Category: 2012 Blog

12 – 15 August 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

When we left Komodo, we had a nice sail across the channel to Palau Sumbawa Island. As we arrived we caught up to an old guy named Don from North Carolina. He\’s an expat whose been living on his boat based out of Bali for the last 20 years. He told us about the lack of anchorages along the 150 mile stretch of this island. We pressed on to Teluk Sanggar (Sanggar Bay). We knew we\’d arrive after dark which I hate to do in an unknown location, but the waypoint/guide info seemed pretty good. When we entered the bay, we came upon 30 of the trimaran type fishing boats commonly seen here in Indonesia. They were like a floating mine field. Some all lit up and others, no lights at all. After negotiating this traffic, we came into the anchorage. Adding to the fun it was absolutely pitch black with no lights on shore and the charts aren\’t exactly right!

First, we got in shallow water, down to 15 feet and back tracked out. We went around the reef which helped orient us, but as the water went from 500 ++ feet to 20 feet in about 30 seconds, it was a bit disconcerting.

We got to where I thought would be a good spot but apparently it wasn\’t to be. We anchored, all was well. The wind was only 10 knots. At midnight (why is it always at midnight!???…:-) The wind started to blow hard from the beach. 25 with gusts to 30 knots. I watched the depth sounder and after about 5 minutes of this, it was clear that our anchor fell off the plateau and was hanging straight down in space. We had 150 feet of chain out and when Nikki went to up the anchor, it would barely move. I thought it was the chain stripper stuck again so I removed it. I then tried the windlass again making sure the chain wouldn\’t get jammed without the stripper. The windlass barely moved and the motor was getting hot.

All along, Nikki is trying to keep the boat head to wind and away from reef and fishing boats bobbing about. Fortunately, the wind event died off as quickly as it arrived and after about 25 minutes, I was able to coax the anchor and chain back up to the deck.

My summarization is that the motor didn\’t have the power to lift the combined weight of about 250 lbs. which it very definitely should. As we could not depend on another deep anchor attempt (we might miss the plateau), we decided to set the main with one reef and slowly sail toward Lombok, our next destination and about 110 miles away. We did this taking night watches and felt pretty tired as we\’d been moving without too much of a break for days.

We arrived at Gili Lewang Island just off the northeast coast of Lombok the next late afternoon and were glad to anchor in a nice sandy shallow spot at 25 feet. This morning, I\’d neglected to put the chain stripper back on the windlass and when I went to raise the anchor it jammed immediately. Nikki and I played mechanic and got it back in shape pretty quickly. I may have found the chain stripper problem? Time will tell. The windlass worked perfectly and off we went. Next stop, Medang Marina in Lombok right off the famous tourist island, Gili Air.

The internet is very good here and when next we write I hope to be tied up to a dock. We\’ll have several days to tour here before heading off the last 60 miles or so to Bali.

KIT, write anytime, Scott and Nikki

12 – 15 August 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

When we left Komodo, we had a nice sail across the channel to Palau Sumbawa Island. As we arrived we caught up to an old guy named Don from North Carolina. He\’s an expat whose been living on his boat based out of Bali for the last 20 years. He told us about the lack of anchorages along the 150 mile stretch of this island. We pressed on to Teluk Sanggar (Sanggar Bay). We knew we\’d arrive after dark which I hate to do in an unknown location, but the waypoint/guide info seemed pretty good. When we entered the bay, we came upon 30 of the trimaran type fishing boats commonly seen here in Indonesia. They were like a floating mine field. Some all lit up and others, no lights at all. After negotiating this traffic, we came into the anchorage. Adding to the fun it was absolutely pitch black with no lights on shore and the charts aren\’t exactly right!

First, we got in shallow water, down to 15 feet and back tracked out. We went around the reef which helped orient us, but as the water went from 500 ++ feet to 20 feet in about 30 seconds, it was a bit disconcerting.

We got to where I thought would be a good spot but apparently it wasn\’t to be. We anchored, all was well. The wind was only 10 knots. At midnight (why is it always at midnight!???…:-) The wind started to blow hard from the beach. 25 with gusts to 30 knots. I watched the depth sounder and after about 5 minutes of this, it was clear that our anchor fell off the plateau and was hanging straight down in space. We had 150 feet of chain out and when Nikki went to up the anchor, it would barely move. I thought it was the chain stripper stuck again so I removed it. I then tried the windlass again making sure the chain wouldn\’t get jammed without the stripper. The windlass barely moved and the motor was getting hot.

