Monday 1st October to Mon 8th October
Miri
   Left the UK on the morning flight to Kuala Lumpur and arrived back at Miri about midday on Tuesday. Everything seemed to be ok apart from the usual mustiness. Our big cover was still in one piece but after 10 years it was falling apart so we decided to throw it away. One of the other yachts in Miri made good use of it to cover his engine while he was working on it. We later discovered that 2 of our halyards were missing. The tail end of one was jammed in the cross trees so we originally thought that perhaps the wind had blown it free but on closer inspection the end had been cut and there was no sign of the rest of it or of the second halyard. It would be hard to believe that both ends could have untied themselves, pulled out of the mast and fallen over the side so we had to conclude that they had been stolen. It's very disappointing to think that a fellow yachtie would stoop to stealing essential equipment. We had some spare lines to replace them but it took most of the day to feed them back inside the mast and out at the appropriate places.
   We'd brought quite a lot of spares back with us that now had to be fitted. The new course computer seems to work although we think that the boat speed transducer has now failed so we will also need to replace that when we can get one. New water tank sensor went in with no problems but the new water pump for the generator still needs a few more parts. We'll have to get those delivered to Kota Kinabalu since we want to leave Miri soon.
   Having fitted most of the essential spares we decided to spend a few days at Bario in the Kelabit Highlands.

Tuesday 9th October to Sunday 14th October
Kelabit Highlands
   Checked in for the flight to Bario about an hour before it was due to leave and made our way to the departure lounge. Double checked the boarding pass to find that the flight we were checked in on didn't match the flight we'd been booked on so back to the check-in desk. We discovered they'd given us boarding passes for the flight to Mulu instead of the flight to Bario. Having sorted that out we boarded the right plane which was a small 22 seater for the 50 minute flight to Bario. The only other way to get to Bario is a 2 week trek through the jungle. At the airport Douglas, the owner of the De Plateau lodge, was meeting some family members and was more than happy to have us stay at his lodge along with Jay who'd arrived on the same plane. We tossed our bags into the back of the truck and off we went.
   We wanted to do some trekking so Douglas arranged for a guide to come and talk to us the next morning. The guide, Lian Tarawe, was excellent. From Bario the only way to get around is on foot so Lian took us through the jungle to the village of Palungan. The walk takes about 4 hours passing through small farms and primary jungle. There are quite a few ancient artifacts in the jungle so at the moment this area is off-limits to the logging companies and remains unspoilt. Lian pointed out various plants both edible and toxic. The people gather quite a lot of their food from the jungle such as wild ginger and a type of fern. In times gone by resin from a particular type of tree was gathered and used as candles. The local people often hunt in the jungle for wild boar, deer and other animals.
   In Palungan we stayed for 2 nights at the Batu Ritung Lodge run by Mdm. Supang Galih. Supang and her husband were proud to show us some of their culture and cooked food from the jungle for our meals. The main cash crop in the area is rice and Bario rice is very famous. Rice fields in Palungan provides the seed rice for the whole area and every farm grows rice. When harvested the rice has to be transported by buffalo sled to Bario where it is flown out to the wholesalers.
   On our 2nd days trekking Lian took us further into the jungle. We didn't see very many birds and animals but we certainly heard them. Among those that we could identify were gibbons and hornbills, cicadas and frogs, but we were surrounded by the never ceasing sounds of the jungle. Due to the recent rains some of the tracks were very wet and muddy and these especially were full of leeches. We'd been given short sticks with a salt soaked cloth tied to one end. At a touch from this the leeches curled up and dropped off.
   On the third day we returned to De Plateau. On our way back we passed a buffalo sled loaded with rice. The jungle tracks are totally unsuitable for anything with wheels so sleds are the only way.
   The last day we walked around the local area. Lian introduced us into the local longhouse where we met some of the inhabitants. Many of the people had gone on to earn academic success in both local and overseas universities.
   Sunday morning we returned to Miri to get ready to leave for KK.

Monday 15th October to Wednesday 17th October
Miri
   We planned to hire a car to do the final shopping and checkout but Monday was a holiday and everything was closed so it all had to wait until Tuesday. The car was RM90 for the day but would have been a bit less had we hired it for a longer period. Even though Sarawak and Sabah are part of Malaysia it is still necessary to check in and out of them. Shopping and checkout completed we were ready to leave Thursday morning.

Thursday 18th October
Miri to Kuala Belait (Brunei) - 30 miles approx
    For cruising this coast we were using Cruising Notes written by the crew of catamaran Backchat in 2005. The notes were provided by the sailmail station Brunei Bay Radio.
   Left Miri about 9:00, everything seemed to be working Steve had checked the propeller for growth a few days previously and apart from some slime it was fairly clean.
   The sea was pretty choppy but we had about 10 - 15 knots of wind from the SW so drifted along under headsail only. Kuala Belait was only about 30 miles so we had lots of time. By early afternoon the usual rainstorms started forming and it was all pretty dreary. The anchorage is up a muddy river and Backchat's cruising notes mentioned a Yacht Club. We found the Yacht Club but there didn't seem to be any yachts and it all looked very quiet. Since it was still pouring with rain we gave up the idea of going ashore and had dinner on board.
Anchor position:- 04° 36'.6N 114° 11'.8E, 6.7m, mud

