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Well, I did it again! I arrived here on the Wednesday evening of Easter weekend, which in the Philippines means, that government offices are closed through Thursday to Sunday. So when I went into town on Thursday morning, to check in with Immigration, the office was closed. Luckily I am the captain, so I can go ashore prior to doing the formalities, also the immigration officer is a lodge brother of Jim, which means I can go about my business ashore, without having been cleared into the country yet. Today, Good Friday, there is not much going on anyway, everything is locked up tight, even most restaurants. I got some money and a traveller's cheque changed yesterday at a Chinese store, so I am not stranded, until the banks open on Monday.
Tomorrow, Saturday, will be the day, when I shall do most of my shopping, and perhaps also clear with Immigration, paying a small 'consideration' for the 'special service' on the weekend. Hopefully I can leave the day after, Easter Sunday, to go up through the San Juanico Strait.
I spent a fair amount of time with Jim. He has been living here for four years, but is having a tough time with the unreliability of Filipino servants. He does enjoy life here, and is on good terms with many of the people here. However, he is insisting of his servants (three), that they perform the few duties, which they have just as, and when, he wants it. But their oriental mentality just does not want to conform with his Anglo-Saxon work ethic expectations.
I also had a nice conversation with two lieutenants of the Philippine
Coast Guard and Navy respectively, who are staying at one of the cottages
on the beach for the Easter weekend. They inspected my boat and radio equipment
with interest, and offered any help, which I might need.
19 April 1992, Easter Sunday, Tacloban
Tomorrow morning I shall leave. I would have been ready to go this afternoon, but when I looked at the tide tables, I saw that with this afternoon's heavy spring tide, the current will be probably running against me at well over three knots. Better to go in the morning, when the tidal difference will be less, and the current will be with me.
This gives me another afternoon and evening to take in the flavour of this town, have a meal at a restaurant, before it is cooking for myself again for the four day trip to Borocay. After Guam vegetable prices are so unbelievably cheap here at the market: 20 pesos (1 Can$=22 pesos) for a huge pineapple, 1 kg milk fish: 70 pesos, 1 kg of fish I do not know the name of: 20 pesos, 1 kg tomatoes: 15 pesos, ampalaya, okra and other types of local vegetables all around 15 pesos per kg, onions are considered very expensive at 20 pesos per kg. Of course, alcoholic beverages are very cheap also - beer: 8 pesos per bottle and local rum at 10 to 20 pesos per 700 ml bottle (unbelievable but true: $ 0.50 for a bottle of rum).
I also had a Malaysian and a Singaporean courtesy flag sown by one of the tailors here, who had been recommended to me by one of the local Americans, whose name shall not be mentioned at this time. When I picked them up in his presence, I asked the tailor what was the cost. 'Whatever you want to pay' was the answer. But I cannot make anything out of that as a foreigner. I know that a skilled craftsman gets about 60 pesos a day in this area, and he was probably working on them for some eight hours, so I thought something under a hundred pesos would be appropriate, but I did not want to offer him something less than he expected. At last, with the help of an intermediary the price was named, 75 pesos a piece or a total of 150 pesos, which I promptly paid. The American then said, I should give him a tip, since it was such a nice job. Who ever heard of giving a craftsman a tip? I guess, only in America (or perhaps India?) people go overboard with tips. I was embarrassed and walked away, as I had concluded my dealings with the tailor. The American, after giving the tailor 20 pesos himself, berated me for insulting the local people. I am glad to say, that he was not out of pocket, as I had paid for the two beers he had drunk at the restaurant, where we had sat just before.
What bothers me is, that this individual looses no time railing against the Filipinos always holding their hands out for money asking for something, and then demanding more, like when one Filipino lady asked him for one coconut, and when he gave it to her, she wanted two. And here he is insisting that on top of an agreed on price, one should give a tip. Yes, 'I have to live with them', but surely by giving tips left and right, he is training them, to always expect more than the quoted price for a purchase or a service.
I am glad that I am not staying in the Philippines, and that I am continuing on to Thailand. There are too many Americans here, spoiling the locals with tipping, as they are doing everywhere in the world. In my opinion, tipping demeans the giver as well as the recipient. In an honest exchange of services for money both parties should be at an equal footing and not the server be dependent on a handout solely at the discretion of the giver.
I have said it before, and I shall say it again: the Philippines are well off in the long run to 'loose' the American military bases. It may prove to be an economic hardship in the short term, because of lost wages of the thousands, who work for the Americans, but it removes from the Philippine psyche much of that cancerous growth, that the 'American' way of life has wrought here, the proliferation of guns and violence, the loss of their own culture and the adoration of all things American, the exodus of all trained people to the States, or any other Western countries, that will accept them, leaving behind only the unskilled and very poor and those, who have accumulated wealth at the expense of the underprivileged and uneducated.
