July 2024
We had been planning to have Imagination hauled out here in Kota Kinabalu (KK) so that we could clean her bottom and repaint, but the boat yard was too busy at the end of last month and were very slow getting back to us to let us know the soonest date they could lift us. Because of that, we made other plans intending to go to the Sabah Parks HQ ( the management office of the marine parks in this area) on Monday 1st, to obtain a permit to visit nearby Gaya Island for a couple of days. We had decided it would be nice to get away from the dirty anchorage for a couple of days before sailing and clean the bottom in the shallower and cleaner ( maybe hoping for too much) water. As we were making our way ashore, we noticed two guys in the water alongside their small boats near the harbour wall – they were looking for lobster/crab. Shawn asked them if they would like to earn some money which they were both eager to do. We took them back to Imagination and they got to work over the next 4 hours or so and they did a great job of cleaning the bottom. With that being done, we decided to skip Gaya Island and sail directly to mainland Malaysia and so we spent the morning into early afternoon visiting the various agencies to do the required domestic clearance for departure on the 2nd. The rest of the day was extremely wet and we caught lots of water to top up our tank and drinking water. The rain continued overnight and into the following morning and we delayed our departure by a couple of hours by which time the weather was brightening up. We were away by 12.10 and on a slow and steady motor sail across the South China Sea.
The first night at sea we encountered many fishing vessels and the following day we passed several ships and an oil field with a quieter night vessel wise to follow, but not before we had a sunset visit from a delightful pod of dolphins who entertained us for a good 20 minutes. The remainder of the sail remained mostly calm, and we passed through several other massive oil/gas fields, but the closer we got to Singapore/Malaysia peninsula, the more vessels we encountered with the last night being the most stressful. As daylight broke on the 10th, all of the many huge cargo ships and fishing vessels that had been stationary at the entrance to Singapore Strait that we had managed to navigate our way through, started to move into the shipping lane. We managed to position ourselves just outside of that lane, well out of the way of everyone else and we slowly made our way along the Singapore Strait to Senibong Cove Marina, Johor Bahru, Malaysia where we received a warm welcome from the staff there at around 15.50 after 8 days at sea.
The next few days were spent doing odd jobs and relaxing and during that time, Shawn and Ally decided it might be nice to visit a nearby Indonesian Island as they didn’t get to visit Sulawesi. On the14th July they were up at 06.00 to catch the 9am ferry for the 2.5 hr crossing to Batam. The small resort was a little tired ( Covid!) but pretty and peaceful with friendly, helpful staff – everything Shawn and Ally needed for a couple of days.
Having returned to Imagination on the afternoon of the 16th, the 17th July was spent finalising packing for a visit home to the UK and getting Imagination ready for their departure and extended time away. On the 18th July they travelled by land across to their hotel in Singapore where they were able to check into their room 5 hours early. That evening, they went to Sentosa Island where the tallship, The Royal Albatross is docked. Shawn worked as First Mate/Project Manager for 18 months during some of her refit in Malaysia from 2009, and it was wonderful to see the results of all the labours. He and Ally met up with former boss, Pete and his partner, Sylvia and had a tour of the beautiful vessel before enjoying an exclusive dinner on deck, cooked by the ships chef, while a hostess served drinks. A superb evening.
Friday 19th was a long day which started with a trip on the MRT ( a very well organised and simple to navigate underground train system) and found their way to Singapore Zoo where they walked for hours looking at the various animals. Most are in lovely enclosures, but some are kept in less than ideal conditions eg elephants and white rhino’s. They finished there at around 17.40 ish and had something to eat before making their way to the Night Safari. Thankfully, we were allowed to enter at 19.30, an hour and a quarter before the time slot they booked for. The queue for the tram/safari vehicles was ridiculous so they didn’t bother, choosing instead to walk around trying to see what they could. There were far too many people, with high noise levels so many animals didn’t want to be seen initially, but as they moved away from the throngs, backtracked and navigated themselves around, they managed to spot a lot more. On the 20th they were back on the MRT and then a monorail to visit the Aquarium on Sentosa. They had some very impressive displays and the most enormous tank filled with sharks, rays, mantas etc and about 6 scuba divers were in there too. They stopped by the royal Albatross again so Shawn could say hi to a crew member that wasn’t around a couple of days ago and then they made their way back to the hotel to pick up their luggage, change and get a car to the airport. They were super early ( their flight wasn’t until the early hours of 21st) but they were able to check their luggage in early which meant they could wander around The Jewel and eat. Never seen an airport like it…..waterfall, foliage and designer shopping +++. They had uneventful flights home with a transit in Dubai and reached their hometown mid afternoon on the 22nd where they had 3.5 lovely weeks spending time with family and friends but the time to leave came around all too quickly as is always the case.
Their arrival back in Singapore on the 15th August was very late at night so they stayed in a hotel and the following morning journeyed across the border to Malaysia using a bus service which was an experience as they had to lug their heavy luggage into and off of the bus with when they went through Customs and Immigration at the Singapore Woodlands checkpoint. They were delayed at the Malaysian Customs check as they had bought duty free with them and were told they had to pay 400myr duty on the 3 litres of spirits they had as they would be leaving again in less than 72 hours…that’s 80 quid duty on 60 quids worth of liquor! They told the authorities to keep the booze, but as they were walking to the office to do the paperwork, the senior officer had a change of heart after chatting along the way, and she told Ally and Shawn they just had to pay duty on one bottle. Result.
They got a Grab car from the land checkpoint ( SE Asia equivalent of Uber) back to Imagination, arriving mid afternoon and as they slid the saloon door open it was very clear that there had been a power failure as the defrosted juices of the full freezer had leaked and congealed on the saloon floor. It was straight to work for Shawn trying to figure out the cause, and for Ally cleaning up the horrid, sticky mess. Once power was restored and the clean up had been done, they went ashore and showered at the Marina before eating out. The 17th was spent finishing off resolving the power issue, doing odd jobs and unpacking and then repacking backpacks this time. It was a full, busy day and they were both exhausted by the end of the day. The 18th was another busy day as they finalised preparations for their next trip and readied Imagination for their departure again. Early that evening, they returned to Changi airport, Singapore, for their flight to Melbourne, Australia.
