Kuching to Singapore

We anchored in the Satubong river feeling very isolated. For the first time in a long time we are not with other cruisers. Most have stayed up in Miri north and the others crossing to Singapore have left already. The following morning we waited for the mini bus to Kuching which is 28km away. The buses in seem few and far between and we are thankful for the shade the trees near the road give us. I love Kuching, larger than Miri and smaller than Kota Kinabalu and it seems to offer the best of both worlds. This is the last opportunity for “Borneo souvenirs” and we stocked up with the great white peppercorns and small gifts for grandchildren. In one of the higher end gift stores sellling original artifacts a lovely young woman who is fourth generation Chinese explained the purpose of many of the objects to us. I had admired the heavily beaded baby carriers when we were here last and she explained that the beads which had been traded from Venice were actually used as currency. The baby carriers were also adorned with tusks and various noise makers so that as you walked along the monkeys who may be tempted to steal a young baby would be deterred and other animals would hear you coming and be gone. There are also heavily carved wooden carriers used by the upper classes. These had fairly scary faces as well to scare off any would be “bad spirits”. There were a number of interesting knives which she explained to Ken—most of these were very expensive as they are very old and beyond our budget. We came across a furniture store which imported high quality solid wooden furniture from Indonesia. Hmmm—we could get it shipped to Kuala Lumpur and have it shipped with our belongings—we would think about it. The following day we decided to go to the Sarawak Cultural Village near our anchorage. We had stayed at a long house with the Iban people when we went for our headhunters hike but have seen very little of the other native cultures. We arrived in time to see the show in which each of the seven different cultures performed dances depicting some of their daily lives. Despite the popular myth of the “Borneo headhunter with a blowpipe in hand” it was apparent that a lot of trading was done with other Asian countries as lovely colourful silk costumes were worn by many of the tribes. After the performance we wandered the lovely park like area in which each of the tribal groups had a typical house. Various kinds of housing was built to suit the local topography but it seemed the common theme was communal living as opposed to individual houses. There were varying degrees of artistic decorations and shamans were very powerful. There were five main native groups and Malay and Chinese settlers make Sarawak the most multicultural of all Malaysia States. The Village is owned by the Damai Resort and we wandered back and enjoyed a coffee on the deck overlooking the pool beside a lovely beach while we waited for the bus to take us back to our anchorage. The next day we had hoped to go to the renowned Sunday Market but it was pouring with rain and by the time it abated and we made our way into town it was over. We searched for Dim Sum but despite directions given to us we finally opted for the Chinese Noodle house. Next day was our last and once again we waited patiently for the mini bus to take us into town. We decided to bite the bullet and buy a teak wall unit which has a cupboard at the bottom and a drawer above which are shelves. We also bought a coffee table and side table all of which will cost us $1500 by the time we get it home. We gave away so much of our furnishings from Calgary, this will give a welcome relief from Ikea. We set sail the following morning hoping once again to catch a last opportunity to snorkel before hitting West Malaysia. The first island we had intended stopping at had a wicked swell so we pressed on to the next island. We did stop there for the night but once again in the morning we could hear thunder and the swell started picking up. Foiled again!!! We now stopped in the anchorage just south of the point of Borneo from which we would leave the following day to head across in a straight line for the 320 miles to Singapore. There was no coral for snorkeling but was lovely to finally swim. We took a walk on the lovely trails through the forest and came across an immaculate National Park headquarters. This opens onto a great beach and shelters are built for camping and cooking—at only $1 a night this is a steal!! The rafflesia is in the area although no one seemed to know if it was flowering at the moment. We had intended leaving the next morning but it seemed that one of our rebuilt water pumps was leaking—yet again. Ken decided that he should replace it before what we had assumed would be a long motor trip—very little wind is around at the moment. While he was in the engine room one thing led to another and he replaced a belt and by the time he had done a few other chores the day was gone and he was hot, dirty and dehydrated. I started packing some of the food stuffs we want to take home—we had not anticipated selling the boat so quickly and had no urgency eating our supplies. We also have found that in this part of the world with cheap tasty food available at the restaurants we are not eating on the boat as much. We have some wonderful oils, vinegars chutneys and hot sauces we have bought as we have travelled and I will ship them home. It does apparently complicate our customs clearance when the shipment arrives so I am photographing it as I pack so hopefully we get a sympathetic quarantine agent. We are also trying to eat most of the canned foods we have had on board in case we could not get fresh produce—well we always have been able to get fresh produce so there is quite the supply—for those Canadians who fret about the “best before” dates I will not say how long we have had some of these—NB neither of us has had any ill effects from stale dated products!!!!! I have a lot of milk powder from NZ—before then we had been using it when we could not get UHT milk