It is difficult to build a functioning society with only the 'cream'
and the 'dregs' of the population, and with nothing in between, to
leaven the bread. Without a trained middle class, there just is no hope
for a country. It is this middle class, which is not too pre-occupied with
just staying alive, and which is not too resentful and greedy to loose
their ill-acquired wealth, which can develop in a society a spirit of co-operation,
thrift and constructive economic growth. The Philippines have many natural
resources, and could be economically well off, if her people would consent
to work as a team, and not against each other. And in order to do that,
one must have pride in oneself, and not always hanker for greener fields
elsewhere.
Later,
Went to Sandy Beach just at he edge of the airport. Jim had said, that
is where one meets all of Tacloban on an Easter Sunday. It was surely so.
The place was absolutely crowded. I sat there for a while watching the
Filipinos cavorting in the water, and having their picnics. As in Thailand,
hardly any of the local girls had a swimsuit (too revealing). They just
went into the water with all their clothes on.
20 April 1992, Calaba, Biliran Island
Sailing among the islands, one certainly does not cover the same amount of ground per day, as on the ocean. Anchoring for the night cuts the day in half to start with, and then the winds are lighter than on the open ocean.
I left Tacloban at 06:15 on the rising tide. Motoring at about 4.5 knots, I made some six to seven knots over the ground with the tide going in. Everything went well with deep water all the way, until I hit Silaga Beacon, at least what I thought was it. I think, I went too close to the beacon (50 m), and ran aground with a four knot current behind me. No way, I could turn around in that current and work myself free. However, it was a rising tide with the water having to come up another 1.5 feet at least, and as it was approaching high tide the current should decrease and eventually stop.
Meanwhile, I saw all kinds of local boats taking a channel on the other side of Nababuy Island. Perhaps this was the main channel now, and this side of the island was all silted up, since the description in the Sailing Directions had been written. By the way, I had no detailed chart of the San Juanico Strait, as Jim had not gotten one for me after all.
I managed to put an anchor out some ten feet up the current, and it caught on a rock. Then I just waited, and sure enough 45 minutes later the tide had risen enough, to refloat the boat. Then it was an easy thing, to take up the anchor and motor back, and into the other channel, which the local boats were using. All I had to do was to follow them. With the extra high spring tide it was possible to bypass the Janabatas Channel also, and proceed directly over the shore bank out to the open Samar Sea.
It was quite a picturesque trip going through the strait, and it reminded me of taking a boat trip along the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. Only this time I was on my own boat. Just before noon I was at the end of the strait, and was entering the open Samar Sea. Sails up and engine off, as there was a light favourable breeze. It did not last long, though. After 3.5 hours and seven miles I gave up, and started the engine, so I could reach an anchorage for the night on the other side of the Samar Sea, which was more in the direction I wanted to travel. So my grand total today was 45 miles of which 38 was under power. I just hope, this is not an indication of things to come.
Here I am anchored in front of the small village of Culaba with an onshore
breeze which makes the boat roll a bit. There are so many places like this
in the Philippines. A small settlement with no road connection to the rest
of the country, no electricity, and rugged forbidding mountains rearing
up inland. TV will be a long time coming here, and life in general is at
a very basic level. Mine is perhaps the first ever yacht anchored here,
and perhaps I am even the first ever white person visiting. Just as I was
anchoring, all the locals went out in little one-man outrigger fishing
boats, and as darkness set in, one could see their lights strung out over
most of the horizon. Now at 20:30 hours most of them have returned.
21 April 1992, Guinauayan Island, south coast Masbate
Today I added another 41 miles to my total, 20 of that under sail. Tomorrow I shall have to get up a bit earlier, to cover the 47 miles to Jintololo Island. That means starting in the dark, with only the moon to see where I am going.
I am now in the Visayan Sea. All morning I sailed along the north coast of Biliran Island. Around noon I crossed under power to Masbate, and in the afternoon under sail again along the south coast of Masbate to this small island offshore. The shores of these islands are unbelievably crowded. There is a settlement of some sort in every bay, on each beach.
This island, where I am anchored with the tongue twister name is less than one mile long, and apparently houses 2000 people. So at least the children told me, who crowded around the boat in their small outrigger canoes, as I anchored just before sunset. A couple of the girls spoke some English. They wanted addresses for pen pals. There are a few coconut palms here, and a lot of fish traps all across the shallow patches around the island. There are not many spots clear of them, where the water is not too deep for anchoring. The huts onshore look run down. It surely looks like a poor life these people lead. Apart from the two electric 'street' lights along the shore line, the only other lights one can see, are those of the fishermen out in their boats.
