British Admiralty Chart 1844 covers Labuan, the adjacent islands, and Brunei Bay.

Approach

We approached Labuan from the South, as we had just left Brunei. The channels into Victoria Harbour are well marked and the marks are all lit. It is a major port, and operating 24/7, can make life noisy in the marina.

The only hazards are a small reef in the approaches, marked with Cardinal Buoys, and “Harbour Shoal” in the approaches to the Marina. This is marked with an Isolated Danger Buoy. All hazards are shown clearly on the chart.

A large number of vessels, mostly bright orange off-shore industry support vessels, at anchor in the approaches to Victoria can make identifying the marks difficult at night.

Note: There are no lights marking the Marina entrance. However, a night entrance might just be possible as the main cargo jetty, near the Marina entrance, has a solid red light on its extremity. Keep this light to port. The local background lighting should be sufficient to light the way in.

However, there are numerous pilings, with no pontoons attached, within the Marina basin, and these do blend into the background. Eyeball navigation with a good torch would be the order of the day!

Marina

The waypoint for the Marina entrance, given in a previous communication, is accurate.

The Marina is now known as Labuan Public Marina and is no longer part of the Waterfront Hotel business. The Marina can no longer be entered through the hotel. There are approximately 20 berths in the outer harbour, and 17 inside the inner harbour. Numerous local boats reduce the berthing space, and first come first served is the order of the day. Anchoring off the beach east of the Marina is possible but it is prone to wash and landing by dingy is difficult. The “rusty ladder” reported to be within the Marina area has been removed.

The floating pontoons have been recently replaced, but, due to washing from the ferries and taxi boats, they are already showing signs of significant wear. There are insufficient cleats, but the Marina Staff have supplied loops of line, which are just about adequate for springs. There are several alongside berths and some finger pontoons.

The shorter finger pontoons do not have a pile at the extremity and are only really suitable for lightweight yachts. The longer finger pontoons have a pile at their extremity and are far more secure. We were put on one of the shorter pontoons, by the Marina Staff, and the attachment area where the finger joins the walkway is already cracking up! The shorter pontoons are classed as 50 feet pontoons, the longer 76 feet. I don’t know if this refers to the capacity of the berth or the overall length, I suspect the latter! Mandarina overhung the berth by some 6 feet, and we are 44 feet long!

Berth holders already in the Marina when we arrived suggested that it is better to berth with the bow pointing out. This enables a quick getaway if conditions deteriorate, and the Marina becomes untenable (!!). We were unable to comply with this recommendation, as a pile securing the walkway would have been too close to our davits and dingy. To date, we have had no problems, other than the surge, which caused one line to wear through.

There are ladies and gents toilets with cold water showers available, which are adequate. There is also a free washing machine and tumble drier. The room housing the machine and drier is locked at 18:00. Wi-Fi is available within the Marina Offices, but of insufficient signal strength to be picked up on a berthed yacht. However, there is an air-conditioned room available for using the Wi-Fi connection and the connection is fast.

There are water taps spaced one to serve two to three berths, and 16 amp 240 VAC, 50 Hz, electrical points on each pontoon illumination light. There are really too few electrical points, the nearest one to us being some 50 metres away. Fortunately, we have a long lead for such eventualities. The electrical supply is erratic, especially in wet weather.

Marina fees (September 2010) are:

Daily, 0.5 Ringgit per foot per day

Weekly, 3 Ringgit per foot per week, (14% discount on daily rate)

Monthly, 20 Ringgit per foot per month. (20% discount).

There is a flat charge of 2 Ringgit per day for water and electricity, both of which are un-metered. The water is reported to be portable, but locals do not recommend using it for drinking water unless it has been boiled first. It is highly chlorinated.

The Marina staff are friendly and more than helpful. Security seems to be good. Mail can be sent to yachts C/O the Marina Office. Get the correct Marina address from the staff.

