Kuching Cat
24 December 2006
16 March 2006
10 February 2006
01 December 2005
26 November 2005
27 October 2005
13 October 2005
13 October 2005
23 August 2005
01 August 2005 | Dili
29 July 2005
Kuching sails to Singapore
27 October 2005
KUCHING SAILS (HA!) TO SINGAPORE
We arrived back from Europe on October 12th after a sad month with two funerals. We urgently wanted to get on the route for Singapore as the transition month between monsoons was already upon us. Some fast provisioning and boat maintenance ate up the next two days but we sailed on the morning of the 15th after an enjoyable evening with the crew and delivery crew of "Lord Jim: who sponsored a music night in the Bali marina bar.
We were worried about the passage up the Lombok Strait the fierce tides of which we had already experienced. But we had secret and cunning plan! We set sail with 3 other boats all heading for Thailand ultimately. They planned a few more stops along the way than us but we all set off together in the same direction. It was not a race! Honest! Light winds so we motored and tried the spinnaker and motored some more. Having left 2 hours before high tide we had current with us for the first few hours when the current changed we followed a tip we had and hugged the shore inside the 50 meter line where the water was smooth. We picked up a counter current and suddenly surged up the coast catching the group leader, Mokoko, who was battling the tide in the channel. We were rather pleased with ourselves!
Late afternoon Mokoko, Fontana and Samsara split off heading for an anchorage for the following evening while we continued under motor for Singapore. And so it went- motoring endlessly past Bawean Island and on up through the Java Sea. On the third day we did fuel calculations and decided to alter course for the Kumai River in Kalimantan, Borneo where we knew we could get fuel and, since we were there, visit the Orangutan Reserve. As soon as we were well on our new course a wind arrived which set us off at a great rate of knots - too great so we ended up double reefed trying to slow down so we wouldn't get to the river mouth before light. It was not a fun night with too much wind and a tugboat towing a barge loitering far too close most of time and to cap itall the discovery that the GPS did not correlate with the chart - leading to us being .5 km nearer a lee shore than we wished to be.
We headed up river about mid-morning and immediately had to plant the anchor as a white- out rainstorm blew in and visibility was 0. After wandering around the river basin searching for the channel (with 1.6 m under our keel at one point) we finally arrived 10 miles upriver at Kumai and immediately made arrangements for fuel and a speedboat to take us upriver to the Orangutan Reserve, To our great surprise we heard Mokoko hailing a boat at the river mouth about 3 pm that afternoon. Samsara and Fontana were held up overnight at the river mouth but all arrived the next day and we invited them all for drinks on board Kuching that evening after we returned from our trip.
The next day we made a quick bemo trip to the nearby "big' town to get enough funds from the ATM to pay for our fuel and tourist jaunt. About 11:30 the speedboat arrived and we tore off up a tributary to see the Orangutuans. Our friends were opting for the much more romantic slowboat overnight visit. We were enchanted by the rainforest river environment and enjoyed seeing about a dozen orangutans coming to feeding station for an afternoon meal. We saw a good range of orangutans from an impressive older male to adolescents and younger babies including one 10 day old baby clinging to his mother. The work the Reserve is doing in both saving the rainforest environment and the orangutans is fantastic in addition to providing employment alternatives to logging!
We made several stops on the way back downriver to view the Proboscis monkeys with their decidedly prominent noses! Our guide told us they were locally called "monyuk blonda" meaning Dutch monkeys as the first Dutch people who came to Borneo bore a striking resemblance to them! We were sure our friend Jorrian would be pleased to heat that!
We ended caught by both a torrential downpour and darkness which was quite an experience. Our speedboat driver had no fear however and rigged up a headlight so we could continue our non-ecological mad tear in the rainforest! All of which made us late for drinks which had started without us by default on Mokoko so we joined the crowd and assured them all that they had a magical experience awaiting them on the river!
Next morning we refuelled and headed down river about 8 am. Once again we had to throw out the anchor when a rain squall passed through but this time we had much better GPS points to follow courtesy of Mokoko so didn't end up meandering around searching for the channel. Now came the hard part - which course to take to pass through the shoals and islands blocking the route to Singapore we opted for the middleground holding the 10 meter line until round Kalimantan then heading for the passage between Serutu Island and Karimata. And lo and behold we were motoring again with the wind on our nose, a sloppy sea and not enough sea room to take advantage of the wind.
The trip to Singapore was mostly motoring with occasional hours of sailing but included the once in a lifetime event for Laurie of crossing the equator by vessel. The traditional offering to Neptune was made and the naval ceremony of shaving the new "shellback" was performed! We voyaged five days doing boat maintenance and relaxing and reading. We finally anchored at Pulau Nyomok for the night after being caught in a fierce wind and rainstorm. We had the pleasure of a visit by 6 local fisherman whom we gave tea notwithstanding they asked for whiskey having firmly denied (tongue-in-cheek) that we ever drank whiskey.
The next morning we were away by 3:45 am for 60 mile trip up the Riau Strait. It started with strong winds and waves of visibility obscuring rain which gave us some concern since that was significant traffic in strait. After a day of motoring against unhelpful winds and motorsailing when possible we arrived safely in Nongsa Point Marina.
