Archive

Dream Charter Blog

August/September 2010:  Pictures

Left Brunei on August 17th after a great farewell party on Jenny.  Didn't get far only to Kuraman Island.  But did 6knots the whole way.  As it's the South West Monsoon we anchored on the Northern Shores of Kuraman and spent the day cleaning the very dirty bottoms of both boats.  Next day we sailed to Labuan where we stayed for a week. Petima was anchored outside the marina mostly and Jenny was tied up in the marina. We spent the week doing maintenace on Jenny and of course stocking up.  On our last day we hired a scooter and drove around the island(the first time we have had the opportunity in two years as we have always been in a rush anyother time we have been there).  We spent the day on the Northern side of Labuan stopping the War Cemetery, The Chimney and the Peace Park. The beaches are gorgeous and clean and there is no one around. Perfect!

We left on August 26th for Tiga Island. Here we anchored in front of the resort on the South side.  Went ashore for a beer and a chat.  Next day left early for the trek to the mud baths. Ahhhh. slimey but your skin feels great afterward. No fresh water there to clean up so we hiked to the nearest beach on the North side.  Walked the whole island to get back to the resort. Weather had turned rough when we got back so anchor up and we motored around to the quiet waters on the North side. Spent a beautiful lazy day here.

Left for Kota Kinabalu the next morning. Great sail. Anchored at Tanjung Aru beside the Shangra La hotel where we could pick up Wi- Fi. Arranged to pick up our batteries in the dingy at Sutera Harbour Marina. Not a friendly marina I might add. Got the batteries in the dingy before anyone noticed we weren't actually guests.  Had our bikes ashore at the water sports centre and cycled to town to put out our advertising in the hostels 'Looking for Crew'. Spent Merdeka day at the beach at Tanjung Aru.  Beach is lovely but very smelly with all the black water washing into the sea between restaurants. Had dinner and a few beers at one of the beachside cafes. Brought both boats around to the anchorage in front of Kota Kinabalu town(stinks and is full of rubbish) and did a fruit and veg shop. Tried to get our gas bottle filled but the technician didnt turn up all day so it just sat there. We brought it back to the boat empty. Bought a 1,000 Watt inverter for Jenny and Pete installed it straight away. He's very happy.

Moved around to Gaya Island. Was going to anchor at the Gayana Eco Resort but the bay was full of rubbish so we moved on to the next bay further West at Tanjung Tavaju. A little swelly. Got a good rain shower and had a look at some of the beaches. Moved around to next bay where the Bunga Raya Resort(the sister of Gayana Eco Resort) is located. Beautiful Bay. Very peaceful. Was one other yacht there, a Swiss catamaran. Water was so calm we spent the next two days painting Jenny. She looks so beautiful now. Spent a few hours snorkelling the headlands to the bay. The coral is dead here but there are lots of little fish and also alot of jelly fish but luckily we were both wearing stinker suits. Went ashore to have a look at the resort. They want to charge yachties 100mr to tie up to their jetty. They showed us around the resort which is absolutely beautiful and built to fit neatly around all the jungle. Only open one year and very quiet.

We hopped along the coast to Kudat stopping every night in a sheltered bay with a view to Kota Kinabalu mountain range. The last anchorage before Kudat was the best. Hidden in behind an island and sand spit. Great shelter and beautiful beach with fantastic view. Not many people around. Only 8km by road to Kudat, 15nm by boat. There is a half built resort here with a 24hr security guard. Looks like construction has stopped on the rest. All buildings are natural roofs with swimming pool, hamocks etc. Lovely resort and such a waste. Stopped a day here to explore. Arrived in Kudat after motoring the last 10nm. Wind on the nose once we turned East around the Tip of Borneo. Met up with some yachtie mates in Kudat. Parked Jenny in the duckpond and said our goodbyes for three months. She looks in great condition and very safely parked. 

