May 2024
This months blog is a little different than usual and we make no apology for it. We count ourselves very lucky that the vast majority of the crew we have had onboard so far have been great, but this month has been increasingly frustrating for us with disrespectful behaviour and unnecessary verbal aggressiveness from crew that has just made us so angry. Ally has “ummed and ahhhed” about posting it all, but the last few days while the crew members were onboard convinced her she couldn’t just post the blog she had already started to prepare, without detailing our full experience as it’s all part of our circumnavigation adventure. We feel that along with all the wonderful times we are having, it’s important that we “report” on the not so good times too because it’s not all sunshine and mermaids. Of course, there are 2 sides to every story, but we feel most of what happened could have been easily avoided and no-one could deny that, although there is nothing that can be done about outright lies/deceit if it is part of someone’s personality. Below is Ally’s ( brief!) account in black and white, and beyond that, the nicer side of the month with the green background….so if you want to scroll on by the s*** stuff, you can 🙂
The group arrived in two halves, a couple (G&M) who boarded on the 1st May, and then C who arrived on the 6th after a very late, spur of the moment decision. As a group, we did have some good times together but unfortunately most of the issues that arose boiled down to the total lack of respect for us, our belongings and our home, along with an unwillingness to accept and move on from reminders of what is expected. There are, or should be, no surprises for oncoming crew as we give all the information they need up front, before they even sign up, so that they know what our expectations of them are. However, it soon became evident that despite filling out a questionnaire and signing to say they understood everything they had been sent, much of it clearly either wasn’t read, understood and absorbed or they just were not bothered and thought it didn’t apply to them. There is a lot of info, so we do understand when one or two things are forgotten in the first couple of days, but of course it lead to tension and frustration on our part when we were constantly having to remind them of not just one or two, but many things, more than once, almost every day, especially when rather than admit they needed to reread the bumph, they insisted they had read it (so does that mean they were deliberately being difficult in disregarding what they had read?). After several days, they started to roll their eyes ( do they think we don’t notice?) and answer back or question why in an aggressive and defensive manner, but if they’d read the info, they would know the answers to those questions!? This total lack of respect for us and our home spoilt the entire leg for us, especially when they took offence and created an atmosphere – not a good trait in crew when living in such close quarters. All the rules are there to protect OUR property from loss or damage, to prevent wasting our finite resources, to maintain a comfortable living space for all and prevent unfair behaviour. We admit, sometimes we get things wrong, but we do apologise and move on when that is pointed out – and that there is the difference. The couple arrived at the beginning of the month totally unprepared for their stay onboard ( no deposits, no cash for the kitty, no meal ideas and it appeared, no real idea about the sailing involved or the need for shifts on M’s part). During the 11 day crossing from Palau to Borneo, they decided they would leave asap after arrival, announcing this a few hours before arrival at our destination, but due to the authorities not working on Sunday’s, clearing into the country had to be delayed until Monday morning. This lead to a very uncomfortable rest of Sunday afternoon when they segregated themselves and while G made some effort to converse at the dinner table, M didn’t utter a word and then sat with her back, as best she could, to the rest of us. To be honest, we were not at all surprised and more than relieved by their decision to leave and had already felt that this would be a good thing to happen. We are sad that there was an increasingly bad and unnecessary clash of personalities, but when a crew member, on top of everything else, after 24 days on another yacht and then 19 days on ours, cannot tell the difference between a head sail and a main sail and then tells us on motoring into Tawau, Borneo she cannot even see the numbers on the chart plotter, having done day and night watches where she was responsible for everyone else’s safety and with Shawn relying on her to report any dangers between his very regular checks, we think it was definitely time for them to leave. From the beginning, there was no interest on her part of learning anything about sailing or living on board and it was clear from the outset that yachting wasn’t the life for her. M had become quite truculent during the final few hours as we sailed into Tawau and would not listen to or show any interest as Ally tried to explain why a yacht cannot be sailed directly into the wind, choosing instead to show her complete ignorance and unwillingness to learn about sailing once again. To make matters even worse, on Monday the 20th when we all went ashore to do the tedious and long winded task of clearing in with multiple government officials, which is never a bundle of laughs, M’s behaviour deteriorated further. She became irrational, obstructive and hostile, refusing to hand her passport back to Shawn, despite an Immigration Office and Ally explaining the reason why Shawn should have it. As anyone in the yachting world knows, the captain has ultimate responsibility for all crew until they are completely signed off the boat and ready to leave, and as such must have all passports with the boat papers. She created a scene until Shawn told her she would not be able to return to Imagination and he would bring her belongings ashore for her, at which point G had to tell her to hand it over so she could pack her own stuff. She went on to try and start an argument in the Marine Department Office, aggressively asking why we were there and refusing to listen and talking over her in a raised voice when Ally tried to explain it was all part of the clearance procedure which, as we had never been here on the yacht before, was as unfamiliar and frustrating for us as it was for