[OcelotNews] Ocelotians on the South China Sea

[KD7NDG at Winlink.org]

Dear Friends & Family,    23 Nov 2010, on the South China Sea

We've had fun in Kuching, exploring the old part of town with our friends & eating delicious curry meals at some of the many excellent restaurants.  We went back to Semenggoh Nature Reserve to see more Orangutans & got to photograph a mother & baby from only 10' (3m) away.  The baby was so cute, stealing bananas from mom & then climbing all over her as if she was a tree.

While Jon finished off some boat chores, Sue visited Bako National Park & had some fun encounters with troops of Silver Langurs, eating all the new leaves they could reach.  She also found a troop of Proboscis Monkeys & spent half an hour watching the alpha male with his huge, pendulous red nose bobbing up & down as he scraped leaves from the mangrove branches while the younger monkeys played all around him, also searching for the perfect breakfast leaves.

Back at headquarters Sue came face to face with one of creation's ugliest land creatures: the Borneo bearded pig.  It liked to rummage in the mud with its almost meter-long snout, covered in a thick brown mop of bristles that all but hid his eyes.

On Sunday we dropped our lines at the tiny Kuching Marina & were promptly shot down the river by the strong currents associated with the full moon & spring tides.  The marina is 7 miles up the Sarawak River so we had lots of fun watching the various marine activities on shore as we sailed past.

We're headed back towards Singapore & Peninsular Malaysia.  We'd like to have Thanksgiving (this Thursday) with cruising friends who are now in Danga Bay Marina, Jahor Baru, just N of Singapore.  This is where we left Ocelot while we came back to the US for July & August.

In theory, the NE monsoon should be in force now so we should be getting NE winds, but reality is that there's little to no wind out here.  Danga Bay Marina is about 450nm from Kuching & we're expecting to have to motor all of it.  Unfortunately, we're finding strong currents against us, up to 1.5 knots at times, so it will be a bit of a push to get to Danga Bay in time.  At least the fuel is relatively cheap here in Malaysia...

Last night, just as the sun went down we passed our mid-point - always a good feeling.  Now (noon Tuesday) we're at 1°42'N 106°05'E or about 100nm from the outer shipping lanes.  We're hoping that one more night out here will get us to land, but it will take a whole day to get around Singapore & up to the marina.  That's a trip that has to be done in daylight because of all the shipping traffic there.  Wish us luck... :)

Fair Winds & Calm Seas  --  Jon & Sue    s/v Ocelot
http://HackingFamily.com    http://svOcelot.com