Its been three days since we left Kudat and we only got 15nm up the road where we have found some sensational anchorages. And in between that we logged onto free wifi. You have got to love Malaysia! This place is smugglers paradise.  There is a huge army and police presence all around this coastline.  Some of the islands have been taken over by army camps.  Even though its the SW Monsoon we have had a mixed bag of SE and E winds.  So we slowly tacked our way to Sandakan and arrived 8 days after leaving Kudat. I saw my first water spout about one miles away from the boat.  It was a small one but still very impressive. We didn't stay long, just long enough to stock up on food again and send a few emails.  There was alot of other places we wanted to visit more. We motored directly for the Kinabatangan River. It got very shallow at the mouth(4ft). We anchored beside a water village just inside the river mouth and slowly made our way up the river the next day. We saw a wild juvenile Orangutan at a walk near one of the jungle camps. That was very special as its rare to see one these days. We got to Sukau and the first power line. Four yachts were anchored there including Ron, Simone and Skipper from Ramone. We went straight under the power lines with about 3 metres to spare. We found out that a small herd of pigmy elephants were further up the river so next day we moved on up. We got to the next power lines and again went under but this time with only a metre to spare. Ramone who were travelling with us couldn't make it. We were told that it was the first time in 5 years that a yacht had passed under the power line so the locals or Orang Sungai were suprised and happy to see us. We anchored for two days in the same spot where we saw fresh evidence of the elephants. Ramone came up by dingy and stayed onboard as we cruised up and down the river in search of these fantastic creatures. On the third day Ramone decided to go back down the river and we moved further up to Batu Putih where there is a bridge and some more power lines. This time we couldn't make it under the bridge. Here the local town run a tourism co operative and homestays for visitors. Very friendly place and gorgeous people. While we were there a local guide came over to us and told us that he had just seen the elephants on the river. We jumped in the boat and went back down river to find the elephants in the spot where we had anchored for the past two nights. They had been there for a few hours so we got to see them for about 15 minutes before they left. My first thought was they were pretty big even for pigmy elephants.

October: Pictures

During the first three days of October there has was heavy rain and the river rose by about 4 metres. We were a little worried we might not make it back under the power lines but we made it with a few cm's to spare. With all the rain there was a big current going down river along with trees, trees and more trees. Petima drifted down the river with the current which was so peaceful and give you time to hear all the jungle noises. We saw a huge male orangutan one evening beside our boat. He set up a nest for the night and stayed around the whole of the next day. He was beautiful and I could have watched him for days but we kept moving. We took the Southern exit out of the river at Dewhurst Bay. We did a little bit more varnishing before we left. After three weeks in the river Petima's bottom has never been so clean. The fresh water must kill all the barnicles. We stopped at a palm oil jetty on the way south and went ashore where there was a refinery. We managed to introduce ourselves to the right people and got taken on a tour of the Biomass Power Plant, the nursery and one of the palm oil mills as well as a look around the settlement. It was so interesting and we learnt so much about palm oil production and how it all works.  Our fridge has never been so bare so we need to do a big shop at Semporno. With no fresh fruit left and very little fresh veggies we stopped at this anchorage where we saw a plantation of bananas. We went ashore to see if they would trade bananas for rice(we had no money left either). It was a small philippino community who grew all their own fruit and veggies. We ended up with nearly a tree of bananas, paw paw and coconut. We spent a couple of hours chatting to them. Only two people could speak a little English in the whole village.