everyone else. While waiting for Shawn to complete the final formalities with Customs and Immigration to remove G&M from the boat papers during a required second visit to them, Ally was sat alone when M loomed over her with her face inches away from Ally’s, demanding, in a loud and belligerent tone, to be told when she had been rude to her. Ally had to tell her to back off and sit down to diffuse her aggressive stance and told her that as soon as someone comes into our home and disregards all of the information that they have been sent, not just once, but multiple times, they are being rude. The fact that Ally gave her personal Iridium email address to her so that her family could contact her due to an alleged ongoing “emergency situation” at home that was soon discovered to be based on untruths and used for general chit chat back and forth not between just one, but two relatives, is rude. They were also vaping at times and in areas where they had been asked not to, brought soft furnishings that should stay inside out to the very salty cockpit to rest on (obviously soaked in water to cool her neck) and then very quickly got verbally aggressive when asked to take it back inside for the 3rd time, having ignored the first two requests for her to do so. She went on to become very critical on a personal level at which point Ally reached her limit and had to tell M she was no longer willing to listen to anything she had to say and she should go away. Four times Ally had to tell her to go away before she finally did so. How G managed to not get involved either way throughout these outrageous and over reactive outbursts is beyond Ally, but she can hazard a couple of guesses. A very difficult character indeed, but we kind of had a forewarning we would have issues on the night before they were due to board. Despite being advised to book a cancellable outbound flight to facilitate an easy passage through Immigration when they flew into Palau, we had an attempted phone call which woke us up and then messages at 22.50, 1.5 hours after we had gone to bed, wanting us to send a letter for the Immigration officer to confirm onward passage….no apology forthcoming for waking us up and making Shawn get up to send a letter at that time of night! We wish them all the best with buying their own catamaran and setting their own rules….maybe then they will realise how frustrating it can be when people take no notice and have a bad attitude. Once they had left, our remaining crew member suddenly started “forgetting” to do things she had done up until that point, although for a more relaxed last week, we let them go. However, right from the start, we noticed several untruths with some of her stories changing between talking to different people, she filled in the questionnaire saying she ate chicken, then when she arrived said she doesn’t eat chicken, she deliberately left hatches open when we all went ashore and when told in a friendly way that she hadn’t closed them, she denied that she had left them open even though Ally could see from the dinghy as we returned from shore that they were all open ( she did this more than once, thinking we couldn’t see the top one as it is underneath an upturned dinghy on deck). On checking her cabin on her final day, Ally pointed out that the double fan had been severely damaged, and once again, she denied having caused the damage even though she was the only person using that cabin, a chunk of plastic had been punched out of the base and one of the fans was dangling down on wires. When she was told, on no uncertain terms, that the fan was intact when she arrived and noone else had been in her cabin, and all she came back with then was, “ Well, it still works”, like it was ok she had left it in that state! She was another character that, rather than admit mistakes or explain herself/clarify in a calm manner, she immediately got defensive – again, not a good crew trait. Say what you need to say, talk it over in an adult manner, admit when you’re wrong and move on. We’ve had a terrible few weeks, and we know there will always be the “odd” ones that get through and once you get one, it encourages others to behave in the same way. Thankfully, we have never known anything like this before, even during our 10 years of chartering and hopefully we never will again! The most frustrating thing about all of this is that much of it could have been avoided simply by them reading and living by the information that they had been sent and signed that they agreed to. It all sounds a bit trivial, but it’s our home, our “rules” and being made to feel uncomfortable in our own home is not ok. If you don’t like it, don’t sign up! Rant finally over! I am exhausted by it all.
Now for the original blog: M and G came on board at 10am on the 1st and we were all ashore by 11.20 to go into town to have some lunch (via an extended visit to a bank), before going shopping, which thankfully was easy and stress free as we found everything we needed in one store. On the 2nd , we were ashore again late morning to go to the Rangers Office to organise the necessary permits to go down to The Rocks. The original plan for this leg was to leave Palau for Sulawesi (Indonesia) on the 3rd, but with recent volcanic activity and the risk of tsunami’s etc in that area, after much discussion, we all decided to remain in Palau for longer and then sail straight on to Borneo. Shawn got a message from a lady on the 1st who was interested in joining us as soon as possible and he told her of our spare crew cabin due to a late cancellation and the potential change in sailing plans, but once the decision was made to stay here longer, by some miracle she was able to book flights and purchase dive equipment to be delivered before she was to leave home. She was due to arrive on the 6th – our fastest recruitment ever! The 4 of us currently onboard went snorkelling at around 4pm, hoping to find mandarin fish that make an appearance late in the day, but unfortunately we were unsuccessful. Friday 3rd was overcast and very wet initially, but we were off the mooring at 9am for our return visit ( for Ally and Shawn) down to The Rocks. M and G were given some sailing tuition on the way down and they each got the opportunity to sit at the helm to familiarise themselves with the instruments and Chart Plotter and ask questions etc. After a snorkel, G and M went across to visit Jellyfish Lake where they really enjoyed their time – the jellies really do have a way of fascinating people.
