANTED - NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.
I am totally sick of my own company!! If anyone would like to join me please contact me aboard using this email address: dl1ght at winlink dot org

The Wessel Islands

Arrived here lunchtime yesterday and the sensation of quiet and calm is very enjoyable. I've logged 650 miles from Darwin over ten days, and generally the trip has been OK with moderate winds and reasonable seas. The last three days have been non stop from Malay Bay, so last night's unbroken sleep was very enjoyable.

If you look on the satellite view of the Wessel Island on the Position Reports, you see that I'm at the tip of a long string of islands. They are low and have light scrub on them and the shoreline is 80% beach. It is very beautiful in a harsh barren way. There is no development here and probably one of the most remote spots in Australia. There are no other boats here and apart from the Coast Watch airplane each day, I am on my own.

The next two days will be spent resting up and doing a few jobs and then the next leg 320 miles across the the Gulf of Carpentaria to Cape York, but as the wind is blowing straight at me I expect this to be a bit of slog and take a while.

Slow progress in the Arafura Sea

Since my last post I have been day-sailing eastward along the coast. The weather has been OK with 10knots of South East of a morning then a short calm and then the North East sea breeze comes in and varies in strength up to 20 knots.

All the wind directions has the word "east" in them, so I am tacking to gain the maximum direction east each day. The day before yesterday a catamaran called 'Playground' came up and overtook me in a the strait between the mainland and let me know where they would anchor that night. I was making for the same bay and found another cat, TwoJ's there as well. We all met up that evening and had a nice chat we I really enjoyed, not having seen another person for a week. They are both from WA and bound
for Brisbane.

With different speed capabilities and itineraries we won't sail together but have kept in touch on the radio and will no doubt meet up again.

With no convenient anchorages I am now sailing straight to the Wessel Islands about 200 miles away. From there the jump across the Gulf of Carpentaria starts to Cape York.

Now for a short winge. It's just not real safe up here! So far I have hauled in four fish and all of them were sharks! The only thing I've seen in the water was a snake which I assume was a sea snake, but had a real adder look to it. When I anchored with the catamarans I would've paddled over on on the ski to visit but the threat of crocodiles is very real.

No toes in the water for Col!

PS: I post position reports more often than blog entries.

Leaving the Van Diemen gulf and Darwin behind

And hopefully the bloody sharks!

I left the anchorage off the sailing club two days ago and both days I caught a shark with my fishing line. The first one indirectly cost me the lure as it wrapped the line around itself and chaffed the line through while I pried the lure out of it's mouth. I was sailing and when the lure fell into the water, I failed the MOB test and lost sight of it after two unsuccessful passes.

The second one was larger at 1.5 metres and I had to play game-fisherman for far too long to get the thing to the boat. This one mercifully threw the lure out when I lifted it up.

The weather is ideal with light E-SE in the morning and Northerly sea breezes in the afternoon. I am now coming up to Cape Don and will continue to head east until the E-SE picks up again. So far the forecast gives me two-three days. Working the tides is important here and am now motorsailing at 10knots to get past Cape Don before the tide turns.

Life as a solo sailor is OK, so far. From a safety point of view I live in my inflatable lifejacket/harness, keep the saftey line attached, and pre plan any actions much more than with the family aboard.

Love to hear from... well anybody really!
post a comment and I receive it on board.

Starting to move again

It's now two weeks since Liz, COurtney and Anna flew back to Phuket. They are settled back into life there. Liz is teaching in a different section of the school (year 3/4) and is enjoying the change. Anna and Courtney seem pretty happy to be back and seeing friends etc.

For me, the two weeks have been spent doing a few boat jobs, chasing up any work opportunities and catching up on Aussie TV. On the work front there was the promise of some temp work but two expected starts fell through. The marina costs were too high to stay any longer without money coming in, so I came out of the marina today and am at anchor in Fannie Bay off the sailing club.

So tomorrow, or the next day, I will start to move east. The plan is to day hop up for the next few days.

Now I'm on the move, position reports will be sent regularly. A link on the right column on this page takes you there.

Colin

Back in Phuket and still in Darwin

Late on Monday morning Liz and the girls flew back to Phuket so Liz could be there to start work on Tuesday. Reflections is tied up in the fishing fleet basin which is basic in facilities, but remarkably quiet, and the most convenient place for a boat.

I am chipping away on some boat jobs and looking at work options here in Darwin and afar.

The trip to take Reflections onward to the east coast would start mid October.

Love to hear from anyone - it's pretty quiet here without the girls aboard!

In Darwin

Terrible rough weather for last 12 hours with 30+ knots of wind as we motored into Darwin Harbour. Now tied up on quarantine jetty and need to leave boat here as they have put biocides into our water inlets. Tomorrow will move to a marina.