 With one good day of wind we made it 45nm to Tawau. Great town and very friendly yacht club. The town is very interesting with lots of small shops and a great market. Not alot of tourists(in fact none) so we were a spectacle particularly our bikes. On Monday we cycled down the hightway in the search for Giant supermarket. Not the smartest idea we've had.  The road was so busy with trucks and traffic we nearly got killed. We eventually found Giant and it was huge with everything you could need. But we had so far to cycle back , about 20miles that we could'nt bring much back with us. After a week in Tawau we left to start our return trip North through the reefs and islands in search of some 'World Class Diving'. Mot of the reef is absolutely destroyed with fishing and bombinb.  In a few places there are alot of nice reef fish but the coral is gone.  I was pleasantly suprised to still find plenty of reef fish.  When we were at the fish market in Tawau there were boxes of reef fish. So we thought snorkelling and diving would get better when we hit Marbul and world famous Sipidan.  The first thing we noticed was the rubbish around Marbel. It was a disgrace and disgusting.  The island consists of about 4 big resorts and a backpackers and to one side a Philippino village that looks more like a baby factory.  There is also a converted oil rig anchored to one side of the island. We asked around the resorts to find out if we could go diving to Sipidan with them.  Most of the resorts are unfriendly.  The backpacker resort was willing to put you on a waiting list.  For 470mr you can dive Sipidan with them but you have to do a day of diving at Marbul so they can check out your diving experience. Yeah right another 300mr thanks. Hanging of the back of the boat Pete pulled me around the reef at Marbul. There were plenty of turtles. The reef was average and there were some nice fish. But I wouldn't go to the effort of putting a bottle on to dive there. We sailed out to Sipidan and arrived at lunchtime.  Once we got to the drop off I jumped in the water and Pete pulled me along.  This was very great. Lots of turles, shark, fish and the reef is a little better here but not great. You can see that the reef here has also been destroyed.  There were plenty of dive boats and I floated over about 20 divers in one hit.  Here I would put a dive bottle on but was very content with snorkelling and saw nearly as much as a diver. After 30 minutes I got out and let Pete in to have a look.  Then the military/coast watch plane did a low fly by and I knew our time was limited. Within 10 minutes a speed boat arrived looking for our permit.  We pleaded ignorance and said we would leave. Maritime Malaysia also came along to make sure we left. We sailed for Kalibai island and had a snorkel here. It was like a turtle highway and some really nice fish but again the reef was shite. There were alot of stingers in the water as well.  We anchored again at Mabul for the night and left next morning for reefs further North.  

November: Pictures

We spent a lovely night at Mataking Island where the resort let us tie up to their jetty.  Some lovely big fish here but a big rubbish problem.  We also spent a lovely day snorkelling in turqoise waters on Mantabuan Island. We were visited by Sabah Parks to tell us that it was a national park. We had no idea.  That night a storm came up and we started dragging at 3am.  When we went to lift the anchor we found to our horror that our lovely stainless steel anchor was gone.  We also broke our baby stay and blew out our reefing line in our main sail.  We put full main up and little bit of a heady and were still doing 7 knots.  Wind eventually died and we ended up motoring back to Dent Haven where we had been before.  We made our way back into the Southern entrance of the Kinabatangan River and motored to Sukau in time for their Thursday market.  We didnt see any elephants this time in the river but we got the whole boat sanded and varnished in between rain showers and Petima looks beautiful again.  So now we are off back to Sandakan where we pick up our new crew member for a week - Rachael from Australia who is going to sail with us to Kudat. I wonder how Jenny is?

We had a great week with our new crew member Rachael.  From snorkelling to saving baby turtles we eventually found our way back to Kudat on November 27th. Jenny was fine, a little dirty and very happy to see us.

December: Pictures

We hauled Petima out on the hard at Penuwasa Boat Yard in Kudat. Four days later with new antifoul and minus a few thread worms she was back in the water looking very pretty.  The following day we hauled Jenny out. In between the rain squals it took us 7 days to get Jenny ready to go back in the water.  We provisioned up and held an early xmas party on the 15th for all the yachties in the duckpond onboard Jenny.  Friday 17th we departed for the Philippines.  It took us 5 days to reach Brooke Point on the East coast of Palawan.  We spent one night on the south shores of Palawan deciding whether to go East coast or West coast.  Up to this point we had received a mixed bag of winds and weather. Alot of squalls and alot of rain.  We had a fantastic sail in a North Westerly wind on the South side of Palawan as we headed for the East coast. My first landfall at Brooke Point was great. Lovely town and it actually feels like xmas here.  Decorations and xmas music are everywhere. The people are very friendly. Stayed 3 days and Santa brough us an easterly wind on Xmas Day so we pulled up anchor and moved up the coast. On December 30th we reached Peurto Princessa. New Years eve was in town with the locals watching the fireworks. Mad town, very busy and full of life. Good for provisioning. 


