Kumai River Trip

This trip has been something we've been looking forward to for a long time.   We've heard from other cruisers that this was a highlight of the trips through Indonesia.    I just love the orangutans and we've seen them before at a few sanctuaries in Borneo, however, we've never had a really close up experience with them.   At Camp Leakey, you just can't help getting close to them, they are all around you.  It was exciting to say the least.

Before our anchor hit the mud, we were approached by several little speedboats each with guys offering to take us up the river on their Kloktok.   We knew that Harry Rosterman came highly recommended from several sources, so we looked him up and he definitely knew his stuff.  He was full of information, friendly and helpful, and we had our plan working in just one day.

Here comes our kloktok, right on schedule.   Our crew was great.    Fardi was our guide and he couldn't have been  more gracious and helpful.   He was well trained and could answer almost any question we had about the orangutans, the river, or the jungle environment.

Although our little boat was pretty basic, everything was confortable and the crew set everything up for us.

.We had delicious Indonesian meals served to us by our cook, who deserves some kind of medal for cooking on her knees in such a small place.  And she was usually singing as she did her chores.   Great lady.

 This is our captain, Yaya.

It took 5 hours to go up the river, which was a little uneventful except our captain spotted a crocodile along the river bank and backed up to show us.

Fortunately for us not only did we have great weather on this trip, but there were relatively few tourists.  We maybe had 10 other people at the feeding stations with us, and just a handful of kloktocs tied up at the docks whereas during the higher season in the summer, the river would be jammed with these boats and maybe up to 100 people at the feeding stations.   When we got farther up the river, the brown river water turned to black just like that.

We arrived at Camp Leakey at mid day and in time for the 3 p.m. feeding.    Boy, a gibbon, was hanging around the dock getting snacks from the cook.   He especially liked pineapple and when our cook gave us a snack of pineapple he swung up onto the boat and on our table to steal some.

We started on down the boardwalk to the camp when there was a loud commotion right behind us on the dock.    The king orangutan, or dominant male, Tom, had arrived and the boat hands hustled to move the boats off the dock.  If Tom got on to a boat, it would be a big deal to try and get him off before he swiped some souvenirs.   Jim and I were a little concerned as he loped along behind us until Fardi explained that the orangutans don't move all that fast on the ground.   And Tom seemed unphased by our presence, although you wouldn't want to get up close and personal with this guy.  He's enormous.

Tom followed us all the way to the camp where he pestered the rangers for some food.    I don't think anybody turns Tom down when he wants something.  After his snack of milk and rice, he posed for pictures, and then shared some of his food with other orangutans.

We were lucky enough to see not only Tom, the dominant male, but the dominant female as well, and many babies.    When one orangutan is on the platform and another more dominant one arrives the lesser orangutan skedaddles.    We watched as the queen bode her time just a few meters away from the platform, and then when she was good and ready she boarded and everyone else scattered into the trees. We sat and watched as they satiated themselves with loads of bananas that the park rangers hike into the woods for them.   We could see the mothers training their babies to get from one tree to another.   One little guy gave a loud squeak when he wasn't too sure of what to do and his mother turned back, swung her arm out and made a bridge for the little guy.

 That was a pretty successful first day.

At night our mosquito net went up, our bed was laid out, and we parked quietly along the river bank, falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle and waking up to the calls of the gibbons in the trees.  In the morning the "anchor" was raised (a tire thrown into the weeds - very effective) and we went back to Camp  Leakey to check on the orangutans, who by now were our very good friends.....well, maybe not friends exactly...

Our second morning at the camp was just as exciting as the first.    One of the queens came by for a visit, eating some fruit she picked herself, then just lolling about for the day.    She amused herself by covering herself with branches and then rearranging the whole affair over and over again.

What a life!!!

Later we net Ursula, a precocious young lady.  At six she is really supposed to be on her own, but she still hangs out with mom and whenever mom moved along, Ursula would put her hand on mom and go with her. Ursula had a sibling she seemed to be much taken with and played with it in between chasing games with Fardi who teased her with bananas hidden in a pocket.

The rangers live a kind of lonely life out there.   Here a young ranger cooks in his kitchen.  No modern conveniences here!!

There were 3 feeding stations that we visited all together.  On the last trail one big orangutan was hanging off a tree right on the trail, waiting for the rangers to bring the bananas.   On each trail we were accompanied by the orangutans as they made their way to the feeding stations for their daily treat.

