15 September 2016 Tioman, Malaysia
It was a fairly calm night and we slept okay until five o’clock when a fast ferry roared past and had us bouncing all over the place with his big bow wave. I texted the owner of the powerboat and, unfortunately, he’s had a change of plans and isn’t leaving until the 18th. We went ashore after breakfast and chatted to various people in the marina and it doesn’t look good for finding a place in the marina. We’ve decided that we’ll not bother - it’s too much stress worrying about getting a berth.
After going shopping to buy enough provisions for a week, we upped anchor and motored over to Rengiss Island where we picked up a strong orange mooring installed by the Jabatan Laut (02°48.63N 104°08.23E).
It was a lovely afternoon, so we went for a snorkel around the island joining the scores of divers and snorkelers who flock to this tiny island. Renggis is one of the top dive sites in Tioman, but we weren’t that impressed. The visibility wasn’t very good with large particles in the water, which didn’t help. The coral was okay, but not very colourful and I only found one nudibranch. However, we saw a large Blacktip Reef Shark and I discovered a very pretty Double-spined Urchin. Perhaps our expectations were too high.
I nipped ashore to a resort and I’ve booked us on a 2-tank dive trip on the 17th. It’s only costing 85 Ringgit (£17) each dive and they’ll take us out to Pulua Tulai about 7 miles away, which hopefully will be a better dive site.
As evening approached, the tourist boats disappeared and left us in peace. Then at sunset, the sky was filled with hundreds of Frigatebirds, circling above Pulau Ringgit. With much squawking, they started to descend and settled in the tall trees for the night - a spectacular sight and a wonderful glimpse of nature.
16 September 2016 Tioman, Malaysia
After a settled night, we were woken at dawn by a thunderstorm going through giving us 30 knots of wind. Fortunately, we were fairly well protected from the waves by the small island ahead of us. It was a very grey morning, so we did some administration. I started long term planning for our trip across the Indian Ocean next year and Glenys booked some flights and accommodation for our land trip to Bangkok and Cambodia in October.
It brightened up in the afternoon, so we went snorkelling around Renggis Island. The visibility was much better and we spent a pleasant couple of hours’ snorkelling around the North-west side which was good, although there were far too many tourist boats passing close to where we were diving.
17 September 2016 Tioman, Malaysia
We were up early and went ashore to the resort to go diving. They took us out to Pulua Tulai about 7 miles away, where we did two dives. The first one was called Genting Bay on the east side of the island. The water visibility was reasonable at 15 metres and the reef was in excellent condition.
Our second dive was called Malang Rocks and is a very popular dive spot with four or five dive boats jostling for position in the buoys. The dive weaves through large boulders with nice soft corals and lots of nudibranchs. I got very excited when I spotted a Kubaryana's Nembrotha. The dive boat was large and comfortable and they provided us with a substantial packed lunch - not bad for a total cost of £36.
We were back on Alba by 14:00 and had a quiet afternoon.
18 September 2016 Tioman to Pulau Aur, Malaysia
The weather forecast said light winds, so we left early to motor 35 miles south-west to Pulau Aur. The south end of Tioman island was covered by heavy cloud and we could see a very large thunderstorm directly on our route, so I flicked on the radar and we headed 40 degrees further south while keeping a beady eye on the squall. Our tactic worked and we managed to skirt around the thunderstorm.
En-route we passed an island called Pemmanggil and had a look at a possible anchorage on the east coast, but it looked rather inhospitable and there was a swell going into the bay, so we kept on going.
Pulau Aur consists of two large islands with a 200 metre wide channel between them. We checked out a few places to anchor, but most places are over 25 metres deep and close to the fringing reef. Eventually, we picked a spot at 02°28.15N 104°30.42E, which was 19 metres deep and a safe distance from the reef - it felt like sand and the anchor held well.
There’s a resort on the northern island and a small town with a ferry dock on the southern island. There are also a number of buildings on the beach next to our anchorage, one of which had a sign saying it was a Diving Lodge. I went ashore to see if we could go diving. Unfortunately, the Diving Lodge was all shut up and after asking at the resort and in town, I found out that there are no longer any dive operations here in Aur.
