Nunukan Run, but Nunukan Hide

It's been a while, me hearties, but here I am in Nunukan at last. Nunukan is the Indonesian border-town on the east coast of Borneo. Today is my last full day in Indonesia before we haul anchor and set sail for Tawau, Malaysia tomorrow morning. Our 10 day run here from Buol, where we wre arrested by the coast guard for not checking in just after the last blog post, and I later had one of the best times of the trip so far playing soccer on the beach with the local kids, was by far the most eventful sea-passage yet.
        The first few days saw us battling for inches against strong currents, huge, wild storms and large, sharp seas. As we pushed purther north into the Celebes Sea though, we actually got a few days of steady wind and easy sailing with the current. Some of our first extended sessions of easy sailing so far. Like a dream. We were sailing along a shipping line however, and this demanded constantly for us to be on the full lookout, as those oil rigs and bulk carriers close really fast. We had a couple of very close encounters. They either dont keep a lookout or dont care. Even when they should give way, they just plough on ahead. Scary. We got next to no sleep there for about 5 days. There was a turning point in amongst it all there for me personally, one still, perfect sunrise. Up until then I had been progressively struggling to cope with the strain of the stress, lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of cigarettes, my skipper, fear, anger, exhaustion, homesickness. Its hard to describe but I became tougher. Right there on the spot. The night before had been hell, but I was suddenly filled with peace, strength and a feeling of self-belief. This wild ride has changed me, in some ways, friends. Not personality-wise, but intrinsically.
      But anyways, we still had a long way to go, and time on our visas short. A couple more days of pretty standard sailing, but things were improving. I was really up for it all, and me and Tad started to get along alot better. Early in the morning, we glimpsed what we believed to be our first sighting of mythical Borneo. It turned out to be a giant oil platform. It was sobering that day, as we sailed towards one of the last true wildernesses left on Earth. The night before, i could smell the jungle, and was filled with dreams and excitement, you can smell land before you can see it.
       Day 7 we first saw an oil rig, then on the outgoing tide, hundreds or thousands even of logs and dirty water. Nothing and nowhere is sacred in the world of greed, capitalism and the almighty dollar. Sickening. Later that night we were drawing close to the island of Nunukan, but a strong current was pushing us backwards, so we dropped anchor, exhausted. Not too long after, around four in the morning,we were snagged in a drift-net employed by the local fishermen. We managed, (at least we thought so) to cut it free. We got hit by two more of the 250meter long nets in the next 4 hours. No ewst for the wicked, eh? Bad, bad spot. We decided to get the hell out of there. Our motor wouldnt budge. I spent most of the  morning diving under the boat trying to hack the remains of the first net from the propellor. There was alot of it and I didnt make much of an impact. The current was very strong, and I was getting turned to mincemeat on the barnacles on the bottom of the boat. Just as the tide was turning towards Nunukan, a strong wind picked up and we sailed the rest of the day at up to 9 knots. Our fastest speed of the trip so far. I spent the first 4 hours of day 9 diving under and cutting the net free. I finally did it after about 200 dives. Hard yakka, I tell you.
       That night we motored to Nunukan, through a minefiels of nets and buoys at high speed with the skipper on deck yelling coordinates at me and things like "70°", and "Hard to port gaddamit!" we were nearly snagged a couple of times. It was like a videogame. got snagged twice. had to cut a rope free the first time, but the speed of the boat pukked us free the second. Fuckin wild. Eventually we dropped anchor late afternoon day 10. Had an awesome day 1 in Nunukan (the kids, beautiful town), an awful day 2 (beauracracy, missed opportunities). Today is my last here. Malaysia tomorrow, here we come!
Fuck, long post, good luck with that!

Sailing: It's not always cookies, cream and fine aged scotch...;

Sometimes its hard work. It was a long hard slog to Buol, my friends. Damn near lost my mind sometimes. Sailed for 7 days and nights, either against the wind, or no wind at all, for the most part. We had to motor a fair bit. The no wind times are the worst. Sitting there it the still, humid heat, bobbing like a rubber ducky. Quite often going backwards with the current. Been getting some serious cabin fever also. Things are very tense a lot of the time between me and the skipper. He treats me like a kid, never listens or gives me any respect and constantly hassles me. I never back down, either. We're both at fault, though and under a lot of stress. These things are bound to happen when stuck in a boat with someone so different for so long, under such conditions, I suppose. Learning a thing or two about patience, respect and self-control.

