The luxury of KK was just too much so we promptly left. A short day sail away brought us to the island of Tiga, where we, probably illegally, stayed the night. This was a nice little anchorage and a beautiful beach with a great sunset. The only problem is that it was the original location for the moronic TV series, Survivor.

Another one, I think this is the 4th or 5th one of these places I have been to. In any case, they had cold beer and dinner and that was all I cared about. So we enjoyed the evening and also took a short hike to one of the island’s three mud volcanoes. These are just pools of burbling grey mud. When we got to the volcano there were lots of little monkeys hanging around, but they quickly scurried off. Then I stepped in up to my shins and that was that. Back to the bar, except I had to take a walk in the sea to get the mud off. Later on the way home the locals were having a party on the dock and invited us to join. We got to have some of the local coconut alcohol. It was tasty and deceptively strong. I traded shirts with a guy who had a giant Malaysian flag for a shirt and off we went, rowing back to Slick.

Early the next morning we departed for Brunei. It was an all day motor sail and we breezed by the duty free island of Labuan where we could get all the alchohol and fuel duty free. We didn’t stop since the island is still part of Malaysia and well, we didn’t complete the check out. Then into Brunei Bay where the wind was about 20 on the nose and we could see a massive thunderstorm rolling down off the hills. We hurried to get into port and got settled in. The anchorage is about a half mile to the yacht club so it was a long row. But luckily someone gave us a tow both in and out.

The next morning we checked in and then went to town to buy an outboard. The check in process was easy but the main city is pretty far away. After a 45 minute bus ride or so, we found ourselves in downtown BSB, the capital. There were grand mosques and wide grass parks and pictures of the Sultan everywhere. Fortunately the Yamaha dealer was easy to find. Outboards are subsidized here and the prices are the cheapest I have seen anywhere. I really had my heart set on an 8 hp Enduro. When we arrived though they did not have the 8s. Only 5 hp or 15.

Well, the price was right and so I bought the 15 hp motor, 5 hp more than my dinghy is rated for. With this, Duffy has been replaced and will receive a proper burial at sea on today’s underway. The Yamaha dealer gave us a ride back to the yacht club and we took our new engine for a test drive. Wow, the dinghy is now a suicidal rocket ship. Fuel is also cheap here so we filled up on diesel, and it is a good thing since it appears that there won’t be any wind, anymore, ever.

The other exciting thing is that we have picked up two new crew. Mathew and Linda flew in to meet us here. I have known Mathew for about 8 years and have just met Linda. They will stick with us for the ride to Singapore. Yesterday we went downtown and took a ride up the river. We saw some proboscis monkeys and some other wildlife. You think the river is out in the nature but then you go around a corner and end up in a new housing development. We also got to enjoy some of the museums, all of which are free. After some tiring provisioning we returned to the boat.

Brunei has been an interesting place. Everything is really far apart, especially for such a tiny country. The roads are wide and from what we have been told, everyone has 3 cars. There are cars everywhere. Happily though, we leave today for either Singapore or Malaysia just to the north. I am awaiting confirmation of a slip in Singapore to know where we are going. The sad part about this is that there is no wind forecast and the trip will be about 800 miles. Mathew seems to think that he can catch some fish but I have my doubts. There will be plenty of oil platforms to dodge though and hopefully the Indonesian fishermen don’t barrage us too close, apparently they will come as close to the front of your boat as possible to get rid of their evil spirits. This should be fun, especially at 3 in the morning.