First the old had to be removed.

Port side saloon seating and storage   area was removed -

and most of the galley except the fridge which was extended to include a freezer section.

And then the rebuild began.

Until it all came together just before we had to leave for the UK

Now we have new storage cupboards in the front heads, along with a new fibre glass floor with sump and teak grid and new wash basin set in Staron counter top and the same in the aft heads.

The major galley rebuild is complete with bigger fridge, new cupboards and sink set into Staron work surface.

There is a new cabin sole in teak and ash throughout the boat with redesigned seating area on the port side in the saloon and a new folding saloon table to make seating easier and more comfortable once the new cushions are made.

The office has been upgraded with some black formica, courtesy of Fast Forward,  and new teak surface on the chart table – so no more using it as a work bench!

And, finally, new teak work in the cockpit, including a  new cockpit sole, means  no more fish blood seeping out from behind the old strips of teak.

A huge vote of thanks goes to Ken on Fast Forward for his help, advice and oversight of the final stages in our absence and of course to Mana’s team of excellent carpenters – C, D and Tam.

All we need now is a good varnish job and Three Ships will be ready for us to return in September and put all her technical bits back together again.

The last newsletter saw us into Phuket awaiting the arrival of our Christmas guests, but sadly they were thwarted by the UK snowfall and so the year ended, much as it had gone on, with yet another unexpected change in plans. Most of our cruising friends had opted for a boisterous Christmas in Phuket but we were in a more reflective mood and decided that a quiet anchorage was more to our taste, so we set off up north into Phangnga bay looking for hongs. Phangnga bay is famous for its towering limestone pinnacles which rise sheer from the sea and have found fame among film makers as well as millions of tourists. Many of these islets are riddled with caves, some of which penetrate deep into the interior where they open into collapsed dolines – these are the hongs. Ko Phanak (08 10.5N 098 29.22E) was our first destination and we were not disappointed – the tour boats were there in profusion and hundreds of tourists were shepherded through the caves in fleets of multi coloured kayaks, hardly the idyllic setting we had envisaged. But by 1600 all the tour boats had headed off and we had the island to ourselves and spent a few happy hours paddling into flooded passages, wading through gloopy mud and scrambling up to peer through elevated windows. And so it went on, we day sailed in shallow waters between spectacular rocky islands enjoying peace and solitude at the end of each day until on Christmas eve we ended up at our idyllic anchorage on the south side of Ko Hong (08 04.5N 098 40.8E). We had phone and internet connections so were able to contact family and friends,which was nice, as was the spaghetti bolognaise for Christmas dinner.

By way of contrast we decided to spend New Year at Krabi – famous for back packers and crag rats and millions of tourists. We anchored beneath towering cliffs far enough offshore to avoid the wash from jet boat shuttles and met up with friends on other boats from France and Belgium. We had a great time scrambling up and down into interesting holes, watching fit young climbers and dining ashore on good cheap Thai food. The New Year celebrations were outstanding with hundreds of lanterns rising into the night sky followed by a blaze of fireworks as 2010 became history and 2011 emerged full of hope, expectation and, for us, the prospect of nearly three months in the shipyard at Chebelang. So, the next day we had a good 25nm sail back to Ao Chalong where we checked out for Satun 120nm to the south ready for our haul out on Jan 8^th.  The NE monsoon was picking up and winds were fresh from the ENE so we motor sailed 20nm to windward and had an interesting night entry through a fleet of fishing boats to anchor in Pipi Don but had a much better angle on the wind the following day for the 60nm sail down to Ko Muk (07 21.4N 099 17.4E) Another long day took us down to a small sheltered anchorage off Ko Khao Yai before entering the river up to Chebelang at midday on January 7^th.  We were greeted by a mob of scruffy cruisers on the dock at Phitak Shipyard who had anticipated our arrival and, to our surprise, soon found ourselves edging on to the trolley for a haul out a day early.

The super yacht Silver Lining was still in the big shed with a final deadline launch booked for midnight on January 20^th so she had sucked in all the skilled workers leaving a few boats a bit high and dry. But this actually suited us since it gave us a couple of weeks to empty Three Ships into a nearby lock up ready for some major internal renovation. A few days later we shipped the mast and we moved ashore into a house in Satun town which we share with Lew and Anne from s/v Seranity. We hired a 125cc motor bike from a cafe in town and each day have  a pleasant 18km ride into the shipyard – quite a contrast from the last year afloat.

We have now been here nearly a month, enjoying living in this friendly community. Work aboard Three Ships is progressing sporadically, the quality of work is generally good although their method is messy and needs constant attention. Sourcing materials can be something of a trial and the yard shop frequently runs out of commonly used materials like marine ply and acetone. Silver Lining was launched at 0130 on Jan 21^st after lots of last minute frantic activity which included a 100 ton crane, a local trawler and about 50 locals, shipyard workers and yachties heaving on lines. The building of Silver Lining at such an out of the way shipyard has been a major achievement, not only for Chris and Vikki the owners but also for the community of carpenters, welders, painters and engineers in Cheblang who have gained a huge amount of skill, experience and confidence from the process. Skills which we now hope will be put to good use aboard Three Ships.

We have three carpenters working on board at the moment re designing saloon and galley and all at a cost of £23 per day.  On the down side, their English is marginally better than our Thai so constant attention is required to ensure that we’re all on the same hymn sheet – usually its fun, sometimes its frustrating and occasionally it drives us mad. The shipyard is best characterised as organised chaos littered with work stands, planks, huge chunks of wood and various detritus all overlaying a network of railway lines and steel cables used to haul boats up the slip and re position them for work in the yard. At any one time there will be up to two dozen local fishing boats and yachts in equal numbers under work. Grinding and sanding fills the air with toxic dust and masks are a bit of a must at times. Its an education watching huge wooden boats being re caulked in traditional fashion and then over coated with modern paints, and the local artist who paints huge colourful designs free hand on their bows and coach houses is brilliant. The launch of each finished boat is heralded by the snap and crackle of fire crackers to ward off evil spirits as they trundle back down into the water with garlands and offerings of food for the good spirits laid out on the foredeck – must remember that when the time comes.

It’s now a week later, so this a sort of progressive newsletter that one day might get finished a bit like the work on Three Ships. On the plus side the saloon is nearly finished, the front head is nearly there and the galley has been destroyed leaving another huge void to be filled. On the down side we had hoped that the Lexan windows would have been replaced by now but the Lexan arrived damaged and a new sheet is reported to be on the way, on Tuesday our contractor decided to go fishing without mentioning it to anyone so we were left having to direct the boys with sign language, sketches and bits of Anglo – Thai at a fairly crucial stage in the proceedings – but with some pretty unique problem solving we managed to maintain some progress – and, Thailand has run out of 6mm marine ply. And so it goes on.

Today, since our Thai visas expire in 2 days time, we decided to take a break from the shipyard and do a border run. Since we arrived by boat, Thai regulations require that a bond of £400 be paid to immigration prior to any named crew leaving the country – in this case only me since we designated Fi as a passenger when we entered,  much to her disgust I might add – and when you re- enter the country you claim the bond back. So, off we go into the immigration office, fill in more paper work, lay a brick of notes on the table, get a receipt and head off on the bike to the border 25km away. The ride is pleasant and scenic through hilly limestone country interspersed with paddy fields and rubber plantations. The heat reflected off the road is unrelenting. Its Friday so the mosques are packed with the devout and the road quiet except for the usual hazards – dogs, cats, chickens, cattle, dead snakes, car drivers and on one occasion a small elephant. Traffic is random in terms of speed and direction with most people interpreting the rules of the road in a very liberal and idiosyncratic manner. Motor bikes use the ‘hard shoulder’ freely in both directions, looking right when turning left at an intersection is frowned upon, when turning right across the traffic flow, take a wide and gradual line and ignore oncoming traffic etc etc. Bike can carry up to 3 adults, one child and whatever baggage can be fitted in between, school children normally ride to school 3 up – boys with smart aggression, girls with two passengers sitting side saddle, white headscarves flapping in the wind –a magic sight. Happily bike speeds are rarely excessive and politeness and courtesy virtually guaranteed. Car driving on the other hand is characteristically political – far too much power and ambition in hands with little awareness of the outside world and margin competence – scary.

