Fishing anyone?

Dennis: Though we have had our line out a number of times during our passage, nothing has yet to bite. I think the hundreds and probably thousands of boats that are out trying to catch the few remaining fish are just as unsuccessful. We have seen some old methods of fishing here that are still in use today. Some were just nets hanging from two poles in the river to very long traps over two miles long coming out from shore jutting out into our sailing path. Could be a problem if you were sailing at night through the shallow waters. Rita will tell a story of one occasion of our near miss.

The best we have seen was near Kuching where nets were lowered into the water from a platform with a bright light suspended from it. The water was about 6-7 m deep. Some had huts for sleeping or had a shelter to protect a generator for the lights. The first night we saw them we thought it was a village since it was just off an island, then we thought they might be fish boats at anchor - until we got closer. They looked like the fighter planes from the Empire Strikes Back movie (Little cones on stilts). Many islands that we passed had these traps around them.

The rivers and inshore fishing had narrow boats some with single piston motors using drag nets, throw nets, and sometimes a trolling line trying to catch minnow sized fish. A huge fleet of boats carrying up to 4 men were always present during our sail. They trolled or set nets. The big fleets of deep sea boats had a string of football field lights stretched across about 40 feet and the lights shining down to attract fish and cuttlefish into the drag nets. At night the whole horizon is glowing with these banks of lights. As I said in my fist blog, its the absence of birds and flying fish which is an indicator of an empty sea these fishers are trying to make a living at. Apparently the boats are subsidized for their fuel consumption. At any rate there is probably little political will to stop this overfishing and no cooperation with other countries so the result will be a sea devoid of any living creatures. We almost did it in Canada and are trying to do it on the west coast with our salmon. Enough of the depressing views, the sailing has been a learning process for both Rita and me and we have many more stories to tell when we are back home.

Rita here: The calm AFTER the storm. After a couple of relaxing days in Kuching, in Malaysian Borneo, complete with showers and air con at the marina, we started to make our way to Pontianak, Indonesia. Not more than a couple of hours away from the marina, we could see a storm heading our way. We ducked for cover in the same bay we had anchored in several nights earlier, at the foot of Bako National Park. Just in the nick of time, as the winds started to whip us around, the rains pelted us, and the waves tossed us around like a cork. Once the storm abated, we again headed out and spent the next 2 days and one night beating our way down the coast. It was exhausting -- everything on the boat was leaned one way or the other as we pounded, thumped,and tacked our way through the unsympathizing waves that washed right up over the boat -- soaking us as well as everything else in the boat. Our second night was shaping up to be more of the same. There was a collective sigh of relief as Cress spotted an island ahead and decided that we should try to anchor in a protected bay for the night. By this time it was getting dark. With "Eagle Eye" Dennis as our spotter, Cress forged ahead. "I see lights ahead" declared Dennis. "Must be houses." "Are you sure?" inquired Cress. "Well, they aren't bobbing up and down like boats", said Dennis. As we got closer, it was decided they weren't houses, so they "must" be boats. Closer yet, and Dennis realized we were headed into a group of fish traps, some of which were not lighted, and therefore nearly impossible to see. "Go to port", Dennis shouted to Cress. "Now go to starboard". It was like a slalom course! Suddenly Dennis yelled out "STOP! We're about to plough into one !" As Cress jerked the boat aside, a pole passed RIGHT beside the boat -- we had just passed throught 2 poles, like goal posts, marking another luckily empty trap. How we managed not to hit the pole (and not get hit) is amazing. After the narrow miss, we positioned ourselves in a quiet spot safely away from any traps. We tidied up, and after a round of stiff drinks, we had a good laugh over our near calamity. We spent a lovely, calm night, and all had a good sleep. Next morning, as we looked out, we could hardly believe our eyes. We were in a minefield of fish traps, (at least 70 of them), many with "guy wires" anchoring them. It is a miracle that we, and the fish traps, survived the previous night intact.

After a good rest, what had been a tough slog the 2 previous days became a challenge, and more fun, as we headed out for more beating and tacking, making our way to the mouth of the Kapuas River. The Kapuas River is like a major highway to Pontianak. We passed many freighters and tugs --again, some unlit, so it was stressful steering for Irena. However, she got us safely to a quiet anchorage for the night. After another long day, we were glad to have quiet waters and a good night's sleep.

The uphill battle to Kumai

Irena: After 4 days and nights of 20+ SE winds - UPWIND all the way, we have finally reached Kumai. It was a struggle made bearable only because of our most amazing crew - Dennis and Rita. It is an understatement to say that they kept us all going - cheerful while being tossed around the galley trying to just pour a cup of coffee, steadfast at the helm through up to 25 kts of apparent wind, and up at all hours of the day and night as we all took our turns on watch. They are the definition of "good sports"! Thank you Dennis and Rita - we will always think of you when we sail upwind - which we hope will not be for quite some time! In fact, we are altering our course for the next leg and will head for Jakarta rather than Bali in order to go downwind. It will just be Cress and I for the next passage, and 400 miles downwind is a heck of a lot more appealing than 400 miles upwind.



