Captain’s Log: Kuching to Miri, Sarawak on Borneo

Aug 31-9/2

Hi All,

We are safe and sound docked at the Miri Marina…….arrived around 9am on Saturday, Sept 2…… docked, met our neighbors, Bloody Mary’s poured with air-con on by 10:30am……sweet as!!!!

I forgot to mention in the last blog that the Kuching marina is very nice….super friendly people and the power was better than most of the marinas in the Malacca Strait……AND….only USD8/day……and that included power and water……I think that is the least expensive decent marina we have ever stayed in….sweet as!!!!!

We did leave Kuching on Thursday, Aug 31 at high tide slack as planned…..around 10am. But, not w/o a little drama……as Kathy was getting the lines ready she looked down by the starboard stabilizer and guess what….yep…..ANOTHER FRICKIN LINE caught on the stabilizer fin……..ugh…….this one the biggest yet….maybe 3+” diameter……all attempts to dislodge were fruitless and no way was I going into that dirty, muddy, crappy, crocodile infested water……ugh, ugh, ugh. So, we went about 25nm out into the bay…….~10 miles outside the river mouth…….got to about 100′ depth…..water was blue-green but looked clear……stopped Mystic…..donned all the snorkel gear and got wet…..easy-peasy……there was a spliced eye and it had got stuck between the kelp cutter and fin….yes, the rope was that thick….really…..that is NUMBER FIVE of items caught this season requiring me to dive…….arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

But, the rest of the passage was very trawler like…..in fact we didn’t need the stabilizers at all until the last 20nm…..winds <10 kts, seas 0-1′ all behind or on our beam…….and for the most part a big favorable current…..we averaged 8.1kts for the 288nm passage……now that is what I’m talking about……sweet as!!! Kathy was a bit concerned about all the oil rigs we were going to pass….she had read where some of the rigs are abandoned and not lit at night and in fact a catamaran actually hit a steel anchor bouy close to one of the rigs…..no problem for us as we got to the first oil rig at daybreak on Friday so we had good visibility on all the rigs…..but, wow…..maybe 50-75 rigs in total…..both natural gas and oil…….lot’s of tankers….small and large and crew ferries….very, very busy!!!! And, the fisherman……as we were rounding Palau Beruit the first night…….~80-100nm from Kuching……around 7-10pm……the sky was lit up with ~50 fishing boats all pulling nets……about 25 or so as we rounded the point……but just like last year……everyone on my watch got out of the way….I never had to divert…..Kathy had to divert 2 times on her watch but wow……nice guys!!!!

We didn’t quite make Miri Friday night…..got to w/in 24nm and stopped to anchor at the Niah river at sunset…..just a roadstead anchorage……anchored in 25’…..still 2 miles from shore……yes, very shallow around here…..the night was ok….a bit rolly at first but then sometime during the night the seas and wind just died. We were up and out by 5:30am….just at daybreak….~45 min before sunrise……we had to time the Miri entrance for >4’……high tide was at 7am but still enough water at 9am……we made it by 8:45am!!!!!

We celebrated with BM’s and BLT’s and a very long nap for John-boy:))))) One of the challenges when you get to a new place is as you look at each other……so now what do you want to do….well, let’s do some cave touring as that is what Miri is known for….hmmm, ok…..all attempts to contact the Rally (since we never made it to the Rally most of my attempts to contact the Rally have had no response….ugh……and the harbormaster looking for a tour guide met with no joy…..so, we both get on Google…..make a few phone calls……now, this is Malaysia’s Independent Day celebration….the actual day was last Thursday….we actually saw fireworks on the coast as we passed Thursday night…maybe 10nm off…….but they make it a 4 day w/e…..plus Sarawak has just won the SEA Sea Games so the PM gave Sarawak Monday off too……great……is anyone working????

We did find an enterprising young man….Allan at Borneo Adventure……we both had a hard time understanding each other but once he learned we were on a boat and had no transportation he said no problem….I’ll come to your boat….perfect…..he shows up around 11:30am……delightful young man……we quickly arrange 2 private tours…..actually they were both group tours but no else is signed up…..start of slow season now in Sept…..sweet……Niah Caves and Gunung Mulu (this one will be an overnighter)…..perfect!!!!!

That means we will most likely leave Miri this Friday Sept 8 and get to Brunei on Saturday Sept 9th in the afternoon…..we will anchor Friday night along Brunei’s coast!!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon
Miri Sarawak on Borneo!!