The current rips through the pass at up to two knots, but we had slack tide later in the afternoon and went for a snorkel at the eastern end of the northern island at about 02°28.58N 104°30.77E. The water was much clearer than in Tioman and the site was around some impressive looking boulders and pinnacles. It’s a pity that we can’t go diving here.
19 September 2016 Pulau Aur, Malaysia
It was a very grey day with rain showers, so we lurked on board and had an internet day.
My left ear has become inflamed again. I’ve been diligently putting a few drops of alcohol and white vinegar in both of my ears after I’ve been swimming, but that hasn’t stopped the problem. I’m starting to put antibiotic ear drops into my ear again, but I’ll not able to go in the water for at least a week. It’s so frustrating.
20 September 2016 Pulau Aur to Pulau Seri Buat, Malaysia
We woke to a strong wind from the west and 2-3 foot waves rolling down the channel, making us pitch badly. After breakfast, we waited an hour, but the conditions were getting worse, so we decided to run away and headed north-west to Pulau Seri Buat. Of course we were hard on the wind, but it was nice to be doing some sailing for a change and the waves weren’t too bad.
The wind gradually veered and dropped, so after lunch, we were motoring again. We arrived at Pulau Seri Buat North at 16:00 and anchored at 02°41.82N 103°53.90E in 10 metres of water. By this time there was no wind at all and a slight swell from the north, which made us roll. We decided to stay, expecting the wind to pick up later, which would stabilise us. Unfortunately, it didn’t and the rolling was horrible after dark.
21 September 2016 Pulau Seri Buat, Malaysia
With no wind and the swell coming from the north, it was an unpleasant rolly night. During the morning, the wind picked up from the North-east and by 11:00, we had 2-3 foot waves coming into the anchorage. This weather is very weird and unsettled - the prevailing winds should be from the south to south-west. We moved 4 miles around to the island to Pulau Seri Buat South and anchored at 02°40.80N 103°53.84E in 9 metres of water - it was lovely and calm.
We’ve decided that we’ve had enough of the Tioman area. The weather is highly variable and the anchorages are marginal. My ear infection is stopping us snorkelling and diving; there’s nothing of interest ashore, so there’s nothing to keep us here. We’re planning to clear out of Tioman tomorrow and head for Admiral Marina on the west coast of Malaysia - we won’t even bother to stop at Singapore.
This will mean that we have an extra 2½ weeks in Admiral Marina, but I’ve got a long list of jobs to do and we can spend some time doing land travel in Malaysia and maybe some hiking. With this radical change in our plans, I spent most of the afternoon revising my to-do lists .
22 September 2016 Pulau Seri Buat, Malaysia
We had a pleasant, restful night and upped the anchor at dawn, heading to Tioman. For once we had a good sail with a 10 knot wind coming from the north east putting us on a close reach. Unfortunately, this wind also created three foot wind waves that came rolling into the anchorage at Tioman making it a dodgy lee shore.
We anchored to the south of the marina dropping our anchor in 10 metres and then settling back to 8 metres with the fringing reef right behind us. The boat was pitching violently in the waves making it a very marginal anchorage. It wasn’t a good place to leave the boat unattended, so Glenys stayed on-board in case our anchor dragged or the weather got worse.
I dropped the dinghy in the water and scooted into the marina to clear out and run some errands. For a change, there was actually someone in the Port Captain’s office in the marina, where I was able to start the clearance process. In my rush to get off Alba, I’d left my reading glasses on the boat and had trouble seeing the forms. Fortunately, the nice lady processing my forms helped me to fill them in - silly old git!
Armed with the Port Captain forms, I walked to the ferry terminal and found the Customs and Immigration. After only an hour ashore, I had the clearance to Langkawi.
I called in at a couple of mini markets to pick up a few provisions and then went to a duty free shop to buy £150 worth of beer, wine and spirits, which will hopefully keep us going until we get to Langkawi in November. Back at the marina, I had a chat to Jacqui and David on “Jackster” for ten minutes - they are crossing the Indian Ocean next year, so we’ll be bumping into them a few times over the next year.
I was back on board Alba just after noon. We stowed the booze away and then left the horribly bouncy anchorage and headed back to Pulau Seri Buat. It took us four hours to sail the 18 miles, with some sailing and some motoring. We anchored in exactly the same spot that we left this morning - lovely and calm.