So, a short time later we arrive at the head of a deep wooded valley and the border post. We park the bike, walk out of Thailand via immigration, check into Malaysia, walk back into Thailand, check in, get given a 15 day tourist visa, have a cold drink with some delicious fried banana fritters at a road side stall and ride back to Satun. On Monday we’ll get the £400 bond refunded at Satun immigration …….and the sense in all this is……?. On the bright side, having now entered Thailand on foot rather than by boat, we seem to have a sound argument for avoiding this rather odd procedure which we will test when we do the next border run in 15 days time. Watch this space.

Chris’ birthday lay ahead and so a trip inland was planned and we hired a car and ventured to the Cameron Highlands where we were told it was going to be cool and we should pack a jumper.

The twisting roads were impressive and thick vegetation hung right down to the road and was incredible shades of every green imaginable and as we got higher bright orchids hung from the banks.

‘Fathers’ guest house did not quite meet up to the descriptions and cleverly angled shots on the website but it was clean and cool and had a very good local food dining room.

Our first sight of the famous tea plantations was quite a shock as we had never expected them to look so beautiful, they stretched for miles clinging to the undulating hill sides and looking like topiary from an English country manor. We visited a plantation and sampled teas, both steaming from the pot and iced with fruits or mint added, sitting on a terrace in what seemed like a rather colonial setting. We took a tour seeing everything from the hand picking of leaves to the drying and cutting ready for packing. Despite popular belief it is not floor sweepings in the tea bags but a finer cut leaf!

We walked up hills and spotted maroon leaf eating monkeys and in the evening we put on a fleece and drank red wine as it seemed too cold for beer – quite a nice change from the heat and humidity at sea level.

On the special day he would rather not remember, Chris got a full complement of emails from the children and even a phone call from grandson Owen who sang him Happy Birthday so all was well.

Driving out we spotted a sign saying Raffelasia viewings and as we had yet to see one of these rare huge and smelly blooms we pulled in. A local village guide offered to take us and said we had to walk all the way as we had no Land rover. He said a 2 hour walk and as we set out he explained he meant 2 hours each way! The first hours walk was along a deeply rutted track and as we neared the end we were passed by 2 Land rovers carrying groups of Korean tourists. At the end of the track we passed them as we set out along a path in the jungle while they had a briefing. Eventually we left the path and climbed steeply through the trees and there before us was a specimen of the world’s largest flower. It would not be true to say it was a beautiful bloom but it was certainly large and we were duly impressed and took the photos. On the return walk our guide cut lengths of bamboo to give us a drink of the clear water stored inside the hollow stem. It was cool and refreshing but drinking from said tube proved to be a knack we were slow to master.

Back in Penang we sampled many local restaurants and caught up with friends and our ruined New Year cruising plans were put behind us. We also realised as we had expected to be in Thailand by now our Malaysia visas were coming to an end. After much research and many crazy ideas we took the cheapest solution and travelled by train to Kuala Lumpa where we picked up a sleeper train to Singapore – at £56 return for the whole trip for both of us it seemed like a good idea. Reality as is so often the case was a little less appealing and the rattling narrow gauge  journey could not be described as restful. Once there we cleaned up and spent a pleasant if tiring day with friends, Ellen and Tom from a boat named Rasa Manis, looking at Deepvali lights and exploring the Sim Lim square electronic stores and ended up buying an Ipod touch 4G which we have spent the next 6 weeks and one trip to an apple agent getting to grips with.

We then reversed the train journey in the evening getting our new 90 day visa as we crossed the border and mission was accomplished.

We ended up staying in Penang for 5 weeks partly due to it being a lovely town and partly because the weather was looking very bad and unsettled further north.

Eventually we sailed on to Langkawi and made the most of duty free shopping ready for Christmas and enjoyed some very lovely anchorages which we had to ourselves apart from eagles, sea otters meter long monitor lizards and huge noisy hornbills.

At a place named the Hole in the Wall we watched tour boats throw chicken scraps to the sea eagles named Brahminy Kites which swooped to the water metres from the boats. We were in our dinghy and as the tour boats moved on we lingered enjoying an amazing spectacle and getting some pretty good shots!

Checking out of Malaysia in Kuah Langkawi is a breeze and we were able to spend 6 days cruising our way North to Ao Cholong Bay where we were to check into Thailand.

The rocky islands of Thailand start a mere 30 miles from Langkawi and offer scenic if somewhat rolly anchorages. Sailing at night is not recommended as the number of small local fishing boats and pair trawling large ones is unbelievable and navigation lights seem rare on such vessels.

The water under our keel finally started to clear and we dreamed of cooling dips as we motor sailed in wall to wall sunshine. Unfortunately hundreds upon thousands of huge bright pink jelly fish also appeared and we rapidly cancelled our swimming plans.

En route was the famous Phi Phi Le island home of “The Beach” from the 1998 cult movie of the same name. We passed the tiny island at mid day and were astonished at the heaving mass of tour boats discharging hundreds of snorkelers and beach walkers from their decks in a huge mess of wake produced swell and carried on to the larger Phi Phi Don. Here was a huge bay filled with moorings and hundreds of both stationary and moving tour boats of every size. We picked up a buoy and were happy to go below out of the blazing heat. At 5 the sun was setting and the air cooling and we emerged on deck to watch the thousands of snorkelers be whistled back to the right boats, climbers abseil down from walls not quite claimed before the sun disappeared and the dive and tour boats pour back in and pick up their moorings before peace began to settle. We did not even launch the dinghy as the skipper felt he had seen enough to know the shore was a little busy for old curmudgeonly sailors.

Early next morning we made a brief visit to Phi Phi Le before we headed off, as other cruisers had told us it was idyllic when the tour boats were absent. We picked up a mooring in the entrance to the bay and launched the dinghy but things did not bode well as I managed to snap the key off in the padlock unlocking the outboard from the rail and so as we were certainly keen to get ashore and back before the hoards arrived I was rowed ashore. We had what was probably the briefest stay on what is said to be the most beautiful beach in the world in history, 29 minutes from boat to shore and back! The one tour group there who were from a boat with camp on THE BEACH in 1m tall letters was small and the sand was being raked and the litter collected for the start of another day. However to look back out to the bays entrance and see the huge towering cliffs and Three Ships dwarfed by their size was a splendid, if brief sight.

We had a wonderful sail across to Koh Coral at the south of Koh Phuket and dropped sail at the entrance to a beautiful bay. Inside we were able to pick up a good mooring a couple of boat lengths from shore and the only other vessels in the bay were a raft like platform covered in what looked like huge headed bright yellow robots and one large tour vessel. Through binoculars we saw the tour boat was called the Bubble Dive Experience and all was revealed as 6 people at a time climbed into a robot and descended to walk along the bottom and look at the scenery. By 2.30 they had all been under and the mother ship left leaving us with the bay to ourselves apart from a raft of sleeping robots. We had a lovely cooling dip and snorkelled with hundreds of little colourful fish then spent a peaceful evening sitting in the cockpit watching the bay until we were watching the stars.

