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