Well ok, this wasn't quite "Stagnetti's Revenge" guys, but maybe the closest thing we've got here in Malaysian Borneo: lots of hot chicks swinging from the rigging on a classic yacht !!?!!
As you can see it was beautiful day to be sailing in the South China Sea... the skies blue azure, sun shining bright... too strong maybe, for even our local Borneans were left with reddish-pink noses at the end of this rather lovely day of sailing, diving, eating and drinking... The yacht in question is Borneo Tall Ships' very own classic yacht Raja Laut (www.rajalaut.com) which is currently berthed in Sutera Harbour, Kota Kinabalu - her "home town marina"...
Borneo is Raja Laut's birthplace, her spiritual home. The classic gaff schooner was built on these shores.... and with it a dream of exploring the magnificent cruising grounds of Southeast Asia!..
The clue is right there in the name "Born(eo)"! ☺ True to this name Borneo is the birthplace of lots of inspiring, impossibly romantic, sometimes very real adventures...
a conclusion the writer Joseph Conrad must have come to having traced the paths to Borneo many times both as a sailor and novelist...
The great writer did more than any other to make Borneo legend, and we like to think of the journey from the Andaman sea to Borneo, and then onto Bali as "Conrad's Passage"!
For much of the world, and for Conrad in particular, interest in Borneo began with the "White Rajah" of Sarawak - Englishman James Brooke, who sailed from Singapore, armed with a 100ft schooner called the "Royalist" (not unlike the Raja Laut itself), and an inheritance, to take on the feared headhunters and pirates of Borneo, claim the Kingdom of Sarawak and found a dynasty that lasted from 1860 to 1940.
But these are stories for another time. Today, the nearest thing you're going to find to a pirate in Malaysian Borneo are the pirated DVD makers me thinks.
Embarking at Sutera, we headed out to Pulau Sapi, the smallest island in the marine park but also the most popular because it is well sheltered by the bigger Pulau Gaya. Arriving near the Sapi-Gaya channel this crazed dreadlocked pirate on Ed's boat got his grappling hook on us... but it only turned out to be international travel photographer Suchen - plug time ! (www.suchen.com)
Six of us elected to go for a dive, and Raja Laut's lovely PADI Dive Instructor got us all setup with new scuba gear for the yacht's dive store, so all we had to do is slap some sun cream on and get into the tender.
Here's Narvin demonstrating a nice backward roll out of Raja Laut's diving RIB. Thats Gav going the other way (as usual).
Unfortunately no whalesharks were spotted (April is whaleshark season in Sabah) but we were pleasantly surprised by how the dive turned out: good visibility, healthy coral, and lots of fish, some rays, a moray eel, several species of nudibranchs which are always a welcome find...
After the dive we returned to the yacht for some lunch, prepared by Raja Laut's very own gourmet chef, weighed anchor and set sail around the north of Pulau Gaya.
We stopped again in Gayana Bay for some wakeboarding in the bay's flat calm waters, and some kayaking too.. Its a 2-seater kayak but evidently Mr Aping wasn't going to let that stop him from joining in..
As the sunset we entered the old port and ended the cruise at the Waterfront in downtown Kota Kinabalu, anchored right in front of Bar Su, using the RIB to go ashore we had Pizza ordered from Toscani's to be brought over to the Raja Laut...
The sunset really was out of this world and we have the pictures to prove (thanks Suchen! - plug ! - www.suchen.com)...
A little champagne for starters... Well, I reckon it just doesn't get any better than this...
I think Gavin was thinking the same thing... Looks like he probably had a few too many though...
For more information on the Raja Laut visit www.rajalaut.com + or download by clicking on this link
Recent Comments