As usual, some of our friends are spread far and wide. Nancy's latest report shows that Blackwattle is on its way to Tunesia, while Crystal Blues recently reported in from Northern Borneo.
Meanwhile, Richard and Jill on Köln are enjoying their time at the Whitsundays and were last reported at Airlie Beach. They reported seeing Shirena (website) at Turtle Bay last Friday (25/8).
[read comments for the latest reports!]
This is Robert from Shirena. We are in Abel Point Marina till 31 August. Our plan is to cruise the Whitsunday's till 22 October. After that we will leave the yacht in Laguna Marina for the cyclone season. Our latest position can usualy be found on our web site shirena.info.
Robert
Hi Robert,
Good to hear from you. I have added a link to your website and added Shirena to the permanent list of Cruising sites.
Hi to all our friends at the Alfreds.
Jenny & I are currently at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club in Malaysia. We intend to leave here in about two weeks for a leisurely trip to Phuket and another NE Monsoon season there.
We wil not be doing the Kings Cup Regatta this year (after winning the Premier Class last year)as we intend to explore some other areas of the west coast of Thailand and possibly Myanmar before starting the return trip home next year.
Best Regards,
Brian & Jenny Hayden - Yacht VIDA AUS146.
Brian & Jenny,
Great to hear from you! Keep in touch...
Marius
Latest Chrystal Blues report:
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 11:12 AM
Subject: Crystal BLues Heading South
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hello everyone,
After a very busy three weeks we have finally left Kota Kinabalu. Why
were we busy? Initially we arrived with Neil's brother, Peter and his
partner Maria. After they left we decided to do some exploring.
Our first trip was by train to Tenom. We traveled 150km for AU$3.00.
It was a small local diesel, mixed goods and passenger train. On the
way up we rode in the caboose, sitting on the floor with our feet
dangling out the doors. Neil got to ride up front with the driver, the
engineer and the whistle blower. The track wandered up through the
jungle, along a river through the Crocker Mountains. We stayed in
Tenom for two nights. On the way back we managed to get a seat in one
of the cabins, but we also sat on the flat bed carriage just behind
the engine.
The second trip was by car to the Tip Of Borneo and Kudat. Again
traveling with Mike and Sue, off SV Skedaddke Again, we drove past Mt
Kinabalu, through rice paddies, palm oil and coconut plantations. We
visited a village where they made the tradional musical gongs and
bought wild honey.
Last week we flew from Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu on the East Coast
of Sabah. We then spent 3 days in a lodge in the rain forest in Danum
Valley. We were lucky enough to see many native animals including 3
of the local wild cats and one orangutan. We also hosted many
leeches! We left the jungle and traveled by mini bus to Sandakan for
two nights. We visited the War Memorial built in remembrance of the
1600 Australian POWs that died there and on the forced marches. Our
traveling companions, a lovely French family, introduced us to their
favourite Indian restaurant. We enjoyed fantastic roti and curries
here daily.
We are now anchored in the river off the Royal Brunei Yacht Club. It
is a very cruiser-friendly club, with great facilities, including a
pool and internet access. Today we are moving up river to buy 500
litres of the diesel. Can't tell you the exact price, but it is about
0.26c Australian per litre. Tanks will be full when we leave here ...
All is well aboard. We plan to be in Labuan on September 2. Following
that we'll be in Miri for a few weeks, then we have planned a trip
inland, up the Rajang River, which we expect will take 2 to 3 weeks in
total.
Cheers to all,
Ley & Neil Langford
SV Crystal Blues
Lat 05deg 16N Long 115deg 04E
Latest from Ted and Nancy (Blackwattle):
First Friday finds us on Day 8 of a four day journey from Tunisia to
Majorca. There are wild gales up to Force 10-11 in the north around
Corsica, which pounded us when we stuck our nose a little way north.
We retreated south again along the coast of Algeria. We have been also
chased by thunderstorms, by lots of big ships who seem to want to use
us as a target, and for the last couple of days we were becalmed. Now
we have 20-25 knots on the quarter and are lurching towards Gibraltar
in a see-saw sea, never having seen a grain of Majorcan sand.
And I thought the Med was supposed to be glamorous sailing!
Probably get there in about three days
Lots of love to all our old buddies in the Cruising Division - we're
starting to think about getting home a lot.
Cheers
Ted and Nancy, Blackwattle