Back in the Blue Again

Well here we are back in blue water and diving again at the lovely Tioman Island which is located in the South China Sea, about 35 miles off the East Malaysian coast and thankfully a long way from Danga Bay.

Tioman Island

Danga Bay served its purpose but we stayed way too long (6 weeks), ended up arguing with the manager like just about everyone who goes there, Captain Ron is a rude Aussie from Geralton who goes out of his way to make people dislike him. Danga Bay’s proximity to Singapore is it’s saving grace as it is a very simple process to travel to and from on a daily basis saving the need for overpriced accommodation. Generally for all goods and services Singapore is 3 times the price of Malaysia but still cheaper than OZ especially for boat gear and electronics.

Danga Bay

Singapore or “the bubble” as we call it, is ultra-modern with all the mod cons and a great MRT rail system that along with the connecting bus system can get you to virtually anywhere on the island for a couple of dollars. Just make sure you eat first before going through the turn-style otherwise it’s a $500 fine if caught with food, luckily our chicken rice escaped the authorities if not the concerned locals that looked at us as if we had just committed murder. Aussies – 1, Authoritare – 0

Singapore MRT - we've eaten in restaurants with dirtier floors than this platform

Our first trip to Singapore was to the zoo which we heard was one of the best in the world. Not being fans of zoos we were pleasantly surprised and would recommend a visit to anyone in the area, but wouldn’t make a special trip.

 

Keeping dry at Singapore Zoo is not easy even for the locals

Our second, third, fourth, and final fifth trip was to source various spares, pay deposits and buy boat bits, yes more, it’s never ending. Singapore is the hub of trading in SE Asia so everything is available it’s just a matter of finding it and the internet certainly helps.  We found a Yanmar dealer that supplied us with many spare engine parts (consumables) for much better prices than in OZ so we bought up. Only hassle was that we couldn’t deal direct with Yanmar and had to pay a cash deposit before the dealer would get the stock in from Yanmar who was just down the road. Like all Chinese it’s cash only.

King Cobra aka Singaporean Yanmar dealer

The storms kept rolling in while at Danga at all times of the day and night, on one day we got a rather violent Sumatra that caused havoc with the marina as the wind direction was from the section of bay with the greatest fetch, luckily our finger was well protected behind a wall but the rest of the marina was exposed to the 35kts and 1m waves causing mooring lines to snap and the end of one finger to break away. The storm lasted only 2 hrs and thankfully no boats were damaged. 

A pigmy hippo aka Singaporean business man

We caught up with a few people we hadn’t seen for a while and said our farewells as we probably won’t see them again for a long time, some are heading north to Thailand, others west to South Africa. Our Langkawi beer supplies were getting rather low so it was time for us to leave as well.

King and Queen of Singapore Zoo

It took us nearly 2 days to clean the boat after 6 weeks at Danga, firstly we removed the black garbage bags which we’d tied around the propeller and shaft to prevent barnacle growth, then scrubbed off dirty water stains from the waterline, then cleaned the black streaks off the topsides and deck which were the result of oil in the acid rain, sounds lovely doesn’t it. The oil is caused by a combination of palm oil refining processes, outfall from the oil fired power stations, fuel burnt by ships and fuel dumped by planes. Some boats which have been at the marina for 6 months or more have turned green with the algae growth which seems to flourish in the conditions.

Smog filled skies over Danga Bay

All stocked up and the freezer now running for the first time since returning to Rebak  Marina in February we headed off into an approaching thunder head which decided to turn nasty so we cut the day short and anchored in the Johor Strait near the Tuas bridge, traversing Singapore waters in rain squalls is way too dangerous for a small craft. Next morning was much better weather so we headed out and around the south side of Singapore through the maze of which seemed like a never ending mass of moored and moving ships. Several times we had to speed up and get clear of ships while contending with the rolling wakes of the pilot and patrol boats which pested us like flies. By 1500 we found a quiet anchorage in an inlet and set about fixing the few problems that had developed since leaving Danga. The worst was the anchor winch that seemed too die when we lifted the anchor that morning. We installed a new deck switch which solved 1 problem but not the main problem. The other problems experienced were connected with the tachometer and hour meter which were going haywire for no apparent reason.