Next day we landed in Ao Cholong Bay and cleared customs etc in a hectic busy town where we managed to find good supplies and a taste of Thai food and Chang beer.

We rushed on to Yacht haven Marina at the north of Koh Phuket and cleaned and tidied ready for the arrival of my sister Joey and friend Vikki who are joining us for Christmas. Sadly we were woken at 5am by a text saying they were being sent home from Heathrow due to snow and at least 24 hours of delay. Even more sadly as we send this they still have no flight time or date and we really hope the good old BAA manage to catch up and get them to us in time for Christmas dinner on the beach.

Whenever we meet someone new and they find out that we have lived on a boat for 8 years and have sailed it over half way around the world, they always ask the same question – what was the worst moment you have experienced – not what was the best, what was the worst. So this newsletter is a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly to appeal to all tastes.  So after the Hewett’s departed for home we sailed out to Gaya island (06 00.69N 116 01.8E) and anchored in a peaceful cove for a week with only monkeys – on the beach – eagles and pied hornbills for company while we waited for Dan and Roz to arrive.

They turned up on Sept 3^rd jet lagged and tired from work so we spent a couple of days soaking up the opulence of the Sutera harbour resort before setting off for Labuan some 65nm to the south west. We broke the journey after 26nm and anchored off the sandy island of Pulau Kalampunian Besar ( 05 44.9N  115 40.69E) where we found a healthy well populated coral reef in 4m of clear water – our first and last on the NW coast of Borneo. Labuan is a duty free offshore island only 25nm from Brunei – an excellent spot to stock up on essentials. Dan and Roz were keen to visit Brunei so they decided to take the ferry across, spend a night in a luxury hotel and then bus down to Miri where we would meet up for a 4 day trip into the Mulu National Park – good plan – for them. Fi and I decided an over night trip would be the best way of handling the 100nm trip down to Miri and so set off mid morning in a light offshore breeze and flat sea.

The weather situation at the time was dominated by a strong high pressure system over central Borneo and slack pressure in the South China Sea with very light winds everywhere – a typical motorboat trip. As the day wore on towards late afternoon a sea breeze developed drawing hot moist air in off the sea and billowing cumulo nimbus clouds began to drift ashore as normal. Trouble was that the high pressure cell halted their progress and so they began to slowly collide along the coast and coalesce into fearsome thunderstorms drifting slowly across our path. The cloud base lowered, thickened and became black with rats tail water spouts reaching down from the leading edge – not good, not good at all. Since we were only a few miles off a lee shore with no safe harbour in sight the only choice was to get on with it. At one stage just before dark we thought we might squeeze through a narrow gap between two clouds and we almost made it before the whole system closed down and blew up. Torrential rain and head winds of 35 knots reduced our boat speed motoring to under 2 knots and visibility to 20 metres. The electrical discharges and deafening thunder were in perfect synchrony and worse of all we could smell the lightening induced ozone. The autopilot couldn’t cope and, at times totally blinded by the rain and disorientated, we hand steered an erratic course by the dimly lit compass through the blackest of nights and brightest illumination imaginable just hoping that there was nothing in the way – the possibilities being, oil rigs, ships, local fishing boats and semi submerged trees. After a few long hours the horizon lightened a little and by dawn we were through unscathed but a little weary motoring in bright sunshine and flat seas in a sort of embarrassed silence as if the world was pretending nothing had really happened. As I said- good decision Dan and Roz.

Miri is a fine safe harbour and after that experience we were only too happy to board the plane for the short flight into the Mulu National Park. Clearly our luck had changed, partly at least, and with dry conditions the next morning Fi and I set off for the Clearwater / Wind Cave Connection while Dan and Roz headed for Racer Cave and Deer Cave later in the day. Fortunately for us a group from Southsea Cavers had also booked on the trip and so our meager B&Q head torches were supported by 6 state of the art powerful speleo technics head lights giving us a much better view of our impressive surroundings. The 8 km through trip must be one of the world’s best, traversing massive collapse chambers linked by ancient phreatic passages decorated with equally impressive formations – all bigger than the biggest in OFD or Dan yr Ogof with only 3 so called squeezes all of which were like normal British cave passage. The descent of a narrow, shoulder width 60’ rift of sharp shelly limestone was the only real technical section – good job since most of us were only in shorts and tee shirts. My trip was marred somewhat when my Nike trainers decided to fall apart when we were about 2.5 km into the trip – the resultant impact on shoe adhesive of too many years in a tropical locker. Application of electrical tape, wound dressings, and finally a couple of webbing belts brought our supply of emergency fixing bits to an end but happily it all stayed together – more or less – until a flicker of daylight heralded the end of the trip. Some of the muddy descents were a challenge and the last 2 km down the large Wind Cave river passage had required some concentration to avoid the razor sharp limestone fins both above and below the water which was flowing at sufficient volume to require ropes on the deep water crossings but gave a great ride down the wider deep sections. All in all this was a fantastic experience which was well worth the effort of a second trip into Mulu – highly recommended.

The following day we had a bit of a break and took a long tail local boat up to the drop off point for camp 5. We walked in for 8km on a fairly level forest trail carrying food for 3 days and not an insubstantial amount of beer. It was still good to arrive and have a cool dip in the fast flowing river. Accommodation was in open dormitories with thin mattresses on sleeping platforms – not the most comfortable but it was only for 2 nights. The walk up to the Pinnacles has something of a reputation since over its 2.5 km distance it rises1200m. The ‘guides’ issue stern warnings about fitness levels and insist that if clients haven’t reached certain points at allocated times then they have to return to camp 5 – suggested time for the route is given as between 8 and 10 hours. We set off at 0630 and, after a steady plod through steep forest with rocky sections, lots of tree roots and an assortment of various builders ladders and ropes on the top section, arrived on the top at 0930.The delicate limestone spires rising from the forest below were interesting and quite impressive. The descent was as expected the most trying aspect of the route but we arrived back at Camp 5 by 1220 – only 20 minutes after Dan – so were well pleased and happy to soak wrecked knees, backs and disgustingly smelly clothing in the river while sipping a cool beer. The next party to return arrived some3 hours later by which time we were well into an afternoon nap. The next day we were back in Park headquarters by noon in good time to catch the afternoon flight back to Miri and the boat. Having heard the tale of the trip from Labuan to Miri, Dan and Roz  headed off on the bus again to visit Sibu and an Ipoh longhouse before catching up with us again in Kuching. This time our journey was uneventful and we anchored in the Santubong river just over 2 days later.

Our last venture together was to the Bako National Park to see what wildlife we could spot. It’s only a short bus and local boat ride into the Park and we were settled in to our much more comfortable lodge by early afternoon. A short walk was in order so we strolled along a rough coastal track for a couple of hours without seeing anything. On our return we found a troop of proboscis monkeys feeding in the trees by the beach 50 metres from our lodge and then discovered that another troop of grey macaques had broken into the utility room and raided the fridge – which was full of beer – not good at all. Around the Park HQ we enjoyed photographing the proboscis monkeys and spotting a flying lemur and a couple of green tree snakes – one of which was about 2m in length – but the grey macaques were well out of control. They had clearly become accustomed to visitors and regarded them as fair game. The restaurant was the favoured hunting ground and as each fresh load of visitors arrived and settled down for lunch the largest and boldest monkeys would leap onto tables with barred teeth and grab hands full of food directly off plates – much to the amusement of the Park staff. We had hoped to see wildlife but we didn’t expect to have to fend them off with physical blows –Dan became especially good at this – and keep a wary eye out whenever we were in the vicinity of food –or beer! If variety and the unexpected are the spice of life, some visitors to Bako definitely disagreed.

