Captain’s Log: Serasan, Sarawak River, Kuching

Aug 21 – 23

Hi All,

August 21: Passage to Serasan from Midai: We left right at 6am for the 11 hour passage…..anchor down and passage beer by 5:10pm…….LIG…..another very beautiful anchorage with a long, long beach!!!

Stats:

Position: 2 32S 109 04E
Traveled: 85 nm today
Course: 110M COG
Wind: 3-8 kts S-SSW
Waves: 1-2’….very trawler like, seas almost glassy, just a little roll….LIG!!!!
Speed: 6.6-9.0 kts; 7.7 kt avg; 1625 rpm
Weather: 10-30% cloud cover; sea temp 87* F; air temp 88* F, 80% humidity….yes, it is STILL FRICKIN HOT!!!!
Boat sightings: ~10-15; mostly fishing boats but 5 tankers
Fishing: Yep, fishing not catching:(((((
Sail: down
Fuel burn: very good, 1.30nm/gal

August 22: Passage from Serasan to mouth of Sarawak River…..about 12.5nm away: Wow….was it dark when we got up at 4:30am for our 5am departure…..clouds, no moon or stars….impressive…..fortunately at 5am the dawn is just breaking so it got light soon thereafter. We had storm clouds all around us so we knew we were in for a bumpy ride. The storm clouds sort of stayed south and west and while we did have some wind/waves forward of the starboard beam it was not too bad. But then, as we approached the Sarawak river the skies became threatening again with winds from all directions…..20-25G30kts NE-SW At about 8nm from where we wanted to anchor, the clouds burst open….couldn’t see more than 100 yards……and it was very dark. The anchorage was an hour+ away and we maybe had 30-40 min of daylight left so we chose anchorage #2, not as protected but doable…..by the Santubong mountain, which we couldn’t visibly see and it was all red on the radar….ugh……the Admiral got thoroughly soaked doing the anchor thing……not even a wet t-shirt comment brought out a smile:(((( Then the games began…..there was a funky tidal current that held us into the current but then the winds shifted to the SSE from the W….10-15kts……we were unprotected from the 6+ nm fetch……ODG…….did we rock and roll that night or what….Kathy did her best to put Mystic in battle control mode but still when we woke up we had lots of stuff on the floor or knocked over…..it was indeed a wild ride taking 2-4′ waves on the beam all night…..arghhhhhh!!!!

August 23: Passage from Santubong Mountain anchorage to Kuching up the Sarawak River:

“TRICKLING down from a small stream in Upper Kapuas Range, Sarawak River meanders and bisecting Kuching City into two zones – South and North — and ends its long winding journey to the sea 120km away at Muara Tebas. Cruising up and down Sungei Sarawak is an relaxing and enjoyable experience for tourist. Two centuries ago, the first white Rajah, Sir James Brooke, set up an early settlement opposite two populated Malay Kampungs — Boyan and Surabaya — on the left bank of the river as his administrative centre. Since then, that part of the river had figured prominently in the life of the early settlers, contributing to the birth of downtown Kuching.”

The marina is located north of the City and we need to be there at high tide slack in order to be able to dock in the marina. We are right at spring tides and they say the river can flow up to 5+ kts….no way to dock in that kind of current. So I meticulously plotted our course and calculated 26.5nm , which at 8 kts takes about 3.25 hours……we left at 1:45pm for the 5pm slack at the marina……and guess what….we arrived right at 5pm….yes, take a pat on the back John…..and it it was slack tide. The marina is run by the government and Port Captain and you can not make reservations. Kathy did call and they said just come in and take any berth you want. So, we made a pass and picked a berth…..most of the good ones were already occupied but we did find one in the section downstream and protected from all the floating debris…say trees, logs, et al……so we docked, tied up extra lines to handle the big currents…..and then had our passage beers on the FB by 6pm……LIG……oh, but wait…..there is power….hmmm, do we trust it….we had expected the marina to be in bad shape….much like the marina we saw in Tioman which was full but was in sad shape. This marina, however, was well maintained and the man who came out and helped with our lines said the power was good. So, what the heck…..we had now been on the hook for 41 days and the batteries could use a good topping up!!! Hmmm….after an hour the power/AC-12 unit is working just fine….do we dare try the AC……sure, why not…..OMG……the AC worked all night…….ODG….is this decadence or what:)))))….the Admiral said she may never leave the boat…..now there you go, exploring the world from our pilot House:))))) We celebrated with burgers and a movie before we both had the sleep of the dead!!!!

Stats:

Position: 1 33S 110 24E
Traveled: 27 nm today
Course: all directions following a winding river
Wind: 5-12kts primarily SE
Waves: 1-2′ outside the river and no waves on the river
Speed: 6.8-8.5 kts; 8.0 kt avg; 1200-1600 rpm; kept reducing the rpms to keep speed close to 8 kts so to arrive at the marina at high slack tide
Weather: 10-40% cloud cover; sea temp 87* F; air temp 88* F, 80% humidity….ugh!!
Boat sightings: too many to count; lots of oil tankers, logging, mining et al
Fishing: Nope, not today…….all eyes on the River
Sail: down
Fuel burn: GREAT, luv that flood tide, 1.51nm/gal, flood tide up to 2 kts helped considerably!!

The Plan: Tomorrow we will go check into Malaysia again….for the 3rd time….and then go provision….yep, more lettuce and tomatoes:)))) Then after that we will spend 5-9 days exploring Kuching and the surrounding area….Borneo here we come!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon
Kuching Malaysia on Borneo Island