Archive for November, 2009
Newsletter Number 36
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
In the early morning of October 26th the stars shone down from a cloudless clear sky and the glassy calm sea provided a perfect reflection of all above. We motored quietly through the centre of the universe into the pre dawn and an hour later crossed the equator at 105 06.3E – 95 miles south of Singapore island, our 3000 mile trip through Indonesia almost at an end.
The last month seems to have flown by and the trip north from Bali to Borneo a distant memory. The further north from Bali we sailed the lighter the winds became and the sky boiled with volatility. Huge cumulus clouds towered around us, drifting slowly off shore at dawn, finally blowing themselves apart by late afternoon with 25+ knot winds and torrential rain. Not the easiest conditions for determining an appropriate sail plan. Late morning on our second day out saw us hove to for 3 hours, with northerly winds gusting at over 35 knots, short 3m seas and torrential rain, before the storm gradually eased and we were able to set a reasonable course once more. No real drama but sitting outside on watch getting really wet and wrinkled was a bit tedious.
The south coast of Borneo is a forested flat land – for some reason I’d expected it to be mountainous – and the already shallow Java sea shoals up to less than 10m for the last 40nm into the mouth of the Kumai river. As we approached the green fairway buoy a reasonably large ship was departing leaving a fairly clear hurned up wake for us to follow over the shallow bar. We had timed the tide correctly and the flood swept us up the last 14nm to the anchorage off Kumai town. This is not a tourist town, just pure Indonesia. Eating out is cheap and delicious and the pungent local market is well supplied with fresh fruit and veg. It’s most unusual features were several 3 storey grey slab buildings with no windows just lots of regularly spaced holes in the walls and a large steel entrance door – prison we thought. No, bird hotel we were told. This is where the local Chinese harvest the raw materials for their birds nest soup, valued at over £200 a kilo, hence the steel doors. The clouds of circling swiftlets ought to have been a clue.
The weather was a hot 38C, windless and humid and living below was almost intolerable, so we completed the essential maintenance jobs – strip down and check the autopilot drive unit, do an engine oil change, free up a jammed winch, and put on a fresh brew of beer etc – before we left the boat on anchor and set off on our 3 day trip to see the orangutangs. At over £100 each this was our most expensive land trip in Indonesia – but it did include boat transport, food, accommodation, boat captain, crew and cook and a guide for 3 days so we judged it good value – and we were right. It was pure luxury sitting on the raised deck watching the forested river banks glide by and having fresh fruit or snacks or coffee delivered with a smile at regular intervals and all before a delicious spicy lunch. After 4 hours the coffee coloured river had narrowed considerably when we turned into an even narrower tributary the colour of peat water. We eased our way around fallen trees and debris, dodged planing supply boats and spotted proboscis monkeys and grey macaques leaping around in the trees.
Two hours later we tied up alongside the rickety wooden walkway at Camp Leaky. This camp was established some 40 years ago to rehabilitate orangutangs that had been rescued from wildlife traders or areas of forest clear felled to make way for palm oil plantations. Some of these apes still live in the forest around the camp along with the wild population and their wellbeing is monitored by rangers at daily feeding stations where milk and bananas are provided to supplement their normal diet. During June and July when the forest fruits are at their most abundant the feeding stations are ignored. There are three camps in the national park and we managed to visit them all. The sight and sound of 20 orangutangs crashing through the trees as they approached high in the forest canopy is awesome. It was late afternoon and their bright orange fur complimented the vivid green foliage as they swung effortlessly down through sunlight and shadow to the forest floor. Many were females with young attached and juveniles in close attendance – immature males were wary and on the lookout for The Man – who on this occasion was away on other business. Some accepted food from our hands, others preferred the wild side, one grasped my hand and took me for a walk along the forest trail, a wild pig sorted through the feeding debris, the ranger chatted on his mobile phone, the banana bucket disappeared up into the canopy, cameras clicked and everyone smiled. It was a unique interaction, for once on their terms not ours, and then all the food was gone and they returned to the trees to construct nests for the night. We walked back to the boat for a few beers and a spicy dinner under the stars while the proboscis monkeys chattered in the trees above and the tree frogs competed to come up with a new noise – excellent. The last leg of our Indonesian journey was windless and calm and we motored for over 50 hours straight. The shipping increased as did stories over the radio of boats with mechanical problems, finally we reached Nongsa point marina on Pulau Batam where we checked out ready to cross the Singapore Strait up into Malaysia.
The Singapore Strait is worth a mention. It is reputed to carry up to one third of the world’s shipping at any one time – a gross under estimation in our view. Crossing the traffic separation lanes required a fine judgement of timing with ships passing at up to 15 knots every 12 minutes in both directions – a bit like trying to sprint across the M1. Anyway we made it and after a much more relaxed motor up the Strait of Johor we checked into Malaysia at the brand new high spec Puteri marina – and here Three Ships will take a well earned rest until we return in early March 2010. Our plan then is to cruise the Malay peninsula and cross to north Borneo – Sarawak, Brunai and Sabah for music festivals, diving, cave exploration and an ascent of Mt Kinabalu – before returning west in late September and sailing up to Lankawi and Thailand by this time next year – anyone who fancies a trip, get in touch once we get home and we’ll do some planning.
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