My Day Out

Yesterday was My Day Out. And it was so brave of that taxi driver not to complain about the Plenty Decibels I produced during the 30 minute drive (I hate cars!) Anyway here is where we all went (beside Wakame who had to keep anchor watch...it was a windy day). Does it make sense to you? Right: I was due for my yearly flue shot. See that silly orange bag? Well, that's the cat-transporter, I already managed to destroy half of it. Marijke is talking 'bout the shots....brbrbrbrr After the shots they wanted to me to do a circus trick. Soo easy! Holy Mouse, I lost weight!! On the way back I had enough energy to produce even more decibels, stinking cars Back on board Wakame was happy to see me again, we shared a bowl of cat biscuits. Marijke and Jaap think they will be a few more days here in Sandakan. Miau for now, Nori

Q4 report 2009 is..............DONE

Hmmm, you think we have nothing to do?
Due to many pictures, lots to tell and heaps of computer hick-ups it took longer than usual to treat you with an other Alishan report.
Anyway, it's DONE now.
Go to www.syalishan.com and look for Q4 report 2009 part 1, part 2 and part 3. Please enjoy Marijke's birds and wildlife section in part 2 and 3
Of course we like to hear from you ;-))

And 1 other reason for that is: we still have an empty address book.....
Please mail to: alishan_tk(at)hotmail.com

Salute

Grkr Grrkrr, Grrrkrrr Plonk

That was the sound made by the HD drive in our Toshy computer.
And then "he" died.
Well, even here in Sandakan we were able to find a replacement drive...and we're back in bizzz.
But of course with a small loss of data... like email addresses.

Please send us an email to alishan_tk (at) hotmail.com so we can update our books again.

Now back to reinstalling programs and yesyes uploading Q4 part 2 and 3

Salute

What a Great Way to Start the Day

Woke up just before sunrise, dropped the dinghy in the drink, went ashore and jogged for 45 minutes. Returned to the yacht club, swam a few laps in the pool, had a nice HOT (yes) shower. Back on board made coffee and breakky and enjoyed it together with Marijke while yepping away on Skype with the family in New Zealand. What a start. Yes Marijke is back from her whopwhops trip to TABIN Wildlife Reserve. She had a great time despite the heavy rain. Pictures will tell her story in due time. For now go to: http://www.tabinwildlife.com.my/ The lousy weather we had over the weekend has moved away into the South China Sea. Right now it is "only" grey and dull outside. For the next few days: shopping, laundry and diesel-runs are on our list. And of course part 2 of Q4 will be uploaded. Probably after the weekend we'll start thinking about an ETD. Salute

Windy Sandakan

As you can see, there is a Gale Warning area to the East of the Philippines. Now, can you believe that even here in Sandakan we can feel the breeze...and swing the swell? Not so comfy. We had to relocate Alishan due to "pots and plants" flying around. Hopefully this weather will not last for too long..... the swimming pool at the SYC is waiting for us.

salute

psssst

it aint ready yet but you can enjoy the preview:
http://www.syalishan.com/ and look for Q4 report 09 part 1

salute

So much noise in Sandakan

Alishan returned to the City, now at anchor in front of the Sandakan Yacht Club. ( location: see previous Update). This after 2 months of peaceful Kinabatanga River Jungle.... WOW, what a shock to the system. City Noise! Exiting the river went well. This time we used the North (west) passage, much shallower than the S(east) one. We waited long enough for High Tide, which was at the time when we crossed the bar 1.4m above chart. This bar is at least a few miles long! The least we saw on the depth sounder was 2.2m. Alishan's draft is 2.1m. A bit nerve wrecking indeed as there was a bit of a chop as well. Only once we ran aground and that was still INSIDE the river, as silly Jaap was cutting corners. No problems as the bottom of the river is veryyy soft. So, here we can do some "serious" shopping again. And of course go for a run. Where are my shoes? Oh and there are a few kilo's of laundry waiting. But hopefully there is also some time for hanging around the yacht SYC's swimming pool.....if the weather turns sunny;-) And yes, we do have Internet on board, so that Q4 update will come very soon. Will let you know. Salute.

Alishan At Abai

Abai is he name of this Big Smoke. Position:
5 degree 41.0N
118 degree 23.0E
About 30 families live here. Most of the village is powered by Solar. So we feel at home. There are no roads.
We met Azmie Pading, (013-5589142) and went for a great jungle hike with him, saw all sorts of footprints, birds and leeches.. At the night boat ride he spotted some great FIRSTS = new birds for Marijke's picture album.
The local resort (almost next to us)has a great boardwalk through the swamp ( they ok-ed us to use it). Again many (first) birds. And this morning Marijke even spotted a Uran Utan very near by. (of course she notified the resort guests...Were they happy!)
The tide (+1.40) looks sort of okay tomorrow ( Jan 11) at about 4 pm. Yes we plan to Exit the Kinabatanga River. Lets hope the swell at the bar is minimal, and with the little wind and odd rain showers of today/tomorrow it might be.

Salute

Zig-Zagging Down the River

Alishan made a whopping 20 mile run Downstream. Helped by a 2~3 knot current it was a quick trip.
BUT not so easy as we had to slalom around BIG logs. With all the bends in the river the flow of river junk went from left bank to right bank, so you can imagine the "fun" we had. Too bad we were going a bit too fast to enjoy the river shore. Hence we dropped anchor again near the oxbow lake at:
5 degree 40.2
118 degree 23.2
Definite we can notice that Alishan is closer to sea again: Cooler sea breeze and a twice daily tide. Mind you, due to the rain, the water is still "fresh". Good for bucket showers.
This AM we took the dinghy across the lake. Such a magic place. On the way back, we met local Bob, who had been emptying his fish traps and was keen to sell to us.
Guess what we have for lunch.
Prawns!

Salute.

Alishan made a Move

Yes we made a Move.
Not much though, only 2 miles, downstream. The trip took 30 minutes;-)) Still at the outskirts of Sukau Town.
We didn't want to go further as yesterday (Sunday) was the "every Sunday once a month" market again. And they had durian....
Yummy

The first day of the year had more water in the air than in the river. Did it RAIN! And boy is everything "wet". Alishan's deck starts to look like a golf course: nice and green. Yes it is time to head for salt water again!
But we want to go downstream slowly , stop a few days here and there. So more Nikoning to do.

Indeed, here it is a different way of waking up: Being "called" by gibbon and elephant noises instead of the mosq.

Ahha, and we are busy of course making that Q4 update. But it looks like you'll have to wait until Alishan is back at Sandakan as only there we can have a decent Internet connection again. Hmmm pictures...??? Too many to choose from.

Salute