Kota Kinabalu to Turtle Islands
We departed KK on 24 July 2024 for Usukan, a small town 37 miles north of KK. Crocs are renowned along the coast of Sabah from KK right round to Sandakin on the east coast, so unfortunately swimming is off the menu.
This is a form of torture when the cockpit temp reaches high 30’s and you’re unable to jump over the side for a dip. Not that the sea cools you off that much as average temp here is 32 degrees. There were a few lodges on the coast at Usukan which advertised diving, but I’d say this would be on some of the off shore islands because the shore line here was dotted with mangrove forests and brown muddy rivers which is croc real estate. Usukan was just an overnight stop and the next day we were up early and headed for Kudat.
Kudat is the northern most point of Borneo. It used to be a bustling trading post in the 19C but now is a quiet chilled town with a pop of 30 000. Here you could anchor in what was called the duckpond, a wee inner harbour with a few jetties and a yacht club. But we chose to anchor outside and dinghied in for a meal at the yacht club with the rally boats. We had a heap of the freshest juiciest prawns, and a few coldies to wash it down with. A memorable meal.
Kudat was the beginning of our Navy and Police escort (ESSCom) for the rest of the rally. In total we had 21 rally boats, a mix of nationalities (mainly Australians- with some Swiss, Germans, Scottish and north Americans) and a mix of monos, cats and 2 big power cats. We were given instructions on which routes to take and were not to spread out more than 10 NM along the coast while voyaging with patrol boats at the fore, aft and seaward side of the convoy.
While at anchor overnight we were scheduled onto 2 hour watches to watch for any suspicious activity. What ever that may be.
The East coast of Borneo suffered terrorist attacks by the Abu Sayyaf (an ISIS affiliated group from the Philippines) who in 2013 attacked Lahad Datu, a town on Sabahs East coast, resulting in 68 deaths. In 2000 they took 21 tourists from Sipadan, (a marine park island which is on our schedule) hostage, holding them for 6 months, but they were all eventually released unharmed. Between 2014-16 there were 12 kidnapping incidences along the east coast by the same group. Needless to say this was devastating for the tourism industry and why ESSCOM (Eastern Sabah Security Command) was founded to patrol the maritime region. It is ESSCOM that will provide our escort through these waters and includes a both naval and police presence.
We did feel quite safe and assured with our escort, navy and police boats with armed guards and machine guns on the bow which I’m sure would be a big enough deterrent to any militia lurking around. The only thing that really concerned us was the media attention and publication of the routes and times that the rally would be voyaging. We didn’t feel it was wise to broadcast our movements, but from the reception we got in the towns visited along the way you could see it was hard to curb their enthusiasm for a fleet of 20 odd boats anchored off their shores. Officials and media were out in force to make us feel so welcome. They looked upon our boats and us as ambassadors for tourism. Although I certainly didn’t get the feel that tourism was in decline from some of the spots we visited.
Below is a wee video that the ESSCOM boys did for us! You’ll see some footage from the river trip which will be the next post. It was a very memorable trip-but all for the wrong reasons
The next morning we got a grab cab into the local markets and stocked up on fruit and veges. Then back to the boat for a short haul to Banggi Island, one a group of islands just off Kudat where incidentally a woman had been attacked by a croc in Jan this year. Luckily the villagers beat the croc off and saved her. We opted for a ocean swim a couple of miles from the island, convincing ourselves the crocs wouldn’t venture out this far. So we all jumped in for a refreshing dip, while Warren stood on deck watching for anything suspicious. I dont think we swam more than half a meter from the duckboard but it was still nice. The lure of a dip in the sea bigger than our fear.
This was a short overnight stay and the next day was a beautiful 50 mile sail to Jombongan where we anchored in a uninspiring estuary. Below is a clip of Kanaloa having a nice sail.
Another 50 mile sail the following day saw us at the Turtle Islands. We anchored off Selingan, the largest of the islands which is a turtle hatchery. As soon as the anchor was dug in we jumped over for a swim in lovely clear, croc free water. Magic. Greenback and Hawksbill turtles come and lay there eggs every evening, they are then collected and placed in labelled hatcheries in the middle of the island away from predators. These turtles are massive, I’m not sure how they move in the sand but its a big lumbering task for them to get themselves up above the high water mark, dig a very big deep hole and lay their eggs. Funny how the males are conspicuously absent during this arduous task. Once the hatchlings appear they are transported back to the waters edge where they find there way into the sea.. ….And then get eaten by birds and fish. Oh well. Its estimated that only 1 in 1000 survive to adulthood. Grim statistics. The hatchery lifts the initial survival rate in the dash across the beach to about 20%. Glad I’m not a turtle ….
The anchorage here wasn’t great with a short, steep chop that saw many boats have a sleepless night. Poor Joleen got the brunt of it getting tossed around in the forepeak while Warren and I had a relatively smooth night in the back cabin. Morgan can basically sleep through anything, but he is wind wary and as soon as a squall or rain shower hits us he is up shutting hatches and securing everything above deck. Good man.
Morg, Joleen and I went for a snorkel on the Selingan reef in the morning, there was a bit of fish life but mostly the coral was bleached and had seen better days. Good coral is very scarce these days. So stay tune for the next post which is our trip up the Kinabantang River.