Tawau, Sabah. East Coast of Malaysian Borneo.

4th September 2009

We anchored outside the Tawau yacht club just as the sun set and the shore lights started to glow in the hazy dark evening light. The seasonal burning in Kalimatan, Indonesian Borneo, turns the air into a blue haze and the sun, if you can see it at all, turns into a watery yellow blob. Today is the worst day we cannot see the island just across the harbour and some of the anchored ships are nearly lost in the haze. The welcoming friendly people of Tawau Yacht club and Tawau town make up for the lack of scenery.

The trip across the Celebes Sea from Manado took 4 days, 3 nights. I say the trip, because it wasn't really a sail. The fickle light wind meant we had the motor on more often than we wanted. Sitting doing 2 or 3 knots with the main sail slapping is frustrating. During the day we usually had enough wind to sail with the MPS or the drifter until at around 4pm when the wind faded away and we motored most of the night on a flat windless sea.

By Saturday morning the clear blue sea had turned to green, coloured by the river water flowing out of the wide river harbour of Tawau . Although not a deep harbour the port of Tawau is busy. Palm oil produced by local plantations is pumped into ships to be transported around the world. There is also a small container wharf near our anchorage. The harbour is always buzzing with tugs, ferries, fishing craft of all sizes and Police launches zip past us from their base near by. Every one has a cheery wave some coming near for a closer look. We are a bit of a novelty not many yachts visit Tawau, just a handful a year. When we eventually tracked down the harbour master and immigration their officials were more interested in where we came from than doing the official paper work

." Two people in one boat!!! All that way!! Very Brave!!"

An hour after entering the immigration office we had our passport chop. The process took so long because our papers went to several offices and through a few little huddles of discussion. I think it took them a while to remember what to do with visiting yachts. As for Customs they just laughed when Alan visited their office. They said small boats don't need to worry about customs. Being able to trust the ice in our drinks is not the only thing we like about Malaysia!! Every one is so friendly and officialdom is a breeze even if the wait sometimes is a bit long.

Arriving Saturday night we did not go ashore until the next morning to make ourselves known at the Tawau Yacht Club. We met Mr Tan the club manager who was very welcoming and said to just ask if we needed anything. We mentioned a small list of things like diesel, water, a pump for the water maker either to be fixed or a new one, where is the nearest laundry and maybe some stainless steel work. There was no hurry as we could sort it out next week, just directions to town was sufficient for today. Town we discovered was only a 10 min walk away and there was a laundry on the way. The best thing we learnt was that we had arrived in time to be invited to the main Yacht Club event of the year, the Commodore and Rear Commodores night, to be held that night. The great music we had heard the night before was just the band practicing.



The Yacht Club was started by the British in the 1950's. It has been keep going and improved by the large Chinese Malay community of Tawau. The club is essentially a country club with a small fleet of sailing dinghies with a group of enthusiastic children and teens. We are welcome to use the pool, bar, restaurant and wifii. I must say the pool is a lovely relief from this sticky heat. The Commodores evening was very enjoyable, Mr Tan sat us at a table of very hospitable people, the bottom half of Alans beer glass was never empty. The spit roasted NZ lamb was very tasty, normally they would have a pig but in deference to the Muslim guests lamb was on the menu. We were quite happy with that.

After the usual speeches, introductions and dinner the band entertained and then there was karaoke. This was serious karaoke. Lessons are taken, voices are beautiful, movements just right. But the night belonged to the wife of the Police Chief. The new Chief had only been in Tawau two weeks and had been invited. As someone on our table said, tongue in cheek (I think), its good to invite the Police Chief in case the members get caught driving home after drinking! The lovely lady got up and sang, receiving a standing ovation for her Whitney Houston song. She was a hard act to follow.

The following day was a national holiday to celebrate Malaysian Independence. The kids where on holiday so Jap asked if he and Albert could bring the sailing kids out to Tuatara for a visit. It was a good chance to see a big sailing boat. We enjoyed the visit from around 30 children and adults. The atlas was put to good use showing them our route from NZ to Tawau, it helped to explain that we didn't sail non stop from NZ. The concepts of not anchoring on passages and the use of the auto pilot are often a bit puzzling for non sailors. Most of the people including the children speak at least some English. We feel quite inadequate when we hear them swapping easily between, Mandarin, English and Bahasa Malay even after a few beers. Some NZers find it difficult just speaking English after a few beers!!

The week since we arrived here has gone quickly, we've accomplished getting water and diesel, the pump is still not replaced and the stainless work is being done ( we hope). It all takes a little time but eventually jobs are ticked off the list. We have wandered around town, going into every shop that might have a pump, both had hair cuts and eaten Nasi Ayam (chicken rice) for lunch most days. It is the Muslim month of Ramadan, so only Chinese restaurants are open for lunch and we haven't found one yet that serves much more than Nasi Ayam for lunch. We have been too hot and weary to go into town at night for a curry, when the Muslim restaurants are open, especially as the yacht club meals are tasty and as cheap as in town. There is no menu, we just say we want a meal for two and a tasty meal appears.

Yesterday we took Albert and some of the young sailors for a sail up the harbour in Tuatara. Everyone had a turn at steering even 6yr old Emily. We took the opportunity to demonstrate the auto pilot, we couldn't have them think we steered all the time! Last night we enjoyed a meal with some of the sailors and parents where we were presented with a TYC club pennant.

The hospitality of the members and staff of the YC have made our stay here very enjoyable but we are starting to get restless, looking at charts, arranging to meet friends further north, seems its nearly time to move on, may be Tuesday if the stainless work is finished.