Customs and Quarantine were very friendly and relazed, and only asked questions and had a cursory look around. Took only the very minimum of food from us. Nice to be stopped.

Time to go to town and check out Darwin. Very pleased with ourselves after completing a 2000 mile passage with few problems and only the occasional family spat aboard.

Calms and a final blow, as we into slip through the net into Darwin

It's 3am and we are 20 miles from Darwin. The last two days have been a mixture of calm motoring and light sailing. So yesterday I think we all thought that the trip was over and the last few miles would pass easily, but slowly in anticipation of arriving.

Sure....

Around 10pm the South East kicked in again and has built to be 25-30 knots and is right in our face. The six metre tide has been running out against us. So we are motoring with all sails down and punching and bouncing along, sometimes at 2.5 knots. Our ETA of 8am is slipping away...

But there is hope. The tide has just turned and soon the current will be with us, and we should start accelerating soon. On the earler 'flood tide' today we were doing 10 knots.

And it appears that if we hadn't told them we were coming, they wouldn't have known. On previous departure/arrivals into Aus we have been regularly buzzed by maritime surveillance aircraft who call us and request our details. This time we saw or heard no-one. But we know the rules and dutifully we emailed our arrival detail 4 days in advance and today called Customs and told one of the aircraft where we where and what time we'd get in.

We did hear other boats being called, and on one occasion, after asking "Do you have any plants or animals aboard?", the reply must have been no. Moments later the aircraft then asked "So I assume you are going to toss those pot plants on your stern over the side soon?". Best to tell the truth when someone's watching.

We've been pigging out on all the remaining food that we assume Customs will take off us. Our last experience with them was simple and no fuss. Let's hope Darwin is the same.

Sliding past the Taninbar Islands

We are now on our downhill run. Heading south towards Darwin. The weather has improved and we are not getting so many squalls, but still holding 15+ knots of wind most of the time, but from a more easterly direction which is allowing us to pretty make our course to Darwin.

Yesterday we past on the western side of the Aru islands and enjoyed 50 odd miles of flat sea and with good wind, were able to sail along very smoothly. Now we are doing the same with the Tanimbar Islands, which are about 100 miles long and it's like sailing on the lake on a nice sea-breeze.

We are now 360 miles to Darwin and hope to be in on Friday or Saturday.

A turtle, a dolphin and a bonito

That's pretty well the wildlife count over the last few days. On the first day out from the dive resort we saw a large turtle right next to the boat. I don't think we bumped it. Yesterday a single dolphin ran along with us for a few minutes. Yesterday was also the calmest day in ages and we motored to gain some direct mileage and to charge the batteries. While going along in the calm I set up the fishing line and ten minutes later saw the lure break out of the water. Turned out we'd caught a small
bonito.

Last night the wind steadily strengthed and this morning it's grey, rainy and 20+ knots.

Punching on.

A turtle, a dolphin and a bonito

That's pretty well the wildlife count over the last few days. On the first day out from the dive resort we saw a large turtle right next to the boat. I don't think we bumped it. Yesterday a single dolphin ran along with us for a few minutes. Yesterday was also the calmest day in ages and we motored to gain some direct mileage and to charge the batteries. While going along in the calm I set up the fishing line and ten minutes later saw the lure break out of the water. Turned out we'd caught a small
bonito.

Last night the wind steadily strengthed and this morning it's grey, rainy and 20+ knots.

Punching on.

Beating into the Ceram Sea

Beating is the term used when sailing into the wind. It can, at times, be compared with beating your head against a wall. The progress can be frustrating slow, and often the journey is rough as the boat is heeled over and bashing into the waves.

So an obvious feature of a good cruising route is to not beat into the wind. But sometimes you just want to get somewhere, and this is what is required. Acceptance and making the best of it, are the keys. Except I've never been good at finding my keys!

We are three days out from the dive resorts and it's been 20-25 knots from the South East. So we tack away and try to balance moving fast, and having a tolerable life aboard. Five knots seems to be the go. The boat only occasionally bangs hard into a wave and the sound of 'splatt, whoosh' as a wave makes it to cockpit, is again, occasional.

Leaks present where none were thought to exist. The hatch on the back storage locker worked loose and a few hundred litres ended up there. The anchor chain demonstrates excellent capillary action and the front hatch, which has never sealed that well, brings a salty drippy ambience to the bow. But our bunks are mostly dry, the cockpit continues to keep the worst of the weather out, and life aboard is tolerable. A few time we've hoved-to which makes the boat lay quite still and slowly creeps backwards.
During these sessions Liz has made bread, pizza and things are tidied up.