 So enough of the orangutans, already.   I've got a million pictures of them, but I'll spare you.   In addition to them there were the ubiquitous macaques, my least favorite monkey ever since I watched a pack of them terrorize a puppy in India.    While focused on the orangutans, we had a visit from a herd of wild piglets.

These are pitcher plants, just waiting to lure in an insect for a drink.

 We visited a reforestation project.   Several years ago the park was in danger of obliteration from a devastating forest fire.    We could make a small contribution by purchasing a sapling and planting it for the future growth of the forest.

And, on our way out of the jungle we visited the village of Sekonyer, built along the river.   The folks here have to move every once in a while as it floods along here regularly.   We were there at the end of the day and families were together on their porches while children were playing and washing in the canal.

 

And last, we watched elderly craftsmen and women ply their trade, which they have probably done for their whole lives.   A man weaves a fish trap and a husband/wife team make leaf panels for roofing.

Cruiser notes:   Anchor just right of the center of the river.  You will most likely see ships and tugs/barges anchored as well.    Harry's office is just to the right (from the river) of the ferry dock and we were anchored across from his office.    The trip was more expensive than I thought it would be.  We did the 3 day trip and we paid $430 for it.   You can for slightly less do the 2 day trip in which you see the same things as we did only you don't spend the day at Camp Leakey.   You would have a small chance, then, that you won't see any orangutans at all.   You can get fuel and laundry done also through Harry or any of the other speedie boats that come by wanting your business.    They charge a lot for fuel, 8,500 Rph when it is 4,500 Rph at the station.    We went to Pangalan Bun town via bemo.   The grocery store leaves a lot to be desired but there was a nice coffee house on one of the side streets with good shakes and coffee drinks.  Not a lot in Kumai town itself, however there is a market but you need to get there early.  They close up by mid day.

  

Nongsa Point, Indonesia to Kumai

Nongsa Point Marina is on Batam Island, just across from Singapore.   Its a resort and not handy for anything but an easy day hop from Danga Bay or Singapore and getting checked in to Indonesia.    This may very well have been one of the last places like this we'll be in for a very long time.    We checked in with no real problems except that when I inquired about our Temporary Import Permit, Dwi, the marina manager was perplexed.   He didn't know about a TIP so we decided to just skip that piece of paperwork and take care of it later.

Since we get only 3 months to travel through all of Indonesia and we would need every bit of that, we moved pretty quickly through the islands so we could get to Kumai to go on the jungle river trip.    Most of these islands in the west of Indonesia have small villages, fishing being the major source of income here.    Going at night was not a great idea as there were a lot of these small fishing huts out on the water, not to mention the bane of sailboats, fishing nets.

 Along the way we crossed the equator, a first for me.   Jim wanted to do it the "Navy" way which would involve pain, mess and humiliation.    I decided we would offer Neptune a glass of wine, a bit more civilized and kinder to my old bones.

 We had a great trip all the way to Kumai, stopping for a couple of nights in the Karamata Island group which was beautiful.    We took a day to snorkel, explore and watch our fishermen neighbors tackle their boat chores.

  That's a sea cucumber.  These get harvested for the Chinese palates.   I love the clam "mouths" as they are all brightly colored and look like a spray of pansies.  When you touch them, they protract, "clam up".

Cruiser Notes:   Anchored at these three islands for a night's sleep only, Lobam Island 00 58.4N, 104 14.1E; Mesanak island, 00 24.9N, 104 30.4E; Kentar Island 00 04.0N, 104 45.2E; Karamata Group, P. Begunung 01 35.5S, 108 46.3E and P Serutu 01 45.2S and 108 46.3E.   We are using the 101 Anchorages in Indonesia Guide, however, the author wrote that for a westerly cruise from Australia during the SE monsoon and we are doing an easterly cruise in the NE monsoon so many of his anchorages are exposed for us.   We've had to figure out places to anchor on our own pretty much.

We reached Kumai in the morning and had a favorable flooding tide to go up the river on.    Its very shallow in places but not that hard to do.     Coming into to the town of Kumai we could hear the loud chirping of swallows.   We also noticed these large buildings which were windowless (except for some faux windows on the water side) unpainted, and ugly looming over the cluster of shops and homes along the river.    We later found out these buildings were fake caves for the swallows built by Chinese in order to collect the birds nests they are so fond of.   Big money in this, too.    The loud chirping comes from tape recorders to entice the swallows to come nest in the buildings.   And don't get the idea this provides any kind of economy for the locals.  We were told very little goes to them, a bit more for the local who provides his land for the site of another one of these ugly buildings, the rest into the pockets of the Chinese.