So we said sad goodbyes to Dan and Roz and at 0700on Sept 25^th we set off on the 380nm crossing of the South China Sea back to the Singapore Strait.  It was mainly an easy motor sailing trip but just before midnight on Sept 26^th we ran out of fuel and found ourselves drifting in thankfully calm conditions towards the shipping lanes at the east entrance to the Strait. It’s surprising how quickly one can change fuel filters and bleed the system when circumstances require a focused approach – even at 0100 in the morning by head torch. Happily we always carry 80l of diesel on deck in containers for just such eventualities so after a careful refueling we were on our way once more – this time to Puteri harbour in Johor Bahru for refueling and a couple of days break before heading on up through the Strait of Malacca towards Langkawi and Satun for a haul out and long overdue refit.

We arrived in Penang just 60nm short of  Satun on Ocotber 4^th with 4 days to spare, quickly got our 2 month Thailand visas and phoned the shipyard to check the actual time of our haul out on the 8^th.  A brief silence was followed by profuse apologies – the super yacht Silver Lining was behind schedule – it should have been launched in September and all the carpenters were fully occupied until Christmas. Quick re think, some quiet cursing and mental adjustment and we  booked for early January – as friends in the Yard observed – this is Thailand what did you expect – fair comment. So the January trip to the Andaman islands is postponed for a year and we’ll spend the next two months exploring Thailand  – tragic.

Since the last newsletter we sailed from Bako National Park (01:44.7N110:29.6E) on to Miri (04:23.09N 113:58.3E) this was an interesting trip where one of us had to watch the water ahead constantly looking for logs and so night sailing was not an option. The end of each afternoon saw us heading in towards the shore until we got into about 5m depth and then anchored up to a mile off shore in a rolly swell until first light. Crossing the mouths of the many rivers was even more difficult as the logs which float just under the surface were harder to see in the brown water full of suspended mud.

Miri was a pleasant place to recuperate from the concentration and a nice flat place to sleep!

The Marina was full of Rally boats together with the few local entries of the Borneo International Yacht Challenge. A grand name for a race fleet trying to gain international recognition by inducing yachts from the East Malaysia Rally to take part the majority of whom are cruisers and have never entered a yacht race before. But the local wealthy participants offer inducements such as free hotel rooms and a 600 ringgit bonus for all who compete the series and the final dinner and presentation is a fine occasion where endless speeches tumble over each other in praise of the fine international event they have all enjoyed and will enjoy again next year with the help of another 32000 ringgits sponsorship from the Saba Tourist Board – mmmm.

So, having waved off many friends with the fleet we  greeted our guests, Tim Pas Lucie and Owen Hewett who flew in from Bedford UK for a month aboard.

First on the itinerary was a short internal flight to the Gunung Mulu National Park (www.mulupark.com) for some forest and cave exploration. The pilot on this commercial flight introduced us to the Park in style, taking us for a tour past the summit of Gunung Mulu alongside the pinnacles and through the jungle at canopy height before banking hard down towards the jungle clearing and the landing strip – a far cry from a normal scheduled airline approach.

The Park is a spectacular mix of forest covered sandstone and limestone hills sculpted into deep river valleys on the surface and huge caves below ground. Much of the jungle scenery and valleys of palms and ferns are within dolines created when yet further huge caves collapsed many years ago. Having bagged beds in the dormitory we set out to walk to a waterfall to swim and met strange snails and even stranger woodlice like things along the way.

The evening was filled with a guided night walk where we met many more creepy crawlies, a snake and lots of geckos including one species reputed to be worth 30,000 ringgits each to the Chinese medicine market.

Next day the Hewett’s and friends Toni and Peter from S|V Tigger were persuaded to join us on an introductory adventure trip in Racer cave. To reach the entrance of the cave we were taken along the river in a local longtail boat with the outboard being regularly lifted to negotiate the very shallow rapids.

The cave entrance was impressive but the passage soon shrank and we were descending knotted ropes squeezing through muddy openings and climbing slippery rocks. The creepy crawlies in the cave were even more impressive than in the jungle with huge spiders and poisonous giant centipedes but the bats seemed friendly enough. Fun was had by all, or at least so they said when the last rope had been climbed and they were safely above ground. We opted to walk back through the jungle and the route turned out to include a climb up hundreds of rickety wooden steps, a passage through the ridge via moon milk cave and a similar descent to the valley. It was an excellent walk although either we are getting very old or their suggestion of 30 minutes for the route was a little underestimated!

Day three took us with local guide Ishmael on a walk along the main valley through Deer Cave to the Garden of Eden and up a steep jungle trail to a waterfall for lunch. Deer cave was truly impressive and massive with the largest cave passage in the world and the ceiling was over 250 feet high and home to over 3 million bats which could be seen as huge black patches far above us. The walkway was on boards and off each side were heaps of bat guano in truly amazing quantities, the smell was a little pungent. We emerged to cross a sparkling river as it entered the cave and then began the climb through first generation jungle to a lovely clear pool where we jumped in and swam in icy water to the waterfall. Decent was a reverse of the same path and as we entered Deer cave again and clambered out of the water onto a shingle beach we were all aware of a strange feeling as a gritty substance fell on us from on high sticking to our wet skin and clothes. It was by now mid afternoon and the bats were waking up! When bats wake up they relieve themselves and 3 million bats spread across the ceiling meant that the return trip was accompanied by a continuous gritty shower that no one wanted to think about too much. There were beautiful views back to the green of the garden entrance and circular pillars of water cascading from stalactites sparkling in the sunlight to distract us. From Deer cave we crossed to Langs cave which by contrast was small, white, clean and full of beautiful formations well lit and labelled for the stream of tourists. We felt a little strange as we sat and dried off covered in mud and other smellier substances amid all the clean people back in an arena built to watch the advertised “bat exodus”. People kept quietly arriving and then, as if on call, at 4.30 the bats began to emerge from their roost. They emerged like wisps of smoke snaking across the sky in continuous undulating waves. We walked back to the entrance to watch the bats above us and could clearly hear the sound of their wings beating, there were a few casualties crawling along the ground and one crawled up my boot which caused much laughter although mine stopped and turned to a somewhat different sound as said bat reached the top of my sock and tried to climb my leg.

It was an impressive spectacle.

Next day we all enjoyed a walk through the canopy on the 500m long aerial walkway watching birds and butterflies and seeing all the many vines and creepers which ascend to the light on host trees. We spent 5 days in the park in somewhat basic accommodation and had a great time although our planned trip through the Clearwater Connection was called off twice due to high water levels and we had to settle for a visit to Stone Horse cave – another ‘adventure’ cave where we had many close encounters with bats and the young swiflets in their nests seemed to think we would bring them food. We will certainly visit Mulu again.

Back aboard we headed out to sea at 9am having cleared out for Brunei and we had an easier time watching for logs with our crew of 6. It was a long 95nm sail and we anchored off Brunei Yacht Club at 2.30 am (04:59.95N 115:04.45E). The yacht club is welcoming and as guests we could swim in the pool use shower facilities and purchase food and drinks from the bar although this was a little expensive.

We took a local bus to the capital Bandar Seri Begawan via Muara and it was a strange experience with stilt villages only meters from sky scrapers and a huge mosque making a very scenic backdrop to it all. It had just been the Sultans 64^th birthday and there were many banners celebrating the occasion. We had a lovely meal in a local restaurant where there were many special dishes to tempt people in the last few days prior to the start of Ramadan. This month long Muslim festival of fasting from sunrise to sunset starts on the day the moon first appears after the dark period and as soon as it is seen the Sultan proclaims the start of fasting so there are a few days of anticipation where everyone eats their fill. It was good to wander through the town and visit the huge shopping malls but the interior of the mosque was the most impressive sight. We are not really city people and the day trip was enough for us although there are many tours available to jungles and national parks too.

