This is about Daryl & Laurel Fisher and their cruising adventures on the catamaran "Cool Bananas"...


Thursday, 4 August 2011

North West Borneo. June – July 2011


Abinico School we gave donation to......................Socialising at Abinico Yacht Club

After a week in Puerto Princessa, with our visas rapidly running out, we do a last check of the weather and head down the coast. This coast has earned itself a bit a bad reputation what with monsoon south westers making their way up the coast, pirate ridden bays and the treacherous Balabac Straits to be crossed. So I am more than a bit relieved when we arrive safely into Kudat on the Borneo coast. The only incident that got the adrenaline pumping was as we passed through a channel between Pulau Bangii and Pulau Balambangan. We had enjoy a spectacular sunset when we noticed two unlit fishing typed boat appear from the dim shoreline, do a u turn and begin following us. Many fishing boats head out to sea at dusk to fish the night but was this what these two were up to? On went the radar and we watched as they kept pace with us. Thankfully a breeze came up, they dropped behind and after about 30 minutes they turned slowly away.

What time is it in Kudat?......................................One of the many colourful fishing boats

Without crew aboard and cruising in areas previously cruised we’ve been going at a relaxed pace. A fair amount of time has gone into making decisions on what we plan to do in the next few years. A ‘loose’ plan has formed. The Phituk Boatyard in Satun, Thailand have agreed to haul us out in early October for a repaint that will probably take about three months. They would like to see the boat up there in early August to do a quote. OK……..Phituk is 1500 nautical miles away and it is already late June - that certainly gives us a plan!!


Cool Bananas in Sutera Harbour..........................Sutera Yacht Club entertainers

So we don’t waste too much time motor sailing our way from Kudat to Sutera Harbour Resort, a few well earned days by the pool, then onward we go. We had a beautiful calm night anchored at Pulau Tiga, glassy seas and even a turtle bobbing and splashing around us in the evening. How often could one say that the last thing they heard before drifting off to sleep is the sound of a turtle taking a breath before descending?

We hit Labuan Marina for a few nights. Daryl was most intrigued with the marine pile rammer, supposed to be the largest of its type in the world. We were less than impressed with the teeth chattering jarring it created on board, but at least it was only during the day.


Pile rammer at Labuan Marina

A tip from another cruiser was to have a buffet lunch at the Dorsett Hotel, the flashest hotel in town. Signing ourselves in as ‘seniors’ (that’s 55yrs in Malaysia) the total bill, when it came, was less than NZ$15…..and the buffet was very good, with the service being faultless. Highly Recommend.

Next stop Brunei with a main purpose of cheap fuel. We kept this stop very laid back with fueling and socialising at the yacht club the only ‘must dos’ on the agenda.

Relaxing at Royal Brunei Yacht Club

One long day motor sailing then took us from Brunei to Miri. We were luck to catch up with Chris and Judy on ‘Braveheart’. They recently haul their boat at Phituk for similar work so it was great to pick their brains about boatyard life in Thailand. We also caught up with Chris and Desiree on ‘Trigger’ who had some valuable tips on land travel in Vietnam and Cambodia. We had hoped to go up to Mulu National park for a few days but the marina was fully booked, so we only got a berth on ‘borrowed time’. Mulu will need to be next time.


Lighthouse at entrance to Miri Marina

Cool Bananas at Miri Marina.................................Local police boat

Friday or Saturday night is the time to be at the Everley Hotel in Miri for their extravaganza seafood buffet meal. Somewhat more expensive that the Dorsett in Labuan but if you like king prawns bbq grilled in butter and garlic, it’s worth every cent for them alone.

Sunset at Miri Marina.........................Garlic prawns at the Everley buffet

While we’ve been travelling we’ve hatched a plan to do some land based travel in China to fill the gap between when we get to Thailand and our haul out date in October. So we use our stop in Kuching to get our China visas from the Chinese Embassy there. As luck would have it we met a Tauranga couple at the Embassy that was in there picking up their visas. They assured us it had been a simple process that was done and dusted within five days (and their itinerary was even vaguer than ours). Typical of our style of travel we are not joining an organized tour but will do it all ourselves.

Little swallow who came in to rest...................This little one we had to give a 'burial at sea'

Local boat.................................................................Sunset at Kuching


While in Kuching we got word that a rafflesia flower was currently flowering in the Gunung Gading National Park. The rafflesia plant species has the largest flowers in the world. This one we see is a small one compared with what is usually seen there but considering it takes 9 months to mature and only flowers for 4-5 days we feel lucky we can visit it in it’s prime (day 3). That afternoon we take the opportunity to revisit Semenggoh Wildlife Park to see the orangutans. We were amongst the first to arrive and the last to leave, as I seem to never tire from watching these creatures.


The rafflesia flower

Borneo's flytrap................................Trekking with the guide

Female happy to have the king's attention..........The king

Our chosen mode of transport for this stop over is motorbike. Daryl loves the fact he can dart in and out of traffic, jumping queues at will and be able to park in the most unconventional spots. For me, it is far from fun, although I appreciated its convenience. I do believe these little Asian bikes, with their skinny tyres, were never designed for the two of us!!!

The bikies...............................................................Lunch with Tauranga couple Mike and April

We visited the Kuching Museum where they had an amazing display of taxidermy animals, including a pair of cattle. These were done in the 1920’s by an Englishman. No easy feat I would imagine.

Kuching Museum built early 1900's...................Orang skeleton

On a good weather forecast we depart Kuching and all going to plan we will sight Singapore in three days time.

Leaving the Sungai Sarawak