MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE and BRUNEI

MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE and BRUNEI CRUISING NOTES

Ketoro 2010 – 2012

Ketoro is a 40’ Admiral catamaran with a 1.2m draft. The anchoring depths given are all under the keel.

These notes cover our anchorages in the following grouped areas: Langkawi, Penang and islands off W Peninsular Malaysia; W Peninsular Malaysia mainland; S and E Peninsular Malaysia; the islands off eastern Peninsular Malaysia; East Malaysia (Borneo Island) from west (Sarawak) to east (Sabah).
We visited Singapore on the way, and also did a visa run to Brunei on the way up the Borneo coast; these notes are covered at the end.

1 Langkawi to Penang

Langkawi Island

Duty free port especially for fuel, wine, beer and chocolate.

At Kuah town (main town and ferry terminal and entry / exit facilities) Langkawi Yacht Club: marine@langkawiyachtclub.com +60 4966 4078

Matsarat: town near airport on south west side with easy access to Rebak and Telaga marinas; great store PL Sun Huat. Wine room at the back.

Langkawi Island: Telaga Harbour Marina

 azharjg@telagaharbour.com . Check in /out facilities at marina. Fuel at Petronas quay; 2012 Rm2.80/l. Veggie man comes every Friday to marina. Good car and scooter hire from Mr Din who will deliver to Immigration building at marina.
Marina is at 06:22.023N 99:41.058E; you can anchor in the ‘lagoon’ behind the two manmade islands (about 3m, rolly in S winds, some areas of poor holding.) We were in 3.2m at 06:21.81N 99:40.77E.

Pulau Rebak besar (Rebak Island)

Mazrizal Othman Marina manager,  marina@rebakmarina.com. Rebak Island Resort,  +60 4966 5566, +60 19 477 0695, mazrizal.othman@tajhotels.com, rmmarina.malaysia@tajhotels.com .
Marina 06:17.777N 99:41.892E
One small chandlery and one small provisioning shop on Rebak island. No fuel available but LPG gas is. Veggie man comes to Port Langasouka (hotel shuttle boat stop) every Friday. Travel between Rebak and Langkawi islands is by hotel shuttle boat every 45 mins. Car and scooter hire from ??? who will deliver to Port Langasouka shuttle dock.

Pulau Dayan Bunting

Anchored in 3m at 06:10.666N 99:48.108E and 11m at 06:11.434N 99:47.258E.

“Christmas Beach” 06:10.666N 99:48.108E in 3m.

Pulau Singa Besar

06:12.316N 99:44.675E in 4m

“Fjord” anchorage

This is a beautiful anchorage between steep islands, but the tide can be strong. We dropped in 12m at 06:11.220N 99:47.259E.

Penang

Tanjung City Marina, Georgetown: 05:24.858N 100:20.633E; depth 1.5m; bad mooring, surges from ferries, but wonderful central place from which to walk and explore Georgetown. We have been informed (2013) that this marina has closed down.

New marina at Straits Quay (north east corner of island) is evidently very good.

2 West Peninsular Malaysia (mainland)

Malacca Straits

Travelling south: we preferred to go beyond the 30m contour, and sailed just in-shore of the north-bound shipping channel, hence facing the near-side shipping. (The shipping is very good about staying in their channel, but seeing them on AIS is comforting as the clearance between you and the oncoming ships is tight if you want to ensure a default port-to-port passing with oncoming small craft in the Inshore zone). There were many other vessels in the In-Shore zone including many tugs towing barges. Few tugs had AIS (but they all did show correct nav. lights), and most of the other in-shore vessels had no AIS. At night we became aware of wooden vessels, with no radar print and no navigation lights, crossing the channel close to us: smuggling appears to exist.

Particularly when northbound (and you cannot get too close to the protection of the shipping lane because of southbound small craft) it is best to show as much light as you can to alert the many small fishing boats to your presence – they tend to sit in darkness until they become aware of an approaching vessel and only then switch on!

It is quite feasible to day-sail the Straits as many overnight anchorages are available. However we had a schedule and to make best use of the very significant tidal currents, we elected to run mainly with the tides with the only proviso being to round Singapore in daylight.

Pulau Pangkor

Our only experience of this island was a stop to go up the mast and do repairs. We anchored in 13.8m at 04:12.575N 100:32.965E

Port Dickson

Admiral Cove Marina; berthed at 02:28.581N 101:50.713E
This is a good place from which to visit the city of Melaka for a few days. Fuel dock available.

