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01/04/26 Weds. Happy Birthday Ana! We are still in the process of getting the boat ready for sea and it's taking longer than expected as we can't find some things which are 'lost' onboard.
02/04/26 Thurs. OK, all good now, yacht club bills paid and we let the mooring buoy go at 1200 and made our way down the channel to the sea. That's where it all turned tits up! There were 2 to 3 metre swells capped by white horses and a strong stern wind with the mast swinging through an arc of about 800, a couple of hours into that and Ana became sick and an hour later so did I. That's a first for me! We did the first 25 miles before anchoring in the shelter of Malanao Island.
03/04/26 Fri. Last night wasn't brilliant as we only had partial shelter, some of the swell coming around the side of the island, so at 5am we pulled the anchor and motored 6 miles around to the other side of the island. We stayed there all day.
04/04/26 Sat. Weighed anchor at 7am for another try to head south - but just a short way. We dropped anchor behind Rasa Island at 11am, more sheltered here and neither of us was feeling much better.
05/04/26 Sun. Weighed anchor at 6am, moved out to sea and set course for San Antonio Bay. We were both getting our sea legs now and feeling much better, helped by the swell abating somewhat. Dropped anchor at 5.30pm, got a good meal and a better nights sleep.
06/04/26 Mon. Set off at 6am again for our second 'long' leg to Balabac Island, the last Philippine land. After 60 miles, we achored off the town of Balabac and settled in for the night.
07/04/26 Tues. Another fairly long leg today (about 55 miles), crossing the shipping lanes and Balabac Strait to Malaysia and Balambangan Island. This wasn't a bad passage with no incidents. However, on arrival at our usual anchorage, the wind picked up to over 20 knots as did the swell. Looking into the bay, I decided it would be an uncomfortable night if we were to stay there. I decided to continue for another 5 hours and head direct for Kudat. We entered the pond in the dark at 7pm, narrowly missing a fishing boat that was coming out with the helmsman asleep or blind. Safely moored in our usual spot alongside Shelley and had a brief catch up with Craig and Josephine.
13/04/26 Mon. We are settled in now and today we went to the authorities to check in. Jabatan Laut took just a few minutes. Quarantine took about an hour as no one was in the office and we had to wait, Immigration and Customs were no problem except for the difficulty in taking my fingerprints - five attempts at that! Also, there is a new procedure now, we have to go to the TCO office (Travel Control Office) which was also shut, so we went for lunch and to the bank before returning. There were 3 police officers questioning us and taking mug shots but all OK. Then we picked up 3 X 20 litre jerry cans of diesel to top up the tank.
20/04/26 Mon. Richard has asked us to drive him to the airport in KK on Wednesday, so we will have a couple of nights there and try to sort out some of our electronic issues.
22/04/26 Weds. Up early for a 5am start as Richard's flight was at 9.50. Drove down to KK without too much hassle and arrived at the airport around 8.30am. We dropped off Richard and went straight to the Yamaha dealers to get a tilt lever for our outboard but they had none in stock and I was told they never order them as a replacement part, yet I know of at least 6 of those engines that have broken ones. OK, breakfast and then to Karamunsing to get a new battery for Ana's laptop, again none in stock and has to be ordered which we did. Across the road to the Samsung Service Centre to ask about a new screen for my phone and that got complicated but the same result - none in stock, so once again had to order one. In Inanam, at the Jotun Paint Shop, we had our first success and managed to buy 3 tins of Chogoku antifoul paint.
23/04/26 Thurs. Basically a wasted day as we hadn't been able to get the parts we wanted, so we just wandered around Imago shopping centre. Went to TSM to get some sewing gear and had an early (ish) night.
24/04/26 Fri. Left the hotel at 0730 and went for breakfast in Damai Plaza, then set off back to Kudat, taking a leisurely drive back. We will obviously have to go back soon when the ordered parts arrive.
28/04/26 Tues. Two phone calls today - one to tell us Ana's battery has arrived and the second to say my phone screen has arrived. No news about the outboard engine tilt lever.
29/04/26 Weds. Craig, Josephine and family left this morning to go to KK, so they took Ana's laptop with them and will get the battery changed.
