To visit Layang in your own boat you need to get permission from the Malaysian Navy. With the unexpected and sudden disappearance of Razali my request, which has to included boat and crew details, had to be amended which caused some delay. However the permission could be faxed to the dive resort on Layang so that was our first stop ashore once we were anchored in the lagoon. At the reception there was no fax waiting for us but after a call to the navy department in Kuala Lumpur (yes, there is Celcom coverage in Layang!) they sent the fax again. As Brazil was playing against Holland that evening we went back ashore after dinner to pick up our fax and have a beer in the resort and watch the soccer game on their television. However we were in for a surprise...The personnel in the resort were very friendly but for water, a fax or permission to order a beer we had to ask the manager. Must be an important guy! Eric had been in the resort as a potential business partner and Kevin was there as a guest earlier this year but neither seemed very eager to ask the manager. As a captain you have to know your responsibilities so I went out to meet the manager Mr. Eugene. To my great surprise he flatly told me we could not have a beer in his resort or watch this special game for me as a Dutchman in a remote outpost of Malaysia! Not because there were too many guests or that we expected a free beer but simply because we were no guests! Well, I do not think I would ever want to be a guest in his resort as I have rarely met a more inhospitable manager! We did manage to extract the fax from him at an extortion rate but who cares...
I did want to give up yet but what to do now? The military section of the island is strictly forbidden for resort guests but I figured we had a good excuse to enter because they had to inspect our papers. In the dark we trespassed onto the naval premises and were in for another surprise.... We were not shot at but received by friendly personel who took us to an air-conditioned room with a big TV screen! On leather couches with a nice cup of coffee we were made to feel at home by the commander of the island and had a great time watching the game while our papers were being inspected. Of course the fact that Holland beat Brazil contributed to the cordial atmosphere. How soccer can unite the world!
Back on board late in the evening we celebrated our successful evening with a nice cold beer!
The next morning we got up unusually late. Not only because of the beers but the weather was dreary. Grey skies and continuous rain. Not a day for diving and we had some repairs to do. The air-intake of the compressor filled up with water in the heavy rain, the fan in the quarter berth needed to be repaired after I kicked it in a wild dream and the sun-awning was nearly blown to pieces in strong wind and rain the night before. While Kevin and Eric took care of the compressor, I started glueing together the broken pieces of the fan, while Rachel took out the torn stitching on the awning.
Eric and Kevin still managed to do two dives that day while I got out the sewing machine to stitch the awning.
On the third day in Layang the weather finally cleared and we started the day with an early morning dive into the blue to try to find hammerhead sharks. They live at 40m or deeper around the E corner of Layang where currents are the strongest. From the reef top Kevin and I descended along the drop-off and then into the blue down to 40m but no hammerhead sightings. We did see several giant trevallies and large schools of bumphead parrotfish hanging in the strong current.
At the end of the day we loaded the dinghy with speargun and snorkeling gear and went to the reef edge again. Eric took the gun and Rachel and I snorkeled on the reef top. Rachel saw her first turtle and a single eagle ray hovering by, beautiful snappers approached me and we had our first sighting of a grey reef shark which was chasing Eric after he shot a nice trevally for the pot.
By that time the sun was almost setting and the guys were longing for a cool beer. We loaded the massive fish on board the dinghy and went to bird island, a sand cay on the edge of the lagoon. The small beach was crowded with terns but as we approached they 'gladly' made room for us. On the rocks we were surrounded by hundreds of breeding noddies and terns that were quite 'approachable'.
A very special place to enjoy a beer on our last day in Laying!
Tomorrow we will sail on to Dallas Reef about 15M N of Layang before we will make our way to Kota Kinabalu.
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