The weather seems to be clearing as we head south with a brilliantly clear sky last night and sunshine this morning. The wind has dropped to 5knots this morning and we are motoring (in exactly the direction we want) while we charge the batteries. The forecasts state that the SE wind will stay at 20-25 knots for most of the trip.

We think we will now head for Darwin, instead of Gove.

From the Ceram Sea just off the Papuan coast, north of Ceram.

By the way, I post position reports more often than blog entries.

Colin

Stoppover in Papua

What originally was planned as quick stop in a town to get some fuel and food has turned out to be a truly memorable stay in an area as special as anywhere we've been before.

Ian and Robyn off Reeflections II passed me the name of a friend, Warwick (Wick), who would help us if we came into the town of Sorong(on the western tip of Papua or Irian Jaya). Wick contacted us and was very keen for us to call in. When we explained that we were transitting and had no cruising permit for Indonesia, he suggested we stop at Sorido / Kri dive resort at an island 40 miles NW of Sorong, where we would meet up with his supply boat, Helena, who would bring out our order.

So that's what we did. Arriving in grey skies and rain we struggled to find a suitable anchorage and eventually anchored in 40 metres of water just off the small eco-style resort of Kri. The resort comprises just six traditional style stilt huts built over the water and is totally focussed on diving. A few hundred metres around the point is the sister resort of Sorido which is more up-market. We went ashore and met the Dutch manager, Maya, who arranged for us to have lunch with the guests and made
us welcome. The supply ship Helena came in and our food and fuel was delivered to the resort jetty.

An issue developed about payment as we didn't know the exchange rate. The staff of the resort, straight away called their base to get a rate and then arranged to hold the payment for Wick. The guys operating the dive boats took the fuel out for us and overall just kept watching us to see if we needed anything. The owner and builder of the the two resorts, Max, came round to meet us (and more importantly oversee the transfer of a new desalinator unit.)

Max is Dutch and a long term ex-pat, and has an wonderful enthusiasm for the area and seems to have a deep love of sharing the area with others. Before building the resorts here he spent months travelling around the islands in a large Zodiac inflatable. With dive gear and compressor aboard he scouted for dive sites and eventually chose Mansuar / Kri islands. The recently built Sorido resort has modern units set just off the beach and are invisible from the water. He gave us a tour around and showed
how much of the furniture is made by themselves with locally milled timber and, all in all we gained the impression that the place is quality driven. Over dinner at Sorido we met some of the guests and the dive leader, James and his partner Helena.

Dinner talk covered our travels and of course, the diving. We were encouraged to come diving and again, they made this possible by offering for us to pay by bank transfer when we get to Australia. Max had earlier showed us the proofs of an article in National Geographic, who came out to do a story several months ago. Apparently this area as been declared the most bio-diverse area on the planet. This information coupled with looking at the stunning article photos, was more than enough encouragement
to stay another day and go for a dive.

The dive we chose was called Sardines, after the large schools of small fish that frequent the spot. A point in the reef protrudes into deeper water and the current passes either side and up into the shallows. We dropped in and went straight down to 25 metres, than finned against the considerable current to get to the point, where the current eased, and we were able to watch the fish life. It was a very good dive but hard maintaining position in the current. Courtney retired early, burnt out from
fighting the current. I ran out of air soon after and Liz and the rest followed shortly. The coral life was stunning and while not the massive schools of fish promised, there were large schools of 'sardines' and many large trevally cruising around. Others on the dive saw several white tip reef sharks and a turtle.

A combination of headaches and tiredness excluded Courtney and I from the next dive but Liz prevailed and came back with descriptions of larger schools of fish, more varsities, and all set in a wonderfully diverse coral garden.

The next day we did some washing and boat jobs to get ready to leave for Darwin or Gove?

Water, water everywhere

The last 12 hours have been a bit of an ordeal but finished with lots of water. The seas have calmed and rain set in, so the bucket with pump/filter is in position at the deck drain outlet and our tanks are now full and the girls are out washing/playing in the water.

Last night around midnight a big squall came over and blew 25-30 knots from the NW, which is opposite to all the other weather we've had on this trip. We laid hove-to to wait and see what was going to happen next, but after 30 minutes a 20 knot NW wind continued. Well this was pretty good news, so we set our sails to run downwind and had 4-5 hours of good boat speed with the boat sailing flat, as opposed to the last nine days of heeled over.

All good things come to an end and the wind died at dawn and the resultant sea was horrible! The NW had built up a metre sea and once the wind dropped away the Southerly swell gave a real washing machine action with peaks of water bouncing vertically a few metres. The boat just bounced and jarred and bobbed. Sail pumped and banged. Bugger this - on with the motor and try to get some stability. The sea started to settle after an hour and just when things were brightening the temperature alarm went
off. Luckily it settled down more while the engine covers came off and some breakfast was had. A smaller NW squall came through and allowed a steady sailing boat while I found the worn fan belt that caused the overheating and replaced it.