All along, Nikki is trying to keep the boat head to wind and away from reef and fishing boats bobbing about. Fortunately, the wind event died off as quickly as it arrived and after about 25 minutes, I was able to coax the anchor and chain back up to the deck.

My summarization is that the motor didn\’t have the power to lift the combined weight of about 250 lbs. which it very definitely should. As we could not depend on another deep anchor attempt (we might miss the plateau), we decided to set the main with one reef and slowly sail toward Lombok, our next destination and about 110 miles away. We did this taking night watches and felt pretty tired as we\’d been moving without too much of a break for days.

We arrived at Gili Lewang Island just off the northeast coast of Lombok the next late afternoon and were glad to anchor in a nice sandy shallow spot at 25 feet. This morning, I\’d neglected to put the chain stripper back on the windlass and when I went to raise the anchor it jammed immediately. Nikki and I played mechanic and got it back in shape pretty quickly. I may have found the chain stripper problem? Time will tell. The windlass worked perfectly and off we went. Next stop, Medang Marina in Lombok right off the famous tourist island, Gili Air.

The internet is very good here and when next we write I hope to be tied up to a dock. We\’ll have several days to tour here before heading off the last 60 miles or so to Bali.

KIT, write anytime, Scott and Nikki

07-11 August 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

The wind on the north side of the Indonesian Archipelago is very light for the most part. In between the islands, we feel the effects of the SE Trade Winds, but other than that, it\’s pretty light. Motoring is more common than sailing.

We stopped at the island of Flores in four different anchorages. Again, the friendly fisherman and locals, but nothing of great interest ashore. Virtually no one speaks any English outside of the big cites and our Indonesian is about as good. So lots of waves and smiles. I\’m sure there is good diving along this coast, but it\’s just not what I\’m about at this time.

We arrived at Rindja (pronounced Rincha) Island in a very protected anchorage at one of the two main park offices where guided tours are offered to see the famed \”Komodo Dragons\”. When we arrived, there were about 8 large tour boats which were at the dock or anchored nearby. Nikki and I went ashore to check it out, planning on doing our tour the next morning.

We were told the fees which amounted to around $40.00 for the two of for three days; most reasonable. They could take our trash, always a good thing and all the guides spoke pretty good English.

The next morning, we went in early as the \”Dragons\” are more active before it gets too hot. A Komodo Dragon is really a monitor lizard; the largest lizard on earth. They are strictly carnivorous and have been attributed to 9 human fatalities (known) over the last 35 years. For the most part, they are quite lethargic. Our guides carry 6 foot long forked sticks, \”Just In Case\”!

Their hunting style is to ambush a local deer, water buffalo, bush turkey or monkey, all of which are plentiful on Rindja, Komodo and a few other islands in the park. They apparently have a mild toxin and their saliva is laced with very aggressive bacteria. If the animal is small, they will kill it with their long serrated teeth and eat it on the spot. If the animal is large, they only try to wound it and wait till it\’s dies of infection, following it for up to 4 days. Larger animals are eaten by many \”dragons\” which consume the entire animal, bones and all. They only eat once/month and can wolf down up to 80% of their body weight. The largest of the lizards get up to 3.5 meters and about 150 kg (11.5 feet, 330 lbs.). There are about 1300 on Rindja, 2000 on Komodo and another 1500 scattered about the area. Do not leave your dog or your child in their presents! No Joke!

We saw Komodo nests which are reused year after year where up to 30 eggs are laid. The small dragons often live at the top of tree where the adults cannot eat them.

While we were here we met several tourists and two other sail boats arrived. As the experience was good, we decided to head for Komodo Island are repeat the tour.

About 12 miles away, we motored through the strong currents and arrived at the day anchorage for the island. We had a similar tour and experience, the highlight of which was watching an apparently lethargic dragon only 10 feet away from seemingly unsuspecting deer. No attack was witnessed, but our guide told us in the two years that he has worked at the park, he\’s seen several. Again, the photos (if I ever get to it, say it all).

After departing the day anchorage, we went around to the north side of the island and anchored for the night. For the first time, we started to see a lot of dive boats.

The next leg of the trip seemed the most daunting as the island of Palau Sumbawa has very few anchorages along it\’s north coast. Stay tuned,

KIT, Scott and Nikki

03 – 06 August 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

We left Kupang mid morning and motored up the Timor coast to anchor over night. This would break the trip up into two manageable day trips rather than having to sail north across the Sulu Sea all night in the shipping lanes. We found a small village that had a 20 foot depth not too close to the shore which was ideal for anchoring. The coast here is VERY deep. Sometimes it\’s 600 feet deep only a few hundred feet offshore. The reason is that these are geologically very young islands and have several active volcanoes throughout the entire archipelago.