Looking at these crowded shores, and comparing this country with Thailand,
one cannot help, but draw comparisons between the two prevalent religions
in these countries. Here Roman Catholicism and there Buddhism. Here, a
religion which condemns any form of birth control (although this is now
changing), and there an extremely active birth control movement, led by
the famous Dr. Meechai (condoms are called 'meechais' in Thailand), which
is gladly suffered by an liberal minded church. Here the population explosion
continues unabated, people having to emigrate in order to survive; and
it is the educated, who depart, leaving behind the under-educated, unable
to improve their life. There the birthrate has at least been halved over
the last generation, and hardly any Thais want to emigrate, but want to
remain in their own country. As far as I am concerned, the Church here,
by prohibiting birth control methods, even within wedlock, is sadly failing
its responsibility towards the people, to put it very mildly. In fact
22 April 1992, Jintotolo Pass
I feel eminently satisfied with myself. I am quietly motoring into the falling night with 70 miles left to go to Borocay. No anchoring tonight, as I have found out, that during the night the wind blows the strongest, and there is no sense wasting that at an anchorage. The pattern seems to be winds about ten knots from 21:00 to about 09:00, then a calm till about 14:00, then wind again about six knots till sunset, and calm till 21:00. Hopefully this pattern will continue, and I can make use of it.
Finally I have solved the problem of the malfunctioning autopilot. After ripping it apart for the umpteenth time, I noticed, that somebody had put some oil on the bottom part of the shaft of the magnetic direction sensor, covering up the electrical sensor, so it kicked in in one direction and not in the other. Now that I have wiped the oil off, it seems to be working fine (knock on wood, which is difficult, since most everything here is of fiberglass).
Until now, motoring was really a chore, since I had to attend the tiller every few moments to re-adjust it. You live and learn. I also got into the habit, to run the water maker as well as the fridge, whenever I am motoring. It charges up the battery just the same, with the added benefit of having the extra luxury of cold beer several times a day, and lots and lots of fresh water. Since I am paying for the gas, I might as well get the most out of it.
Radio wise I am virtually cut off from Canada now. I still check into Tony's Net and the Indian Ocean Net, but neither of them is in contact with the VE3 stations. So do they know, where I am, between all these islands? Don (VK4-NN) is on holidays now, travelling for two weeks, so my link to the Pacific Maritime Mobile Net via Tony's Net is now completely disrupted.
This is indeed a different world here than on the open ocean. There
are islands everywhere, one is never completely out of sight of land. Whereas
the islands I passed through yesterday, were obviously for the most part
extinct ancient volcanoes, Masbate is low and dry. The water is quite clear,
and in depths of up to 30 feet, one can see the bottom.
24 April 1992, Borocay
At last I am crossing paths with my earlier travels. I was here about three to four years ago on my bicycle trip through the Visayan Islands. The place has changed a fair bit, a lot more cottages and restaurants, and now, even in the off season, there are plenty of tourists. Comparing against the last time I was in the Philippines two years ago, I find, that prices have come up a fair bit, without the exchange rate keeping pace. The effect is, that as a visitor one gets less value for one's money. There is better value in Thailand, as one British traveller told me, whom I talked to last night at the bar. This is hard to understand, since this economy is still in the dumps, while the Thai economy is booming. By all economic laws it should be the other way around.
The night before last I had brisk winds from the north, veering slowly to the east, as the night wore on. I made real good time, and by midmorning I was in front of Borocay. Looking at my tide tables, I saw, that the tidal currents should be at their strongest, and against me, just then through the passes on both sides of the island. So I decided to wait a couple of hours. Then I motored around the northerly point, and anchored in front of this one of the most lovely beaches in the Philippines. It looks that, at least for the time being, we are back into some windy weather. The trade winds are re-establishing themselves. When I leave again this afternoon, I better take the dinghy onboard, or I might loose it.
Last night there was a contact with Canada again over the radio after
a long break. Art (VE3-ANC) checked into the Indian Ocean Net, and was
able to get my location from the net controller. I was unable to copy him
myself though.
25 April 1992, Galoc Island
At last in the South China Sea! Only about 1100 miles to go to Singapore. About 8000 miles under my belt. I left Boracay yesterday afternoon, not having been able to mail my letters and postcards, because the post office had run out of stamps. I was not going to trust the clerk with my money, not witnessing the stamps actually being affixed. It may be a month until they get another supply.
Boracay surely is a beautiful place, the finest sand beach and all the conveniences a tourist may want including Thai, French and Italian restaurants. I went to the Thai one the night before, and was treated to a meal even spicier, than what I am used to in Thailand. My mouth burned all the next day.