However, that is not for a few days yet. We are currently anchored on the southwest corner of Borneo, up the river opposite the small town of Kumai (20,000 pop). A quaint town that relies on tourists who are coming to visit Tanjong Puting National Park to see Orangatans at the conservation/rehabilitation center - which we are about to do in the next couple of days. We are really looking forward to this trip on a river boat (while we leave Conversations in the good hands of a local 'guard'). We did manage to find a wonderful fish and fruit/veg market here where Rita talked us all into buying and trying a Durian (Aromatic - ok smelly - Asian delicacy fruit only Asians could love). I made it 5 years in Singapore without tasting a Durian - until last night. Only have 2 words - NEVER AGAIN! Sorry - but it was really aweful - and all I could taste for the next several hours - something like a cross between an onion and mashed bananas....

Ah well - now I can say I tried it at least - thanks Rita! OK - turning this over to Dennis next who has an account of part of our trip from Pontianak to Kumai. We did manage to make 2 stops along the way. One just to get out of big seas and take a break, and the other for my birthday celebration. It was fantastic. Only Cress, Dennis and Rita could have pulled this off. A star- studded evening, candlelight, roast chicken, roasted veggies, salad and chocolate birthday cake coming after 24 hours of upwind sailing. There were so many stars in the clear and dark night they were lighting up the water - just beautiful. Cress and I saw a shooting star that seemed to trail for 30-45 seconds. Great birthday :) I guess 55 will not be so bad after all. Irena

Pontianak

June 22, 2011-06-22
Cress: Pontianak, Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Tis the day after skate board day, and all is well! Our new young skateboard friends from Pontianak sent us off in fine style with boxes of Bingka, a custard/egg local specialty (it was delicious) and a skater t-shirt for me. Irena said it best, “we couldn’t have been more welcome than we were in Pontianak”.

And so it was in our first stop in Indonesia. I will confess to some trepidation making our way up the river of this most populous nation, past industrial grime, hazy airs, and then, the shanties perched along the river bank on stilts, people washing their clothes in a river so muddy at least, I was reluctant to step in. But as we motored up the river past the town center in search of the dock to check in with officials, we were taken in hand by two friendly chaps from the local coast guard who guided us in, helped us anchor, took us ashore, bought us coffee, told us of their families, showed us where Immigration, Customs and the Harbour Master hung their hats and then waved from the coffee shop each time we passed to and fro all morning long. From the moment we stepped ashore, there was friendliness, generosity, and curiosity. I will leave Rita to tell the tale of Iqbal and his friends, but for my part, let me say thank you for the t-shirt Reddy, and thank you Iqbal for your hospitality, friendship and help shopping for boat bits.
Ah yes, sailing and boat bits. It was a fair bash south from Kuching to Pontianak- 250 miles upwind against a full SE, S, SE Monsoon. But I must say I am over the moon with our capacity to sail upwind. Full genoa to 20 knots apparent, down to staysail after that, we made our way windward, tacking through less than 90 degrees at about 6.5 knots against good sized seas. The rig and new sails working without fault. I was concerned however coming up the river to see our engine losing power, but after four hours sweating in the engine room this proved to be the fault of dirty fuel plugging filters (fuel acquired in Tioman, Malaysia)} . Now outbound, with a box full of new Racor filters found on a dusty shelf in Pontianak, we hope to get through the remaining Malaysian fuel. I have no more replacements for the engine fuel filter, fingers crossed, because the Racor filters are only 30 microns. The last filter we replaced was BLACK. While in Pontianak, Dennis took the Bimini in hand, lowering it to avoid the mainsheet bash. Rita sewed hatch covers for the two forward Lewmar hatches, hoping to keep the saltwater out. Irena cleaned up after 4 days of upwind sailing, got the laundry done (what a hero!) and everyone pitched in with new provisioning.

Last night we had a bit of a scare. We left Pontianak town to motor down the river to a quieter place to anchor for a last night’s sleep before heading seaward to resume the southbound bash, when out of the dark came a very small high speed runabout full of 5 men shouting. They circled at high speed a couple of times, then came directly alongside as if to board (without invitation as you can imagine!). Things peaked with me standing at the rail shouting “No, No, No” and motioning them off, but on they came. Turns out they were the auxiliary coast guard, who were very apologetic when they saw what a fright they had given us. We explained who we were and what we were up to and then they roared off like the key stone cops, climbing on top of one another, hitting something in the water that stopped them, bringing the whole show to an eerie quiet. With a restart, the comedy continued, as they disappeared back into the dark. They were back just after midnight, but came more slowly, circled at a distance, and went off in a more leisurely pace. In the end, I was just as glad to have them out there patrolling, but gosh, I wish they didn’t approach like bandits!

