" So far , so good ! "

1600 nautical miles and here comes Borneo ... I've stopped in a little town called Kudat to check in . The people are really nice and the immigration officer even drove me around town to show me his place !!! A big change from the Philippines where all they wanted was their bribes . I'm going to keep on moving down to the Marina in Kota Kinabalu , the biggest town in this part of Malaysia . I need to get a few supplies and my boat is in dear need of a good washing ... Shore power , water and cable tv at the dock ! Even heard they have a few McDonalds there !!! Yeepee :)
Cheers
B.

"Last stop , Paradise in Balabac Strait"

Haven't been able to write lately . I'm leaving the Philippines tomorrow . The american tree huggers and myself were anchored off another paradisiac island last sunday when i decided it was time to make my way towards Borneo . They also had to go east to find a place to work on their boat . So we spent that last evening onboard Kalakuta , having dinner , drinking a few San Miguels and having a last discussion about "american culture" ... and we said goodbye . When i woke up the next morning , they'd already left . I've been feeling quite sad all the way down to my last anchorage from where i'm writing this last filipino message : Balabac island , the southern tip of the Philippines ! And no phone coverage here , cab't even make a last call to all the ones i already miss . I'd easily stay here another year . So much to see . This country is so beautiful , more than 7000 islands and millions of pretty girls : A cruiser's paradise :) I'll be back for sure , i might even skip Australia and come back here after Indo ;) It's always hard to leave a place you love .
I've spent 3 months in China , 9 months here , a year out of France . I met a lot of new friends , i've seen loads of amazing places and learned so much about myself . Some people spend years in therapy to try to find out who they are , what they want or what they need to be happy . Others get a boat and go sail the world :)
Turn on , tune in and drop out !
B.
p.s : To all the friends i met that last year : Ray , Filip , Bryson , Reiner , Mike and Mahal , Marc and Julie , Mitch , Dave and Dorothy , Andrew , The Teds , Andy , Carol and Brian , Karta , Dan , Omar , Mr Gong and the Seahorse crew , Cassi and Jeremy , George and Jenny , Russel ... Thanks and see you soon !

"Lost Puppie"

I was browsing through my pictures and i realized i'd forgotten to post this . It was last november , in Subic Bay ... It's a baby whale shark that was probably lost . He stayed around my boat for an hour . Nobody believed me until i showed them this ;)
B.


"Where's mom ?"

"Coron island"

Exactly a year ago i stepped in a plane leaving for Hong Kong . What a trip :)
enjoy
B.

"at the office"

Back to my little island today . Tried to find a better place yesterday but nothing comes close to this little paradise . And it was windy , super steady 18 knots all day . Great sailing full speed over the colorful reefs . I guess I'm the first one windsurfing on this island so i've named the spot "Scaramanga's" :)
I'm staying here for the night and hopefully it'll be windy again tomorrow . Then i'll have to move on , I've got to be in Malaysia on the first of April .
Cheers
B.

"The man with the golden gun in his Hammock"

"In Search of Scaramanga's island"

Ok , this is not a James Bond movie . No Man with the Golden Gun and no James Bond girls in sight ... But that's the tune that was playing on my ipod a minute ago , and i though it was quite relevant for this part of the trip . Yesterday , I left the little bay which had been my home for a month and i am now cruising the west side of Busuanga with my Cowboy friends following on their catamaran . There's a lot of little paradisiac islands all around us , and the most difficult part is to choose the one where we'll stop for lunch . Hard Life :)
B.

"Tequila Sunrise"

Almost one year since i left Paris . I'll have to celebrate soon . It took quite a long time getting the boat in good shape but everything's been running smoothly lately . So i started cruising and only a few hundred miles later ended up in this lovely little bay and decided it was time to take it easy . Some people like to visit as many places as possible . I guess i'm more interested in chilling and meeting people than following tourist guide's recommendations . And being "shipwrecked" here in Maricaban Bay has been great : good food , cool evenings at the bar , days spent doing nothing but swimming , snorkeling and reading books in the Hammock . Then a few boats arrived , and in my world this means new friends .



"Ocean Boy and his Ocean Girls"

First i have to introduce Reiner . He has to be the coolest , funniest German guy out there . He lives in Hong Kong and is on a three months trip around the Philippines on his sailing yacht , "Ocean Girl" . He's got a limitless imagination and a great sense of humor . We've spent many hours together trying to figure out how to turn the nearby mangrove into a Disneyland styled attraction for the Korean tourists . The plan is to drive them around in a dinghy and show them the local jungle wildlife . All we'd need is a couple of guys wearing crocodile , anaconda and tiger outfits and Reiner even suggested he could play the part of the Hippo . We're going to be rich ... One more beer please !



"The Dude and his Dudess"

Then there's Marc and Julie . They've just acquired a 38ft catamaran and stopped here to repair their broken mast ... For quite some time now they've been splitting their time between their hometown , Chicago , and Thailand . "Cool dudes" i shall say ... She's a graphic designer , he's a Rodeo Cowboy / Gun lover / Shooting instructor / Computer specialist / Sailboat Skipper ... What the hell , how can you be all that at the same time without being schizo ! Anyway , apart from all these defaults he manages to be a cool guy and she finds the strength to love him :) And for a bunch of Americans , they're quite educated and apparently even managed to vote for the right guy this time :) Having a really great time with them .



"The Gimp"

Mitch , another cowboy , was traveling with them for a few weeks . He's quite wild so he was only allowed to come out of his cabin a few hours everyday . He's also from Chicago and has a fetish for Baby Wipes ... He left a couple days ago and we miss him a lot . We suspect he was in a hurry to go back to Manila and spend more time at the Hobbit House , a bar where only little people work ...



"Lord Mike"

And then there's Tequila Mike . He's the self-professed black sheep of a really old Family in Britain . He does quality control for this place and apart from the fact that he's English and doesn't drink anymore tequila , he still manages to be a nice guy ... He has thousands of stories to tell of the times when he was just a gigolo , a windsurf school owner , a restaurant owner , a house builder , a ... He claims he imported the first Bottle of Tequila in Portugal and he is quite fond of numbers . So far we know that in the course of his life he's owned 75 cars , 75 bikes , had more than 75 girlfriends no more than 75 year old , drinks 12 beers a day , been here in Maricaban for 12 years , could windsurf for 12 hours non-stop and has been doing this and that better than anyone for 12 years ... Jokes apart , one thing he does better than anyone for sure is helping people , and he does this for free . PRICELESS !

I guess you'll understand my dear readers that amongst this profusion of German/English/American nutters , it feels good to be the only sane guy out there . Has to be because i'm French :)
Vive le France !
B.