As previously reported, the entrance to the Marina has been badly sited, and a lot of floating debris enters the berthing area. This ranges from polystyrene food containers to pallets, to tree trunks. The staff struggle to keep on top of this floating rubbish and clean the water every morning. Alas, it all returns during the day/overnight. There is also a surge through the piling surrounding the Marina, but the authorities are plugging the gaps with concrete posts, so this should improve.

Personally, I would not recommend leaving a yacht unattended here for long periods.

Port Clearance

The Port Offices, Immigration and Customs are situated reasonably close together, but directions from locals will make finding them easier. I will give a rough description of how to get to them from the Marina. Take several crew lists with you, to save time. As Labuan is autonomous, clearing in is mandatory even if you have come from elsewhere in Malaysia.

Leave the Marina entrance and turn immediately left past the Waterfront Hotel. Walk along this road until you reach a large grassy field (Labuan Square), and the road turns to the right. At the junction opposite the Police Station, turn left along the main road, keeping the field on your left. Walk along this road until you reach a roundabout. The Customs House will be seen just past the first turning off the roundabout. It has a terrible paint scheme (pink, blue and yellow) and cannot be missed! The Port offices are behind the Customs and to the right. Pass through the security gate, enter the offices, and go to the first floor.

Immigration is next. This is in the Ferry Terminal. Leave the Post Office, the reverse of the way you came in, and turn left at the roundabout. You will pass two banks (one takes Visa Branded debit/credit cards) on your left-hand side. Keep walking until the ferry terminal buildings appear. Walk the full length of the front of the terminal and turn left into the arrivals hall. There will probably be nobody around (unless a ferry has recently arrived), so hang around until someone turns up, in our case less than two minutes. The Immigration Official will take you to their office, in the bowels of the terminal building, where formalities are carried out.

After Immigration, retrace your footsteps to the Customs House and enter the front door. The security man will be behind his desk to your left and will direct you to the Customs Office, which is hidden behind the staircase.

Altogether it took about 75 minutes for all formalities to be carried out, including walking time. All the officials were very pleasant and interested in our lifestyle.

Booking out of Malaysia is the reverse of the above, if you are going North to Kota Kinabalu etc, only the Port Officer and Customs Officer need to be visited.

Local Amenities

There is a large Mall directly behind the Marina, visible through the park, the Mall is better known as the Financial Park. There are ATM’s here, which are the nearest to the Marina. There is a supermarket within the Parkson Ria department store (“Giant”), and numerous other shops. There is also a Chinese Supermarket (Monegain), near to the banks, which we found to be better than the Giant. The Indian Restaurant, Deens, by CIMB Bank, offers authentic Indian and Malay food at reasonable prices, they do take-a-ways too. There is also a Malaysian Post Office. The main Immigration Office (for extensions etc.) is also within the complex, on the second floor, above the bowling alley.

Utama Jaya Superstore, Millimewa Supermarket and Labuan Supermarket all come highly recommended, but the distance from the Marina makes them impractical for a largish “shop” unless you have transport. The frozen meat store, Jaya Cold Storage, on the corner to the right of Utama Jaya, has a wide selection of frozen lamb, beef, buffalo, and chicken at reasonable prices. The local fruit and vegetable market is in the area behind Utama Jaya and has local produce at good prices. Be prepared to haggle the prices down to “local” levels!

The shopping area near the Ferry Terminal has practically everything but is a 15-minute walk, each way.

Like Langkawi, which is another duty-free island, Duty-Free Shops abound. We found it to be marginally more expensive than Langkawi for beer and spirits unless you were prepared to do some serious research!

We spent a morning walking around the shopping area, and the best deal we came up with was from LMJ Duty-Free, UO175, Ground Floor, Jalan Bunga Kenanga. (Near the ferry terminal). Maureen was our contact, and we bought our stocks from her, they also provide free delivery for largish orders, which was the main attraction.