As night fell, I entered the Sulu Sea, which I had to cross to get to the Calamian group of islands just northeast of Palawan. As usual, there was a calm around sunset, through which I motored for two hours. Then again the breeze started from the north, working itself around to the east during the remainder of the night. There was hardly any other traffic in this area, unlike the earlier night in the Visayan Sea, where there were several passenger vessels and a lot of fishing boats.
Soon it started to blow in the twenties. Little had I thought that, with all the calm weather I had been experiencing, I would have to reef the mainsail again. But that is what I had to do in the middle of the night, as well as to take down my working jib. Between all these interruptions I did get in some hours of sleep.
As I had neglected to adjust my course sufficiently with the veering wind, I found myself about six miles too far north, as I was approaching the Calamian Islands in the morning. I was still sleepy, and gave myself another half hour, before taking stock of the situation. When I finally did, I found myself almost on top of the reef around Mataya Island. I still had five miles to go to my way point, hence my complacency, but being farther north, I was upon the coast, which trended northeast, quite a bit earlier already. A good thing, that my mainsail was reefed, and I was not encumbered by a foresail, so I turned on the engine, scooted around the reef, and felt my way with the depth sounder into the bay behind Dinaran Island, where I anchored briefly to have a shave, have breakfast and finally wake up.
That could have been a close call. I have to watch myself in the future, as there will be many nights to come with little sleep, as I am cruising down the coasts of Palawan and Borneo. As it turned out, I have not shaken the reef out yet. All day long I sailed with a brisk following wind through the Calamian Islands, a multitude of steep islands, very few of them inhabited. There is a reason for this, and Coron Island is a good example for it. While this island is well over ten miles long, it is virtually uninhabited, except for some negrito aborigines, as the 'Lonely Planet' guide book reports. I saw two of the three coasts of this island, and they were so precipitous, that there was no room for any beaches. There are supposed to be freshwater lakes in the interior, but how one would get to them is a secret to me. One has to be a hard rock mountain climber to scale those cliffs.
Many of the other islands are not much different. They have steep shores, no room to land, or to plant a few coconut palms. Many of them are just bare rock, covered with some scrub. However, there is a multitude of sheltered anchorages among them. All day I cruised among these islands (30 miles).
Here now, I am anchored temporarily for a few hours (until midnight)
at the western entrance to these islands, poised to go straight across
to El Nido on Palawan later this night. I have to time myself, not to get
there too early, as I want to be able to see, where I am going, when approaching
the island. It is only 60 miles. The anchorage here is a precarious one
on bare rock in front of a steep cliff face. But it is not coral, and I
should have no trouble retrieving my anchor during the night, when I am
ready to leave. Those coral heads can be quite a bother, when lines catch
on them, or anchors hook under them, and one cannot get them clear, without
diving down.
26 April 1992, El Nido
The wind did not come up during the night, as it had during the previous two nights. I got going nevertheless, and until morning covered the impressive total of seven miles with the light airs there were, although a couple of those miles were in the wrong direction. However, after the sun came up the east wind re-established itself, and soon it was blowing up to 25 knots.
With my slow speed during the night, I had no trouble avoiding all the fishing boats around me, which were fishing in the night with lights. As I was nearing Palawan Island, I saw again those massive limestone pinnacles, which are so familiar to me from Guilin in China and the Pang Nga area in Thailand. It is a starkly beautiful landscape, and once in a while there is a tiny beach tucked into a corner between the rocks.
Just such a beach I saw towards mid-afternoon on an offshore island, as I was getting close to my destination. For a change, there was no outrigger canoe pulled up on the beach nor any huts under the coconut palms. I had at last found my fantasy beach. I figured I had enough time to stop and explore for an hour or so. I dropped anchor on a perfect sandy bottom in front of the absolutely perfect beach, and wasted no time, to take a dip in the crystal clear water. This was the type of place, I had come halfway around the world to see.
Then it was only another hour of motoring, to get into the bay of El Nido. It is a quiet and picturesque place, and the bay in front of the town has a good sandy bottom with perfect depth (10-15 feet) for me to anchor. There is another boat here with a Dutch skipper (no name on the boat). He seems to spend all his time between here and Thailand, as he intimated, when we talked briefly, as he passed by my boat going to shore.
Just as I am writing this, a local guy came by in an outrigger canoe,
offering to sell four kg of lobster (crayfish). He wanted 400 pesos. Well,
what can I do with four kg of them? I finally agreed to buy three pieces
(big ones) for 200 pesos. One I shall eat tomorrow night, the other two
I shall give to John, another ham, I shall visit tomorrow afternoon in
a bay about 12 miles south of here, and who has invited me for a glass
of wine. He lives on his boat 'Infinity', and is building a house there.