On the morning of the 4th, we were briefly visited by Crystal on the dive boat associated with the liveaboard she had gone to after leaving us at the end of last month – it was great to see her happy face. She truly loves the water and spends every moment she can watching the underwater world. Shawn and G went for a dive while Ally and M relaxed on board and then floated in the water off the back of Imagination to cool off in the not so cool water. The day had once again started with rain, but it passed through quickly and left us with a beautiful day. Once the dive was done, we were on the move to the next destination within The Rocks. It was another return visit for Ally and Shawn, but this time we all went for a snorkel at “Shark Alley” ( my name for it!). There were many day trip boats there with guides chumming the waters to attract the Black tipped reef sharks and we observed these beautiful creatures coming in to feed. It’s not the ideal situation for Ally and Shawn as they would much rather see animals in their natural habitat, there because that’s where they happen to be, not because they have been enticed there and learnt that they will be fed there for tourist entertainment. Even so, it was a wonderful close encounter of the sharky kind – close enough to touch, but we didn’t, as tempting as it was, although some Korean and Japanese tourists tried – dangerous business when a shark is feeding, and we did noticed a couple of them had an aggressive stance! It was back to Imagination after 40 minutes or so and our anchor was up again so we could make our way back up through the islands and this time, we anchored at a spot where we were only able to look at in awe as we passed through towards the end of last month – The Arch. It was a beautiful spot and as it was 5pm, we enjoyed a beer in the water, bobbing around on our noodles. The following morning, Shawn and G did a dive of 2 halves. The first one for 20 minutes through a soft coral arch and the second along the reef near the arch we had anchored next to. Ally snorkelled while they dived and saw a huge array of clams of all different sizes and vibrant colours….unfortunately her camera battery died within 5 minutes of the first snorkel!
After lunch, we left to return to Malakal once more where our third crew member, C joined us mid morning on the Monday the 6th. We had a relaxed few hours before we all went ashore and did separate things for the afternoon. On returning to Imagination, C went to rest after her mammoth journey and we didn’t see her again until the following morning. Again, Tuesday morning was relaxed with everyone getting up at their own pace and we all relaxed together in the water, floating on noodles for an hour or so late morning. The decision had been made to set sail tomorrow, and so Shawn contacted the Transports Department to inform them of our intentions and to give them, Customs and Immigration the 24 hours notice they required. Shawn and C went for a dive during the afternoon, while Ally remained on board and G and M went ashore again. That evening, after a half an hour delay due to heavy rain, we all went ashore for a lovely dinner and just as we were preparing to leave afterwards, Ally and Shawn were able to have a final quick catch up with Crystal when she arrived with others from her dive liveaboard at the end of their trip. As predicted, Customs and Immigration were an hour late turning up for our outward clearance the following morning, but it was done and dusted quickly once they did arrive. We were away from the mooring at 10.30 for our direct sail to Malaysian Borneo.
After 2 years in the Pacific, it felt a little strange to be leaving – we had become familiar with the gentle, peaceful, warm and generous people that live there and we have had some unique, unexpected and wonderful experiences. But, it was time to move into a new area with it’s own rich cultures, flora and fauna to discover and experience. The first 6 of the 11 nights sail were probably our slowest to date as the winds stayed away whether rain or shine apart from the odd 10 minute gust. The spinnaker was up and then down and then up again, the mainsail went up and headsail out and then in and down again, the starboard engine went on and then off and then on again as the conditions changed. We all slept, read and watched movies/tv to fill the time during the hot and sticky days and nights, we caught a Wahoo, saw dolphins and humpback whales, beautifully starry skies and many shooting stars. We sailed closer to Indonesia than the Southern Philippine islands as much as possible as we had read they can sometimes cause security issues for passing yachts. In fact, before departing Palau, Shawn had to liaise with a Malaysian security group on Borneo who watch out for and facilitate the safe passage of yachts during their transit of the NE coastal area, with travel only allowed between 6am and 6pm. They are called ESSCOM and as part of their info, they asked Shawn to also inform the Marine Department and Police about our intended arrival and movements. Overnight from the 14th into 15th, we suddenly picked up speed in the light winds – it appears we got into a fast current helping us on our way and it was good to have some effortless speed.. The night of the 15th was a fairly stressful one as we came across many fishing vessels, probably Filipinos far from home. At first, we were a little concerned, but they all had navigation lights and the smaller outrigger fishing vessels seemed to work in groups around a “Mothership” that they returned to with their catch. We sailed overnight with no navigation lights, to be as inconspicuous as possible for safety reasons, but a couple of times switched them on temporarily as we passed bigger vessels. We all had to be extra vigilant for the remainder of the crossing on what was to turn out to also be the busiest for other vessels we have ever done. During the morning of the 16th, one of the smaller outrigger fishing boats approached us and we prepared ourselves for potential issues, but the three crew on board were friendly, waving and smiling and they offered us some fish. They took photos and video of us, we took photos and video of them before we all waved our goodbyes and they went on with their day. A couple of days later, we had 2 more Filipino visitors, this time on tiny canoe like boats with outboards. They had come from their motherships to say hello and they told us they sit in those boats until they catch just one tuna each and take it back to the mothership to be put on ice. They are at sea for 2 weeks at a time before returning home for a week to be with their families. By late afternoon on Saturday the 18th, some of the smaller Malaysian islands were visible and we motored through a windless, very still night with mainland Borneo stretching out before us as day broke on Sunday the 19th.