Friday 19th October
Kuala Belait to Jerudong Harbour - 45 miles approx
    About 45 miles to go today so we left at dawn. There was a swell from the N. but no waves. As we left the wind came in at about 8 - 10 knots from the land and stayed until mid-morning so a pleasant sail for a few hours. By late morning we were motoring or motor-sailing watching the afternoon storms start to build up.
   Jerudong Harbour was built by the Sultan's brother Jefri. According to the Lonely Planet Guide in the late 1990s profligate spending and poor management on the part of Prince Jefri coupled with the Asian Financial Crisis made a bit of a dent in Brunei's resources. When the company Prince Jefri was managing collapsed owing US$16 billion the Sultan publicly filed a lawsuit against Prince Jefri which eventually resulted in all the prince's assets being returned to the state. Brunei has since recovered and because of their oil revenues the inhabitants of Brunei enjoy a high standard of living with schooling, pensions, medical facilities etc heavily subsidised by the state.
   Jerudong Harbour is enormous and could easily accommodate quite a few mega-yachts but it seems to be unused. You can't go ashore but it seems to be acceptable for yachts to tuck in behind the breakwater for an overnight stop.
Anchor position:- 04° 57'.1N 114° 48'.5E, 9.3m, mud

Saturday 20th October to Sunday 21st October
Jerudong Harbour to Muara - 30 miles approx
   We had much the same conditions as yesterday with a beam wind gradually decreasing as the morning wore on. We arrived at the entrance to Muara in Brunei Bay late morning. It's quite a busy port but if you follow the channel to just beyond the port you come to the Royal Brunei Yacht Club at Serasa. This is the out of town clubhouse, to get to the main club you have to go up the river to the capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The yacht club is very friendly and visiting yachts may use the facilities which include restaurant, swimming pool, showers and toilets, WiFi. The manager was very helpful in getting us diesel. It's possible to go up the river to the fuel dock but we understand that because the fuel is heavily subsidised they are sometimes unwilling to sell to visiting yachts.
   We checked in to Brunei here and took the dinghy to the ferry dock to find the various offices. A friendly worker on a large ferry let us tie up to the back of his boat to get ashore since the ferry dock wasn't very suitable. Check-in was fairly straight forward but involved finding our way through a maze of corridors and buildings to locate the various offices.
   Found a bat clinging to the swimming platform of Carillon when we returned.
   Stayed in Muara a couple of days mainly to load up the diesel and to have a break but decided to move on Monday.
Anchor position:- 05° 00'N 115° 04'.2E, 7.5m, mud 

Monday 22nd October
Muara to Pulau Kemamen - 15 miles approx
   Checked out of Brunei first thing and headed for Pulau Kemamen. Our next stop was Pulau Labuan which is a duty free port. We didn't particularly want to spend 2 nights anchored in the port at Labuan so we headed for Pulau Kemamen first. It's only about 5 miles from Labuan so would be a quick trip the following morning. Pulau Kemamen is one of a small group of islands with pleasant sandy beaches and reasonably good anchoring although we did feel it would be a bit exposed to the S and W in stronger winds.
Anchor position:- 05° 12'.8N 115° 08'.6E, 6m, sandy mud 

Tuesday 23rd October
Pulau Kemamen to Pulau Labuan - 5 miles approx
Early this morning we started motoring to Labuan. There seemed to be a pleasant breeze so we sailed almost all the way into the harbour. It's quite a protected anchorage although a strong south westerly swell will work it's way in. Near the entrance to the harbour there is a marina but it's not in use. The pontoons all seem to be broken down and there was quite a lot of wave action inside it which may account for the broken pontoons. We followed the channel until we reached the stilt village of Patau Patau and dropped anchor there alongside the catamaran Kindara. There's nowhere safe to leave the dinghy so the best thing to do is use the water taxis. You can call them on Ch.67 and they charge RM1 per person in the daytime and double after 7p.m.
   The reason for coming into Labuan was to stock up on duty free booze both for us and for friends we were meeting in KK. There was a a shop right opposite the water taxi pier so we took care of that little chore very quickly. We had the rest of the afternoon free so first thing was to find a Kedai Kopi for lunch. That was easily taken care of and replete with chicken curry and rice we set off to do some sight seeing and find an internet cafe. Most of the interesting places are out of town and if we come back here we'll probably spend a bit longer and hire a car to look around. We did visit the museum though which was not very big but quite interesting. Went via the market on the way back and even though it was starting to close for the day  we still found fish and fruit.
Anchor position:- 05° 16'.5N 115° 14'.4E, 9m, mud 

Wednesday 24th October
Pulau Labuan to Kota Kinabalu - 75 miles approx
   The original plan was to sail to Pulau Tiga and maybe spend a day or two there before moving on to KK. Things didn't quite work out as we had planned. When we left Labuan there was a good wind from behind so we did our usual thing of just hoisting the genoa and leaving the main tucked up under it's cover. As the morning wore on the wind built to 25 - 30 knots true and we were surfing along at 7 - 8 knots occasionally touching 10 knots. We'd left Labuan at about 7:00 a.m. and had reached Pulau Tiga by about 11:30 a.m. Well the anchorage at Pulau Tiga is on the SW side so in 30 knots of wind from the SW anchoring wasn't an option. By this time we had 2 - 3 metre waves and they were crashing their way up the beach. We considered looking at the NE side of Tiga but not for long. According to the chart there is a reef and rocks stretching northwards from Tiga so that was out. Another option was to tuck into the big bay on the mainland opposite Tiga but it would be 10 miles to go and check it out and we thought the swell would still be working into it so the only other option was to keep going to KK. It was another 25 - 30 miles and if the wind kept blowing at 30 knots we should make it easily before the Marina staff finished for the day. We had to gybe downwind even with just the genoa up and on port tack were sailing across the swell. This meant the boat was rolling from side to side and we could hear everything crashing about inside the lockers. Luckily all the rum etc was still in it's boxes on the floor in the forward cabin so it couldn't go far.
   We reached the islands off the Marina by 4:00 p.m having averaged about 7½ knots and while surfing down a wave touched 11 knots which isn't bad going for a heavy displacement cruising yacht like Carillon.
   We called the Marina on the radio (Ch 71) and were relieved to hear that they had a berth for us. We were a day early and it's a very popular marina so can get full. We had made a booking but if boats don't leave then berths don't come free so a booking doesn't guarantee a berth. When we arrived there were 4 or 5 marina staff to help with lines which we were grateful for since the winds were still quite strong and were blowing us away from the dock. The staff gave us a good welcome especially those who remembered us from our previous visit.
   We plan to stay for a few weeks and try to fit in a dive trip to Sipadan and a trip to the Nature Reserve in the Danum Valley while we're here 

Thursday 25th October to Saturday 27th October
Kota Kinabalu
   We settled in then went to visit our old friends at Sabah Divers. Sabah Divers is both a dive shop and a travel agent so we were able to book a trip to the Nature Reserve at Danum Valley and a dive trip to Sipadan.