Likely as not, he has a Filipino wife, and she may be able to cook the
three lobsters for us. Keeping them in a pail with sea water should keep
them fresh for a day, in as much as they are still somewhat alive. Where
in this day and age can one buy a pound of lobster for $ 2.00? This is
just the type of place, where there should be lots and lots of them, among
these steep limestone cliffs.
27 April 1992, Bacuit Bay
I did not get very far today. I had only meant to go 15 miles to Malampaya Sound, where John is building his house. As the wind was only marginal, I decided to motor, and to pick up some water and ice at the village of Malampaya on the way. However seven miles along, the engine started stuttering and quit. It had done that before a couple of times, but had always recovered. I took out the spark plugs, but they were dry. So perhaps, the fuel line was plugged up. Anyway, I had just passed a nice resort with a sailboat anchored in front of the lovely beach there, so I decided to stop there for the night, and have a better look at the engine in the cool of the morning. If need be, I could always have a mechanic come out from El Nido, and look at it, if I could not find the fault myself.
Last night I had supper with the Dutch owner of the other boat at El Nido anchorage, Jacob Bakker. He knew Tristan Jones well, and has been cruising and chartering in the Philippines for the last ten years. He has cruised all parts of the Philippines, and was not worried about pirates, even in the southern areas. He gave me some good advice about Malaysian Customs and Kota Kinabalu. I could leave the boat there at a mooring of one of the hotels, and they would look after it for one or two weeks. That is, what I shall do then, fly to Kuala Lumpur (KL) from Kota Kinabalu (KK), and then take the train up to Thailand, to get Su to come down and help me in the busy sea lanes along the north coast of Borneo and the Singapore Strait.
El Nido is really a neat little place. However the post office was not open today, when I went there to mail some letters. I guess, they open only during the cool of the morning and in the late afternoon. The scenery around here is quite spectacular. Beautiful coral for diving, lots of lobster etc.
Tonight I shall eat at the restaurant at this island, where I am anchored:
lobster again. Apart from me and the four crew of the other boat, there
are only two other guests and loads and loads of staff. However, most of
them seem to be family of the Filipino lady who owns the resort. Her Scotch
husband apparently died last year. Another year or two there shall be quite
a few other establishments like this around these islands and bays. I heard
of at least two being planned, one of them a marina.
30 April 1992, Off Ulugan Bay, Palawan
The other boat was 'Waterwitch' out of Hongkong with four well-heeled professionals on board, one of them a gynecologist. They had been participating in the Hongkong-Manila race, but had given up, as most boats had, because of lack of wind (and lack of beer someone intimated on Rowdy's Net). They had the lightest winds on record this year for the South China Sea Race, and this is the year I picked to cross it! Supper was an elaborate affair with all kinds of side dishes on tables with tablecloth out on the beach, cost 450 pesos including drinks. Not much for North-American standards, but horribly expensive for the Philippines.
Day before yesterday morning I tacked back to El Nido under a fresh breeze, and related my woes to Jacob. He was just going to buy a block of ice, so I went along. For 50 pesos that ice lasted 48 hours in my ice box, there still is a little bit left. It is nice to have cold drinks, much better with the ice in them, than just cold out of the refrigerator, even when I can afford to run it.
Yesterday in the cool of the morning, I took another look at the engine. The mechanic here, whom I had talked to the afternoon before, seemed to be more interested in playing cards with his cronies, than to attend to my worries. All he did was ask 'is there any spark in the plugs'. Well, that is what I checked first. Yes, there was. So it must be in the fuel supply. The previous day I had checked the line up to the carburetor, and that had been free. Now I looked at it, intending to take it apart for cleaning. But everything is so congested in the engine compartment, that one practically has to lift the entire engine out of its bed, to get at the screws and bolts which attach the carburetor. Then I discovered, that on the day before I had reconnected the ignition cables to the plugs in the wrong order. So no wonder, that the engine had not wanted to run at all then. So now I tried it, it started and ran smooth enough, although I felt not with the full power I remembered. However, it pushed the boat at five knots in calm waters, and that was my maximum practical speed anyway. So to hell with the mechanic, and off I went.
I covered some good distance (60 miles) until this morning, when the wind died completely. Only now at 10:00 hours, it seems to come back again, but from the northwest. Which means it is a 'sea breeze' and not the trades. So I am crawling along at 2.5 knots, but making headway nevertheless. Before, in the calm, I had run the engine for half an hour. It then seemed to be performing normal enough. I even had to throttle her down, as I wanted to proceed only at five knots. So whatever speck of dirt had perhaps lodged in the main jet of the carburetor, must have blown through.
I talked to a ham in Kota Kinabalu this morning. He said there were about ten boats in front of the hotel, which Jacob had advised me, was a good spot to leave the boat for some time. Most owners leave their boats there for a few days, attended or unattended, to go on a trip to the jungle or a climb up Mount Kinabalu, the snow-covered highest mountain in southeast Asia.