We are now on our way to a resort just off the tip of Irian Jaya, called Sorido. Ian and Robyn off Reeflections II told me how they worked for Wick at the town of Sorong and put us in contact. After initially planning to stop in Sorong, Wick suggested that we go to this resort and his crew would pick some supplies and meet us there as they were heading on a regular run there tomorrow (Sunday). Avoiding town and authorities is advisable for us as we don't have a cruising permit.

The heavy rain and grey skies mean we probably won't go in there today but tomorrow we hope to be at anchor. We are all intensely interested to see what there is at this dive resort, located so remotely.

The weather cleared enough for us to see shallows off the island so we snuck in and anchored, but not very soundly on a coral bottom. Hopefully we'll be OK but will need to maintain a watch on our position. Feels very nice to be still after 10 days on the move.

Molucca Sea is on the nose

Thursday 2nd Aug 8pm
Well the wind is. We passed between Halmahera Island and Morotai Island yesterday morning. It was nice to run between the two islands in relative calm. Took the opportunity to top up the fuel tank with the fuel containers we carry. 130 litres took us back to a fuel tank. We considered going ashore to get more fuel but the township/port wasn't obvious so we continued. We sailed on in variable winds and calm seas in the lee of the island.

Today the wind built quickly to 15-20 knots from the south and we have been punching into the wind as we do our best to head south east. We found our log, an impeller that measures boat speed, is leaking. The fitting has popped up when we've pounded hard. It pushes back down and seals OK but won't screw up any tighter as if an seal is missing. The blank does the same. Something to watch and try to fix when a calm spot emerges in daylight hours.

Today Courtney made cheesecake! A packet mix but still very nice. Three of the crew have now read the new Harry Potter book and now wait for Liz to finish books six, then seven, so conversations about can go on without being spoilers

Very little to see around us. We are out of sight of land again and virtually no fishing boats and haven't seen any large ships. Mary and Warren on Arawana made it to Manado in Suluwesi today. It's nice to talk to them each morning.

Now covered just over a 1000 of the 1800 miles to Gove.

Now too much wind in the Molucca Sea

As we passed the Sanghie Islands yesterday morning, we continued on the same course towards Halmahera and Morotai Islands. Steadily the wind picked up from the SSE, and we started to rocket along at 7+ knots, but diving into waves with lots of water on the deck. We reefed down and rolled up the headsail in favour of the cutter (smaller inner headsail) and conditions aboard were still lousy but the best conditions were going to allow.

So along we went with everyone feeling a bit under the weather. We hove-to for an hour before dark to have dinner and then batted on during night. While Liz was on watch I felt the hard bang of a solid wave hitting us then the rushing sound of water and then a "oh-no, you rotten...." the wave had kicked up a few buckets over the cockpit covers and poured in on the downwind side of the cockpit where she was sitting. It's a really horrible sensation to be brought out of the night watch daze with a
bucket of sea-water over your head.

This morning it's a little lighter at 15-17 knots and we are 50 miles from Morotai where we may stop and try to top up our fuel.

a good 24hrs with wind and a milestone passed

At 8:am yesterday I turned the motor off in light breeze after noticing the current had abated. The day panned out well with us drifting along at 2-4 knots for most of the day, and in the afternoon and most of the night the southerly lifted to 10-15 knots and we made some good time. We turned in a 100 mile day with the motor.

Quiet day aboard with the usual reading, computer usage, games of chess and sleeping.

The midnight muffin maker (Liz) struck, and the boat has the lovely smell of fresh baking now.

This morning we passed through the Sangihe Islands and have now left the Celebes Sea and are now entering the Molucca Sea. The islands were very steep, rising up from a 3000 metre seabed and seem to continue up. One in the distance had the classic volcano shape and the nearby island was shrouded in cloud with its own personal lightning show going on inside.

A day and a half should see us at Halmahera, where we start to head south.

Hope to catch a fish today. Had the line out yesterday with no luck. New sea, new day..

Currents against us.

Very frustrating scene on board as there are light winds that we could glide along at 3 knots but the current is pushing us back and south at around 2knots so one knot forward is the result. No good. Motor on.

Haven't seen anything today, except for a light in the distance during the night. We are 100 miles from the islands which reach north from Suluwesi, so I expect to see some more fishing activity soon. Had our line out yesterday but no luck.

Everyone is well on board but am hearing the word 'bored' fairly regularly.

Day 4 dawns in the Celebes Sea

Nice and calm this morning and over the last six hours we've been just about becalmed. The sea is now flat and has settled after the lousy conditions yesterday.