Hurray! We have broken the back of our journey to Thailand and squeaked across the equator before the NW monsoons made the trip too arduous and now look forward to a few days in Singapore visiting friends and making the inevitable repairs to the boat.
We arrived back from Europe on October 12th after a sad month with two funerals. We urgently wanted to get on the route for Singapore as the transition month between monsoons was already upon us. Some fast provisioning and boat maintenance ate up the next two days but we sailed on the morning of the 15th after an enjoyable evening with the crew and delivery crew of "Lord Jim: who sponsored a music night in the Bali marina bar.
We were worried about the passage up the Lombok Strait the fierce tides of which we had already experienced. But we had secret and cunning plan! We set sail with 3 other boats all heading for Thailand ultimately. They planned a few more stops along the way than us but we all set off together in the same direction. It was not a race! Honest! Light winds so we motored and tried the spinnaker and motored some more. Having left 2 hours before high tide we had current with us for the first few hours when the current changed we followed a tip we had and hugged the shore inside the 50 meter line where the water was smooth. We picked up a counter current and suddenly surged up the coast catching the group leader, Mokoko, who was battling the tide in the channel. We were rather pleased with ourselves!
Late afternoon Mokoko, Fontana and Samsara split off heading for an anchorage for the following evening while we continued under motor for Singapore. And so it went- motoring endlessly past Bawean Island and on up through the Java Sea. On the third day we did fuel calculations and decided to alter course for the Kumai River in Kalimantan, Borneo where we knew we could get fuel and, since we were there, visit the Orangutan Reserve. As soon as we were well on our new course a wind arrived which set us off at a great rate of knots - too great so we ended up double reefed trying to slow down so we wouldn't get to the river mouth before light. It was not a fun night with too much wind and a tugboat towing a barge loitering far too close most of time and to cap itall the discovery that the GPS did not correlate with the chart - leading to us being .5 km nearer a lee shore than we wished to be.
We headed up river about mid-morning and immediately had to plant the anchor as a white- out rainstorm blew in and visibility was 0. After wandering around the river basin searching for the channel (with 1.6 m under our keel at one point) we finally arrived 10 miles upriver at Kumai and immediately made arrangements for fuel and a speedboat to take us upriver to the Orangutan Reserve, To our great surprise we heard Mokoko hailing a boat at the river mouth about 3 pm that afternoon. Samsara and Fontana were held up overnight at the river mouth but all arrived the next day and we invited them all for drinks on board Kuching that evening after we returned from our trip.
The next day we made a quick bemo trip to the nearby "big' town to get enough funds from the ATM to pay for our fuel and tourist jaunt. About 11:30 the speedboat arrived and we tore off up a tributary to see the Orangutuans. Our friends were opting for the much more romantic slowboat overnight visit. We were enchanted by the rainforest river environment and enjoyed seeing about a dozen orangutans coming to feeding station for an afternoon meal. We saw a good range of orangutans from an impressive older male to adolescents and younger babies including one 10 day old baby clinging to his mother. The work the Reserve is doing in both saving the rainforest environment and the orangutans is fantastic in addition to providing employment alternatives to logging!
We made several stops on the way back downriver to view the Proboscis monkeys with their decidedly prominent noses! Our guide told us they were locally called "monyuk blonda" meaning Dutch monkeys as the first Dutch people who came to Borneo bore a striking resemblance to them! We were sure our friend Jorrian would be pleased to heat that!
We ended caught by both a torrential downpour and darkness which was quite an experience. Our speedboat driver had no fear however and rigged up a headlight so we could continue our non-ecological mad tear in the rainforest! All of which made us late for drinks which had started without us by default on Mokoko so we joined the crowd and assured them all that they had a magical experience awaiting them on the river!
Next morning we refuelled and headed down river about 8 am. Once again we had to throw out the anchor when a rain squall passed through but this time we had much better GPS points to follow courtesy of Mokoko so didn't end up meandering around searching for the channel. Now came the hard part - which course to take to pass through the shoals and islands blocking the route to Singapore we opted for the middleground holding the 10 meter line until round Kalimantan then heading for the passage between Serutu Island and Karimata. And lo and behold we were motoring again with the wind on our nose, a sloppy sea and not enough sea room to take advantage of the wind.
The trip to Singapore was mostly motoring with occasional hours of sailing but included the once in a lifetime event for Laurie of crossing the equator by vessel. The traditional offering to Neptune was made and the naval ceremony of shaving the new "shellback" was performed! We voyaged five days doing boat maintenance and relaxing and reading. We finally anchored at Pulau Nyomok for the night after being caught in a fierce wind and rainstorm. We had the pleasure of a visit by 6 local fisherman whom we gave tea notwithstanding they asked for whiskey having firmly denied (tongue-in-cheek) that we ever drank whiskey.
The next morning we were away by 3:45 am for 60 mile trip up the Riau Strait. It started with strong winds and waves of visibility obscuring rain which gave us some concern since that was significant traffic in strait. After a day of motoring against unhelpful winds and motorsailing when possible we arrived safely in Nongsa Point Marina.
Hurray! We have broken the back of our journey to Thailand and squeaked across the equator before the NW monsoons made the trip too arduous and now look forward to a few days in Singapore visiting friends and making the inevitable repairs to the boat.
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| Vessel Name: | Kuching |
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