Last night Art (VE3-ANC) was on the Indian Ocean Net again. For a change
I could hear him directly, but he could not copy me. He got my position
though through the net controller, through whom I also conveyed my plans
for the near future.
1 May 1992, Quezon
This is my last landfall in the Philippines, and already I feel I am in the mystical Orient. As I threw out my anchor in the shallow bay here in a downpour, I heard the muezzin calling his believers to prayer. I was later told, that the Muslim population in this village was only about 15%, but it is a sign of things to come. The village looks like something taken straight out of a Joseph Conrad novel, palm trees on the beach, derelict houses on stilts over the water, and smiling Malay faces.
I had to row almost a kilometer to shore, although I had anchored in only five feet of water. On second thought, I should have come in until I ran aground, as it was low tide. Then I could have cut my rowing distance to a minimum. I did all my purchases with most of my remaining Philippine money: some vegetables and fruit, five gallons of gasoline, a block of ice, and a case and a half of rum (385 ml bottles at $ 0.50 a piece). One just cannot pass up such a bargain. Either I have a supply now for the next five years, or I have some handy presents for various Thai officials as a 'thank you' for extended favours.
That downpour earlier has cooled the air down at least five degrees Celsius. Again a taste of things to come, as I am entering the rainy season for this part of the world. I am looking forward to it. So far, it just has been too H-O-T in the middle of the day.
I had some of the local food in the village. As I was sitting there, another white face showed up. He was a Belgian, who has lived here for nine years. He has a tourist establishment two kilometers up the beach. There is also a lonely German hereabouts, who lives a Robin Crusoe style of life on one of the islands. He is mentioned in the 'Lonely Planet' guide book, and somebody also mentioned him, when I was in El Nido.
The winds have been somewhat irregular for the last couple of days, blowing from every which way. However, there was some wind most of the time, and my motoring is restricted to very short periods only. During one of the calms I watched some mini sharks (three feet long) playing under the boat.
Only 238 miles to go now on my own. I am so glad, that I shall have
company after Kota Kinabalu. It will make it all so much more fun. This
single handed trip has been a very special experience though, something
that I shall never forget. Words just cannot describe the feelings, the
satisfaction, the sense of accomplishment, that it means to sail 8000 miles
on your own, almost halfway around the world, outwitting the weather and
the mechanical vagaries of your equipment. The best part of it has been
travelling amongst these exotic tropical islands, smelling the sense of
adventure, and breathing the very air, of which Joseph Conrad and Somerset
Maughan have written. It is like delving back into a subconscious past,
the romantic happenings of an earlier life, experiencing the lure and splendour
(and squalor) of the island world of the Malays.
3 May 1992, Near Siacle Point, Palawan
Another cool morning soon to give way to a H-O-T day. The best time of the day is in the evening, when the sun is down, and when I have had my bath. I then feel clean and cool. The nights are cool enough, but often sticky and damp. The temperatures in this weather swings between 28 degrees and 35 degrees Celsius from night to day. Yesterday afternoon again the thunder-clouds were building up over the island, but it was not enough to rain, perhaps today, or tomorrow, or the day after. It sure is preparing itself for the rainy season, the southwest monsoon. It seems in Phuket it already has started. Rowdy reports thunder-showers for every night now.
Wind wise it means, that the trades are finished for the season. I am strictly dependent on land and sea breezes now, travelling along the coast. They will be more pronounced, as I travel along the larger land mass of Borneo. Yesterday was a case in point. From about 09:00 to about 21:00 hours there was a sea breeze, working itself up to a maximum of some ten knots at its peak. As the land heats under the sun, the air rises creating a vacuum, and bringing in the breeze from the cooler sea. During the night, as the land cools below the sea's temperature, the process reverses. As I am travelling parallel to the coast, these breezes are for me a beam wind. All I have to do, is switch sails from one side to the other, as the breeze dies down, and then starts up from the other side. The progress this way is not spectacular, but I seem to be able to do close to 40 miles with the sea breeze and about 25 miles with the lighter land breeze, the total of which is about half of what I am used to do in the trades on the open ocean. However, it will get me there eventually.
My autopilot is hopeless. I have finally given up on it. There is something wrong inside the sealed compass unit, and sometimes it works, and at others it does not. This means when motoring, I am virtually forced to attend the tiller almost continuously. As these units are not too expensive ($ 350), I shall buy another one, when I get to Singapore.
What is more pressing, is a proper sunroof, which I can leave up when under sail. Except for a few morning hours, when I have shade from the mainsail on deck, and the late afternoon, when the sun is low, it is just too unprotected on deck or in the cockpit, to remain there for too long, and the cabin is just too hot. The fan helps, but I am still sweating continuously, as the temperature inside the cabin approaches body temperature. A good awning should allow me to sit or lie in the shade in the cockpit, and enjoy the cooling breeze at the same time. I have made up a design, and I shall have one made up, as soon as I get to Kota Kinabalu in a few days.