SY Jenny launched at Kampong Ayer Cultural Centre.
After more than ten months in successful operation in Brunei Dream Charter launched their new 13m yacht 'Jenny' at the Kampng Ayer, Cultural Centre on Saturday November
21st.  Dream Charter's new yacht Jenny was inaugurated by Minister of Industry and Primary Resources. Dream Charter's Aideen Henry spoke of the growing interest and the
bigger groups wishing to charter Dream Charter's yachts.  Brunei has a gowing water sports sector and in order to meet this need Dream Charter expanded their fleet.  Now with two
yachts Jenny is the bigger of the two catering for 25 guests within the Brunei River.  She has a roof that extends from the mast to the stern to protect guests from the sun.  Clear sides thatcan be rolled down to protect guests from the rain.  Guests can still sit outside in the fresh air without getting wet. Jenny has a large wooden table for buffet dining, a bathing platform and seats for guests to relax on at the back.  Guests can use this as a point to swim from and a large ladder enables them to get out of the water easily and safely.  Downstairs Jenny has a fully equiped Halal kitchen and shower and toilet.  Second stage of construction will start immediately and include a fully air conditioned saloon for guests to relax in downstairs.  Also fully airconditioned sleeping quarters.  Second stage of construction will be finished by January 2010 in time for the ATF(Asian Tourism Forum).
Jenny is origianlly from Finaland and has sailed half way across the world.  She has very high sides so guests can feel very comfortable and safe onboard.  Jenny has all the safety equpment onboard.
 Dream Charter took this opportunity to present the Minister with a trophy won by SY Petima sailed by a Bruneian crew during this years Borneo International Yacht Challenge.  Its Dream Charter's wish to see Brunei involved as one of the sponsering states in next years BIYC.
While in the presence of Chairman of the Brunei Tourism Board, Deputy Minister of Industry and Primary Resources and Brunei Tourism CEO Dream Charter expressed their thanks to Brunei Tourism for the moral support that they have recieved over the past 10 months. The Minister then took the opportunity to cut the ribbon and bless Jenny officially launching her as the latest of Dream Charters yachting fleet.  
The Minister and Tourism officials took a relaxing cruise onboard Jenny around Kampong Ayer.

Brunei gets first prize in International Yachting Challenge 2009.

Dream Charter put sailing for Brunei on the International map this week.  Every year boats from all over the world converge on the beautiful island of Borneo for the Borneo International Yachting Challenge.  This year over 30 yachts from countries such as England, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Philippines, Malaysia, Switzerland etc. took part in the 6th Borneo International Yachting Challenge between the 9th and the 15th of October. The BIYC is a week long race comprised of different legs. The first leg is an overnight passage race from Miri to Labuan.  The second leg is another overnight passage race from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu and finally the regatta finishes with two harbor races around the islands in Kota Kinabalu.

This year’s challenge was particularly special for Brunei with two Bruneian yachts entering the 6th BIYC.  Warram Catamaran ‘Jumpa Lagi’ skippered by Jamie and Felicity Rohan and Dream Charters yacht ‘Petima’ skippered by Peter Moeller and Aideen Henry.

Not only did these two Bruneian yachts compete in this year’s challenge but Dream Charter’s SV Petima took home four prizes for Brunei.  Dream Charter won first place in the overnight passage race from Miri to Labuan in Cruising Class ‘C’.  With a full Bruneian crew onboard for the overnight passage race from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu Dream Charter took away line honors again and received first prize in Cruising Class ‘C’. During the harbor races in Kota Kinabalu Dream Charters SV Petima took 2nd and 3rd place Brunei can feel very proud of their Bruneian sailors and Dream Charters achievement has put  Brunei on the sailing map.

The BIYC finished in KK with a spectacular prize presentation and closing ceremony at Sutera Harbour.  It was a very proud night for Dream Charter, Sailing in Brunei.  Petimas skipper Peter Moeller hopes that Brunei will continue to come forward in the sailing arena and International yachting will continue to get Brunei’s full support.  For next year’s Borneo International Yachting challenge Dream Charter would like to see Brunei join Sarawak and Sabah, and host the opening of the 7th BIYC. It would be great to see the tourist minister from Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah come together to make this event a royal regatta.  It would be a great boost for International Tourism here in Brunei and it would confirm Brunei’s status as a yachting destination.

