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Saturday 9th October 2006

I started the day in the loo, which Lindy kindly took a photo record of it...

We then progressed to have a cold shower, which was very refreshing, they had a generator on board, so they could pump water thought a shower head, which Lindy opted for, I took the local way, by scooping water from the river, then straight over the head, helped by one of the crew...
We then went to visit the Orangutans, again, this is where they have adapted pretty much back to the jungle, after about a 30 minute walk along a path in hot and steamy conditions, we arrived at the feeding station, all was quiet, and remained that way for about 20 minutes.
Then we heard leaves rustling, then saw bushes moving, and it was a large dominate male, after taking his fill of bananas and milk, he left and another male appeared, and started eating very quickly, we heard some more rustling and this male took as many bananas as he could, and fled, very fast. The dominant main had returned, and sat above the feeding station, to stop the other male coming back.
A female Orangutan came next, with her baby, the male is quite happy for them to feed, Orangutans are solitary, and males keep out of each others territory, unless they are to fight to take it, the females stay with their young till they are eight years old, but again solitary.

We went back to the boats for lunch, then started heading back, visiting a village on the way, we arrived back to the groom and smoke of Kumai, caused by burning great quantities of vegetation.

Tuesday ... 10th October 2006

Had arranged to go into the main town, 15 miles away, it was hot, humid, Lindy nearly passed out through heat exhaustion, but made the best of it, we had a meal, pretty basic, went to the super-market, got some good food for the trip
We got the taxi back, stopped at the market, back in Kumai, and had a wonderful hour, walking through the market, buying lots of fruit and vegetables, the people where so lovely, and had a wonderful time.
Back to the boat for a shower, then out for drinks at the yacht club, BYO wine, as alcohol cannot be sold in Borneo, then on to dinner which was again very basic , the it was quite nice, but looking forward to getting further North, food wise!!! It may be cheap, but very nothing really to get excited about.

Wednesday 11st October 2006

We had planned too leave at 0900 hours, for Surutu, an Island in the China Sea, 247 miles away, postion 01.42,315 South and 108.43.29 East. The smoke and mist made the visibility very poor, so we had to postpone till 10.45 hours, by then it was a little better.
The trip down river was helped considerable by the ebbing tide, got to river mouth and the smoke became very bad again, and the wind was on the nose, with the wave action slowing us right down. This happened for the next two hours, which slowed us down to 3 knots, and even less at times, until we where able to bare away around the sand banks and sail, it is very shallow around here, between 4 and 18 metres.
After that, we had a lovely sail, on a beam reach, sailing between 5 and 6 knots, in 10 to 15 knot wind from the SSE. Also the smoke cleared, before sunset, come midnight the wind dropped, and we had to motor. I decided to take the shorter route between the sand banks as we where going to have to motor
Apart from keeping out of the tug boats towing their containers, it was a pleasant night.

Thurasday 12th October 2006

Turned motor off at 0500 hours, we have, and have had although the night, up to 2 knots of tide it us, at the moment 0800 hours we are doing 7.5 knots, and will be at the anchorage at midnight, but I'm an shore that will not last.
We had a great days sailing, dead down wind, it was blowing 20 knots from the SSE, and doing over 10 knots at times, come sunset, we had to reef down, to just the main with two reefs in it, hoping this will slow us down a little, so we do not arrive at the anchorage in the dark.
The Genoa furling system is now working as it should, it is so easy.

