Brunei to Miri

We could have waited endlessly for the wind to arrive in Brunei. When it did come it usually brought lightening, thunder and rain. So, instead of waiting for the next deluge we decide to take our chances and clear out of Brunei and head southwest along Borneo’s coast and back into Malaysia.

We were very casual about departure but eventually got going at 1100hrs and under police escort headed out of the bay and the breakwater and into light westerlies. At least enough to sail in and being from forward of the beam provided a nice cooling breeze allowing us to make fair way over the ground.

By 1700hrs the skies were getting black, the sea a little grayer and our nerves getting to us. Luckily the sultan’s brother had built a huge private marina in Jerudong located behind an incredibly large man made breakwater for his mega yacht called Tit (on an aside his yacht has two tenders of which one is called Nipple 1 and the other Nipple 2). Moving on…

Seeing as this marina is currently unused we availed ourselves of it, entered the breakwater, turned to starboard, dropped the anchor and went down below to escape the impending deluge which lasted about 15 minutes. We thanked the Sultan’s brother, had dinner and went to bed.

Next morning at 0500hrs, up to make tea, check the engine, turn on the lights, start the engine, pull up the anchor and head out to sea and hope we can make Miri by nightfall.

It quickly becomes evident that making it to Miri by nightfall will be an impossibility. There is no wind and we plod on under power until 12 noon when a breeze lights up from the west. It does not allow us to head directly to Miri but at least we are sailing. Our real concern is to try to weave through the myriad oil fields before dark. The chart shot below shows our progress through the oil fields just as the sun is setting. We are moving from right to left across the chart following the yellow line which is Sage’s actual route.

After clearing the oil fields we slow down realizing we are not going to get to Miri by nightfall. We have just come through a maze of what I would call an engineers wet dream. To me the oil rigs look more like ginormous mecano sets floating on the water. Some of them are lit, some are spewing out flames burning off the excess gases while others remain unlit and I assume unused. “What, unlit you say?”. Yes, unlit which almost needless to say is hazardous to the health and well-being of sailors.

With Connie on watch from 0200 – 0400hrs and me down below snoozing I am suddenly awakened by Connie shouting out the order for all hands on deck. What’s happening? I stumble out into the inky blackness (clear skies but no moon) to find looming in front of us a 100 metre high unlit vent pipe. All our sailing experience comes to the for and we know what needs to be done. Despite the darkness we know where everything is and are able to immediately move to a corrected course to keep us away from ramming a vent tube. Once again fortune is on our side and we escape for another day.

Finally Miri. We stop at 0400hrs a few miles offshore waiting for the morning light and motor into Miri marina. Yes, another marina but no swimming pool, no towel service and a four kilometre hike into town. More to explore and perhaps another crocodile; or, so they tell me here cobras and pythons on the dock. Do I believe them?