Sunday 28th October
Kota Belud
   Today we took a bus ride up the coast to Kota Belud to see the famous Sunday Market and the annual riding display by local tribesmen dubbed 'Cowboys of the East'. The market was quite impressive. There had been competitions for fruit and vegetables and local food delicacies. By the time we arrived the judging was finished and the stallholders were delighted to let us sample their local specialities. A bystander who spoke english spent some time explaining what each item was and what it was made from so we spent a happy half hour sampling the foods and discovering exactly how they were made. One of the famous local crafts is the manufacture of beautifully made and decorated parangs or machetes. Steve couldn't resist one so we'll see how customs view it when we take it back to the UK next year. The riding display was quite fun. The horses are dressed up from head to tail in brightly coloured costumes and the riders likewise. Some 200 horses and riders rode in a grand parade then the more competent ones gave displays of their skills.

Wednesday 31st October to Friday 2nd November 
Danum Valley
   We were going to spend 2 nights and 3 days at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge in the Danum Valley Conservation Area. This is an area of primary lowland rainforest and is home to a wide variety of wildlife. To get there we flew to the coastal town of Lahad Datu and were then taken on a 2 hour drive along a logging road to reach the lodge. The road was pretty bumpy and very dusty but along the way we saw some great views of the rainforest and a wild boar, barking deer and hornbills so a good start to the trip. When we arrived we were given a rough itinerary which included jungle treks, a night drive and a night walk. We were recommended to buy leech socks and since everyone we saw seemed to be wearing them it seemed like a good idea. Leeches can easily find their way through ordinary socks but the leech socks are made from a very tightly woven fabric and are tied at the knee so if you spot the little perishers before they've managed to climb as far as the gap between your T-shirt and jeans you don't get bitten.
   Our daytime walks included treks through the jungle and a walk over a canopy walkway a 100 metres or so above the ground. At various times we saw gibbons, orang utangs, red leaf monkeys, macaques, hornbills, lots of other birds we couldn't identify, lizards and unusual insects. At night, amongst other things, we saw mouse deer, civet cats, a lemur and some enormous beetles. On one of our jungle treks we stopped at a jungle pool with a waterfall where Steve and another couple swam. Lyn had a rotten cold for the whole trip and decided a swim in icy cold water wasn't a good idea.
   The staff at the resort were very friendly and helpful and our guide Andy, was very knowledgeable about the wildlife and was pretty good at finding it. Brightly coloured flowering plants had been placed along the terrace in front of the restaurant which encouraged numerous beautiful butterflies into the area.

Saturday 3rd November to Tuesday 6th November
Kota Kinabalu
   When we got back to KK we were delighted to find our friends Peter and Cheryl on Stolen Kiss had arrived. They'd come down from Kudat and had hit some unpleasant weather with strong headwinds and uncomfortable seas but such is sailing.

Wednesday November 7th to Tuesday November 13th
Kapalai
    We'd booked another dive trip to Sipadan since it's such a great place to dive. This time we couldn't stay on Sipadan because all the resorts had been closed down at the beginning of 2005 to allow the turtles to breed in peace. We stayed at the Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort which is built on stilts on the Ligitan Reefs on what used to be Kapalai Island before it was eroded to nothing by the sea. Kapalai is about 20-30 minutes boat ride from Sipadan. All the rooms, walkways and resort facilities are built on stilts over the water. Many fish and the occasional turtle can be seen swimming over the reef under the walkways and rooms. The alternative to Kapalai is to stay on one of the resorts at Mabul about 10 minutes by boat from Kapalai. Mabul is also about 20-30 minutes boat ride from Sipadan. Whether you stay at Mabul or Kapalai the diving is arranged so that you get 2 dives a day at Sipadan and 1 at either Mabul or Kapalai.
   The diving at Sipadan was excellent as always. We saw so many turtles and sharks that they ceased to be a novelty. We found a large school of jackfish circling and were able to drift very gently into the centre of the circle - a very special experience. Other highlights included the large shoal of barracuda drifting around the Barracuda Point dive site and a large shoal of bumphead parrotfish which we spotted while we were surfacing from a dive. Needless to say everyone delayed their ascent to watch them. Bumphead parrotfish can be a metre or more in length and have enormous teeth which they use to eat the coral.
   Most of the diving at Sipadan is wall-diving. At the edge of the reef surrounding the island the depth goes from 6 -10 metres down to 600 metres. The wall is covered in hard and soft corals full of fish and other types of sea life.
   The diving at Mabul and Kapalai is not quite so good. They stand on the continental shelf and depths are 20 - 30 metres. The reefs have been destroyed by dynamite fishing but some artificial reefs consisting of sunken boats and wooden structures have now been laid and the coral is starting to grow. We did see some frogfish on one of the wrecks and some large garoupa, pufferfish and cuttlefish swimming about. If we looked carefully we could also see nudibranchs, anemone crab and mantis shrimp.
   We stayed at Kapalai for 6 nights and enjoyed it very much but then had to return to KK.