My time at the wheel on these stretches is long. I spend at least 18 hours/24 average at the helm over the compass, around the clock. Averaging about 1-3 hours sleep. And never in my life have I eaten so many 2 minute noodles. not even at uni! Tea consumption is also at unprecedented levels.

We saw our fair share of dangers out there too. Ran into a big mooring drum late one night that could well have done alot of damage to a fiberglass catamaran, but gold ol' steel-frame Olza was unscathed. On night four, about midnight big thunderclouds began building in all directions around us, surrounding us. Slowly but surely they converged upon us, leaving a gauntlet in front like a corridor between the storms. It was like being on Gladiators in the gauntlet, except with Odin, Thor and Zeus as the gladiators. Still the stars were above as we sailed into the eye of the storm. Then all was still, with chaos all around. Suddenly the sky closed over and everything was black. So, so black. Lightning started to hit very close to us in all directions every 3 minutes or so. The wind howled, the rain poured down and the whole Sky Trembled and roared with power. Moments like these really put the Fear of God into a man. The whole experience lasted for a good 2 hours. Truly terrifying at first, but after a while you get used to it, the feeling that you could well die, and just go for it. Really exciting stuff, friends. Was singing "Riders on the storm" real loud and enjoying myself. Give me danger and stormy weather over midday heat waiting for wind any day.
 Night six I was out on appointment with the red bucket, when I saw a black shape very near our course. It turned out to be a boat moored to a bouy. No lights, nothing. Were very luck to have missed it. Lucky I heeded the call of the wild and saw it, surely would have ended in disaster.

But, here we are, alive and kicking. Getting some Diesel, food and things before we begin our last Indonesian run towards Nunukan in Indonesian Borneo. From there we say selamat jalan Indonesia, and Apa kabar Malaysia. Going to be a long stretch one feels between here and there. I'm thinking around 2 weeks. Looking at the geography of the stretch too, I reckon winds and currents could be strong coming out of the Makassar straight, but anyways... Over and out gang stay safe and ill be in touch from Nunukan soon enough.

Drink up me hearties, Yo-ho

Crossing live to Manado, its Ron Burgundy; Post Shower. "Hello Bitches"

Ohhhh shit. Well Here I am in Manado. We have crossed the halfway mark of our voyage, the westward stretch to Borneo. Halfway there, livin on a prayer, unions on strike but fuck them. It took us 5 days to cross the Maluku Sea, the stretch of open water between Ternate and Sulawesi. We were constantly being pushed Northwards and East, as opposed to west, due to southwesterly winds and a constant current to match. Tricky sailing. But it was no biggie for The Skipper and I, the mangy bearded sea-dogs that we be, as you can see.
The old sea-legs played havoc with me upon landing the dinghy ashore, as i fell on my face and grazed the shit out of my knee on my first step on land. Impressive. This inspired a few local fisher-gents just bringing in their catch at 7.30am to invite me to join them for a glass of their home grown whiskey. Boys were fully on it. Pre-breakfast bingefest singalong. What a job! Fresh stuff. Lose one, win one.
After we spent the whole first day searching for and battling the fascist beauracracy of customs, immigration etc, I checked into a hotel last night in the name of humanity. Had my 2nd through 4th showers since I left Australian shores, and my first shave. (My beard and I definately weren't friends, in the end. I looked like the dude from Burzum after he got out of jail) Slept in a bed, went out in town and got drunk. So awesome. These things might sound pretty ho-hum and mundane to all you LAND LUBBERS out there, but believe me, I feel like Troy Mclure after all that good stuff. Fully legit.
So we leave wednesday, on our blazing trail of nautical decimation towrds Borneo, where I plan to make friends with a wild orangutan, and spend a night in the bat cave getting shat on. Actually I dont plan on doing that. Anywho..... I'm getting a tatoo tomorrow. Only reason I'm not getting it TODAY is because the place is shut sundays. Miss ya Dad.