Day 2 was OK with a squall kicking up early in the morning but it didn't last too long and replaced itself with some southerly winds that we tacked into to go down through the Sibutu passage. The passage separates some Indonesian and Malay islands and is a smuggling route. We were told to hold to the Malay side but we split the difference as we tacked down. We were overflown by a business jet type of plane which I assume was a surveillance aircraft. Later in the evening Liz spotted two very fast
boats with green lights which we again assume was some kind of border patrol. With talk of pirates, the girls were most dissappointed when we came across no Johnny Depps or Orlando Blooms. Almost through the passage, and around midnight a squall come through with more teeth and we had 15-25 knots which were able to reach across into the Celebes Sea. It held and we had a fast but rolly ride all night.

Day 3 started with the same southerly wind easing a bit and giving us a lumpy ride. During the day we saw several pods of whales. One pair were a few hundred metres away and could see they were small (3 metres?) with blunt noses. Liz and the girls have been laying low with various level of discolour,but all jumped up on deck with the call of "thar she blows!".

Later in the day a really nasty squall hit with 30 knots sustained for a few hours. Again a good burst of speed with the boat racing along but uncomfortable in the lumpy conditions. As the wind eased in the afternoon the sea was just bloody horrible. I (Colin) seemed to spend the last two days, furling and reefing, unfurling and unreefing sails or collapsing into a short nap. Definitely not the the "gin and tonic at Sunset, end of the bargain".

So last night the calm conditions and no speed was OK as the restful nature of the motion was most appreciated.

Have a few problems aboard withhe the main alternator not putting out much current, the engine alternator is going OK so no drama there. We have small tear in our headsail which we taped up last night but this morning the tape has lifted so will need to give it another go. Our gearbox may have an oil leak, possibly from the cooler, but it's not bad and I have lots of oil for it.

The girls are going along OK, each vying for computer time to play the "Sims", read Fan Fictions, write stories and watch movies. Liz has had the worst of the sea sickness but a calmer day today would help her.

I have had trouble getting email out but this morning was able to access another "radio mailbox" in South Australia which worked well.

Please send a short comment so we can have some news of the outside world.

First night out of Sandakan

A little bit later than planned but we are now on our way. Courtney and Liz went up to the Kinabatagan River for a night in the Jungle Camp and enjoyed the beauty of the place and the river cruises to spot the wildlife. Sandakan Yacht Club was extremely friendly. Usual nice staff and all the different board members made a point to introduce themselves and often bought rounds of drinks for us.

And we had the company of another boat. Arawana, with Warren and Mary aboard who are also heading into Indonesia with a final destination of Darwin. We won't cross paths but will endeavour to keep in touch on the radio.

So with the boat full of food, fuel and water, we said our goodbye's to customs, immigration and the ports office, and left Sandakan behind at 3:30pm. The first few hours saw a steady sea breeze and had Reflections IV gliding along at six knots in a flat sea. Around midnight a series of squalls are passing over. Lots of rain and short bursts of 20 knots.

In and out with the headsail as the squalls went through til 1am when it calmed off with only a knot or two of forward motion. Early morning and light SW are keeping us around 4-5 knots. Very comfortable sailing. Have a favourable current of a knot and hope that will accelerate as we get closer to the Sibutu Passage.

Sandakan - revisited

Hi

No update for a few days as I've had other distractions. Firstly turtles and now town. We sailed in light headwinds til early evening from Palau Tigabu, to an island in the Turtle Island group. Next morning it was nice to laze the morning away and then go across to Palau Silingaan. This island is the focus for tourists to visit, with nice accommodation, a lovely beach, OK snorkeling and of course, lots of turtles. Mainly Green Turtles and some smaller Hawksbill Turtles come to lay here for most of
the year.

Having been here with my sister Wendy only six weeks earlier, I knew the drill. We paid our park fee and wandered round to the beach for a swim (Anna) and book reading (the rest of us). While on the beach little hatch-lings would appear from the higher sand behind us tourists on the beach and scurry to the water. We all watched with delight as these tiny things, with flippers far too big for their little bodies, made their way to the relative safety of the water.

On the way back to the boat Anna found in the sand a 2gigabyte memory card. Back aboard we examined the photos on the card and recognised a lady and her daughter from the beach. When Anna returned the card to the lady she was quite overcome as the card had her photos from many weeks of travel in Europe, Japan and SE Asia. Anna ended up with a nice reward.

That night we assembled in the dining area and then followed the ranger to see a large green turtle laying her eggs with another a metre away still digging her nest. They take the eggs to a hatchery to protect them from predators and then release them from a basket at the waters edge. A very interventionist approach.