Now to get ready for our trip up the river.

Change of Plans

We waited and waited and waited in Surigao for a weather window to Palau, which never happened.   There is a La Nina effect right now which has intensified the easterlies to 25 knots with 3 meter seas.   Some days worse.   Just a short way to Palau but impossible from this angle.   So we had a decision to make:  go back to Zeke's and hang out there until May while taking a few side trips or maybe a trip back home, or change direction.    We decided to change direction and go to Indonesia.   The best way to do that at this time of year is to go from W to E so we sailed back to Bonbonon for a short two day stay and visited with friends we had made the first time we were there.  I really liked that place.    We took a quick trip into Dumaguete to get pesos and have a lunch.    We hired a motorcycle to take us to the junction where we could catch a bus, but the motorcycle was a bit small for two Americans (Filipinos, no problem).   When our driver started to take off, the front of the bike came up in the air!!!    Time to diet, I guess.   So another motorcycle was brought in and we were on our way.

We left Bonbonon after a nice evening with friends at Nigel's resort.   Nigel is another one of those characters you meet along the way.   Very funny and the food was good at his restaurant.    We sailed across the Sulu Sea towards Kota Kinabalu on Borneo, 4 days with washing machine seas.  Fortunately it was going with us but was still an uncomfortable trip.   We pulled in to Sutera Harbor where we had stayed in 2009 for a few months, a nice, luxurious resort with a plethora of swimming pools.    It's lost a little of its luster due to the economy and cruisers are now getting dinged about double what it used to cost to go in there.   On top of that there are seldom spots open as it is a members club so we only can get a place if one of the members is gone.   We lucked out and got a spot for 5 nights, right next to another American with a great dog, Buster, a 2 year old Golden Retriever and very friendly.    Nice to get a dog fix for a few days.

We had a nice trip from KK to Brunei with a short stop at Tiga, then Labuan (Palau Booze) where we topped up on some wine, then to Brunei where fuel is very cheap.  

 Cruiser Notes:    Brunei Yacht Club is very welcoming.  They charge 5 BND a day for using their facilities which include showers, a washing machine, restaurant and the pool.    Usually you can call Allan Riches to supply a van to get you to the grocery store and get fuel.    He charges 30 BND for the service for 250 liters and you can borrow the extra jerry jugs from the yacht club.    He wasn't available when we were there so we talked some of the employees to get diesel for us on their own time.   

Then it was to be a quick trip, about 5 or 6 days to Singapore.   The first night out we encountered a perplexing situation.   Lots of boats with lights which we assumed were fishing boats.  Then one of the "fishing" boats peeled off and came straight at us.   We thought perhaps we were headed towards a net or had picked one up, although we were sailing.   We checked around, saw nothing amiss, but the boat kept coming at us with a searchlight, ruining our night vision.    Jim turned the motor on and we tried to get away from it, but it kept right on us.   Then we could make out the lights better on one of the other boats and realized they were vertical:  tug with a tow.   The boat dogging us was another tug trying to warn us away from the restricted tug.   We couldn't make out a barge because there was none.  The tug was towing pipe.   Things might have been easier had they answered our radio calls, but in the end they gave us a course to steer clear of the pipe and we were on our way again.  

The 3rd night the weather began to kick up, we were doing fine, but it was still intensifying up to 30 knots with 3 meter seas on the beam.    The closest place to get out of it was an Indonesian Island but we would arrive in the dark and decided that was not going to work.    Other small islands offered no protection from this kind of sea,, and the prediction was for things to get worse the farther we went, so we had to divert and go 130 miles out of our way to go to Kuching.   Another problem was that the seas were still big and aimed directly at the coast where there were shallows at the entrances to the Sarawak River or Santubong River.   We had to lay off for several hours waiting for the tide to change so we could enter the channel outside of Kuching and still it was another 14 miles to the marina.    We anchored safely about 7 miles in, exhausted and pretty much dropped into bed.   When we awoke we found ourselves anchored in front of a beautiful Chinese temple and all the ships that had been around us were now gone.

We stayed at the small marina outside of Kuching for just a few nights.    There were a couple of other cruisers in there including a German boat with Ulla and Klaus on board and Ulla made a great grain bread that she sold.....perfect.    Also saw a boat that we had seen back in the mid 80's in Cabo San Lucas, Veedon Fleece.   The owner is not the same,  however.

