Bongao Island, Philippines to Mabul, Malaysia

All smiles departing Sandakan, Malaysia

18th October 2012, en-route from Sandakan to Papua New Guinea, a day after we departed, we discovered the mount on the sail drive was broken. We were pointing 30 degrees off course and the autopilot was working hard to compensate it. 

The engine was vibrating badly but we weren't sure of the cause. We suspected that something in the upper gearbox housing may have been damaged due to the broken mount. There was also strong "clunking" noise when engaging in the forward and reverse gear. 

The next day, the engine vibration did not improve. We tried to re-align the alternator belt and changed the prop but the engine was still vibrating when in gear. Sadly, we decided to cancel our plans to PNG and return to Sandakan via Bongao island instead.

Bongoa island

138 nautical miles from Sandakan, we anchored off Bongoa island (N 05.02.355 E 119.46.540) in 10m of water. The anchor held well.

Bongao island is the capital of the Tawi Tawi province which is the southernmost province in  Philippines. It is located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. A little worried at first when a local wooden boat rowed under us and refused to go, but it turned out they were just curious and left after a while.

We departed Bongao island 2 days later and headed for Mabul, Malaysia which was 61 nautical miles away. We only stayed a day in Mabul as there was no fresh water available and no one was keen to dive. One of our crew was down with fever and another had cut his hand with a knife so deep that it required stitches. So, on 24th October, we departed Mabul for Sandakan.

Mabul Oil Rig

Philippe entertaining us with his ukelele

Very disappointed we did not make it to Papua New Guinea, but thankful we realised the problem sooner rather than later, all safe and grateful to our crew for being so understanding.