On May 4, 2009 MAIMITI, our brand new DeFever 45 after-cabin had her first salt water contact in the Victoria Harbor basin, Hong Kong. She had been shipped from Shanghai to Hong Kong and we were there waiting for her.
MAIMITI was moored for two weeks at the Hebe Haven YC in Sha Pak, Hong Kong, a quiet and safe place to get her ready before crossing the South China Sea. On May 21 we left the Hebe Haven YC, and three days and seven hours later we landed at Matalvi Island, Philippines.

We had good weather crossing the South China Sea, but from the second day we experienced a 15-18 knot SE wind with a rough sea and one knot current against us. We were late on our schedule due to the late delivery of MAIMITI so we couldn’t spend too much time cruising the Philippines. Because of the possibility of a typhoon and because we wanted to arrive in Singapore before the setting of the SW monsoon, we had a fast passage through the Philippine Islands, clearing in at Subic Bay and clearing out at Puerto Princesa, Palawan region.
　

We cruised from Subic Bay to Kudat, Malaysia through the Sulu Sea along the east coast of Palawan in nine days, with daylight legs of 70-100 miles. We rested at anchor at night in the several sheltered anchorages in the area. On the Sulu Sea and generally on the South East Asia Sea, there are so many unlit nets and fish traps that it’s not advisable to cruise this area at night. The Filipino are poor people, and fishing is widely practiced by everybody. They use a balanced pirogue and they seldom paddle on the open sea, while someone has a small sail or an outboard engine. No one asked us for anything except the immigration and customs officials.
　

We crossed the Balabac Strait and the Philippines to the Malaysia border with a smooth sea, and we landed in Kudat, North Borneo without any problem. We stopped at Kudat for a couple of days for provisioning, and on June 9 we made the next leg to Kota Kinabalu where we spent the night at anchor in a bay south of Gaya Island. The next day we headed to Labuan, a duty free area in front of Brunei. We anchored in the commercial harbor and got a clearance for Brunei. The next day we headed to Brunei, hoping to have a fast and inexpensive refueling, but after we cleared in we discovered that we had to make an appointment and pay at the petrol main office in the town a couple of days in advance. We decided not to refuel, and the next day we left Brunei for Bintulu. There is a striking contrast between the Philippines and Borneo, Malaysia. In the latter they are rich from oil, they have brick houses, paved roads, new marinas, and so on.
　

The sea on the west side of Borneo is generally smooth and cruising this area was not too straining, but we had a 190 mile night trip across a wide area of oil rigs and we had to be careful to stay away from them. When we arrived in Bintulu the next day, we discovered that it is a commercial harbor with no space or facilities for pleasure boats, so we didn’t stop there and we decided to go further south.
The sea was so calm that we spent the next night at anchor at sea, about 10 miles off the Sarawak coast in 12 m (40 ft) of water. The day after, at sunset, we anchored in the mouth of the Rajang river, some 63 miles from Kutching (the southermost city of Malaysian Borneo), where we arrived on June 15, 2009. Kuching isn’t a good place to refuel and there aren’t any yacht facilities. There is a marina under construction, but nothing at the present.

Three days later, after checking the weather by GRIB files, we left Pirate Bay (!!!!) on the west corner of Borneo and we got under way to the Singapore area. If you don’t need to land in Singapore (as we did) you can head to Sebana Cove on the Malaysian Peninsula few miles away, or to Johor Bahru, without clearing in Singapore.
　

Crossing from Borneo to the Singapore Strait we had very good weather - light wind, smooth sea, and a favorable current getting stronger, so we arrived at the Singapore Strait’s entrance at 3 a.m, even decreasing our speed to the minimum to keep the boat’s stabilizers working (there was some swell). The night was dark with no moon, and it was cloudy and there were an incredible number of ships at anchor or moving everywhere. It was an unpleasant experience even with the best radar on board, but we did it! On June 22 at 7 a.m., after one night on watch we got a rest anchoring on the Santi River, just in front of the east side of Singapore; two hours later we went up the river to Sebana Cove Marina.

Sebana Cove Marina is a nice, safe, well kept marina, as many in Malaysia are, but it was too far away from any town and any shop. Two days a week there is a minivan going to the closest village for shopping and provisioning. After one week we moved 60 mg away to Johor Bahru, always on Malaysia, but in front of the west side of Singapore, where it is easier, to go to Singapore - less than one hour by bus! From Johor Bahru’s new marina (free, no charge, including water and power!!) to Langkawi we had always been cruising in daylight. It was not especially interesting and we spent no more than a couple of nights at each anchorage. The water was murky and dirty (as it was in the South China Sea) and we did not swim or fish because of too many plastic bags and logs. Approaching Langkawi (the westernmost Malaysian island, on the Malacca Strait) we saw the sea turning greenish and we hoped to find clear water around the Thailand’s islands.
　

Actually the islands that stand outside the Phuket area are clear with blue water and some sand beaches as well, but there are so many tourist, diving, and local fishing boats going to and fro from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. that it was impossible to relax at anchor or find a secluded anchorage as we are accustomed to. We were pushed to move away from that island or anchorage.
　

In the Phuket area, we visited the famous Phang Nga Bay. It is impressive because of the rocky islands rising vertically out of the sea, but here again the water is brownish/greenish and there are a lot of big jellyfishes.

On her first trip, from Hong Kong to Phuket, MAIMITI covered roughly 3500 miles
　

Now we plan to spend a few months here and when the SW monsoon season ends, we plan to come back to the South Pacific .

Cited Reference: DeFever Cruisers Magazine, Winter 2010