Wednesday November 14th to Tuesday November 27th
Kota Kinabalu
   We are staying in KK until about the beginning of December to get the right weather windows for going to Bali. On Sunday 18th a fellow yachtie invited us to the opening of a Batik shop. The shop sells garments and sarongs in silk with very attractive batik designs. Many of the shop's employees who make the batik are deaf. The opening consisted of lunch and entertainment by a local chinese school orchestra playing traditional instruments interspersed with dances typical of malaysian ethnic groups. This was followed by a fashion show to display the products. There were about 10 yachties and at the end of the show the organisers requested a photo of the yachties with the models who, incidentally, were all ex-Miss Malaysias. It was quite an interesting afternoon.
   Since then there has been a big weather system just north of KK which has given us torrential rain and strong winds for the last 3 or 4 days. If we'd paid for a week's holiday here we'd have been a bit miffed.

Wednesday November 28th
Tamparuli
   Decided to have a day out today and check out the Bamboo Music Festival held at Tamparuli which was about an hour's bus ride away. We picked up a mini-bus from the bus station next to Wisma Wawasan and arrived in Tamparuli about mid-morning. We found some good seats in the hall where the concert was being held and were pleased to find that they hadn't started yet so we hadn't missed anything. What we hadn't appreciated was that the first 2 hours of the function were taken up by speeches but at about 12 noon the speeches finished and the orchestra came on stage. There were a variety of instruments mostly the type you blow but quite a lot of the ones you bang. The program was a mixture of traditional pieces and modern pieces where the orchestra was accompanied by singers and in one piece a saxophone. The traditional pieces were played beautifully but we found the renditions of popular songs a little less effective.
   In the afternoon we watched a race on bamboo stilts - unfortunately it poured with rain just as they started so quite a few dropped out. There didn't seem to be much else going on, possibly because of the rain so we returned to KK.

Thursday November 29th to Friday November 30th
Tenom
   There is an interesting railway that runs between Beaufort and Tenom. The line used to run all the way from KK but it's currently in the process of renovation so is closed as far as Beaufort. We thought it would be an interesting trip so we picked up a share taxi in KK to take us to Beaufort (about 11/2 hours) where we could pick up the train. (A share taxi is just that, they have fixed destinations and wait until there are enough people to fill the taxi then depart). The train was scheduled to leave Beaufort at 10:00 a.m. but it was a bit late and didn't arrive until 11:00a.m.. There were quite a lot of people to get off and a large number of people waiting to get on so since the doors were completely log jammed people started climbing in through the windows to bag seats. The rolling stock is very old and the platform has been  recently renovated so the windows are about knee height and easy to climb through. As foreigners with grey hair we'd managed to get through the doors and find a seat early on. 
   The train finally left about 11:30a.m. having waited for a flat bed to be loaded with cement and rebars. From Beaufort to Tenom the train line follows the Padang River through the Crocker Range. The scenery is spectacular and with the recent rains the river was in full spate. The track winds it's way around the hills alongside the river stopping every now and then at what look like crude wooden bus shelters in the middle of nowhere but are actually small stations. The track is cut out of the hillside with a steep slope up on one side and a steep drop down to the river on the other. When we were within a few kilometres of Tenom we discovered first hand one of the problems with cutting a track out of a steep hillside. The heavy rain had caused a landslip and the track was buried under a pile of earth and tree branches. It took about an hour and a half to clear the track then the train went through very gingerly so as not to dislodge any more soil but the slope looked pretty unstable.
   In Tenom we booked into the Hotel Perkasa which is perched on a hill overlooking the town. In hindsight we would probably have been better off staying in town somewhere. The hotel was hardly occupied and when we wanted to go into town for dinner we were told the taxis stop running when it gets dark so we would have to walk. The view however was pretty good and a 2 kilometre walk uphill in the pitch dark was probably good for our digestion.
   On Friday we paid a visit to the Sabah Agricultural Park which was well worth the trip. It's about 15km out of town so we hired a taxi and arranged for him to come back and pick us up later. The park covers an area of about 1500 acres. It's main attraction is the Orchid Centre which contains the largest collection of orchid species in SE Asia.The Living Museum of Crop Plants contains hundreds of different species grown for their value to the economy. A guide is available to explain the uses of the various trees and plants.
   We returned to KK by bus partly to see a different route and partly because we suspected there would be more landslips on the train line. There is a bus direct from Tenom to KK but we took a share taxi to Keningau then picked up an express bus from there. They seem to run quite frequently.

Saturday December 1st to Sunday December 2nd
Kota Kinabalu
   This weekend KK is hosting the '2007 Sabah F2000 World Cup Powerboat Race' so we went along to have a look. The waterfront was pretty crowded when we got there but we spotted some friends at a table close to the front and went and joined them. According to the schedule, at 1:30p.m. there should have been a time trial but we waited and waited and nothing happened then eventually a rumour came through the grapevine that there had been a mix up with the fuel and they had been sent diesel instead of petrol, a rather unfortunate error. Eventually some petrol must have been found and the boats came out and did what seemed to be a very short time trial. We decided to return the following day to watch the final.
   Arriving at the waterfront just before the final was due to start it was wall to wall people but Cheryl had a theory that we could squeeze our way through to the front, climb over the railing at the edge of the boardwalk and find a space to sit outside the railing which would give us an unimpededd view of the race area. It worked brilliantly, we had grandstand seats with no-one blocking the view. Almost on schedule the boats roared out and started screaming around the course. After a few laps we noticed the committee boats were waving red flags and the racing boats were going in. From the far end of the course a boat was being towed and we assumed it had turned over since it had lost the cover over the body of the craft and the engine cowling. Presumably the race is stopped to prevent any of the other boats colliding with the one that had capsized. Once the damaged boat was safely off the course we assumed the race would resume but again nothing happened and eventually we discovered it was all abandoned because there was too much wind. It must have been a very disappointing weekend for the competitors although we did hear the racing was to be completed Monday morning.

