28th August - 2nd September - Miri

Earlier this morning shipping traffic increased once again and conditions became a little rougher as we neared land. The weather was overcast and seas were quite choppy but we were still making great progress and actually slowed our engine speed a little throughout the night so as to arrive in daylight.

One of the first things you notice when coming into Miri is a huge seahorse shaped lighthouse on the headland. We entered the sheltered water behind it about an hour after sunrise and made our way to the marina. Not many facilities here, aside from electricity, water and 2 cold showers and toilets, however it does have on site security and we found it to be a very friendly place.

We did make a strange find in a shed just near the entrance to the marina. An almost perfect replica of the Back To The Future Delorean parked there, apparently owned by the same guy who owns the marina. The car seems to be a little run down, covered in dust and with a flat tyre, but has been carefully modified to look like the movie Delorean inside and out. Although locked behind a fence we couldn't resist the opportunity to let ourselves in for a photo.

After wandering around for an hour or so and speaking to a few of the other yachties to find out our options for getting fuel and port clearance, as well as who to speak to about arranging to leave the boat here for the next few weeks, a bloke called Fin showed up who is the caretaker of the marina. He assured us we could stay as long as we wanted and paperwork would be taken care of down the track.

Shortly after we berthed the boat, 3 large old wooden ships appeared in the small marina. They were Belangay, traditional Filipino ships faithful to the craftsmanship and materials used during ancient times. The crew comprises of around 60 Filipino navy and a hand full of civilians, retracing the trading routes their fore-fathers used in 16th Century.

Nine of these ships were discovered in 1976 in Butuan City, Agusan Del Norte, Mindanao, 3 of which have been excavated. Examination of these revealed that boats found in the excavation site dated back to 320, 990 and 1250 AD. The 3 boats used in this voyage are replicas that have been built using only traditional boat building techniques and even the navigation techniques used remain accurate to the method that was used by the earliest mariners - steering by the sun, the stars, the wind, cloud formations, wave patterns and bird migrations. Definitely worth a look on their website - www.balangay-voyage.com

On arrival, the 3 boats had with them a whole entourage of media people, water police, customs and immigration. This worked out well for us, as soon as customs had processed the Filipino crew, they came aboard Blue Lagoon and we filled out the necessary paperwork, saving us visiting them in town. They were a nice bunch of people and we ended up having a drink with them on board.

Around lunchtime we organised a taxi to the airport where we rented a car for the next 3 days. After a visit to town, where we managed to check email and organise our return flights on the 2nd Sept, we returned to the boat and filled all our Jerry cans with diesel, as this was the only way to fill the boats tanks.

We did some fuel runs over the course of the next few days and I suspect the hire company may have been a little unhappy with the smell of their car when we returned it.

Miri is a great little city, the people are very friendly and I found the shopping better than Thailand, with 4 main shopping centres of varying size, the largest of which being Bintang Megamall which had at a guess, 15 DVD and music stores alone.

On our second last day in Miri we took the 80kms or so drive to Niah National Park, known for its limestone caves including The Great Cave, an important prehistorical site where human remains dating 40,000 years old have been found, and The Painted Cave. This was a spectacular place and well worth the visit, it is hard to describe or accurately capture the sheer size on film.

After securing and weather proofing the boat we flew out of Miri to Kuala Lumpur midday on the 2nd. As our flight to the Gold Coast didn't leave for another 8 hours we caught the shuttle bus to an Air Asia "Tune Hotel" which allow room rental in 3 hour blocks, rather than waiting around at the airport. The rooms are tiny but air-conditioned and have wifi, as well as a decent pub downstairs where we enjoyed dinner before catching our 21:30 flight.

Unfortunately for me Blue Lagoon's voyage is on hold for me now, having to return to work for a while, however I plan to be back on board for another leg of the trip soon. In the meantime Eky is returning to Miri on the 14th September with a new crew and I will continue to update the blog with photos and information as he relays it to me.

Niah National Park - Borneo