Next port of call was the tax free island of Labuan (05:16.32N 115:14.95E) having had a brief snorkelling stop at a smaller island on the way to clean the hull. Here we shopped for beer and other essentials but still failed to find cheese for which we were by now craving having not found anywhere to buy any form other than processed slices since Johor.

Then we set off for Pulau Tiga with the promise of good snorkelling and had a lovely sail in a fresh breeze and anchored in clear water where our visitors enjoyed meeting some under water wildlife. (05:43.08N 115:38.88E)

Next was Sutera Harbour Marina in Kota Kinabalu (you should see the website). Here we reluctantly paid 143ringets a night to leave the boat and go travelling in a hired minivan. The next most expensive Malaysian marina had cost us 50 ringgits a night so we were a bit miffed especially as there were no real cleats to tie to, a very long walk to the shower block, and rats running along the pontoon at night. However the children loved the pool and the bowling alley and the boat was safe.

Setting off  at 4am we headed for Sepilok orang-utan sanctuary passing the impressive peak of Mount Kinabalu just as the sun rose, it was a long drive but we made it with 15 minutes to spare before the 10am feeding. On the walk to the platform we saw a mother orang with her baby and seeing the wonder on the faces of our visitors was a pleasure not to be missed. There were a lot of people on the platform and the orang-utans were disappointingly distant – once again our spoiling in Kalimantan could not be matched. Chris discovered that we could sign in for an unguided walk so as the crowds thinned returning to the many busses we set off along a pleasant jungle trail. Minutes later we met a couple coming the other way hurriedly retreating having met “aggressive monkeys”. Of course we all eagerly but warily continued along the trail. We were rewarded with a fantastic sighting of several long tailed grey macaques only meters from the path and then a troupe of pig tailed macaques with their tell tale red behinds joined the scene and came right to the path. We were all quiet and calm and never felt any hostility as they seemed to ignore us and continue foraging in the ground for insects and munching leaves in the trees. Next we were treated to close sightings of the giant Rhinoceros Hornbills with their seemingly impossibly large horns. After about a two hour walk we returned to the board walks near the centre to spot several orang-utans above us in a tree and we stopped to observe them feeding their young and chasing around. One young male of about 7 years was chased away by a mother carrying a baby and he fell crashing through the branches rolling under the board walk. He soon emerged unscathed pulling himself onto the board walk and coming right up to us before settling on the hand rail. Soon he was joined by two mothers with babies who also sat close to us preening each other and ignoring our presence. The young male climbed up a tree and started building a nest from which he peered down at us proudly with amazingly human expressions. Needless to say we were all amazed and impressed with the experience and we returned to the car park a very happy group.

Next we wanted to carry on to visit the Kinabatangan river where we hoped to introduce the Hewetts to proboscis monkeys and where we thought there was a slight chance we could track down an elusive pygmy elephant. We asked advice from the driver of a tour van and he was really helpful in telling us where to go on the river and phoning a friend who could take us on a long boat tour. We arrived in Sukau village and met Bob and his boat at the Lampuit jetty at 4pm. By 4.15 we were in the boat and gently floating up a tributary with proboscis monkeys above our heads. Bob had amazingly sharp eyes and showed us many birds and monkeys. We asked him about an early morning tour next day to find elephants at which point he told us they only come down to the water in the afternoons. When we explained that we had to return to KK next day he agreed to try and find some for us. We headed back to the main river and whizzed up stream passing many returning tour boats with Bob miming flapping ears to their guides as we crossed. There was much waving and pointing and several thumbs up so we all dared to get excited. Finally we heard trumpeting and saw movement in the long elephant grass and as Bob glided to the bank with engine off we came face to face with elephants. It was an amazing sight and they really are very very small compared to their African cousins. We had the group to ourselves for about half an hour seeing about 8 adults and 2 calves and then a couple of other boats arrived packed with other delighted tourists. We were sad to leave but the light was failing and Lucie and Owen were not alone in thinking how lucky we had been seeing so much in one day.

Bob found us accommodation and a meal and we retired about 9pm exhausted but very contented.

We called at the Gunung Kinabalu park on the return journey to try and find a way to climb the peak in September with Dan and Ros but all the accommodation on the hill was fully booked and there was no way around it. Every climber has to be guided despite the very well trodden route and although we do not begrudge the guides an income the 385 ringets hut fee seemed a little steep. As there are hundreds climbing every day in a long stream and it is impossible to do the walk, stay in a hut from 9pm and set out again for the summit at 2am and then walk down for less than £220 per person, we think we were actually rather relieved that it was so booked up.

We returned to Three Ships and left the marina for a few days of clear water swimming and snorkelling with all sorts of brightly coloured but small fish. We were sad to see a lot of destroyed and dead coral and in one anchorage even witnessed a local boat blasting to try and catch the few fish that were left. They destroyed new coral growth and didn’t even seem to get any fish!

We did find some lovely anchorages and clear water and saw a lot of fish and in some places there was a bit of healthy young coral growth so we hope in the future Sabah’s reefs will return.

Back at Sutera we negotiated a better rate for one night and had a farewell dinner with our crew at the restaurants superb buffet. Next day we were sad to say goodbye as a taxi whisked our friends off to the airport and we moved out to anchor and wave to the plane.

Now as I said as I started this letter we are at Pulau Mangalun, the water is clear and slightly cooler than a hot bath but unfortunately this coral too  has been destroyed by blasting and so the snorkelling is a little sad and the small fish trying to find homes amongst the rubble even sadder.

We had a lovely walk around the island this morning which was great except for the 60+ sand fly bites which I collected along with a couple of shells for my growing collection. We are now enjoying a quiet, if somewhat itchy, rest before Dan and Ros join us on 3^rd September.

We left Tioman (from where NL38 came) and sailed overnight to Tengol Island 120 miles north. The bay was beautiful with some of the best snorkelling since leaving Fiji and we spent a lot of time under the water towing the dinghy with our 12volt powerdive unit on board allowing us to dive down to a depth of 6m for hours. We saw corals of every colour and beautiful angel fishes bat fish parrot fish and even one reef shark. Next day I went for a dive with local dive master Charlie and spent an hour in a multicoloured paradise, a few other sailboats arrived that afternoon and we got several dive trips booked for the days to come.

Such is cruising that at 9am next day a NW wind was forecast to blow and the bay is wide open to the NW with only a huge and valuable coral reef between the yachts and the beach so anchors were raised dives cancelled and boats scattered. Many of us reconvened in a lovely anchorage off Kapis Island and a few days of snorkelling with 2m long bump head parrot fish and evenings of drinks on the beach followed.

Next was a visit to the marina in Terranganu on the mainland where we visited local markets enjoying an abundance of fresh produce and tasting new local delicacies. It was slightly worrying to find that although the government here are spending millions of their own and charitable aid funds on the conservation of turtles and protection of nesting sites there were several stalls selling turtle eggs with seemingly no consequences.

It took several days to sort out a supply of diesel and two days to get it distributed from the 200 litre barrels brought in on local fishing boats into jerry cans and then the tanks of about 20 cruising yachts. However the days were almost fun with grateful skippers supplying cold beers to those like Chris who got their sleeves rolled up and their legs liberally coated in diesel in the process.

China town in Teranganu was wonderful and both Chris and I took acupuncture treatments together with strange brown medicines to try and sort out bad cases of sciatica. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of treatment but we both seem to be moving a little more easily and furling the headsail is not quite the agony it had become. In a mainly Muslim area China town has pork butchers selling cuts straight from the beast between 5am and 8am each morning so we had fresh meat as a welcome change.