Friday 13th October 2006

I came on watch at 0100 hours, 30 miles to go, and was able to put the poled out genoa back out, this should get us there about 0730 hours, sunrise is 0645 hours.
There is a very strong smell of smoke, caused by the crop burning process in Borneo, hope the visibility is OK at sun rise.
Five miles from Surutu, it was only 0530 hours and very dark, so reduced sail to just a two reef main again, we coasted towards to gap between the two islands, using radar and chart plotter, we never saw the island till we where sailing along the northern side of it.
When we did, at sun rise 0716 hours, it was very high, but the smoke made visibility very bad, got to the anchorage about 0730, dropped anchor, and had a call from Been A Long....
They called to say that Audrey could not be the net controller today, as they were trying to find their way through the snog, they where a couple of hours behind us, Lindy said she would find a replacement, or do it herself. She ended up doing it herself, and she made a very good job of it, I was very, very proud of her.
After that, we went to bed, and got up about 1300 hours, had an invite to Silver-Fern, a beautiful 70 foot yacht from New Zealand, Pice and Marther, which we accepted, and had a great evening with them, Been A Long's, Endeavour's a Dutch couple Claus and ?, and the Meridar's, Ardy and ?, followed later by the Ti Pan's David and Chris, and the Treed's, John and Pam, both just arrived at the anchorage. We had a brilliant time, a great bunch of people.

Saturday 14th October 2006

Repaired the bow navigation light, the wire had corroded, cut away a bit of the main halyard, as it had been rubbing on something, expect it was a shoud, wilst running down wind.
Had a light lunch, then visited Silver Fern, and watched a sailing documentary film, about Tri-Marangs, it was very entertaining.
At 1700 hours, went to Ti-Pan, for a bring your own BBQ...
We are leaving tomorrow of a 174 mile sail to Bangka Island, this is west of our rumb line to Singapore, but it gets us over Singapore's major shipping lane, it is very busy, being that Singapore is the busiest Port in the world. It is also the narrowest part of the shipping lane.
We plan to leave at 0700 hours, and arrive to following day at 1700 hours, at the latest, is at 5 knots, we expect to do 6 knots, so should be there earlier.
Another reason is that because of the snog, the solar panels are not working, and we had to run the engine of two hours today, because the frig would not start.

On the next page is a photo of the BBQ on Ty-Pan , the same shot in smog and the only time it cleared..........

Sunday 15th October 2006

We left the anchorage at 0700 hours, for once it was clear of smoke, motored for the first half an hour, then was able to sail, bound for Bangka Island 01.30.571 South 105.52.240 East, this is the last night sail we will have to do till we get to Langkawi.
We had a lovely sail through the night, just maintaining 5 knots average, luckily we were doing a lot of 6 knots during the day, need to be in the anchorage by 1800 hours.
We spoke to Gambori on VHF radio, which is quite unusual, as they were over a 100 miles away, and normal range is only 25 miles.

Monday 16th October 2006

0200 hours, we have 78 miles to go, a speed of 5.4 knots, and an ETA at anchorage of 1600 hours, we can probably
get in before that, as if conditions remain the same , will put gandy pants up.
We motored from 0400 hours till 0800 hours, got gandy pants up, and had a lovely sail all the way to the Bangka Island, we had a bit of a problem furling Gandy in, because the increased, and when we furled it, it went in too tight leaving and third out, so had to drop it onto the deck, Lindy got some rope burns, which turned into blisters, and was quite painful .
We caught or first fish in Indonesia today, over a metre long, a Spanish Mackerel, filleted it straight away and got it into the fridge.

The anchorage looks lovely, miles of white sandy beaches, we went ashore of a sun downer, with Treed, Been, TyPan , and Silver Fern, had a really lovely time, can back at sun set, Typan and Silver can back to Mr Bean to complete a very enjoyable evening.

Tuesday 17th October 2003

Talking to John off Treed, he mentioned that he had a spare MPS sail, with snuffer, surplus to requirements, so I said I would be interested in seeing if it would fit Mr Bean. We got it on board, pulled it up, and it fitted perfectly, so have kept it on board, and will try it out tomorrow, if conditions are right.
Went ashore at 1400 hours, for a BBQ, with the fleet, we had our fish, fry over an open fire, with salads etc, we all had a lovely time, got back to the boat by about 1930 hours.
I got the dingy up, ready to leave tomorrow.