Raffles Lighthouse SW Singapore

Up early and cleared the south eastern corner of Malaysia by mid-morning and thankfully all the ships. We had a very surprising experience which thankfully happened well before happy hour when a pod of pink dolphins passed by, yes pink!!, it took a few minutes for the event to fully sink in, we have heard of such a dolphin existing but we didn’t think it lived in Singapore waters. The pink dolphin we are familiar with is the Irriwady dolphin which lives in the Mekong River on the border of Laos and Cambodia, shame we didn’t get a photo.

South East Tioman Island - reminds us of Hinchinbrook

 

 The trip up the east coast was very pleasant as the water become cleaner and to our surprise a good sized queen fish committed suicide on our lure and was hauled in mid-afternoon. Our anchorage for that night was Jason Bay which was the only place that showed any sign of habitation in 40 miles. The anchorage was supposed to be in good holding mud but all we found was rock so decided to stay put and let out more chain, the sky was clear and all was calm. We feasted on the queeny and loved every mouthful then hit the sack. At 0245 the wind picked up and by 0300 it was a full blown Sumatra coming in from the south west at 44kts, we were about a mile offshore and reasonably well protected providing the anchor held??, the rain pelted down and the boat lurched from side to side but thankfully held position, the poor locals out fishing in their tiny boats were making very hard work of it getting back to shelter a consolation to us proving that they couldn’t read the weather either. The conditions continued for about 1.5hrs then eased quickly with just fine showers. It was back to bed for a couple of hours kip before the questionable task of getting the anchor up??

A storms a'brewing enroute to Tioman

Generally if you anchor on rock and hold in a blow your anchor is stuck, thankfully it was calm when it was manually hauled in (anchor winch died again didn’t it) we had caught on some kind of rockwork and as we moved forward we rotated around it in the right direction, it came up without a “snag”. The next anchorage was only 25 miles away and protected from the south west at a small island called Pulau Sibu. Lovely island with several backpacker resorts and sand bottom with clear water. Fish again for tea.

Thick cloud decending on Tioman as we approach the south western tip

Next day the sky was clear so headed off to Tioman Island about 35 mile to the north, arrived at the south western tip as a storm front approached and within 15 minutes enveloped the entire island and the winds increased to 30kts from the south west. The rain was so thick we were in a white out and had to do circles for nearly 2 hours before we could see again, we phoned a friend who we knew was in the small marina and they quickly arranged for a berth to be made vacant by a local fishing boat. The marina was a welcome relief as the seas were confused and the only anchorage in the bay was on a lee shore, which shoaled up from 20m to fringing reef. Needless to say the end of our beer supplies were polished off that afternoon before indulging again at the local watering hole owned by Captain Kerk a local rogue and minister for all things possible. The evening was finished off with a meal at one of the best Chinese restaurants we’ve been to.

The tiny 36 boat marina on Tioman Island

While catching up the previous evening we heard that our friends had been hit by lightning on their way here at a neighbouring island and had lost their VHF radio antennae, it just disintergrated, other items lost were the solar panel regulator, and the battery isolator switch, surprisingly the radio survived. The next day we gave them a spare antennae we had and got their radio working again. It was very scratchy until they bypassed their antennae splitter device which must have also suffered the effects of the lightning bolt. It can take weeks to find out the full effects of a lightning strike as more and more failures become apparent. We had a similar experience with our VHF radio and splitter when traversing the Malacca Straits in 2010.



Main street Kampung Tekek Tioman Is

Tioman Island is such a contrast to everywhere else we have been. The water is clear even in the small marina, the marina itself is very well protected and probably the best in Malaysia other than Rebak and Telaga, unfortunately most of the anchorages are exposed to either wind or roll. The beer is not as cheap as Langkawi but Chang beer from Thailand is available and tastes much better than Malaysia’s Skol. The alcohol content is the same 5% but the Chang’s not guaranteed, could be as high as 10%.

One of many nightly gatherings at Captain Kerk's

Pulled the anchor winch apart and found that rather than moisture in the motor as expected the motor was clogged with black dust accumulated from the brushes wearing. The gearbox was also clogged with muck, so after a thorough cleaning and some test runs it seems to be working OK, time will tell, and this island does not provide any repair facilities so it would require a ferry back to the mainland or a replacement shipped in.



One of the local inhabitants - Black Scorpion

After the forced repair works were completed we headed of in the dinghy to check out the reef close by the marina and were very pleasantly surprised by the quality of both the reef and fish life, so we are keen to get out again and do some exploring in the clean and clear waters of the South China Sea. Ah it is sooooo!!!!  good to be able to see the bottom again.

Beers and Cheers with a chilly Chang

J&J