Monday December 3rd to Friday December 7th
KK
   We planned to leave for Kudat on Wednesday Dec 5th so we hired a car to get to all the places we needed to go to. We need to check out, go to the Indonesian Embassy to sort out our visas for Indonesia, get the gas bottle filled and stock up with foodstuffs that we might not be able to get for the next few months. Shopping day was successful but we were still waiting for a parcel from West Marine. We'd ordered a new solar fan to replace the one in the galley that had given up the ghost, plus a few odds and ends.
   West Marine sent the order in 2 parcels one of which came by Fedex and the other by DHL. According to the tracking details on the Fedex parcel it came via 2 American cities then Alaska, Kuala Lumpur, Subic Bay in the Philippines, back to Alaska then back to KL before being cleared through customs and delivered to us in Kota Kinabalu - a well travelled parcel. It arrived the Wednesday we'd been planning to leave. The DHL parcel arrived in KK very quickly and was in customs by November 30th - and there it stayed. After numerous calls to DHL the message finally came through that because our parcel was for 'Yacht in Transit' and therefore exempt from customs duties we would have to pay for a bonded truck to deliver it to us - or pay the duty. The parcel finally arrived Friday Dec 7th after we'd paid the duty.

Saturday December 8th
Kota Kinabalu to Teluk Usukan - 35 miles approx
   We left the marina about 8:30a.m. in very light winds in a 2 metre swell from the N. By mid-morning we had 15 - 20 knots of wind from the NE, squalls from the land and a very choppy sea. The wind was right on the nose so rather than trying to beat into it we motored and reached Usukan Bay about 3:30 p.m. still in rain. It was sheltered from both the NE and the SW depending on which side of the bay you anchored.  On the N side of the bay was the docking area for the ships servicing the oil rigs and was mainly in use late afternoon and early morning.
Anchor position:- 06° 22'.4N 116° 20'.5E, 12m, sandy mud

Sunday December 9th
Teluk Usukan to Teluk Agul - 35 miles approx
   We left about 6:30a.m. hoping to get a good way up the coast before the stronger winds came in but it was not to be. By 7:30a.m. we had 15 - 20 knots from the NE and more prolonged squalls. The wind died later but it rained on and off until late in the evening. On the plus side the seas were considerably calmer so the engine didn't have to work so hard. We anchored in Teluk Agul which turned out to be a much better anchorage than we had expected. It was sheltered from the NE swell and was deep enough to get a reasonable way in. There was a river and a village in the SE corner of the bay and about 4:00 p.m. numerous fishing boats materialised from what seemed to be a very shallow entrance to the river.  We felt it would not be so good in the SW monsoon since it was not deep enough to tuck right into the corner by the village.
Anchor position:- 06° 49'.4N 116° 39'.4E, 8m, sandy mud

Monday December 10th
Teluk Agul to Kudat - 25 miles approx
   In the NE monsoon the Tip of Borneo can get quite rough so we left early again to be there before the N Easterly set in strongly. The normal pattern seems to be light winds overnight strengthening  from the NE by mid to late morning then blowing strongly until about sunset. (This can't be relied upon of course as we saw yesterday).
   Today was another exception, the wind we had was a very light easterly which died to nothing as we went around the Tip of Borneo then headed us as we set course for Kudat so we were motoring again. We arrived at the boatyard about lunchtime which was bad timing because everyone was at lunch and we couldn't raise anyone on the phone. There was already a fishing boat in the crane dock so we couldn't just tie up and wait. In the end we motored gently round in circles until things started happening. When the guys got back from lunch the fishing boat was lifted and we could go into the dock to wait.
   Carillon is a bit tricky to lift because of the 3/4 length keel. The lifting straps can't go behind the keel because of the propeller shaft so they have to go underneath it as far back as possible. It took quite some time and a number of tries at lifting and putting back down before the crane driver was satisfied with the position of the lifting straps. Once she was safely lifted she was soon on the hard, chocked and having a good wash down with the jet wash.
   We checked into the Kudat Golf and Marina Resort next door and were soon enjoying a good wash down too.

Tuesday December 11th to Sunday December 16th
Penuwasa Boatyard - Kudat
   The jobs on the list while the boat was lifted were to antifoul the bottom, replace the transducer for the Forward Looking Echo Sounder and replace the thru-hull fittings for both heads and the main engine cooling system since they were all completely seized up. We also discovered that what appeared to be a rubber seating for the prop-shaft had worked it's way out of the stern fitting so it looked as though we'd have to take the propeller shaft out too. Steve managed to get two of the bolts undone but the others were rusted in so we left the job to the boatyard.
   Tuesday it rained all day so we got nothing done, Wednesday morning was better and by the end of the day the painting was well under way. We lost all of Tuesday and all of Friday to rain but the other days were ok for painting. The worker assigned to us was called Eddie Rosti and he seemed to be quite conscientious and did a good job. The last coat of anti-fouling, apart from touching up where the supports were, went on Sunday morning so all being well we can go back in on Monday morning. As well as the anti-fouling we repainted the white stripes just above the waterline since they get badly stained by scum and weed and we also polished the topsides. They really need repainting but this yard doesn't have the expertise to do it.
   We discovered the prop shaft was longer than we thought and because of the position of the skeg for the rudder it wasn't possible to remove it far enough to see what had happened without taking the propeller off. It's a folding propeller with numerous fastenings and we don't have a manual so we decided to leave well alone for the time being and just put it all back together again.
   The 2 thru hulls for the heads came off fairly easily but the one for the engine cooling system was very difficult. In the end the boatyard supervisor Su used an oxy-acetylene torch to get it out.
    The yard doesn't work Sunday afternoon so we took ourselves sightseeing. We'd hired a car through a friend of one of the girls on the front desk so went to see the Tip of Borneo from the landward side and to investigate some of the beaches. There are some beautiful beaches on the west side of the Tip and anywhere else there would be cheek by jowl resorts but these were empty, not even a noodle stall. The Tip of Borneo has a small park leading down to the northernmost point of Borneo where you can watch the South China Sea beating against the rocks.
   Assuming we can go back into the water tomorrow we'll start heading down towards Sandakan either tomorrow afternoon or more likely Tuesday morning.  

