2nd Time in Kuala Belait, Brunei

5 days, 427 nautical miles with just the two of us onboard. By the time we arrived in Kuala Belait on 9th January 2013, I was an absolute zombie. 

My body was functioning but my mind was not. I was on autopilot mode. With a 2 hour on and 2 hour off shift, 24 hours for 5 days straight, it was really hard for either of us to get any proper rest. I don't know how the solo sailors do it but I definitely have a new found respect for them. 

I know you might be wondering why 2 hours per shift? Why didn't we make the shifts longer so that we could both have more time to rest? Well, 2 hours was just about as long as I could keep watch without dozing off or feeling seasick.

We didn't get much wind on this passage, so we had to motor most of the way. It was no fun breathing in gear box oil fumes the whole way.

Our initial heading was towards Miri, unfortunately our sail drive failed again. 

We anchored (N 04.34.540 E 114.11.784) in the Belait River just opposite the Kuala Belait Boat Club and subsequently moored Raptor right next to the jetty, opposite the playground where we left her for almost a month, to attend a friend's wedding in Melbourne, Australia.

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Kuala Belait, Brunei

We arrived in Brunei on 4th September 2012. Only 25 nautical miles from Miri. It's a small country completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, but rich in petroleum and natural gas. It's ranked the 5th richest nation out of 182 countries.

We anchored (N 04.34.521 E 114.11.781) opposite the small Kuala Belait Boat Club in 3m of water and spent 4 days here.

 

Mosque in the city

I can't remember much of what we did here but I do remember we bought ourselves 2 bicycles and the fuel is cheap! at 40 cents/liter for diesel and 60 cents/liter for petrol.

An early birthday present :)

Did you know? Even though Brunei is a small country, it's still approximately 8x bigger than Singapore! 

Map of South East Asia

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