Governor got us a banca for the section from start to Davao. That’s extremely generous of him.

We paid a courtesy call to Mayor of Glan, Enrique Yap who just woke up late from his birthday party last night. Today is his 44th birthday which is also Malaysia’s National Day.

Some local media came to send us off. After lunch, we started at 11.30am. Finally, after 9 months of planning, we were on the way. I felt a sense of relief.

The sea got rough sea after 2pm. Arnel’s kayak kept taking in water. At 4pm, we decided to beach. No sign of support boat. Buzzy & me capsized while beaching. I lost my sunhat & hydration bladder! I was angry at myself for being so careless not to secure the loose items. Curious villagers gathered. They have never seen kayaks before. They wondered about the missing outriggers.

Buzzy got in touch with Randy. The support had to go to Glan to purchase fuel and on its way here, the engine broke down. The boatman was fixing it.

It was getting dark. We couldn’t wait for the support boat. The villagers told us there was a resort 500m ahead. We launched our kayaks into the rough sea again to look for the resort. We landed at Margus Pequeno just as the sun set. The resort owner had been to Singapore on a mission work before and his wife is the only midwife in this village.

The support boat arrived in the dark. The sea was too rough for it to land. They had to come in with a small banca.

I have no T-shirt & shorts. The support team brought my laptop bag instead of my clothes. It was my fault. I didn’t tell them which bag to bring down from the boat. Buzzy and Jana lent me their T-shirt and shorts.

To compensate for the rough first day, we had an air-con room for the night. Not bad for such a remote location.