Monday December 17th
Penuwasa Boatyard - Kudat
  We just had to put the anodes back on to the prop shaft (they were too small and the yard were grinding them out to fit) and we were ready to go into the slings. We used the car to stock up on last minute provisions and collect the laundry then returned it to the hotel and checked out.
   At 11:00 a.m. the slings were in place and the boat lifted just enough to move the supports so that we could anti-foul the patches where they'd been. Carillon would stay in the slings until after lunch to allow the last of the anti-fouling to dry. 2:00 p.m. came and we were gently lowered into the water - only to discover that the new thru-hull for the engine cooling system was leaking so up we came again and moved out of the crane dock to allow the mechanic to get on board with his really big spanner to try to tighten it down a bit more. 4:00 p.m.and time to try again. This time all was well so we motored to the sheltered end of the harbour to anchor for the night.

Tuesday December 18th
Kudat to Pulau Banggi - 21 miles approx
   Today we're heading for P.Banggi off the northern tip of Borneo. There are a number of small islands off the SE corner of P.Banggi where we should find a sheltered anchorage. This should be our last day of heading straight into the NE monsoon. Soon after we left Kudat we had 15 - 20 knots of wind on the nose and 1 - 2 knots of current pushing us the wrong way. Trying to sail against it would be futile so we motored again. It was slow going against the wind and current so the 20 mile trip took about 5 hours.
   We found a good sheltered anchorage on the SW side of P. Pagasan right where Stolen Kiss had told us we would. The wind was still howling but the waters were sheltered and calm. There are fringing reefs around the islands but the chart was pretty accurate so finding the way in was pretty straightforward.
Anchor position:- 07° 07'.6N 117° 05'.8E, 13m, mud

Wednesday December 19th
Pulau Banggi
   It was so nice to be in a peaceful anchorage away from the noise and dirt of the boatyard that we decided to spend a quiet day here. Small local boats buzzed up and down the channel every now and then and gave us a wave and a greeting but otherwise we could only hear birds. It is possible to get into the harbour behind the islands but we could see white tops on the wavelets so suspect the wind funnelled through from the NE. We think we were probably in the best spot for the NE monsoon.

Thursday December 20th
P. Banggi to P. Tigabu - 27 miles approx
   We left early and had about 10 knots of wind from the NE which made for pleasant sailing. Unfortunately we also had quite a lot of current against us which slowed us down a bit but we arrived at P. Tigabu about lunchtime. We were quite surprised to find a village on the island. There were a number of local boats moored not far from the beach and we anchored outside them avoiding the small but shallow reef in the middle of the anchorage. The village had a karaoke machine blasting out for most of the afternoon and evening and a number of small local boats seemed to be buzzing around aimlessly for most of the afternoon. The anchorage was fairly well protected from the NE by the island and its surrounding reefs although the water was deeper than we normally like to anchor in.
Anchor position:- 06° 52'.9N 117° 28'.2E, 15m, sand

Friday December 21st
P.Tigabu to P.Langkayan
   We left as soon as it got light (at least after waiting for a squall to go through) because we weren't sure whether or not we could stop at P.Langkayan. If we couldn't stop and had to go on to the next anchorage the total distance would have been about 60 miles. It was a dreary day with rain squall after rain squall and the wind right on the nose so we were close hauled in rain for most of the day. Not far from P.Langkayan a military aircraft flew round us a few times presumably to check us out then flew off into the cloud.
   We arrived at P.Langkayan about midday and spotted the buoy we'd been told about. Apparently if it's not in use you can tie up to it since it's another deep anchorage (about 20 metres). Not knowing whether or not it was available we called the Langkayan Resort on Ch 16 to check. The resort confirmed that we could use the buoy so we picked it up. We'd previously had to repair a tear in the dinghy so it needed to be pumped up before we could go ashore. We discovered that a crucial valve was missing and we couldn't pump up the rigid floor. We searched the boat in vain for something that would fit it but couldn't find anything so decided to put the problem off for another day and give up the idea of going ashore.
Mooring position:- 06° 30'.2N 117° 54'.9E, 21m (floating mooring line close to ugly looking buoy)

Saturday December 22nd
P.Langkayan to Sandakan - 45 miles approx
   The weather was dreary again, rain all around the horizon We'd considered stopping for a day at P.Langkayan but the anchorage was ok but not brilliant, the weather was miserable and we couldn't get ashore so we moved on. Our next planned anchorage, P.Silingaan, was only about 20 miles away but when we got there we found that on the SW side of the island the reef came out quite a long way and we would have to anchor some distance from the island. It felt very exposed so we decided to continue on to Sandakan which was another 25 miles or so. Coming into the harbour at Sandakan we were shadowed by a military vessel for a mile or two. The border with the Philippines is only a few miles away and the border area is quite sensitive.
   We anchored right in front of the Sandakan Yacht Club not far from the Naval base so we should be quite safe.
   We'd managed to make one of the canoe valves fit the dinghy by packing it out with PTFE tape so we could now inflate the rigid floor - unfortunately we'd also found a tiny hole in one of the side tubes so that had to be repaired and the glue takes 24 hours to go off so we still couldn't go ashore until the next day.
Anchor position:- 05° 50'.4N 118° 07'.4E, 7m, mud 