3 South and East Peninsular Malaysia (mainland)

Puteri Harbour Marina

Keep to the west (Malaysia) side of Johor Straits: Singapore patrol boats were evident and watchful.

Marina is good wrt berths, shore heads, laundry facilities, restaurant, fuel is available.

Berthed at 01:25.091N 103:39.498E in 5m.

Teluk Punggai

We anchored in 5.7m at 02:16.636N 104:07.042E

Kuala Rompin

Anchored in 2.8m at 02:48.49N 103:30.51E

Anchored 03:38.080N 103:35.707E in 18m, off the coastline in good holding sand; this is simply an open beach roadstead.

Kuala Terengganu: Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina

Enter the river between the two rock breakwaters; head west to marina. Berthed in marina at 05:20.367N 103:07.857E; depth 5.4m.

It is possible to go upstream to raft to the fuel barge but we took the dinghy upstream to collect in jerry cans once, and another time a barge came to deliver to boats (if there are enough takers to make it worth their while). Best to filter the fuel before going into tanks.

The city (market, shops, pharmacy, banks; small but nice Chinatown with people very friendly and helpful) is the other side of the river, approached by dinghy; tie up at the dock. An evening out ended up with 2 of 4 dinghies having petrol siphoned out of their fuel tanks.

This is a very conservative Muslim city and foreigners who do not dress appropriately are made to feel very unwelcome.

4 East Peninsular Malaysia Islands

Pulau Tinggi

Beautiful island, good holding anchorage at 02:16.636N 104:07.042E in 5.7m. Watch out for sandflies.

Pulau Babi Besar

Anchored in 4.5m at 02:28.793N 103:57.303E

Tioman Island

• Teluk Tekek  village. Anchored in 14m (which became 3.7m!) at 02:49.343N 104:09.550E; this was where most catamarans anchored (and a great place to view the small DASH aircraft using the tiny runway!), with many monohulls anchoring the other side (SW) of the marina entrance. Wonderful island for good walks, food, base for diving, visits to places of interest. Small marina. Tioman Island is duty free and a source of cheap beer.
• Small island SW of Teluk Tekek, mooring buoy in 6m at 02:48.63N 104:08.17E; nice snorkeling albeit busy with day boats.
• Mooring buoy in 7.5m at Kampung Mukut, east jetty, south of Tioman island; 02:43.13N 104:11.75E. Lovely walk to a waterfall used in the old movie “South Pacific”.

Pulau Tulai

02:54.776N 104:06.082E, anchored in 15.5m.

Pulau Sepoi

Mooring buoy in 17m at 02:53.41N 104:03.97E; well placed to dive nearby.

Tiger Rocks

Mooring buoy for diving in 19.2m at 02:53.494N 104:03.593E. Great diving.

Pulau Sribuat

02:41.867N 103:53.900E in 10.7m

Pulau Redang

Anchored north side in 6m at 05:47.23N 103:01.05E and at Pu Redang South / Pu Penang we took a mooring buoy in 6.5m at 05:44.896N 103:00.198E. Good snorkeling and diving.

Pulau Lima

Moored on a dive buoy in 12m at 05:46.458N 103:03.505E

Perhentian Islands Good snorkeling and diving.

Anchored South in 14m at 05:53.36N 102:44.94E, then in channel 3.7m at 05:53.68N 102:44.12E.

Took a mooring buoy at lighthouse (Seabelle Mount?) in 10.3m at 05:54.633N 102:42.585E.

Anchored in 9.5m at Perhentian Besar (NW) at 05:54.715N 102:44.956E.

Mooring Buoy at Tokong Laut (Temple Rock) 05:57.725N 102:39.413E

5 East Malaysia (Borneo Island): Sarawak

Crossing the South China Sea from west to east Malaysia (Borneo Island): the main Singapore – Taiwan – Japan shipping lanes must be crossed; keep well clear of all of the Indonesian island territories, and be on the lookout for oil production platforms.

Pulau Satang Besar

We anchored in 7.6m at 01:46.709N 110:10.014E off this beautiful National Park island.

Santubong River

Approach waypoints to Santubong: 01°46.93N 110°16.49E, then 01°42.83N 110°17.81E, and then 01°42.83N 110°19.00E. It is best to travel in the river at / near HW. Anchor along the north bank of the river. There is a dinghy jetty but that is all.

We anchored at the base of beautiful Santubong mountain in 11.7m at 01:42.9N 110:19.95E. Further north are fishing boats and houses; here there are unmarked wrecks and abandoned equipment and some yachts had to re-lay their anchor a few times before it would hold.
Ship and barge traffic is disciplined and not troublesome.