There is a large yachting community in SE Asia and tourists can arrive to Borneo by other means than flying.  More and more yachts arrive every year to Borneo enroute to the Philippines or as they sail West toward Malaysia and Thailand.  The Borneo International Yachting Challenge is one major event that encourages more and more yachts to visit Borneo every year.  It would be fantastic to see Brunei been a part of this regatta.

SY Petima in Kuala Belait
After the launch of Jenny captain and crew sailed directly to Kuala Belait for charters.  But not only charters as the photos suggest.  SY Petima was in need of  alot of TLC.  Immediate work begain on Petima's mast and sides. (and I thought we were going on a well deserved holiday!). Petima now has a new darker varnish on her wood to protect her from the intense UV.  All work was done in the Kuala Belait River.  We tied up to one side of the 11 degree Sports Cafe on the waterfront. We were welcomed very warmly by the KB residents and thanks for everyone who came by to say Hi.  Unfortunately it was time to head back to Mura to check up on our other baby Jenny, so we said Au Revoir to KB. But watch this space we'll be back.

Dream Charter launches their new pontoon boat:

Christmas at ‘The Spit’ with Dream Charter
What a beautiful day had by all at Pulau Pelumpong on Christmas Day. SY Jenny departed at 11am from Serasa with a mouth watering stuffed Turkey in her oven.
Guests enjoyed Smoked Salmon on freshly baked baguette with Garlic Prawns as we sailed past Muara Besar toward 'The Spit'.
Punch was on offer all day along with an assortment of other cold drinks.
Once anchored at the spit (which we shared with only one other boat) everyone went for a swim to the other side of the island.
When everyone was back onboard, the skipper proceeded to bring out the turkey. All was laid out on Jenny's large buffet table.
Guests dug in to a sensational Christmas dinner which included stuffed Turkey (nicely sliced by the skipper), Freshly caught Mackerl, roasted potato, potato salad, farmers salad, red schu, freshly baked bread.
Dinner was followed by freshly baked cheesecake with butterscotch sauce and a selection of fresh fruits.
All guests received a Christmas present of Sailing in Brunei's famous t-shirt.
Turkey Cruising was such a success and everyone was enjoying themselves so much that captain and crew decided to extend for another two hours.
SY Jenny got back to Serasa at 4pm with very happy guests onboard.

Petima gets annual makeover:
Every year Dream Charter take their yachts out of the water for annual mainteance.  Dream Charter this year decided to take Petima out at Serasa.  During the Full Moon the tides are greater and we used this opportunity to dry Petima out on the beach at Serasa Spit.  She was tied off by two halyards from the mast.  Port side tied to a tree and starboard tied to the rocks. Her anchor was also wrapped around a big tree trunk.  This enabled her to stand on her long keel without falling over.  As low tide was at 2am and 3am, the crew were up all night doing their maintenance.
Maintenance consists of sanding and cleaning the bottom of Petima while still in the water.  Then dry sanding her to get her completely clean once the tide goes out.  Wash her off and anti-foul her.  As she is a wooden boat she also needs to checked for worms, which can impregnate a wooden boat very easily here in the tropics.  Prop and shaft also  have to be maintained while out of the water.  This year we took of Petima's prop off and rebuilt and painted her.
We pulled Petima off the beach two days later at 9pm.  The result is a very smooth sailing boat and hopefully we don't have to scrap her bottom for 6 months.


Private Sailing lessons for Elizabeth Jagger:

What do Elizabeth Jagger, oldest daughter of legendary rock band ‘Rolling Stones’ lead singer Mick Jagger and wife Jerry Hall, a plastic 60ft sailing boat called the ‘Plastiki’ and our very own charter company ‘Sailing in Brunei’ got in common.

Last week Elizabeth Jagger visited Brunei for the first time to attend a function at the Palace. During her five day stay she decided to book some personnel sailing lessons with co-owners of Sailing in Brunei’s charter company, Peter Moeller and Aideen Henry.

