27th August - Kudat - Lankayan security

Wednesday 27^th August

There is still a lot of security all around us.  (NO the security is not about us; it is general!)  Many Maritim boats in Kudat marina, zipping importantly in and out, guns aloft.  Pulau Lankayan was like a small fortress, with a big Maritim boat circling the tiny island, several small ones tethered to the main jetty, and a few gun emplacements (pillboxes) dotted along the beaches.  Cosy!

The soldiers all look very comfortable, lolling on their hammocks and daybeds, in the shade. I imagine a posting to Lankayan would count as reward for good behavior.  You have been on watch in a stinky hellhole full of rats, batboys and poo for two years and you have not complained once.  Off you to to Lankayan for a rest cure! 

Pete wandered off into the bushes behind this beach (you can see 2XS and the big Maritim boat in the background.)  I didn’t follow; I was worried about stepping on something sharp and or bitey.  He came up behind another pillbox, with lolling soldiers, and immediately (and very sensibly) started talking to them in a loud voice. Hello fellas!  Here I am, right behind you!  Do not be alarmed!  Do not shoot me!  They laughed in great delight – a bit of a diversion!

Our Emma sometimes had a bit of difficulty understanding Pete… She came into the cabin one day, laughing, in some relief.  Pete had asked her to bring him a spanner, and when she handed it to him, he turned to address the task in hand and shouted, Bloody oath!  (As he does, when he is concentrating on a complicated job.)  She reeled a bit and thought, Why is he calling me a bloody oaf??  Fortunately she managed to translated things swiftly in her head and she did not get offended.

Our anchorage outside the marina is nice and safe.  We would not be so safe tied up to one of these crumbling pontoons…

So sad.  This is a very new marina – we were at the grand opening only a month or two ago – and it is totally falling apart…

I took a photo of a large school of tiny fish, in the clear Lankayan shallows.  These schools swirl about, acting in unison, and they form easy, tasty prey for local birds, ready to swoop down for a snack.

We have unloaded the bikes and will be off soon into Kudat town (about four kilometres away.)  This was their first trip in the new dinghy and…all went well!