Next day a short sail brought us into Sandakan. We have had many reports of theft of outboard motors here, so we cleared our deck of valubles, and each night put the outboard inside the boat. That said, the yacht club is very welcoming and friendly. From my experience I have found people more open and friendly in Malaysian Borneo than on the more busy peninsula.

Liz and Courtney have gone to the Kinabatagan river for a night to see the myriad of wildlife that is compressed into one of the last vestiges of forest in this oil-palm dominated environment.

We hope to leave on Tuesday.. or Wednesday.

Colin

PS: There are photos available for this post. Also I have several pages/photos on Sandakan when I was here with Wendy. The link for these pages is on the right hand column of this page.

At anchor at Palau Tigabu

Started out with a squally evening, strong winds, and had to keep a close eye on our position for a few hours, the weather then settled right down ,and we had very calm evening. Motored in the calm morning for a few hours and then sailed for an hour, then as the breeze picked up to a constant 12 knots it also positioned itself directly on our nose. Easier to just motor then tack through the reefs that are everywhere here.

We came into anchor and chose the western sided and once anchored had a man in a small boat wishing to trade fish for fuel. We agreed on 10 RM instead and he handed over a large bowlful of sand crabs, which were really tasty and a nice change. Two small children came along next and left with a pencil each and writing pad. It's been many years since we've encountered visitors like this. A second canoe came from the same small motor boat anchored near us with two men aboard with two young babies. They asked for food and we gave them a few cups of rice and some packet noodles. Their eyes showed appreciation of the gift. They probably live aboard permanently and drift around the islands between Malaysia and the Philippines.

A nasty squall started brew just before dark and we followed the other boats to re anchor north of the island. As most of the squalls lately it was short lived but start with a burst of 20-30 knots. We've had very clear skies and impressive displays of cloud formations and night skies.

at anchor just near the tip of Borneo

Always neat to pass a major point. At the northern most tip of Borneo we leave the South China sea, can see the Philippines north of us in the distance, and we turn south east into the Sulu sea heading towards Sandakan.

Spent the day fiddling with the spinnaker. Now I knew in the back of my mind I needed some light rope for something but couldn't remember what. Today I found out why. I had pinched the 30m rope for the spinnaker sock for other purposes. We hoisted it without sock and drifted along slowly in 2-4 knots and at least cast some nice shade on deck.

Ended up making only 15 miles progress as the drifting along sort of mesmerised us, and the day got away with our original anchorage too far away. Anchored out of the swell and sitting very quietly out of the swell.

Colin

Almost to the tip of Borneo after a very nice day.

Left Usukan Bay after a rolly night. The swell is about a metre and comes for the NW so get into the bay. Not too bad. Slow sail out in the morning on a light land breeze then motored for three hours til the sea breeze came up steady and light and we sailed along at 5-6knots under idyllic conditions. Liz spent a huge day cooking three loaves of bread and two pizzas. Then we caught a lovely big Spanish mackerel so we won't starve.

Lots of lightning around and the wind is building, so a storm tonight is likely. We're anchored on the northern side of a headland as most of the weather comes from the south west this time of year but tonight it's looking like something will come out of the north.

Time will tell.

Colin and the girls

At anchor just outside of Kota Kinabalu

Always great to finally get out of the marina and away. The task today was to use the last of the free flowing tap water and wash down the boat, a few last minute shopping things and then once out of the marina go to a fuel barge off the township and fill 'er up.

Now we are at anchor in a small bay off Gaya island which is one of three island that make up a marine park off KK. Very pretty.

With a few extra jugs for diesel we have around 540 litres of fuel aboard. This relates to a around 700 miles of motoring. As our trip is around 1800 miles we hope to not have to stop to get fuel and still be able to motor on calm days.

This message is sent using our email system on the boat. It uses a special 'modem' called a pactor which communicates with our short wave radio to another radio, in this case in India, which then sends it on through the Internet. Much much slower the WiFi, but much better range.

If you post a comment on the blog, the comment will be emailed to us on-board.

Colin and the girls.

PS: the legs have almost recovered from climbing Mt Kinabalu!

The plan as it stands

The plan is to sail the boat back, probably to Newcastle.

The first part of the trip is to get to Gove in the Northern Territory, which should be achievable in the six weeks that Liz and the girls have off school. From there I (Colin) will continue on, keeping an ear to the ground for any job possibilities.

I will be looking for crew along the way so anyone interested should contact me.

Liz and the girls will then head back to Phuket. The main reason is to allow Courtney to finish her IGSCE in June 08.

From here in Kota Kinabalu, we head north east along the coast, round the tip of Borneo, and south east along the coast to Sandakan where we will leave Malaysia. From Sandakan we head east towards the western end of of Irian Jaya and then skirt along the southern coast till we are due north of Gove. Then across the trade winds that blow hard from south east to Gove.