Elizabeth, or Lizzie as she likes to be called, is taking part in an ecological expedition leaving from San Francisco to Hawaii and through the Pacific Basin finishing in Sydney Australia.  The expedition hosted by environmental group Adventure Ecology headed by David Rothschild is an organisation that has expeditions to far flung areas of the globe to highlight such sensitive matters as Global Warming and our inefficient waste disposal methods.  This particular expedition is going to be a little different as its taking part on a 60ft engineless, rudderless sailing catamaran.  The catamaran is constructed of recycled plastic bottles and has the very fitting name ‘The Plastiki’.  The catamaran will be crewed by six people a mix of scientists, photographers and environmentalists.  Elizabeth is one of the photographers on the expedition but does not know how to sail, thus sailing lessons with Dream Charter, Sailing in Brunei. The main aim of the expedition is to highlight what amazing and fantastic things people can achieve with recycled materials and what disasterous things can happen when we don’t recycle. 

Aideen admits that before Elizabeth came onboard SY Petima she had not heard of this expedition or the Pacific Garbage Basin but since then has done her research and admits it is important that more people are aware of this man made problem.  The Eastern Pacific Garbage Basin is a floating landfill between San Francisco and Hawaii which is twice the size of Texas.  There is also the same floating landfill occurring in The Western Pacific Basin.  Both floating landfills are made by slow moving currents that suck up all the waste from around the world and it collects in two areas of the Pacific Ocean.

Of 200 billion pounds of plastic produced each year, researchers estimate that 10 percent ends up in the ocean and the United Nations reported in 2006 that each square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of plastic.  Imagine the damage to marine birds and mammels!

Aideen mentions that during Elizabeths sailing lesson with Dream Charter the topic of rubbish in the Brunei River cropped up.  Elizabeth told me she was shocked at the amount of rubbish in the river and asked us why there is so much rubbish? (Elizabeth is not on her own, many tourissts that we have onboard our charter boats mention to us that they overwhelmed by the beauty of the Brunei River and its surroundings, but saddened by the amount of rubbish floating up and down the river).  We told her sadly that the local community don’t have enough rubbish bins provided to them by the government, so of course to get rid of their rubbish they just throw it on the ground.  It is not the fault of the people, it is the fault of the government.  Brunei needs a better waste management program and a proper collection and disposal.

After doing my research on the Pacific Garbage Basin I was reminded at how similar it is to the rubbish in the Brunei River and how during slack tide we could rename the Brunei River ‘The Brunei Garbage Basin’.  Aideen mentions ‘my husband Peter and I live onboard SY Petima all the time, so we see first hand the amount of garbage in the Brunei River.  Around the Full Moon, when we get very high and very low tides the rubbish is dragged from the land and is sucked back into the Brunei River.  During slack tides all the rubbish collects in the current and it is just one long line of rubbish mostly plastic’.

 So what can we do to resolve it?  Many things can be done to start resolving this man made problem.  We need better education for the public and especially the younger Bruneian generation. We need a waste management program at the water villages. We need more bins provided on land with a regular refuse collection.  We need laws to state that people will be fined if they are seen dumping rubbish illegally.  And immediately we need a large dump truck with floating barge to travel along the current lines of the Brunei River and collect the rubbish. 

Let us work on this seriously Brunei! The sooner we work on this issue the better, your wildlife and your tourism industry is been effected because of this man made problem.

Brunei Mercedez Benz Owner Group
On Sunday March 14th, Brunei's Mercedez Benz Ower Group met at Serasa Spit.  With members coming the whole way from Kuala Belait and Tutong it was a sight to behold
at the Serasa spit on Sunday.  A range of Mercedez Benz cars of all models and colours lined up for some fantastic photos.  There are no cars belonging to group members
younger than the year 2000 and the oldest car there on Sunday was 20years old.  The member meeting combined a buffet lunch on the spit and a complimentary sailing around the Brunei Bay for all members of the club.  Along with three new members, present was also the guest of houour the first Bruneian female to reach the South Pole.  It was a fantastic occasion and we look forward to hearing more from this group in the future.  Mercedez Benz Owner Group encourages all those with Mercedez Benz older than the year 2000 to come and join their group. Don' t be shy!


Selection of Pictures from 2008-2010

 Click here for Home Page