Heard on the news about the riots in Los Angeles and other American cities. They also interviewed some people in the small town, where the trial of the policemen was held, and from the population, off which the jury was selected. Whoever made that selection, unless he was entirely stupid, must have had a good idea, what the verdict was going to be. Not that I have too much sympathy for the blacks (is this still a kosher expression in America, or should it be 'Africans'?), but to hold the trial in one of the few high citadels of comfortable upper class white refugees from the rest of American society, was asking for trouble. Sure, I can feel with the people there, when they say they feel intimidated by the aggressive blacks. So do I often enough. But to declare the policemen innocent of brutality, when it was so obvious on the video tapes, which everyone had seen on television, could have only been possible in such an environment.
And then the counterpoint. The reportage about the victims of the riots,
the many women saying 'where will we get our food stamps and social assistance
cheques?' Well, these women should have brought up their sons in such a
way, that they would not run amok, and destroy everything, when they are
displeased with a judicial decision, even as unpopular and unjust, as this
one may have been. But the real culprit is American society at large, and
specifically those people, who are in control of the media, the movies,
commercial radio and television, and the press. They have created an environment,
where violence and brutality, and taking the law into your own hands, is
depicted as commonplace, and even justified, if it is for the right cause.
And everybody can create in his mind a cause, which he thinks is justified,
certainly in a society where the dollar is king, and working for the common
good is considered naive. Those greedy media barons will destroy America
in the end, and unfortunately the average American, and even the more educated
ones, cannot see that. One cannot have unlimited freedom without restraints,
if a society is to work and prosper.
4 May 1992, Ten Miles off the northern tip of Borneo
Just exchanged courtesy flags, taking down the Filipino one and putting up the Malaysian one. That was a spirited ride last night, when I covered an unbelievable 69 miles from sunset to sunrise (unbelievable for this part of the world). My sea breeze yesterday quit on me already at 14:00 hours, as a thunderstorm unloaded some rain over the island. The resulting dropping of cool air soon changed the sea breeze to a land breeze. I was wondering, what that was going to do to the pattern of breezes for the rest of the day and the night. Would the sea breeze re-establish itself? Well, it did not.
Earlier in the day I had rigged up a sunroof in the cockpit, using my big tarpaulin and the boat hook. It was just perfect to sit under there in the shade and enjoy the fresh breeze. I even fell asleep, until I had to take it down with the change in the wind.
In the evening the land breeze established itself again quite early. Since I had about 30 miles of open sea to cover across the Balabac Strait, I decided to take the dinghy aboard. Just as well that I did, as towards the latter part of the night I got into successive thunderstorms with the winds blowing up to twenty knots. I was almost tempted to take down the jenny. But as expected the winds abated soon, and since I was on a beam reach, and had given the sails some play, the boat was not pressed unduly. Now as of 09:00 the 'land breeze' is still holding at just less than eight knots, and I am making good but slower progress towards KK. Only 78 miles to go now, perhaps I shall get there early tomorrow.
It was a novel experience sailing through the dark night with thunder and lightning all about. The phosphorescent wake creamed all around the boat. The lightning was directly overhead so that the thunder was almost instantaneous, and the rain was pouring down heavily. These are the times, when you are so close to land and cannot see it, when the GPS gives you so much assurance.
The engine has developed a knock since about two days ago. I am quite
sure, it is not the valves, because the knock changes at slow speed to
a short grinding sound, and almost disappears, when the engine runs fast.
Perhaps the starter motor does not completely dis-engage? I shall have
to watch it.
Later,
This is becoming a fascinating sail along the Borneo coast. According
to the Sailing Directions this area has the highest incidence of thunderstorms
of any area in the world. And this is the start of the time of year, when
their incidence is higher than the rest of the year. Sailing along here
is becoming a game of watching these massive cumulus clouds build up over
the mountains ashore, seeing the rain cascading down from them, and then
trying to anticipate, how far they will come out to sea, before they dissipate.
It is a matter of taking advantage of every puff of wind, to move forward
and also of not being over canvassed, should a squall reach you a few miles
out at sea.
5 May 1992, Off Ambong Bay, Sabah
Only 33 miles left to go to KK. But I do not think I shall make it, with the light wind I am having, before tonight, unless I run the engine, which I do not relish, as it would mean, I would have to stand at the tiller all day long. I think I shall be just as well off, to go as far as I can, anchor for the night along the coast, and then motor in tomorrow morning. Just talked to Walter on 'Moeve', who is in KK, asking for directions, how to get through the reef into the anchorage. There seem to be about ten boats there now, another Canadian boat just having arrived yesterday.