It's a long way (2000 miles) and plenty of potential for things to change. A lack of wind in the first 1500 miles then too much in the last 500 miles are the most likely.

So in a few days we will leave KK and hopefully have a relaxing coastal hop to Sandakan. I can send posts to this blog from our radio email so 'stay tuned'.

Colin.

Climbing Mount Kinabalu

Liz and the girls flew in from Phuket just on a week ago. Now we are just about loaded up with supplies and are getting close to leaving.

We had hoped to climb Mt Kinabalu but as we hadn't booked ahead and didn't have a budget to do a package tour (which still needs to be booked weeks ahead) we thought we'd missed out and decided to just go to the park headquarters and stay there for the night to enjoy the cooler climate at 1800 metres.

When we arrived we asked about cancellations to climb, and found there was two spots available. A quick consult with the girls, and they were more than happy to stay in the unit we'd booked and endure Satellite TV and a fireplace instead of hiking. Liz and I hurriedly packed our gear and set out to the first stage of staying overnight at the Laban Rata guesthouse, 6kms away and at 3200 metres. We started at 1pm and after a very hard long climb we reached the guest house at 6:40pm, feeling very tired and cold as it was 8 degrees. Liz was feeling dizzy and had a pounding head, which we thought were symptoms of altitude, so she decided to not try to do the summit the next day.

So after a short sleep, laying awake mostly to the noise of wind and rain, I got up at 2am and got ready to do the 3km climb to the summit at 4100 metres. The rain was a real worry and I decided if I got too cold in the first hour I would turn back. I had good warm clothes but had only sailing gloves with exposed fingers I knew that my hands were in for it - and of course a set of legs that hadn't been well prepared for this ordeal.

The short story is, after 5 hours of walking, pulling myself up on ropes, shuffling up a long smooth granite face and finally scaling hand to foot up the summit I crouched (too windy to stand) on top of the highest mountain in South East Asia. The trip down was eased by the fact the surrounding clouds cleared and I was presented with a truly incredible view.

Meeting back up with Liz at Laban Rata at 9:30am, we then headed down to the park headquarters. The trip down just became harder and harder as my body started to tell me what sort of unaccustomed effort I had put it through. In just over 24 hours I walked only 18km but during that "walk" went up and then back down 2.2km

Today it's the next day, back on the boat, and I feel very flat and any attempt to move my legs is met extreme reluctance. Walking is more of a wobble. No boat jobs today.

But it was really worth it - come and do this!

Colin

The photos of the climb are here.

Sutera Harbour Marina, Kota Kinabulu - Time to get ready

Welcome to my first post on our blog.

After three months 'on the hard' - out of the water in a boat yard, Reflections IV is now back in the water. Going back in the water was a stressful time as I was on my own and memories of the last time when the motor failed and had to be rebuilt were ever present.

But no dramas this time, and with great relief I motored away from Kudat on a calm sea and found no leaks and a motor showing all the right signs. Sails up in a light breeze and she's slipping through the water really nicely.

The next three days I day-hopped along the Sabah coast with a little bit of wind most of the time and only one squall that looked fiercer than it was. On the last day I was treated to an all day viewing of Mt Kinabulu. This 4000 metre granite monolith rises up 50kms back from and is very impressive. Thoughts of climbing it while we are in KK are considered.

Sutera Harbour is probably the nicest marina we ever been to. Flanked by two large hotels it has a myriad of pools, gyms, bowling alley and a regular shuttle that weaves through KK town each hour. With free WiFi, cheap laundry and towels supplied the cost of A$115 a week seems justified.

Now I have two and half weeks till Liz and the girls arrive from Phuket. The night before I hope to be able to look around and see a boat ready to embark on the 1800 mile journey back to Australia.

take care
Col

May 2007 A week in Sandakan with Wendy

It's always great to get a visitor but when it's your sister, well that is particularly special. My (Colin) sister Wendy came to Phuket for a week at the end of May. I showed her around and we all enjoyed having here with us and showing her how our life goes along in Phuket. After the week Wendy and I flew to Sandakan, in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. This worked out well as I was due to return to the boat in Kudat and I had been given plenty of information from other yachties of how good Sandakan is to visit.

Particularly, I was given the name of a guide they had used and this turned out perfectly as Hadi arranged everything and made the trip effortless from an organisational point of view. This wasuite a departure for me as we always tend to travel independant and rarely use a guide or take a package deal. Hadi (phone: +601389631420) was great and made the trip all the more memorable by his good humour, solid information flow and arranging things so we avoided any other groups or crowds that may have been about.