Sunday December 23rd to Wednesday December 26th
Sandakan
   We gingerly pumped the dinghy up and were pleased to find it was holding it's pressure so we could go ashore. The staff in the Yacht Club were very helpful although the office staff weren't in because it was Sunday. We had a walk around the town, it seemed a relaxed and comfortable place. The market was excellent, the building looked quite new and it was the cleanest market we'd come across with fresh looking fruit and veg and a good variety to choose from.
   We visited the Sepilok Orang-Utang Rehabilitation Centre again and the baby orang-utangs were just as appealing as they were the first time we saw them although this time a large troupe of macaques descended on the feeding area to scavenge the leftovers.
   Christmas Eve we did a bit of shopping then went to see The Agnes Keith House. Agnes Keith lived in Sandakan with her husband and children in the 1940s and wrote amongst others the book 'The Land Below the Wind'. During the Japanese occupation she and her family were interned first in Sandakan then in Kuching but they returned to Sandakan after the war. The house is now a museum and has been restored to it's 1940s state. In the evening we had dinner in the Ocean King Seafood Restaurant. The food was excellent and very fresh and the restaurant was a noisy, bustling hive of activity.
   Christmas Day was very quiet. It's officially a holiday in Malaysia and shops and restaurants play schmaltzy Christmas music but it's not really celebrated in the same way as it is in western countries. We had lunch in a colonial style restaurant on a terrace overlooking the bay under blue skies and gentle breezes.
   We managed to find an Avon agent in Singapore who has a spare valve for the dinghy in stock so we just need to organise getting it to Sandakan and we're ready to move on. After discussions with the agent we arranged for money to be transferred and as soon as it has been received they will ship the part. This could take a few days so we will proceed with our original plan of leaving tomorrow to take Carillon into the Kinabatangan River and check back with the Yacht Club every few days until the part arrives. All we need to do then is to return to Sandakan to pick it up.
Anchor position:- 05° 50'.4N 118° 07'.4E, 7m, mud 

Thursday December 27th
Kinabatangan
   There is a shallow bar at the northern entrance to the Kinabatangan River so we'd like to go over it on a rising tide. The channel isn't marked so we're relying on waypoints supplied by yachts who've been there. The tide should be suitable by mid-afternoon so we leave Sandakan about midday. We motor round to the entrance and creep over the bar. The shallow part is about 5 miles across and our minimum depth was 2.2m, that's 0.2m under the keel so not much to spare. Just inside the entrance 3 rivers meet so we head up the centre one, which is the Kinabatangan, towards Kampung Abai. Close to the entrance we spot a very large bird feeding in the mud flats so we decided it would be a good place to anchor for the night. After watching the bird for some time with the help of our bird book we decided it was a Lesser Adjutant, a type of stork just over a metre high.
Anchor position:- 05° 47'.5N 118° 20'.6E, 4m, mud 

Friday December 28th
Kinabatangan
   We moved on late morning once the current had slackened off a bit. Inside the river the depths varied from 3m to 23m and it was a bit challenging at times finding the deep water channel. We spotted two groups of proboscis monkeys crashing around in the trees at the edge of the river. The small village of Abai is about 9 or 10 miles up the river just at the junction with the main part of the Kinabatangan. We turn right here in the direction of Sukau. Abai appears to be a very small village with no road access. Here the river is much wider and deeper for the most part although we did find the odd shallow spot. There are one or two wildlife lodges here but the majority are around Sukau. Quite a few boats from these lodges with their complement of tourists passed us along with a few very small local boats some tending their fish traps. We anchored for the night by a small tributary which we'd been told led to an ox-bow lake. Exploration by dinghy found the lake, a bit of wildlife and a local fisherman with some enormous freshwater prawns he'd just caught. Money changed hands and they were delicious cooked in a garlic and ginger sauce.
Anchor position:- 05° 40'.23N 118° 23'.35E, 9m, mud 

Saturday December 29th
Kinabatangan
   We continued on up the river to a spot about 11 miles downstream of Sukau. The current is running at up to 2 knots so progress is quite slow giving us plenty of time to watch out for monkeys and birds in the trees each side. There is a palm oil plantation quite close to the river here so the jungle strip is very narrow or non-existent.
Anchor position:- 03° 33'.7N 118° 20'.2E, 8m, mud 

Sunday December 30th
Kinabatangan
   We reached Sukau in the afternoon and that's as far as we can go. There are power lines across the river and we think they are too low for us to pass underneath. We anchored at the downriver end of the village with a two knot current stretching out the anchor chain. The barge ferry passed us several times during the afternoon. It comprises a tug tied alongside a flat barge which carries vehicles from one side of the river to a road about half a mile downstream on the other side. Not too bad going against the current but quite challenging with two knots of current underneath it.
Anchor position:- 05° 30'.5N 118° 17'.6E, 10m, mud 

Monday December 31st
Kinabatangan
   Our friends Philip and Sue from Lifeline had given us the name of an expert on the local wildlife. Zainal was his name so we gave him a call to see if he was free to meet up with us. He told us he was based a long way up the river at the moment and with his family and some local help was in the process of renovating a Field Study Centre for use by university students. We would like to meet him so we decided to have a go at getting under the power lines to try to get a little further up the river. Lyn went up to the top of the mast while Steve drove Carillon very slowly towards the power lines but it was no good. Even at the side where they were at their highest from the top of the mast they were still only at eye level and only having a few inches clearance would have made coming back down with the current unacceptably dangerous. We re-anchored and called Zainal to let him know we couldn't get upriver and he very kindly offered to come down the river in his speedboat to pick us up. Late afternoon found us speeding up the river with Zainal and three of his family arriving at the Field Studies Centre at about 8p.m.