The cruising north to Redang was pleasant and the bays around the islands were nice to share with a few other cruisers and some balmy sociable evenings were spent discussing the merits of various routes across the South China Sea to North Borneo. This was a problem as there had been 16 piracy incidents spread between the various options over the past two months and fear and paranoia were growing in the fleet. There was a beautiful back drop for these discussions of white sand beaches and growing numbers of turtles swam around the boats by day and made their way ashore at night where the full moon was calling them to nest back at the sites of their hatching. As darkness settled fruit bats circled the bay before choosing which mast to hang from to roost, it was somewhat strange to shine a torch up the rigging and see several pairs of red eyes staring down at you. Once ensconced they screamed protests at others seeking to join them and each morning the droppings which had to be scrubbed from the deck served to prove their stay had not been a dream.

The much publicised piracy incidents have centred on ships and not sail boats but the culprits were reported to have been local wooden craft armed with anything from axes and crow bars to light weapons and all incidents had been close to the Indonesian Islands littering the routes.

It seemed that keeping 30 miles from any land and keeping radio silence and showing no navigation lights when near any islands was the favoured action.

The fleet split into several groups going North South and through the centre of the Island groups and the wind seemed to favour a dog legged trip through the middle avoiding anywhere within 30 miles of land so we set off south in company,  and in vhf radio contact,  with  two other boats. While sailing we overtook the others and when motorsailing kept pace but motoring a 49 foot Australian sloop named China Grove left us for dust and the Belgian catamaran Catamini got left behind. Two days out we lost Radio contact with Catamini and the wind had gone so China Grove and ourselves changed course to go south of the islands and used the SSB on the Rally Net to ensure that Catamini had joined another group sticking to middle ground. There were many rumours of unknown vessels lurking and much refusal to give positions to the net in case of unfriendly ears listening in but nothing untoward happened on that front. Several boats ran over fishing nets and traps and had to jump in to free their props and China Grove was stopped dead when a huge log got wedged between their wing keel and rudder trapping the prop in the process. We caught up and stood by as they dived and planned but the log was wedged fast. In the end a rope to the log and the port winch and another to a prop blade and the starboard winch wound in simultaneously caused the offending article to burst to the surface and all was well. We ended up passing the worst of the Islands in day light with no problems and 4 days and 4 nights after leaving we dropped our anchor in the Santabong River beneath an impressive rain forest covered pinnacle rising from the sea named Gunung Santobong. The local villagers were friendly and helpful and were employed to take in laundry and make jerry jug runs to town for diesel. A local taxi took skippers into Kuching to check in with the authorities and visits to supermarkets and local produce markets were twinned with running commentaries on the local people and area.

We tested our atrophied legs and somewhat improved backs by climbing Gunung Santabong right to its 755m summit and were pleasantly surprised when having left the boat at 5.45 and after a short road walk a slippery ridge trail and scaling many half worn through rope ladders we emerged from the forest to a fine view at 9.20 am. We took our time in descent and it has to be said legs were a little heavy next day.

The Santabong cultural village is home to the “International Rainforest Music Festival” which is in its 10^th year. We were lucky to have got tickets through the rally and spent a wonderful afternoon attending jamming sessions in traditional longhouses with artistes from as far away as Africa and the Czech republic. The night time festival proper was a mixed bag with the biggest disappointment being a very poor ceilidh band from the UK – we had heard better bands in portside bars in Oban and Dublin and as the band had been paid and flown here at the expense of the Borneo Tourist Board it seemed a shame. However there were many wonderful musicians too and the local star on the Sape (a long necked thin guitar like instrument) was the highlight. The atmosphere was great and the jungle setting a delight and the torrential rain and resulting stage ringed with mud rather Glastonbury like!

We took a bus tour to visit an orangutan reserve and a local pottery and it was a great day but we have been spoilt by our orangutan experiences in Kalimantan and they can we fear not be beaten or repeated. The local potters have many Chinese influences and their work is varied and impressive however it does not make good company on a sailboat so we had to be content with a pair of mugs.

After this we  slowly made our way along the coast towards Miri and anchored off the Bako national Park.  We sighted two proboscis monkeys which were beautiful in the early evening sun and donated blood to many local mosquitos which were not.

More news soon.

We anchor off a sandy beach in the river with the 5 knot flood setting the anchor nicely. I row ashore and weave my way through soft sand and garbage to the boat yard where an enormous steel trolley is having welded eyes attached and uprights to support our hull. All very basic but strong – the only problem is the centre gap appears too narrow to support our 2 m keel. The yard employs workers from all over SE Asia and so communication is a bit of an issue but a piece of chalk turns up and a rusty steel beam and we soon reach an apparent understanding of the problem. Lunch time comes around and all the boys troop off to their shed for a break out of the sun and I row back out to Three Ships. Shortly after 2 a phone call indicates that all is ready and we should proceed into the slip. A strong cross current proves interesting but we make it on to the submerged trolley in one go impressing the audience on the coast guard vessel moored adjacent. Winches whine into action and steel cables draw taut. Gradually Three Ships inches up the railway towards the dusty yard. Then, a pause, lots of shouting and a man with primitive dive gear disappears below the murky water.  More shouting and the arrival of balks of timber, steel supports, more timber, much discussion in 4 different languages, more timber etc etc.  – until after about an hour we emerge high and dry, but not quite level. The additional steel support for our keel appears to have been wooden and broke once the 12 ton weight of Three Ships came to bear. Anyway, things don’t look too good for a while, especially since a crack has appeared between the hull and keel . So jacks are deployed and more wood and wedges and eventually just prior to beer time we are only about 10 degrees off level and there we remain for our time ashore.

Over the next two days we sweat to remove the rudder and drive shaft and replace the cutlass bearing. The ever creative welders make a 2 inch socket with bar and lever and we tighten up the leading keel bolt shim the crack and seal the whole with 3M 5200 – all good. Then we find that the next two days are a public holiday and so no re launch until Monday. Happily we’ve been joined in the yard by friends on catamaran Miss Jody who are in for some hull strengthening after another poorly chocked haul out had cracked their keels and so we are in good company. And then an unexpected event.  Mr Ng the Chinese managing director of the yard regards us not only as his clients but also as his guests, so he invites us to his family’s restaurant for a meal. He picks us all up in his BMW at 7 and whisks us off for a meal  which turns out to be more of a 9 course feast with as much wine or beer as we can drink – which wasn’t that much as we were all pretty bushed. And then 2 nights later he does the same again – grouper in sweet and sour sauce, fried squid, lobster, barbecued pork, rojak chicken, hot and sour fish, king prawns and bokchoy, boiled rice and iced melon to finish – pretty nice to say the least.

So Monday arrives and we are launched no problem except, when we start the engine and move off  the trolley the vibration is worse than ever – this is where the firm belief that everything will be right tomorrow comes under a bit of pressure but there’s no option so we anchor for a night of little sleep and major speculation about what the problem might be. Shaft and engine alignment come out top so next morning Mr Ng sends his foreman out with tools and assistant and they spend the whole day working on the problem – we don’t say much, just wait. Then it’s finished and we go for a sea trial and guess what – its perfect just in time for beer. So then we have a happy night, pay Mr Ng the equivalent of £220 for everything including the haul out, 5 days on the hard and the engineer’s time to fix the shaft alignment – and he’s given us the two best Chinese meals we’ve ever tasted – beat that for value.

Anyway you might like a bit more information about other things we’ve done since our last newsletter. Well the west coast of Malaysia is pretty dull from a cruising point of view until you reach Langkawi way up north.  The coast is shallow, the water dull green with nil visibility and the traffic constant especially around key port of Klang and Singapore.