Kinabatagan River

After a night in Sandakan we took off for the Kinabatagan River and two night stay at the Kinabatangan Jungle Camp. The forest surrounding is literally the one of the last areas of forest in the region that have not been cleared for palm oil plantations. The narrow strip of forest  along the river banks has created an environment where seeing wildlife from the river is virtually guaranteed, A strong sense of irony plays at the heart here as we cruised the riverbanks seeing an incredible display of diversity, knowing that this is a last refuge or remnant.

The things we didn't see where the pygmy elephants, but we did see lots of droppings which are kinda hard to miss, any wild orangutans but we did see, at night a clouded leopard which was quite a thrill to see a large wild cat in the wild.

Photos are here on a Picasa generated web album (my favourite photo manager software)

Use the slideshow option for the best view of the photos.

Sandakan Memorial Park

Returning to Sandakan we then went to visit the Memorial Park on the site of the POW camp. As an Australian I knew the words "Sandakan Death March", as a chapter in our war history. A camp was established here of British and Australian  POWs from Singapore for construction work and in the later stages of the war the POW's were moved close to Kota Kinabulu.  60 years later this this journey is still a hard six hour bus ride. The camp was evacuated through two forced marches that claimed the lives of most of the men. At the end of the war all (yes - all!) of the 2500 men interred there were dead. Only six who had escaped survived to tell this terrible story.

Again the photos are on a page here.

Sepilok Orang-utan Sanctuary

Just outside of Sandakan, this sanctuary returns orang-utans, displaced by deforestation or former pets, back to the wild. The process is simple. Look after them for a while in an environment where they can acclimatise and learn their survival skills from imitating others. The orang-utans voluntarily return to the wild when they are ready. feeding platforms are maintained so that when needed the orang-utans can supplement naturally acquired food as needed.   An interesting aspect is they have transported some older males to other protected regions so that they can take on dominant male roles naturally.

It was a holiday in Sandakan so there were many people but on the feeding platforms there were many orang-utans and was quite a sight.  later Hadi took us for a walk in the forest in an area surrounding cages holding adolescents not ready for the wild. Many older adolescents recently released stay in the area - normally an orang-utan will stay with it' s mother til four or five so these orphans want close contact with others to replace that bond.  The sky turned black and the rain came down thick and hard, so we sheltered around the roof of one of the cages, as did three or four orang-utans.

Pressed against the bars to avoid the pelting rain, we found ourselves surrounded by orang-utans, inside and outside the cages. A ranger opened the cage as it seemed safer inside where the number of groping orang-utans was constant, these guys were younger and slightly less strong. In a mix of chaos, thunderous rain and limbs reaching down from the outside of the roof of the cage we took a few photos while holding on to watches, glasses and ear-rings. The touch of these animals is one that feels like affection from a child who has grown too strong.

If anyone asks me how  I spent my birthday this year I think I have a reasonable story to tell!

Photos are here

Turtle Island

On hours speed boat ride from Sandakan and we arrived at the Turtle Island marine park. This is part of Malaysia's active intervention approach to turtle protection. On the this and the two nearby islands, rangers collect eggs as they are laid each night and place them in hatcheries to protect them from predators (monitor lizards, rats (native I think) and release the hatchlings at night. Green turtles are the most common but Hawksbill turtles also frequent.

The island was lovely, accommodation was excellent (air-con!) and the snorkelling OK. In the evening we waited in the dining hall and when told by the rangers we followed them up the beach to the watch turtle who had already dug a nest, lay its egg. Quite and amazing sight.  That night 20 turtles came to the beach to lay and the night before 13. Later the rangers had 40 or so hatchling that had hatched that day in a basket with too many torches (including mine) the hatchlings seemed without bearings and headed for the lights. Lights out and they turned for the water to get through the next few high risk days before disappearing from our knowledge base of turtle activity to re-emerge ten-15 years later.

Photos here

Around Sandakan

The last day of the Sandakan adventure saw us cruising around town. The market was plentiful and will be a victual stop for Reflections IV in the near future. Up on the hills, a Chinese Buddhist temple gave an excellent outlook, of the harbour and town,  and on the last run to the airport Hadi stopped so Wendy could see some of the unique pitcher plants that are more common in higher, drier areas of Borneo.

Photos here

Reflections.

Go and do something with your brother or sister if your lucky enough to have one. For me this was the most enjoyable aspect of the events on this page.

What is happening with palm oil production in Malaysia and Indonesia is occurring under a banner of green alternative fuels. Sounds good, but the thirst for this fuel will justify the permanent depletion of these forests that are just recovering from previous logging efforts.  And with it will go the diversity that Wendy and I have been privileged to witness along the banks of a river in Borneo.