Dennis: After arriving at Kuching, I still was saddened by the lack of care for the ocean and rivers. While in anchorage at the lovely marina that was brand new, the junk in the river was awful. Absolutely everything was in the water floating by. They have to start recycling here. After leaving Kuching and sailing in less than ideal conditions for 3 days we arrived at the mouth of the Kapuas River, dropped anchor and spent a very relaxing quiet evening listening to the birds on the shore. The first thing I noticed was the lack of plastic junk in the river and as we went up to Pontianak, no junk except branches from trees. Even with all the freighter traffic (and there was lots), the river was clean. We later learned from one of our new founds friends (Iqbal) that the country has a recycling program and that one of his friends has become very rich in the recycling program. We noticed little row boats combing the water’s edge for plastic and cans. The river still has some plastic bags that need recycling but I think the main culprits are the crews of the freighter whom I watched throwing stuff overboard like they do at sea. Rivers here are really quite muddy looking but are probably very fertile along the deltas where all the people live.

Rita: What an unexpected gem Pontianak turned out to be. We stopped to check in, provision and do laundry. Arriving on Sunday, not much was open. However, while Cress & Irena were in the Kartika Hotel lobby trying to get their internet to work they met a lovely young man named Iqbal. As it happens, Iqbal is a photographer & he showed Cress & Irena some recent photos on his camera. Imagine their surprise when Cress & Irena saw a photo of Conversations (anchored just in front of the hotel); Iqbal was equally delighted to meet the owners of this beautiful boat. He chatted with us at length and gave us all kinds of information and tips, AND he speaks excellent English (rare in this town). We arranged to meet him and several of his friends the next evening. What started out as “We’ll show you a good restaurant to get traditional Indonesian food” ended up being an entire afternoon and evening spent with 4 lovely young men – Iqbal (27 yrs) –‘ guide and translator, To-il (22yrs) skilled and fearless driver, Komang (23 yrs), guitarist and photographer, brother to To-il and business partner to Iqbal, and Reddy (19 yrs) who owns his own business selling and servicing skateboards, and is also a tattoo artist.
After running us around to do errands, they took us to the Equator monument and the Istana Kadriyah –- the ironwood palace constructed in 1771 for Pontianak‘s first sultan. They then took us to a bustling traditional open air market. There was stall after stall of all kinds of produce and some fish. We had so much fun buying our provisions – and Iqbal acted as our middleman. After dinner at a lovely restaurant, we all came back to the boat. We sat around listening to their music and drinking “American Iced tea” (a term Iqbal coined for beer).

The next day (Tuesday) was a big day for them. Every June 21, skateboarders from all over Indonesia come to Pontianak to celebrate boarding. Our 4 new friends were all planning to take part. Even with that big event taking place, they found time to meet us for lunch –- and brought us some wonderful Bingka – a delicious (enak) traditional baked custard that is available only in Pontianak. AlaMA! (Wow!) It was yummy! And can you imagine?? These 4 young men even invited us (4 middle-aged tourists) to their party that evening. Lucky for them we had to leave ! , but not before Iqbal took Cress around on his motorbike to hunt down some special oil filters he needed for the boat.

Iqbal, To-il, Komang, and Reddy – Terima kasih!! You made our visit to your beautiful city so special. YOU are so SPECIAL!! Keep safe and happy, and we hope you can make it to Canada someday! We would love the opportunity to welcome you to our home and show you around. And we would just love to be able to meet again someday in this wondrous world of ours.

Irena: What more can I say? This place was our diamond in the rough, a very special treat after a few days of rough and tumble seas. We can only hope that somewhere in Canada, a few Indonesians are being welcomed in the same way that we were. This is why we love travelling in our unique way on ‘Conversations’. Cruisers are rare here in Pontianak, so we were somewhat treated as celebrities here. On the streets people would shout –‘Hello!!! How are you!!‘ – basically any English they knew!! It got to the point that when someone would shout –‘ whats your name‘ – I would reply –‘Joan Wilder‘ (I am sure some of you will get that).
And so, we are now set to make our way down the coast to Kumai perhaps stopping to snorkel at some islands along the way. Until then……
The Captain, First Mate and Good Crew of Conversations bid you farewell

On our way to Indonesia via Malaysia??

Greetings me hearties!

We rest t’day at the fair docks of

Kuching, 10 miles up the Sungai Serawak, a river of Borneo remembered for its head hunters of yesteryear (we hope) and Proboscis monkeys (Jimmy Durante eat your heart out). Let our dear friends Dennis and Rita (we are four aboard S.V Conversations these days ) tell the tales of hardship in the city, of broken gear, and fast passages on the South China Sea during the high season of the SW monsoon.

