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07/07/019 Sun.  Life in Labuan goes on........over two mornings, before it gets too hot, we have made patterns for a new sprayhood - much needed now as the old one is some 15 years old.  An event named Labuan Big Show has been going on for the last three days and on Friday evening we took a walk down to Labuan Square to see the hot air balloons there.  You can ride them, but they only go up about 50 feet so we gave that a miss!  Lots of people there and many side stalls selling toys, clothes, tools, food, drinks, etc.

 

10/07/19 Weds.  We are plagued with flies onboard!  It's been like this for several weeks now, it happens every year but this year it seems the 'fly season' is extra long.  Inside the boat is OK because of our fly screens on hatches and the door but the cockpit is sometimes so bad!  We have sticky fly papers which are about 10" x 8" and place two of those in the cockpit, at the end of the day each has over 200 dead flies!

12/07/19 Fri.  Still making patterns for the new sprayhood, searching for various bits that we need to complete it.  Ana has sewn the side panels to the top of it before it rained this morning.  Renewed our gas bottle today after searching town for another supplier as our usual one has closed.

13/06/19 Sat.  Up to the office again this morning to cut out sunbrella and stratoglass for our sprayhood - original ones and the new patterns do not match, so we are having to adjust the cutting accordingly.

15/07/19 Mon.  OK, we are having problems with this new sprayhood!  When we put it on the framework for it's first 'fitting', it was way out despite following patterns.  Yesterday, we unpicked the seams and this morning re-stitched it to a different configuration before trying it again on the framework - still wrong!  Strong winds again today stopped any further progress, so we still haven't figured out what is wrong.  Boats continue to arrive, and some leave, all participants in the Sail Malaysia Rally, mostly Australians, couple of Brits. and an American next to us.

17/07/19 Weds.  The sprayhood is giving us a lot of problems, we are up each day and on deck at 6am, doing 3 hours on it before breakfast.  We have unpicked several seams for Ana to restitch before fitting it again for another try.  All day today has been spent on it (we started it on the 5th of this month!) and still it does not fit correctly - it's driving us both mad!Never mind, it's Wednesday......our night out with Craig and Neil for a few beers and a meal, we were joined by Tony of Dancing on Water and Alain and Violetta.

19/07/19 Fri.  Despite our best efforts, we have still not managed to fit the sprayhood properly.  It will have to wait now until we return from Brunei.  Last night we topped up the diesel tank with 60 litres, today Craig kindly dived on the hull and gave it and the propeller a clean and tonight we walked to the garage and bought 10 litres of petrol for the outboard.

20/07/19 Sat.  Jabatan Laut, Immigration and Customs - check out for departure tomorrow morning.

21/07/19 Sun.  Slipped the mooring and motored across to Muara in calm conditions with little breeze, making 6 knots due to a nice clean bottom!  Anchored off RBYC, Serasa just after 11am.  Took the dinghy down to immigration at 1pm .......and the fun started!  Firstly, the security on the ferry dock wouldn't allow me to tie up in my normal place, insisting that we use the dinghy dock behind the main piers.  I pointed out that there was nowhere to tie up the dinghy on that dock and I refused to go there.  After a 5 minute argument, I was allowed to tie up in my normal place!  Then it was Custom's turn, the job's worth there was not pleased that we had taken two hours to come and check in, saying we must come immediately to check in.  I went off on the Captain's duty to ensure the safety of his vessel and crew first and foremost and that I would not leave the boat until I was happy the anchor was secure - then I would have to inflate the dinghy, get it in the water, install the engine, motor down to immigration, so he was lucky it only took 2 hours and not 6!  He backed down then.  Returning to the dinghy, we found that the engine refused to start!  This is a first, but I had lent the engine to Tony prior to leaving Labuan and he may have put some dirty fuel in it.  After 30 minutes of trying to start it, we decided to leave it there and walk back to the yacht club for help.  At this point, a speedboat pulled in and the two lads on that had a go at starting it as well, without success.  They then gave us a tow back to the anchorage which was good of them.......but it was behind a 400hp speedboat at almost full throttle!!  Back at the boat, we hoisted the engine onboard and I stripped the carburettor off and cleaned the jets - all good again.  Ashore in the club that night, a rainstorm came in and we got soaked going back to the boat at 10pm, the storm lasting most of the night.

22/07/19 Mon.  Another storm this evening and once again we were ashore in the club, so we got soaked again!  The anchorage is open for a long way here and the wind picked up the sea, so we had a very rolly and bumpy night.  About 1am, a loud bang had me on deck - the front steel wire of the dinghy bridle had parted and dumped the dinghy bow first into the sea, so we had to remove the engine and stow it on deck before streaming the dinghy astern of the boat for the night.

23/07/19  Tues.  Made another bridle for hoisting the dinghy this morning, and again another rainstorm during the evening.

25/07/19 Thurs.  Did our shopping today in Supasave and also picked up 100 litres of diesel.  Ferried the diesel back to the boat and went ashore to the clubhouse, only to get soaked in a downpour once again when returning to the boat.

26/07/19 Fri.  A sunny day for a change.  Took the dinghy down to immigration again during the late afternoon, again the same argument with a different security guard, again I won.  Checked out for departure tomorrow morning and returned to the clubhouse for dinner.  Back onboard at 10pm and hoisted the dinghy on deck, stowed the engine and prepared to leave at first light.

27/07/19 Sat.  Up at 5am and my first coffee, made everything ready for sea and we weighed anchor at 5.35.  Outside the channel, a one metre swell made for a very rolly passage to Labuan but with a F3 wind on our stbd quarter we were able to unfurl the genoa and make reasonable time.  We arrived in the marina a few minutes after 9am but someone was in our berth so we had to circle until they left before tying up at 9.35am.  Into town and checked in with immigration.  Put our tent awning up and then entered waypoints onto the chartplotter in readiness for going up the Klias River again in a few days time.  We joined Craig and Neil at the Back Yacht for a beer in the evening.

29/07/19 Mon.  The weather continues to be very unsettled with sessions of strong winds and rain....at least we don't have to go back to the boat in a dinghy now!

31/07/19 Weds.  Our usual night in the Back Yacht for a meal and a few beers with Craig and Neil.  Met Neil's guests Samara, Charlotte and Sean who have flown out to spend some time with him onboard Shelley.

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