Return visits to the historic towns of Malacca and Penang make up for a lot and should not be missed, the local food is varied and excellent and shopping away from ‘malls’ is a delight. A ride in one of Malacca’s colourful trishaws is a must along with a visit to the pirates graveyard and an evening boat trip up the river is entertaining and informative. Langkawi offers really nice cruising ground with lots of sheltered , spectacular anchorages only a few miles apart – it’s also a duty free zone so booze is cheap. The cable car and sky walk are well worth the ride and we enjoyed the odd barbecue on its secluded beaches.

A description of one of the anchorages mentioned an interesting cave, so naturally we had to have a look. It sported about an hour’s worth of explorable passage ending in a large complex chamber with good formations and a bat colony – and then of course there was the monitor lizard which we found about 30 minutes in hiding in a bit of a crevice. I called Fi to bring the camera just as Mr Lizard decided to exit and they passed each other at a bit of a narrow spot – but neither seemed to suffer anything other than a few missed beats.

On the way south we called at Penang, Lumut and Malacca where the rather inadequate sea defence resulted in an exciting night for all and finally we ended up back in at Puteri marina – where we left Three Ships for our last visit home.  We collected our mail including new passports and were greeted as long lost friends – so we stayed a week. Then we headed back around Singapore island where our little indiscretion occurred setting off the loudest and most persistent sirens we have ever heard and causing the navy to tow a boom across the entrance to the base. We were approached at speed by uniformed men who told us we had to stop turn and follow them immediately as we were under sail this was a little hard. In the end after we stated that we could only follow this if they would let us anchor for the night as darkness was fast approaching, they talked into radios and said they would escort us from the military zone – this involved them escorting us 20m to the other side of the buoy we had inadvertently gone the wrong side of and so didn’t take long! We encountered a huge oil tanker with the hole the size of a truck in its side – actually it was the size and shape of the bow of another ship that had t- boned it and spilled 2000 tons of light crude in the process. So the water wasn’t that clean.

Singapore didn’t actually impress us that much – it’s even more bureaucratic  than Australia and seemingly paranoid about security what with 8 F16s circling the island every night, helicopter gunships hovering over the fence for hours on end and police boats patrolling every half mile or so – not a very impressive carbon footprint.  At least one cruiser we know had fairly major mechanical problems while in Singaporean waters and the assistance they received from the authorities was nil – fortunately fellow cruisers offered a tow back into Malaysian waters and all ended well.

So now we’re back in cruising mode. We sailed to Tioman Island 30 miles offshore yesterday June 9^th and now for the first time in 4 months we’re back in clear blue water with coral gardens and white sand beaches.  Happy times are here again. A few more islands to visit on this coast and then we make the crossing to Borneo. We’re looking forward to having the family Hewett on board in August, Dan and Ros in September and Joey and Vikki in Thailand over Christmas.

We cannot believe that it has been 6 months since the last news letter and even with the Christmas card update that puts us a little behind with news. Suffice to say we had a wonderful four months in the UK , with one of the highlights having all six grandchildren in the house with us at once.

It was really good to see Ceri, Paul, Indy, Finn and Willow, who we had not seen for two years, and to meet 2 year old Poppy but a shame it was only for a short time as they then headed off for a new life in New Zealand where they are now settled in Christchurch.

Our arrival was only two days after that of grandchild number six, Theo, but Mum Amy Dad Marc and big brother Owen had all coped well without us and it was great to get to spend time with them all. I even enjoyed freezing dunkings in the local pool with Owen who seemed to find an hour far too short even though his Nana was shivering.

It did take us a little time to adjust to the 25 degree diference in temperature! We spent plenty of time with Dan and he was kind enough to take us in when our own house was left in a mess by the recently departed tenants. Ros was there too for the holiday and her course in Manchester seemed to be going well.

We helped Mum and Dad move house and had them and sister Penny and family to stay over Christmas and brother Rob and family for my birthday in February. We had visits from several lots of friends and fitted in trips to Mid Wales, the South West, the Lakes and the South East to visit more, so time passed at a rate of knots. At home our social life was superb and the snow in the hills lasted from December to our departure in March.

We managed plenty of days in the hills to enjoy the wonderful winter conditions with Dan and with friends and even managing to get young nieces and nephews to the summit of the Glyders in superb winter conditions. Getting back to the boat was a shock to the system in 35deg C and 85% humidity but we were soon back into the life of cruising although it must be said it was of the type normally left out of newsletters.

The first activity was cleaning up after “Mr Rat” who had been an unwelcome guest in our absence. Marina staff had already evicted him via a cage trap but he made his mark by shredding loo rolls, chewing cushion foam and gnawing the odd hole in the woodwork.

Thankfully he was caught before he started on the wiring, but washing everything in sight just in case he had crawled over it took some time. Luckily there were two boats in the Marina Cool Bananas (NZ) and Wanderlust (Japan)that we knew and friends Toshi, Sayuri Daryl and Laurel kept us sane by entertaining us in the evenings and joining us on a day trip to Singapore to celebrate the end of the clean up.

We then left Puteri Marina in company with catamaran Cool Bananas and sailed up the west coast of the Malay Peninsula to Melaka. It is a very historic town full of colonial buildings and pirates grave yards set between the odd modern office block and hotel. We met up briefly here and saw the sights with our friends Dave and Liz on S/V Allaban who then headed south on the first leg of their cruise to Japan via the Philippines – it was a sad ‘goodbye for now’ after cruising on and off with them since the Galapagos in 2005 but we are sure our paths will cross again.

Next was Penang where Martyn and Lynda from S/V Great Sensation who we had not seen for more than four years introduced us to wonderful restaurants serving a wide mix of foods from a very diverse population at rather good prices.

That was to be the end of the holiday for a while as we were called by Phitak Shipyard near Satun in SW Thailand to say they could give us a haul out in two days time. Such opportunities seem scarce at the moment so we headed off to Langkawi Island to check out of Malaysia and collect 24 gallons of paint for cruising friends already in the yard.

The 25 mile crossing and trip up the muddy river concentrated the mind somewhat with numerous fish traps, depths down to 90cm below the keel at times and large fast fishing boats reluctant to share the channel, so it was a relief to anchor by the yard.

Next day we were hauled on a railed slipway amid much Thai shouting and men swimming around fitting foam pads and diving using a mask attached to a compressed air pipe to locate us on the trolley. We were settled next to a huge fishing boat with a propeller taller than me and life in the yard began. The up side was that everyone was really friendly and despite the language barrier fishermen were quick to help whenever they saw the need and one descended a ladder like lightning to lend and set up a bottle jack as were trying to refit the rudder by winching it up on ropes.

Men sanding by hand and painting were charged out at £10 a day, polishing and machine sanding at £15 a day, and having our stainless steel rudder encapsulated in glass faired and primed was about £80 including materials. So we were able to leave work below the waterline to them and concentrate on interior fixing and fiddling ourselves.

Lunches were taken each day at ‘Toms’ a local cafe 50m from the yard where servings of stir fried fish, squid, prawns or chicken with rice or noodles and fresh veg together with mango smoothies cost £2 for the two of us. At the end of the day a beer in front of the yard shop cost 60pence and a local man pushed in a trolley with a hotplate at 7pm daily serving Rotis which were doughy pancakes cooked with an egg cracked on them and served with drizzles of condensed milk for 40pence each.

We even got a call from Amy on the mobile which felt rather surreal in this tiny bit of rural Thailand but certainly raised morale. However there was a down side too; only two people in the yard spoke English, temperatures rose to 38 degrees daily and humidity often reached 95%, there was a constant cloud of dust settling on everything. Every other day the skies darkened and by mid afternoon torrential rain lashed through the yard. Lightening flashed and after one enormous crash we heard that the shed had been struck, taking out the fridge on the nearest yacht – we luckily escaped.