Crocodiles ARE troublesome, so no boat or prop cleaning or diving on the anchor here!
Boat can be left here for the day to visit Kuching; this town is wonderful for a few days visits. Also see the Cultural Village near the anchorage. If there is need to leave the boat overnight, it is probably best done at Kuching Marina.

Kuching Marina

Berthed in 4.2m at 01:33.525N 110:24.273E.
There are strong tides in the river, and great piles of logs and debris are brought down; however, they tend to get trapped by the dock structures and yachts inside are protected.

Some yachts went up Sungai Rajang to Sibu but we were very nervous of log debris and left Ketoro at the marina to go away for a few days to Sibu and Kapit; the boat was safe. Fuel is available by jerry cans and local taxi / entrepreneurs.

Pulau Lakei

01:44.942N 110:30.000E in 5.4m. Enjoyable walks on the island.

Miri Marina

Entrance is at 04:22.90N 113:58.15E; sandbar across the entrance makes it shallow and care must be taken. We had 2.8m depth; 04:23.112N 113:58.346E.

Miri Marina is a very easy place for fuel, gas, taxis, laundry and to buy pork: all of these are dealt with by entrepreneurial locals who come to the boat to help you! Get contact details from Capt Fin the marina manager at +60 (85) 423 033. (VHF Ch 69)

Miri is a perfect base to fly to Mulu National Park: the caves are outstanding and well worth a few days.

6 East Malaysia (Borneo Island): Sabah

Pulau Tiga

Mooring buoy at 05:43.146N 115:38.842E in 6.3m.

Kota Kinabalu: Sutera Harbour Marina

Very fancy marina, and room to anchor off if it is full or if you do not have holding tanks or third party insurance (both required for marina). Fuel dock available.

We were on a med mooring in 6m depth at 05:58.007N 116:03.318E.

Two hotels and a marina club and excellent swim pools.  Cheap shuttle to town runs frequently from the hotels. Excellent base to see KK, the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehab Centre, and to travel to Kinabalu Park.

Teluk Ambong

Anchored in 4.4m at 06:48.9N 116:33.1E; in sand/mud off the beach, and another time in 9m at 06:18.568N 116:18.118E.

Northern tip of Borneo: 07:02.655N 116:44.662E

Pulau Malawali

Anchored in 5m at 07:03.143N 117:16.250E. This island is supposed to have many turtles.

Off-shore anchorage

Good sand, 6.5m at 07:00.991N 116:46.660E

Pulau Tigabu

Anchored in 14.8m at 06:52.768N 117:28.496E

Pulau Langkayan

The resort has placed at least three mooring balls here, in good condition (two of them brand new) in 2011. We were at 06:30.260N 117:54.894E in a depth of 20m.

The island is a turtle conservation area and well worth a visit, and paying the Rm 25 conservation fee. At the time we were there (September) they were releasing baby turtles daily, and called us (on request) on VHF 16 when a female came ashore to lay eggs.

Pulau Silingaan

18m at 06:10.302N 118:03.378E

Sandakan

The recommended anchorage is off the Royal Sandakan Yacht Club (RSYC). We anchored once in 15m at 05:50.303N 118:07.452E and a subsequent time in 11m at 05:50.450N 118:07.592E.

This is a very muddy river (deckwash required for anchor lifting) and very busy; three of us had our boats burgled while asleep on anchor, despite being directly off the Police Station. Yacht club clubhouse bar and restaurant works very well as local and expat centre. Fuel available by jerry cans and own dinghy. Sandakan is home to the only Yanmar agent in Borneo (next stop Singapore).

Kinabatangan River

Catamarans use the northern entrance route and monohulls entered via the southern entrance, due to the sand banks in the northern entrance.

These are some of our anchoring positions and waypoints down this lovely (albeit muddy) river; the jungle extends to less than 100m on each side but we still saw good birdlife, macaques and proboscis monkeys, elephants and, at the final anchorage, orang utans.

Waypoints from our track and anchorages on the way down:

Northern entrance: 05:52.322N 118:17.649E; 05:51.471N 118:18.247E; 05:50.082N 118:19.123E; 05:48.484N 118:20.232E; 05:47.616N 118:20.527E

Turn right at 05:41.876N 118:23.068E into the main river tributary.

Our anchorages were: Kampong Abei (Johnsonville!): anchored in 5m at 05:41.013N 118:23.231E; also in 3m at 05:36.781N 118:20.870E and lastly we anchored in 6.5m at 05:30.504N 118:17.626E at Kampung Sukau. Beware the powerlines up ahead at 05:30.461N 118:17.197E which are too low to let most boats through.
Whilst here we breakfasted at the Barefoot Lodge and went on a longtail night trip up a tributary with Ahmad Arsih as well as doing our own dinghy exploration: wonderful.