We sailed with the headsail as far as we could into the huge bay, taking advantage of the wind while we could and tacking several times, but with multiple fishing buoys in the water, it was time to pull the sail in and motor into Tawau which seemed to take forever with the wind directly on our nose. We had the anchor down at 12.52 on Sunday 19th having radioed Port Control to ask where we should go and continued communications with Port Control to try and ascertain the clearance procedure and where we should go ashore etc, only to be told after an hour that Customs and Immigration are closed on Sundays. Despite being a Muslim country with the most important day of the week being Friday, the working week is still Monday to Friday with weekends off. As Shawn and Ally reflected on the crossing, they were amazed they got here in 11 nights with the prolonged absent winds. Using the average speed we use to calculate all voyages, we expected 10 nights – the strong current we got into helped massively in making up lost time.
The clearing in debacle on the 20th went as described above and once G&M had finally left the boat, Shawn, Ally and C had a wander around the fruit and veggie market before finding somewhere to have local food for an early dinner before heading back to Imagination for a few drinks and chat. On the 21st, we left the port anchorage early and had to motor to our next destination as there was still no wind. As we left, we had a downpour which was refreshing and having thought it was in for the day, we were surprised when it cleared up and we had brilliant sunshine for the rest of the day. We arrived in Mabul Island at 15.10. Shawn was here diving about 17 years ago and it has changed a great deal since then. It’s a tiny island ( approx 0.2km2), but it’s two villages are heavily populated and there are so many dive operators and dive resorts that from my point of view, completely spoil it. The water is littered with garbage of all kinds, but we were able to anchor out of the worst of it and float in the warm water off the back for a while. We went for a walk late afternoon to see if we could find somewhere for an evening drink and meal, but apart from the resorts and run down shacks at the side of the dirt path ( there are no roads/cars) there is nowhere to go, so we ended up back at the ScubaJunkies resort where we had tied up the dinghy, having an all you can eat buffet for 30 Ringgitt (£5) each. Although the choices were limited, we all came away full and satisfied. The following day, we went around to the other side of the island in the dinghy and did a 1.5 hour snorkel – the reef looked healthy, with many fish and we saw at least 5 large turtles resting. C swam back to Imagination looking at various creatures along the way and it took her just under an hour…it was alot further than she thought. She and Shawn went ashore mid afternoon to firm up dive arrangements and early on both the 23rd and 24th they left to go diving for the day leaving Ally onboard.
As we motored across to Semporna, Borneo on the morning of the 25th, we were flagged down and boarded by the Marine Police and Marine Department officials who were having an “ Enforcement Day”. It wasn’t just us, they were stopping all the taxi boats, day trip boats, dive boats and private speedboats. It’s good to see that they are making sure all those on the water are abiding by the safety requirements. We were asked lots of questions about our safety equipment and had to show our boat papers, clearance and insurance documents. They were all very polite and friendly and were happy to pose for a photo once they had done what they needed to do. C left us at around 4pm after packing and cleaning her cabin. Semporna is a busy little port and we anchored right in the centre of what feels like the “mainroad” for all the daytrip and dive boats and all the local comings and goings and the amount of garbage floating by on the strong currents back and forth is outrageous and disgusting. Between the 26th and the end of the month, Ally and Shawn had the usual task of doing the local port clearance with the authorities and locating various services and items for maintenance. Time onboard was spent fixing/replacing damaged things, relocating stored items and mentally “regrouping” after the uncomfortable and difficult couple of weeks. We are looking forward to better times next month 🙂