Up to 15 huge wooden fishing boats were sanded daily, the same boats were then painted by Mayanmar women balancing on narrow planks being followed by the fishermen scraping and recaulking the seams, many turned around in 2-3 days with the paint still being brushed on as they were launched. There were smaller fishing boats too being lovingly painted and sign written freehand by their crews and about 5 cruising yachts too.

The yard was patrolled by friendly dogs whose only purpose in life seemed to be to get people to give them scraps to supplement the huge bowls of rice which they cheerfully shared with the huge rat population each evening. You will perhaps not be surprised then to hear that just before launch day we were woken to the sound of the kettle rattling on the stove and upon investigating came face to face with a rat in the galley.

There were no traps available and so we had to leave with an unwelcome guest who had come aboard via a hose hanging from the deck. We emailed ahead and had friends meet us back in Langkawi with two traps as further nights of shared accommodation were not high on the agenda!

The cunning little devil ate dried fish without getting squashed in said trap so next morning we tramped the streets of Kuah visiting hardware stores until we found a cage trap and a big lump of dried fish. Back aboard we set the bait and left it alone expecting to return from a meal ashore to a caged rat. It was not to be but on checking next morning I reported a seemingly calm convict happily eating fish in its cell.

The skipper took this news calmly rolling over in bed for a little more sleep so after sidling round the trap a few times I plucked up the courage to pick up the trap tie it to a line and unceremoniously drop it over the side. I left retrieval to a freshly breakfasted skipper and felt no remorse which surprised me as I am usually squeemish about squashing anything other than a mosquito.

So true cruising resumed and we continue to sweat through several sets of clothes a day thankfully easily washed each night in the gallons of rain collected from the almost nightly thunderstorms. The down side of this being that two boats were hit by lightning two days ago and one lost £10000 worth of electronic equipment and is now in the yard filling small bullet like holes below the waterline where the lightning exited through his chain plates and down through the hull.

We write this from the other end of the cruising spectrum having spent three nights in Rebak marina where marina residents are welcome to share resort guests swimming pools, gym, restaurants, bars and even a spa where they get a 20% discount from resort guests price lists and pay only £9 a night for a berth!

Back to the hook tomorrow before heading south to retrieve some packages at Puteri and then head up the east coast and across to the north coast of Borneo where we are to meet family and friends joining us for their holidays – more welcome guests to be sure!

You can now find our position by looking at our new website.

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.

From Wakatobi we eased sheets for the first time in a while and set off for the Bone Rate group. With light winds on the port quarter the 24 hour spinnaker run was a delight and once again we eye balled our way at dawn into a large lagoon
and, after threading our way through countless coral bommies, we anchored off a beach crowded with local boats. This place is famous for wooden boat building and a population of craftsmen whose indescribable skills go back centuries – the only way to appreciate is to visit. Most of the boats were either powered trimirans used for night fishing – fragile craft held together by a complex network of rigging, or high prowed, heavy sterned cargo / passenger boats used for inter island transport.

Anyway, we were now back on the main cruising highway to Singapore and our next stop was Labuan Bajo on the west coast of Flores and entry point to the Komodo group. LBJ is a bustling tourist town where most things can be fixed one way or another. It’s also the focal point for divers visiting the Rincha and Komodo National Park which had long been
earmarked as a place we must not miss – we just had to meet the dragons. Komodo dragons grow up to 3m in length and can weigh up to 15 stone, they live on deer, pigs and anything else they can scrounge. Uniquely they have put their appalling oral hygiene to good use – a bite from a Komodo turns septic almost instantly rendering the animal
incapacitated and easy prey. The essentially lazy Komodos then wander up and tear the animal to bits at their leisure. Most visitors view these creatures at the ranger station on Rincha a short boat ride from LBJ, however we favoured visiting an anchorage in the remote south of the island where we would hopefully view the animals in a more natural environment – we were not disappointed. We caught the tide down through a narrow passage between Rincha and Flores with speeds over the ground at up to 12 knots and after some bouncy windward work anchored behind a high island off yet another white sand beach There were 4 resident komodos on the beach and over the next few days we got to know them well. Generally they seemed content to allow us quietly within a few metres and never appeared threatening – however their interest became much more active one evening when we took a pot luck supper ashore. They can smell food kilometres away and it took a lively fire to keep them at bay that evening. Their stalking skills were
demonstrated when one’s presence was only evidenced by the foul smell of its breath over my shoulder – much too close for comfort, but fire has always been an effective defence in such circumstances – thankfully. Over the next few days we day sailed working our way back up the west coast of Rincha visiting yet more delightful, deserted anchorages until we eventually we left the north cape of Komodo island to port and headed west over night towards Lombok island.

Although the sailing in this part of the world is generally characterised by light winds the inter island passages are a different kettle of fish. The gradient SE winds are funnelled between the islands and reinforced by katabatic night breezes coming down from volcanoes up to 12000 feet high. With two reefs in the main and a 50% head sail we reached over the first 40 miles at 7 – 8 knots under a bright half moon – very nice. However once under the shelter of Lombok the wind fell light and we found ourselves motor sailing once again, never a dull moment. We even caught a fish, – a needlefish over a metre in length with needle sharp teeth and green bones – after a bit of crude dentistry we returned it to the ocean.

On Lombok we hired motor scooters and visited fascinating villages dedicated to avariety of traditional skills – weaving, wood carving, furniture making, pottery and basket making. All amazingly self sufficient little communities where traditional skills are still unashamedly passed down the generations. Its true that mobile phones are everywhere in evidence but TV and trashy computer games still appear to afforded an appropriate status in everyday life – long may it last for them.

Here on Bali we have both crossed the Russell Wallace line and entered the mainstream of Indonesian tourism. No more marsupials, cockatoos, bush turkeys and possums here, instead we enter a world of monkeys, civets, barbets and trogons – also hire cars are cheaper and the bargaining for souvenirs sharper, but traffic is faster and more unpredictable as are the local police – always on hand ready hand out a traffic violation or accept a small token of appreciation for tearing it up. We have to wait here for a few days to renew our tourist visas for the third time – another $28US, plus two passport photos, plus 9 pages of forms to fill out, plus an appointment to be photographed and finger printed plus a customs clearance application … etc etc – Indonesia at its worst. Happily its best far out weighs the
paperwork issues. This is another land of skilled weavers and wood carvers plus paddy fields, spices drying in the sun, Hindu and Buddist temples, and a wealth of cultural events such as bull racing and the Barong and Kris Dance. These indescribably colourful events are not to be missed and a couple of photos hardly do them justice.

The next island in the chain is Java with its 45 volcanoes over 10000 feet high – no wonder they’ve had 4 major earthquakes since we entered Indonesia in July – but we’ll give that one a miss and instead sail 400nm north to the south coast of Kalimatan (formerly Borneo) to visit the orang outang re habilitation centre on the Kumai river. Happily earthquakes and volcanic activity are virtually unknown on this island which is larger than the UK and Ireland combined, is completely forested and has a high point of over 4100 meters – Mt Kinabalu in Saba in the north – and some of the most extensive cave systems in the world – an adventure location to be savoured. This year we’ll only touch the south of Borneo but next season hope to spend several months exploring Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah in the north.

We have flights booked back home from Kuala Lumpur on November 12th and so are now on a mission to get to Johur, just over the strait from Singapore, ready to lay up the boat for 4 months and return to that other world for a while. Hopefully this time we’ll get to visit some friends further north than Manchester In the meantime, very best wishes to you all.