Waypoints from our track and anchorages on the way out:

We anchored in 5m at 05:40.228N 118:23.265E off a tributary with firefly trees; good evening dinghy trip. Turn right at 05:41.876N 118:23.068E to head for the Dewhurst Bay exit. Waypoints: 05:36.005N 118:32.062N; beware shallows at 05:35.599N 118:32.556E.

Further anchorages were in 3m at 05:37.244N 118:35.490E (river mouth) and on a subsequent trip we anchored in 7m at 05:37.988N 118:36.376E.

Exit Dewhurst Bay using 05:38.776N 118:36.922E and 05:39.488N 118:37.884E; this would be the southern entrance recommended for monohulls.

Dent Haven

We anchored here twice in 7m depth at 05:14.912N 119:15.533E. All on mud.

Pulau Gaya

This is a pretty island and worth exploring both for snorkeling and to the village.

We anchored in 8.5m at 04:35.545N 118:43.281E and on a second visit in 4m at 04:35.601N 118:43.389E.

Lahad Datu

This is a surprisingly nice, clean, ordered town with good market and supermarket. The entrance to this well sheltered port, passing fish-farm homes being pushed around by dinghies, is most interesting.
We anchored in mud in 7m at 05:01.052N 118:19.909E

Pulau Mabul

We anchored a few times here, as a base to dive Pulau Sipadan; there is good snorkeling at many places on this island: around bommies on the sand spit and on the opposite side, along a wall, particularly.

12.6m at 04:15.064N 118:38.246E

13.6m at 04:15.077N 118:38.197E

The Oil Rig Resort can be contacted for a memorable meal; their food and beverage manager requires at least a days notice to provision, however. They will fetch you from the boat: a bonus. Diving under the rig resort is said to be very interesting, if contrived (moray eel in the sunken toilet bowl, for example).

Horn Reef

This is simply an anchorage in the sand near the reef, a spot from where to easily swim to some lovely snorkeling bommies. At low tide the edge of the reef is clearly visible.

9.6m at 04:15.033N 118:26.148E

Tawau

This town is on the border with Indonesia.

The river is soft mud and holding is poor; we started in 4m at 04:14.969N 117:52.471E but dragged (as did the whole rally fleet); after we re-anchored at (almost the same spot) 04:14.970N 117:52.476E we were stable. There are several areas where eddies greatly affect the swing of the boats, such that even catamarans near each other will lie differently.

Facilities at the Tawau Yacht Club (pool, restaurants, showers, gym) are good, and staff is very friendly. We holed our dinghy badly at the end of the jetty: give the end a wide berth as there are sharp, upstanding remnants of old jetty structures that can only be seen at low tides. Locals will arrange to fill fuel jerry cans and deliver to dinghy jetty.

BRUNEI CRUISING NOTES

Serasa: Royal Brunei Yacht Club

This river anchorage is off the RBYC which is the only food establishment that caters for western visitors, and hence is fairly busy. Locals will help to fill jerry cans with cheap fuel (additional cans may be borrowed from club).

The anchor was set in 3.6m at 05:00.000N 115:04.163E. Others enjoyed anchoring further up the river but we did not get there.

A few days spent in Brunei city is time well spent.

Kuala Beleit

This river is further south in Brunei; it is very brown from tannin due to deforestation further upstream and ended up staining our sugar-scoop quite badly.

We anchored with less than 2m under the keel at 04:34.414N 114:11.713E.

SINGAPORE CRUISING NOTES

Singapore’s One 15 marina (01:14.675N 103:50.459E) works well and has restaurants, pools, gym, etc, fuel dock and shuttle transport to Viva City (a giant mall that also gives access to buses and underground / metro). It is also located very close to the Western Immigration area where you check in with the Immigration Boat. For a fee the marina will sort out the boat clearance, but the one stop customs / harbour master office is only a short bus ride away.

AIS equipment (at least a receiver if not also transponder) is extremely useful (essential?) and there is talk that Singapore will make it compulsory. At present it is not required for visiting yachts. A daylight passage is essential through the various port areas notwithstanding that the very dense traffic is disciplined. It is however best to, at maximum sustainable speed, slink along the edges of the channels and not make too much of any ‘give way / stand on’ vessel rules – turn or slow down to avoid collision courses or ensure that you are the ‘give way’ vessel in any situation which enables you to positively take avoiding action.