Cruiser Notes:   Pending (Kuching) 01 33.54N; 110 24.3E.   This marina is small and the current zips by here.   Enter on a flood and go beyond the marina and turn back into it if you can.    Its a ways out of town and supposedly easy to get in but is quite a walk to the road and the bus only comes once an hour and stops around 5 pm.   Taxi service is expensive.    The marina staff will take you to CIQ which is actually very near as the crow flies but a considerable walk.    They charge 20 MYR to take you there and back.   Our driver took us farther into town for an extra 10 MYR.    They will also get fuel for you.  The surcharge is kind of high, but you probably could not do it yourself for any less and they pick up the jugs at your boat and deliver direct to the boat for you so it pretty easy.


We left Kuching for the remainder of the journey to Singapore, another 407 miles with the added diversion.    It was a pretty good trip, sailing all the way, until we got into a nest of anchored ships about 40 miles from Singapore.   Then I sailed into the traffic lanes which was a little unnerving and I called Jim out to help.   We ended up in one of the traffic lanes behind a submarine for a little bit.    Too many ships so we turned on the motor for the rest of the trip.    When we arrived in Singapore we made our way to western quarantine to meet the immigration boat and as we did we sailed by One 15 Marina where we had hoped to stay and saw that it looked pretty full.   We called and indeed they were full up and couldn't let us in.  You are not allowed to anchor anywhere in Singapore waters so we had no choice but to continue on to Danga Bay, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, another 30 miles.    We were kind of tired and grumpy at this point, it was dark, no moon, and we were negotiating our way around the busiest shipping harbor in the world without a decent chart.     We ended up lost behind a reclamation wall and decided, legal or not, we would drop the anchor for safety's sake and get some rest.     


In the morning, rested, we made our way up to the Tuas Bridge and on to Danga Bay.  On the way we encountered a tall ship coming the opposite direction and we were going to share the opening under the bridge.  He needed every inch of space he could get and even with that he knocked something off the top of his mast.

We like Danga Bay.   Some boats have been here forever as it is very cheap, about $33 a week and close to everything, including Singapore.    There's been a few festivals since we've been here.     Thaipussam, an Indian religious ceremony was going on near one of the Hindu temples in town so we jumped on a bus and headed in to see what it was about.    This is when Hindus honor Shiva.   The actual religious nature of this event has been corrupted a bit over the years as some Hindus will carry a kavida to the temple and suffer piercings through their cheeks and tongues.  

 Some had fish hooks stuck in their flesh with ropes attached and a "driver" pulling on the ropes.  Supposedly these penitents feel no pain as they are in a trance like state.  

  Musicians follow them playing music that helps them to stay in the trance.   When it is all done, they go into the temple, the devices are all removed, wounds are rubbed with ash and amazingly they heal quickly and have no scarring.    Small pots are offered to the gods, usually with milk in them.

We were the only white faces in the crowd.  We just got into the procession and watched what was going on with the Hindus.    They were very gracious to us and offered us water, fruit drinks and even chatted with us about what was going on.

Danga Bay just celebrated its 15th anniversary.  The Malaysians are proud of all their development, although it is going rather slowly.   One of our observations is that they fill in what they consider useless, wasted space like marshes to build big showy edifices that they don't maintain well once they are built.  It seems to me they are more into the display of wealth and progress rather than a concerted effort to care for their environment.

We've enjoyed staying here for a couple of weeks as there are a lot of cruisers around.     Johnny and Shelley Mahoney sing on Tuesday nights at Lazios right here in the marina.  They can belt out some great old rock and roll hits and get the crowd going.  We had lots of fun listening to them last week.

Cruiser Notes:   Danga bay Marina (01°28’.5N 103°43’.5E), is two miles W of the causeway to Singapore     Buses into town are easy to catch just out front of the marina, as well as taxis which are affordable here.    Getting to Singapore is also very easy, best way is to catch a taxi to take you to the Singapore Taxi stand, then you share a taxi which will drop you off right next to Sim Lim Square.   Cost is 15 MYR per person if there are 4 people in the taxi, otherwise you pay 60 MYR to have the taxi to yourself.    Coming back is the same but in Sing dollars, 10 S$ each.   The marina was free up until the 1st of the year, now you pay a whopping 100 MYR a week (that's $33 folks).   That's less than what you would pay for a night in Singapore.    Lots of grocery shopping. Chinese stores that sell pork and good cheese, places to get things fixed, etc.   Danga Bay provides a free service 3X a week for CIQ, laundry pick up, propane pick up and diesel pick up.