Tuesday January 1st
Kinabatangan
   Zainal had sustained a back injury a day or two ago and was finding it difficult to move around so his assistant Budin and a co-worker were assigned to be our guides. We took the launch down the river and along a small tributary. Both our guides were very good at spotting and identifying wild life. We saw three crocodiles, one of them about 4-5 metres long sleeping on the bank, otters scurrying into the undergrowth, proboscis monkeys and many birds such as the storm stork,oriental pied, white crested, rhinoceros and wrinkled hornbills, serpent eagle, brahminy kite, kingfishers and others we couldn't identify - a most enjoyable trip. On returning to the Field Centre we found an orang utan feeding in a tree just by the door of the house and a large wild pig wandering across the garden.

Wednesday January 2nd
Kinabatangan
   This morning Budin and two of Zainal's family took us back down the river to Carillon. We were sad to leave and very much appreciated their hospitality and especially enjoyed Asnih's (Zainal's wife) cooking. She was kind enough to give Lyn some hints on cooking fish.
   Once back on board we moved off and anchored in a quiet spot a few miles downriver from Sukau.
Anchor position:- 05° 35'.8N 118° 20'.5E, 7m, mud 

Thursday January 3rd
Kinabatangan
   We'd been a bit concerned about our water supply since we'd filled the tanks before we left KK but hadn't run the watermaker or filled up since. The river water was fresh but very muddy looking so not all that nice for washing in. Today it rained almost continuously and with the dinghy the right way up on deck we caught enough rainwater for washing and washing up to last us some days, certainly until we were out in the open sea and could run the watermaker again.
   We anchored for the night close to the bank and before long a group of proboscis monkeys came crashing through the trees to nest for the night right opposite where we were anchored. They look so much like little old men in white trousers that it's hard to believe they're not human. When night came the clouds drifted away and the trees were full of glow worms sparkling amongst the leaves.
Anchor position:- 05° 42'.4N 118° 24'.8E, 8m, mud 

Friday January 4th
Kinabatangan
   We are going to leave the river at the southern estuary at Dewhurst Bay so when we reached the T-junction at Abai Village we turned right. This branch is much wider and deeper than where we entered the river. We were a bit nervous about coming downriver because the current was running so fast when we came up, however it has slowed quite a lot in the last day or so and we only have one knot pushing us downriver - a bit less harrowing when we reach the shallow section near the mouth of the river.
   The section just before we come into Dewhurst Bay is very shallow so we spent some time zigzagging across the river trying to find the deeper water. Eventually we came out into Dewhurst Bay. The wind was about 15 knots blowing straight in so we anchored about 5 miles from the entrance in the mouth of a small bay.
Anchor position:- 05° 35'.7N 118° 35'.1E, 5m, mud 

Saturday January 5th
Kinabatangan to Sandakan
   The bar at the southern entrance is not quite as shallow as the northern entrance. We are expecting to have about 2 metres under the keel at the shallowest part. As we approach the open sea there is a small swell but it seems manageable. As we get further out the swell increases and we are crashing into short steep waves about 2 metres high. With the water over the bar being so shallow this is not good but by this time it's almost as bad to go back as to go on so with great trepidation we continued. The depth sounder was swinging between 4 metres and 0.9 metres and we were expecting to hit the bottom at any time. Eventually after what seemed like hours but was actually about 30 minutes the depths started increasing and we were over. If we hadn't already got grey hair we certainly would have had by the time we reached the deeper water. It was certainly one of or more scary experiences.
   Our original plan having left the river was to head for Lahad Datu about 60 miles to the south. It's a port of entry so we could check out here and also get a bus back to Sandakan to pick up the spare part for our dinghy before heading to Indonesia. As it happened both the wind and the waves were coming fro the SE so we could either bash into the seas and the wind or have a leisurely comfortable sail back to Sandakan where we could also check out and pick up our spare part without the bus ride.
   We picked the comfortable sail and got back to Sandakan about 5p.m. and anchored just off the Yacht Club again.

Sunday January 6th
Sandakan
   One of the jobs that had to be done was to clean out the fuel tank. We noticed on our trip up to KK that the fuel filters were unusually dirty and discovered the fuel was cloudy. This meant there was some contamination, probably bacterial growth so we planned to empty the tank and clean it as soon as the fuel levels were low enough to make it practical to do so The time was now. We bought enough cheap containers to hold the fuel that was still in the tank then pumped it out and used the fuel to flush out the sediment in the bottom of the tank. The little boatyard next to the Yacht Club was quite happy to take the old fuel to use for cleaning engines so we left it with them. We had a slight hitch in that the pump we were using packed up and we had to postpone the whole thing until Monday when we could buy another pump.
   Early afternoon while we were still working on the tank our friends Sue and Brian from Sea Rose turned up at the Yacht Club. It seems they were travelling around by car with a visiting friend when they spotted Carillon. It was lovely to meet up with them again.

Monday January 7th
Sandakan
   We managed to buy a new pump which was quite a lot bigger than the old one and enabled us to finish the job very quickly. All we have to do now is replenish the fuel so we have a full load when we leave. We arranged to hire a car tomorrow to check out, buy diesel and buy foodstuffs.
   We will probably leave very early Thursday morning and head south until we're clear of the southernmost Philippine islands. Depending on the winds we will then either head east across the top of Sulawesi then down the east coast of Sulawesi or continue southward down the west coast of Sulawesi towards Bali.