Dennis: After spending 5 wonderful days exploring Singapore and all its sites, eateries and getting spoiled in a 5-star hotel arranged by Irena we were able to get out to the sailboat and ready ourselves for our journey. In fact, Irena and Cress being the great hosts they are, left us with their room at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The hotel came complete with a 150m swimming pool atop of the three tower 57 story structure. They went to the boat for the weekend to start cleaning and provisioning it. Rita and I went to the boat on Tues night with a taxi full of food for the trip. As we were anxious to get sailing, we decided to forego getting propane for one of the tanks as it would take 2 days to refill it -- bad decision). Once underway we were surprised to see the sharp contrast between the very clean city and the absolutely filthy harbour. With up to 1000 freighters in anchorage at one time and the crews having no regard for disposal of waste, there was crap floating all over the place.

There were no birds or marine life anywhere. In fact the whole of the South China Sea has little marine life as opposed to the abundance we saw on our first passage across the South Pacific. Otherwise our sail has been very pleasant.

Rita: Ahh…to be on the ocean again!! But all is not to be smooth sailing!

Before we even got away from Singapore, Rita broke the chain in the steering column. That’s right, the chain!! (think we have a candidate for strong lady in the next circus). Out came the emergency tiller as we made our way to a grubby looking fuel boat, then off to anchor at a “small island”.

First job next day was for Cress and Dennis to fix the steering. Success! (much to Rita’s relief) Now we are really on our way. We sailed all night, through tons of freighter traffic, and reached Pulau Aur (80 mi. from mainland Malaysia), greeted by a fabulous sunrise. There are several resorts lining the shore, but it is mostly quiet and the landscape is breathtaking. The water is so clear that we can see the fish, just off the sides of the boat. We had several fun excursions snorkeling; our first day we saw a sea turtle. Unfortunately on one of our trips away from the boat we left all the hatches open and YUP!! We got a tropical downpour!! After scooping up coconuts on our way back we had to mop up and try to dry out – cushions, rugs, bedding. Aside from the inconvenience, it was nice to feel cool. We had a couple of days of unsettled weather so we finally sailed in the pouring rain to Pulau Tioman, but not before Cress & Dennis had to spend several hours repairing the throttle which had got stuck in reverse!! We anchored in a lovely bay on Tioman. There are lots of resorts, a golf course, and a commuter ferry, but the water is clear and the landscape is lush. There are trees full of ripening mangos, jackfruit, and bats by the scores!

NOW WHERE IS THAT RUNWAY AGAIN????

By June 6^th, we were anchored near the marina, which was full, as we watched several Dash-8’s land and take off from the narrow, short runway in the trees. Irena is arriving on one of those??? But she made it!! A happy reunion and a fun evening.

The next day was another adventure as Dennis & Rita made their way by ferry over to Mersing in search of propane. No luck!! However, Cress, with the help of the local marina, cobbled together some system whereby he was able to fill our tanks with butane. So we can cook (and eat!!)

We sailed 3 days and 3 nights to Kuching on the Malaysian side of Borneo. Arriving at night, we anchored off shore. In the morning we went in search of the “marina at the mouth of the Santubong River”. Either we misinterpreted the guidebook or it was mistaken. The only dock there is private and we couldn’t tie up there. So off we went to Pulau Lakei. Slow going at first due to lack of wind, but we made it. We anchored in a beautiful bay, just at the foot of Bako National Park.

There is a huge pile of boulders that looks like a male figure – a guardian on the point between the park and Pulau Lakei. The waters are calm, the terrain rugged – much like the coast of BC. We spent a serene evening there, with the songs of the birds and other night creatures to lull us to sleep.

Irena: Well I think I have finally shaken off the work ‘buzz’ and have managed to slow my pace down to almost the rate of the local Malaysians (can’t quite get myself into that slow amble). I cannot imagine what it is like for the women here to be fully clothed complete with headscarf AT ALL TIMES when outdoors. Being a predominantly Muslim country, these are the ‘rules’ (I am quite certain these must have been made up by men!). In any case, we are at a small marina for a few days, so the air conditioners are going at full tilt while we are one board. Tomorrow we are going for a hike into Bako National Park to see what wildlife we can and get a taste of the jungle, that we can’t really get from the anchorages and seaside. Then we will start making our way into Indonesia since our cruising permit has finally arrived.

Cooking with Dennis and Rita on board has been a wonderful treat. Waking up to freshly baked scones and bread is the most amazing thing. In fact Dennis and Rita are in town as I write to pick up some local produce for the next part of our journey. We will have email access for the next couple of days, so please drop us a line – we would love to hear from you!

That’s it for this installment. Drop us an email or comment on the blog, we miss you all and would love to hear from you. Cresswell(at)sail7cs.com.