We're back on the move again.
10 October 2013 | Roach Reef, Malaysia
Bill
Up came the chain and anchor again this morning. OH, did I have some work to do. We'd let out about 150 feet of chain and most of it was covered in a sandy mud concoction. What a mess. I put a brush on the end of our boat hook and brought it up in 5 foot lengths. Bring it up---scrub, Bring it up--scrub. Over and over. I had to stop every now and then to flake the chain down in the locker. If I don't spread it out, it makes what is called a "castle" or a big pile and will probably fall over on it self and make it much harder to play out when you want to drop the anchor. It took close to 45 minutes to get it all clean(well sort of) and stowed so we could set off. Azizah had already gotten their anchor up and had started heading out of the bay. We followed on their heels avoiding all the fishermen and their nets. They stick a floating flag at one end of their nets and the other is in their boat(normally quite small). As expected, there was little to no wind(forecast was to 8-10 knots out of the southwest). We motored along for most of the morning but finally got to pull up the main and forestaysail. Then we motor sailed doing about 5.3 knots with the engine running at about 1200 rpms(quite slow). We needed the extra boost to keep us going is such a slight breeze plus the batteries needed to be topped off(boy, I love these new batteries). Tracy made Bruscetta for lunch served on Asiago Cheese toasts(found at SM in Davao. Yummy!!! Washed down with a cool coke(never get quite cold enough but better than a room temp coke by far. It was a great lunch. I've been promised another of Tracy's quiches and I can hardly wait. Only big problem is it heats up the cabin so much and having run the engine today, the engine room is already 114 degrees and the insulation isn't that good so the cabin suffers. We pulled into Roach Reef and dropped the anchor just about 1500, 6 hours after we left having done the 28 miles in good time. Roach Reef is now more than just a reef. The government stepped in and made an Island. They brought in tons and tons of sand and made an island for another security post for their Coast Guard. There is supposed to be a mooring buoy but we couldn't find it so down went the anchor again which is fine in that it will clean off what is left of the mud from Tawau. There is still a bit of a current passing by the island though no where near what we had in Tarakan, Tawau or Derawan. I put on my swim suit and climbed down the ladder. I had to hang on or I would have been swept away. It wasn't a strong current but I'd have been hard pressed to swim against it. The water felt great and I will problably be back in it again if the current slacks off later in the day. So here we sit for the night. Tomorrow, another 20+ miles to Mabul Island where we hope to do some diving for a change. We got an email from the dive company there that they charge 80 riggits(about $27.00US) for a dive. Not a bad price. Tomorrow is another day.