12th, 13th June - Miri (Borneo) - internet connection dodgy...

Thursday 12^th June

Another glorious sunset on the Sarawak coast

We have arrived in Miri and are safely tucked away in a dodgy little marina.

I am more tired than words can say…not sure why. Maybe because it is so very VERY hot…Just under 40 right now, at 5.30pm.  We have power available to this berth but…none of our plugs is the correct size.  A bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears…slightly too big, slightly too small, we need yet another one IN BETWEEN.

The trolley at Miri...SO cute!

Dave and Jacqui arrived early this morning, having sailed all night.  They had rung the marina office, and the manager had said, Oh yes do come, I will be there to show you to your berth.  Dave said it would be early, maybe 8am.  Not a problem, said the manager.  I am ALWAYS there!  He wasn’t.  And nobody here has seen him at all, not even those who have been here for seven days… He is supposed to be here now, with a plug for us.  Pete rang him when we were fruitlessly hunting for the office in a three storey building a few miles from here (thank God for the bikes…) and he said, I am at the marina now, and will bring you the plug.  An hour later and…not a sign.  This means, sadly, that we can’t use our lovely fans.  But…we will survive!

The building, by the way, revealed no sign of a marina office.  We asked many people who worked in the building.  Some of them said we had to go to the Park View Hotel; others led us to their dive shop, or to long-empty office spaces.  In the end, we discovered that the marina office is upstairs above the Ducati motorbike shop, and that you get to it by going into the bike shop and asking to be allowed upstairs…Strangely we didn’t work that out by ourselves…

Where oh where is the marina office??

The internet is slightly dodgy too; not sure if it will bear the weight of any photos.  Or even of any blogbits.  But I will try!

Friday 13^th June

Maybe Friday 13^th will be luckier, with internet connection…

I spoke too soon of our lack of power connection.  Captain Fin arrived around 6pm, a splendid, large, very black man, full of joie de vivre, and with a perfectly suitably electricityplug in the boot of his car. 

So we slept with fans and all was well!

The last remaining boats have come in.  Zoa and Jolie Brise had a restless night out at sea, tossing around on the huge swell, waiting for daylight and for an opportunity to cross the bar.  They are very tired…

Did I already show my feet, floating in and out of the South China Sea??

We are quite a long way from anything here in the marina.  Hank God for the bikes!  Last night we rode along a deserted stretch of brand-new four lane highway, leading us into the main part of Miri.  All of this infrastructure; no cars!  Perfect for bike riding… We assume they are building new housing estates…or they are just keeping people employed!

And today...we went to Niah Caves!  Fabulous...more re this tomorrow...internet connectivity being willing...