Layang Layang

Layang Layang – Swallow Reef, is part of the historically disputed Spratly Reefs in the South China Sea. It has been claimed by China, Philippines and Vietnam over recent decades. However Malaysia decided to take the bull by the horns, reclaimed part of the atoll, blasted a ship’s channel into the lagoon, and built a naval base to mark the territory for Malaysia. There is now also an exclusive dive resort, an airstrip and a research station for the Fisheries Department. To visit the atoll one needs a permit from the National Security Council, Prime Minister’s Dept. It took about three weeks to obtain the permit

We left Miri, Sarawak in early June to sail the 180 nm to Layang Layang. En route we trolled our usual fish lure and had a huge strike, lost the whole fishing reel as the elastic cord snapped. Never saw the fish. As they say ‘hook, line and sinker’. Sailing with modern electronic navigation equipment is truly a wonder. Imagine we sail in oceans with depths over 1000m, looking for a small atoll 7 km long and 1.5 km wide. After 2 nights we are happy to sight this little island in the middle of nowhere. We can only see the island within 5 nm from the island. Once we had motored thru’ the channel into calm, clear waters, we heaved a sign of relief.

After Leo presented our permit to the Naval commander, we had permission to roam around the atoll. In the evening while enjoying the peace and tranquility and the cool night air, sitting on the aft deck with his usual cup of after dinner Chinese tea, Leo heard a thump then squirt squirt squirt. Hullo? A huge squid had jumped into our dinghy. Obviously using the aerial route to escape a hungry predator, did not really get him out of the frying pan this time!, a herald for a wonderful time?? We managed to catch 2 more over the next few days but our luck didn’t last long. The school of squid became too smart to take the bait anymore. They swim around the boat all the time, just tempting us to try to catch them but smart enough not to take the jig.

Within the atoll the water is a consistent 8 – 12 m deep so in theory you can anchor anywhere. We try to find a clean spot of sand so we do not damage the coral and drop our anchor, swim to the edge of the reef which surrounds the atoll and gawk at the riot of colours and shapes of all kinds of unlikely forms of marine life. At low tide, we can just swim over the reef. To get to the outer edge of the atoll, we have to wait for high tide and hope that the current is not too strong. We tried a few times but had to turn back as the current was too strong. We did manage once to snorkel over the outer edge. It was eerie to swim over the outer edge of the reef. There was no visible bottom over the reef’s edge, just blue water. The edge drops off immediately to 200m then over 1000m. Here the denizens of the deep use the vertical face of the reef as their reference as there is no gravity and swim as if that is the ground, so when we snorkel and look down they are swimming on their sides.

Lovely reefs surround the atoll. We anchored in half a dozen places around the whole atoll and noted how different types of fish, coral and shells dominated each section as we moved around the atoll. Not many big fish reside inside the atoll, although some large humphead Wrasses do but mainly small coral reef fishes, suitable for aquariums.

All in all we spent almost 2 weeks in Layang Layang. We had to leave as our permit had come to an end. This place is definitely 5 stars. We caught a huge barracuda on our way back to Kota Kinabulu. It was so big that we couldn’t fit the head in our landing net. We managed to get the hook off with some trepidation as Leo was loathed to kill such a large fish but those sharp teeth would easily chomp off a few fingers and we did not have chain mail gloves. It was too big for food. Anyway it got off in the end by using the landing net as leverage to tear the hook out of its lips. It will have a crooked sneer for the rest of its life but I think that will suit a barracuda.

Victualling for such a long stay away from any food supply is always a challenge. With refrigeration and canning, these days its really only fresh greens and vegetables that run out after about 10days.

We sprouted mung beans and in desperation, stir fried watermelon skin , which when well fried tastes surprisingly like marrow!

The journey back to Kota Kinabalu started painfully slowly, with long periods of calm. The idyllic weather for snorkeling does not suit sailing and it was really in the early hours of the second night when some inclement weather brought a fresh breeze that rushed us over the last 12 hours.

Now we are happily ensconced in Sutera Harbour once again, catching up with the local marina residents and catching up on news and of course the World Cup. Its amazing what happens when you are out of touch with the world for two weeks, we discover that Australia has a first new female Prime Minister. Perhaps we should go away again.