Neil, from Borneo Yachting, is reported as being very helpful. His mobile number is 019 832 9369

There are a number of hardware shops close to the Global Hotel. There seems to be everything available here if the shop owners can find it!

The Waterfront Hotel does a buffet dinner, which although not cheap, had excellent quality food and plenty of choices, in pleasant surroundings.

Best value eating out that we found was in the Mawilla Yacht Club Restaurant, that has nothing to do with either yachts or a club! It is along the beach some 20-minute walk, past the Shell jetty, the Marine Museum and a fish restaurant jetty, (which was closed when we were there). The menus are large, food is plentiful, good quality, and freshly prepared. They also serve alcohol at reasonable prices. The view over the main anchorage and islands is easy on the eye. Alternatively, there are numerous cafes and restaurants in town.

Labuan Shipyard & Engineering Sdn Bhd: (087-451888 / 425577) had a largish yacht on shore when we arrived. They may be useful in an emergency. I could find no other information on their facilities or costs, but primarily they are in the business of repairing large ships on their patent slipway. If you weigh up to 7000 tonnes, this may be of use to you!

Dentists, clinics and a hospital are all to be found in the area around the port. Labuan Pharmacy, opposite the ferry terminal, is very helpful.

There is an airport on the island that has domestic flights within Borneo, to Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.

The Labuan Tourist Information Office, opposite Labuan Square, has free maps and brochures, the staff are very efficient.

Places of Interest

The WWII Memorial for fallen Australian and British soldiers is a sombre place to visit but is worth a trip to see the beautiful park and cemetery, maintained by the War Graves Commission. On the nearest Sunday to 11th November each year, a memorial service is held here.

The Peace Park, wholly maintained by Japan, is a pleasant place to spend an hour. It is a well-kept park at Layang-Layangan, overlooking the sea. This is the site of the spot where the Japanese surrendered at the end of WWII. The adjacent beach has purpose-built bar-b-que pits, dried driftwood being available for fuel!!

The Chimney is another tourist attraction, built in the 1800s from British bricks, it’s purpose is allegedly unknown. It was built near a coal mine, and original thought was that it was a ventilation shaft for the mine, as there is no evidence that it has ever had smoke up it! Other ideas include a bell tower or a lookout tower. The attached (small) museum is interesting too.

There are also various other museums, botanical gardens etc. in the area.

All can be reached by bus or taxi. The buses do not run to a fixed schedule, so timing can be “interesting”.

Additional Information

We spotted Box jellyfish and small sea snakes in the Marina basin. The wearing of a “stinger suit” is recommended by the locals, for underwater maintenance.

Diesel and petrol (gasoline) can be bought from the local Shell service station. However, for yachties, Malaysian law is strictly adhered to, and they will not sell more than 20 litres, in one jerry can, per visit. They will also inspect the jerry can for suitability before filling it and will reject anything other than “proper” containers. This is the same as all the other service stations in Labuan. The Shell garage is about a 10-minute walk away. Out of the Marina, head straight ahead, keeping the sports field on your right. Pass the bowling alley (on your left) and at the road junction, turn right. The Shell garage is prominent on the left. Annoyingly, this law seems to be waived for locals, and we saw many clandestine fill-ups of numerous jerry cans and 205-litre drums being carried out.

We were in Labuan during the “fasting month”, or Hari Raya (Ramadan). There is a celebration after the first two weeks of Hari Raya, and the Marina authorities invited all the yachties for dinner in the Marina Offices. Unfortunately it poured down all evening and into the night, so festivities were somewhat curtailed. The caterers did a fine job of serving a buffet dinner in atrocious conditions. There was a noticeable decrease in the numbers of shops open and their opening hours seemed less during this period. The whole island seemed to come alive at the end of Hari Raya!

Labuan is a small island, some 12 by 24 kilometres. It can be covered easily within one day by hire car or moped. Check with the Marina Staff for the best hirer(s) and prices etc.

Jerry & Caz Flint

Yacht Mandarina