and I was also using it to make yoghurt. Since buying it I have always been able to get UHT milk and either buy fresh yoghurt or use my NZ yoghurt maker with the pre made packages—hmm not sure what to do with the milk powder?? We have started the 350 mile passage to Singapore as I write this with a nasty 2 knot current against us and no wind. This will be our last long passage as the rest will be day passages as we go up the west coast of Malaysia so I will attempt to paint the picture of this passage. With an adverse current and what little wind there is we are struggling to do 4 knots with both engines going and are hoping our fuel will last the voyage!! What we had assumed would be a 3 day passage will now be 4 days. The seas have a slight swell but it is not uncomfortable. It is frustrating as we now need to maintain 4.5 knots to arrive at the Singapore Straits at dawn on our 4th day. This will allow us to cross the incredibly busy shipping lanes in daylight and get to the marina before dark. The winds come and go and we are forever putting the foresail out and bringing it in. We are at least able to run on only one engine now so the fuel should be fine but we are revving it up or bringing it down as the conditions are constantly changing. The current ranges from 1-2 knots against us. We have had several huge downpours but mostly with little wind and no lightning—one of the dreaded things at this time of year in this region. We know of several boats which have been struck and even a near strike can destroy your electronics. We are now half way through the passage in the middle of the second night and I am on watch as Ken sleeps. We are in yet another rainstorm which is disconcerting as you cannot see if there are any other boats around you. It is pitch dark and the radar cannot spick up any ships if it is raining. I will be glad when it is dawn. The seas have become choppy while the storm is near and sleeping in the fore berth becomes impossible—luckily the bed at the aft is always calmer and provides a comfortable night. We have had to turn on the second engine to maintain speed, if we cannot get to the marina in the daylight we would have to cross the Straits and anchor in the Malaysian side for the night and continue the next day. There is no anchoring allowed in Singapore waters—we want to avoid that if at all possible. We are in Indonesian waters now in the tanker lane but they are generally going parallel to us, better than crossing paths. Despite the area being a “no fishing” zone—presumably because of the tankers—there are quite a number of fishing boats around—I suspect the policing is lax. We were concerned when one came towards us just before dusk and seemed to keep coming—there are always fears at the back of your mind how vulnerable you are and we do hear of “boardings “ of boats underway from time to time—we have not heard of any in this region. We are generally very relaxed as the fishermen all wave happily to us—this is one of the things we have loved as we come across them. Anyway our worries were unfounded as the boat was positioning itself to drag its net and it turned just before it reached us. We were joined by a small swiftlet who accompanied us for a while. They come and land appearing exhausted but do not like the rocky boat and will fly around to try and be comfortable. They often get inside and Ken found a dead one in his workroom yesterday—poor thing probably died of heart failure when he couldn’t find his way out. We also seem to have a resident gecko who had been feasting when we were close to shore but must be hungry by now—hope he can survive till Singapore. A grasshopper was hopping around but drove me crazy as he would fly into your face I caught him and threw him overboard—I hope he figures out how to fly to Singapore. It is now the next morning and the skies are overcast with eerie grey flat seas. The wind has totally gone and we are motoring with one engine and able to do 4.5 knots despite the 1 knot of current against us. The grasshopper is back—obviously decided that the long flight to Singapore is beyond what he had wanted to do—he had better keep out of my face!!! Maybe the gecko will find him and have a feast!!! We enjoyed a pod of dolphins that came and played with us—always an amazing treat. Another fishing boat approached us—gesturing if we had cigarettes—sorry none. It is now the last night of the passage—we are only 29 miles from our way point which is where we intend crossing the double shipping lanes. There is a lane for eastbound tankers and one for west. They are continuous and about 12 minutes apart. That sounds reasonable but the lanes are about 1 ½ miles wide and we need to time it so we can avoid a collision!! You can stop in the centre and wait for the other traffic if necessary but we definitely want to be crossing in the daylight. That means trying to maintain under 4 knots of speed till then. We are travelling beside vast numbers of tankers all anchored awaiting their turn to enter the shipping lanes. Although it is a channel it is one of the busiest in the world and is heavily controlled. It is a calm clear night but there is some lightening on the horizon. If it does rain and the visibility goes we will have to try and to stop and wait it out. Hitting an anchored tanker would not be a good thing!! The chatter on the radio has started and the multinational languages are apparent—Italian, Chinese, Bahasa Malay and very heavily accented English. It is now morning and we have successfully crossed the shipping lanes. The number of tankers is amazing—we went past 25 miles of anchored tankers and there is another 25 miles before they will run out. Singapore is one of the biggest marine centres in the world but it has no natural harbor. It is almost on the equator—we are at latitude 01 degrees so there are no cyclones here. We will go to the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club for a few days and have one last explore of Singapore before heading up the coast of Malaysia—our final route on our long journey.