Early afternoon yesterday I had the 'mother' of thunderstorms, furious thunder and lightning, an absolute deluge of rain, the latter persisting for almost two hours. The guys in KK said on the radio, that yesterday the monsoon has started. So this must have been an extraordinary occurrence compared to the weather in the preceding weeks. I had taken down the jenny before, and rode it out with the mainsail only. I must say that with all that rain, I found only one leak in the windows of the boat. And that is nothing to speak of, as it admits only a few drops. There was not much pressure gradient after the thunderstorm, to generate any amount of wind, so I just coasted along. Towards sunset another BLACK cloud complex was approaching again from land. I double reefed the main in anticipation of some heavy winds rushing out from under the clouds. I need not have bothered. With the cooling off from the previous storm, this one did not pack any wind at all, only loads and loads of rain.
Then the force of all this build-up was finally spent. All night and this morning, there were only gentle winds and largely overcast skies. I dare say, it will take at least another day for it to build up to another thunderstorm. I really enjoy this type of weather, although it is not too convenient, when one lives on a boat. But I can imagine myself sitting out these thunderstorms, and the following cool hours, on the second-storey verandah of my house to be, surrounded by bougainvillea and jasmine, smelling the moist earth.
As I am practically sitting here without wind, the clouds have risen and Mount Kinabalu (4100 m) is revealed. There is no snow on top of it. I guess, I was mistaken about that. The 'Lonely Planet' guidebook said, that it was the highest peak between the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas and New Guinea. It did not say there was snow on IT.
So with a bit of luck this will be the last full day at sea alone on
this trip, 8500 miles single-handed. It will be interesting how Su will
take to life at sea.
Later, Anchored at Mengkabong Bluff
Another 18 miles to go to KK. I can see the loom of the city over the hill. I am anchored here in front of a deserted beach next to the bluff in good holding ground. There has not been a thunderstorm today, only gentle winds. Now in the southern sky I can see lightning in the distance. Mount Kinabalu was clear this morning, but as the day wore on, it hid itself in various layers of clouds. As I was crossing this bay in late afternoon the water gradually became brown and muddy. Later there was a sharp dividing line between the colours of the water, as I crossed back into blue ocean water. Obviously, the small river in the middle of this bay is dumping a lot of silt into the ocean.
This country certainly is different from the Philippines. Here there
are many deserted beaches. There also seems to be quite a bit of virgin
jungle, although some stretches appear to have been recently cut. There
is not here the population pressure, that one notices in the Philippines.
There are no outrigger boats either, the few boats, one does see, are monohulls
with powerful outboard engines. I also saw my first oil drilling platform
this morning; there will be many more in the days to come.
6 May 1992, Kota Kinabalu
This is the real Orient, not with an American flavour like in the Philippines. I came into harbour at noon today, anchoring in front of the luxurious Tanjung Aru Beach Hotel. There are nine yachts anchored here, among them 'Moewe' registered in Germany with Walter a German-Canadian-American onboard, and 'Pax' out of Montreal with Michelle and Frances. It is somewhat surprising, that this 6-star hotel allows, even encourages, sailing yachts to stay here, as 'yachties' are not normally considered to be in the same class, as the well-heeled guests of a major hotel. They only charge Malaysian $ 4.00 a day (Can $ 1.00 = Mal. $ 2.10), to stay here, which includes using the shower on shore and free water.
Walter is here for a while, as he is taking Japanese tourists, staying at the hotel, on afternoon cruises to nearby islands. The hotel arranges it, and keeps 40% of the fee charged. At Mal.$ 200.00 per hour Walter does not mind sharing his profits. Two, three hours is about the maximum, as the Japanese are on a tight schedule, where they 'must' fit in as much as possible into their short holidays. Since he is going to be here for a while, Walter has offered to look after my boat, while I am away. I already got a booking to fly to Johore Baru, from where I shall take the train/bus to Thailand. I am scheduled to leave the day after tomorrow, but may change it to tomorrow, if everything goes alright.
I am again amazed at the multitude of races, and the varieties of colour and smell in the streets. It makes me feel, that I have finally arrived home again. The smell of clove scented cigarettes is everywhere, the people are good looking and friendly. There is an unbelievable variety of things for sale in the different shops, indicating that this country is prosperous, but without being overpriced. After doing the formalities with Immigration and the Harbour Master, and getting some local money out of the Automatic Teller at the bank, I just drifted through the streets and the shopping center, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying every second of it.
No thunderstorm today either, just a regular land and sea breeze. Perhaps the monsoon proper has not started yet after all. Who cares! The sky presents glorious vistas all around, towering cumulus clouds.