The villagers waved and were all smiles and friendly. You can easily see (a theme which we would see over the next two weeks), the poverty and very rudimentary facilities along the shore side towns. Ironically, wireless phone and internet is widely available. Before the advent of mobile phones, the infrastructure for telephone lines would have been cost prohibitive. With the advent of wireless, most people can afford a mobile phone even in the remotest areas.

It is also a common theme here to see Christian churches near Muslim Mosques. The call to prayer is often heard in the small villages at dawn and dusk.

We said our goodbyes to the Sail Indonesia Rally and were now going off the beaten path on our own. We arrived in Lembata with hopes of a nicer looking but smaller Kupang. Well, it was smaller! Again, the incredible \”shack\” town along the water front was something to behold. If I ever get to photos, you\’ll see what I mean. We found a fairly comfortable anchorage and briefly went ashore. The liter was everywhere, it was not appealing. The people were however, very friendly. Our dinghy line was caught by a young boy who could not have been more than 11-12 years old with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. We really didn\’t like the vibe and the walk to town was going to be quite a distance. Interestingly, motorcycles would pull up to us and ask us if we wanted a ride to town. These were basically large mopeds. There is no way the three of us could have ridden on it…..or so we thought. A few minutes later, the same type of \”bikes\” were zooming past us with three and four people on them. This was sight to behold.

We left that afternoon for what looked to be a nice anchorage, quiet and secluded from the big town and en-route we came up \”Relapse\”, \”Uliad\”, \”Utopia II\” and \”Myriam\”. All of us from the rally went to the same anchorage. The theme was kids. All the other boats had kids aboard and were hanging out together for the obvious reasons. The anchorage was quite lovely. Everyone went swimming in the finally clean, clear water. It was reminiscent of Fiji last year.

Nikki and I of course had to \”get\” to Bali for her daughter Hollie\’s wedding on the 25th, so off we went.

More soon! Scott and Nikki

August 1-3, 2012, Eastern Hemisphere

Dear F&F,

We arrived at Kupang in the middle of the night and after adjusting our watches to the new time zone, were able to get a good nights sleep. The next day was quite the experience as checking into Indonesia is quite complex. The main reason I chose to do the rally was to ease the hassle of entering this very officious nation.

First, I had to pick up the customs and quarantine officials with the dinghy. One of them couldn\’t swim and was afraid. Only one spoke English, but that was fine. The young lady from quarantine for some reason wanted to assure me that this was a more Christian part of Indonesia than Muslim. I wasn\’t really sure why she felt that was necessary?

Both influences are quite visible here including hearing the daily calls to prayer from the local Mosque over the loud speakers. As Nikki had lived extensively in Arabic countries, this seemed almost natural to her. It was actually fascinating to listen too.

Back to checking in! After lots of paper work filled out, we were told that we had to take one piece of paper ashore and meet customs in a special set up area for the arriving boats. Long story short, we needed to go back to the boat to get LOTS more documents and had to visit 5 different sets of officials, blessedly all in the same place. Had we come in as a single vessel, this process would have taken at least two or three days! You must do the steps in exact order and the offices are all driving distance from each other. So, the rally paid off for sure in this regard. Essentially, we looked at Sail Indonesia as our \”agent\” to check in.

The first night there was a welcome dinner for the boats, about half of whom had arrived at this point. Lots of speeches by local Mayor\’s and Governor\’s and some dancing entertainment. A good time was had by all.

The next day, I found a local mechanic refereed by the rally who spoke English and he cleaned the carburetor out on the dinghy motor which had been acting up. We got 100 liters of diesel fuel (which is the dirtiest I\’ve ever seen), and we will filter it extensively before adding it to our tanks. Again, a dinner was to be attended on the second night (now about 85% of the boats were here) and it was more of the same, speeches, entertainment and dinner. Nikki and I didn\’t stay for the dinner, we heard they ran out of food. Probably expecting the same number of boaties they had the night before!…

To keep the dinghy safe, we all had to pay $4.00/day to insure they were watched….. The water was the dirtiest I\’ve ever seen. Plastic is floating everywhere, the beach was filthy, lots of broken glass and no one seemed to care. Welcome to a different part of the world…….

We were anxious to move on to cleaner waters and motored up the coast 47 miles to anchor for the night before crossing the Sulu Sea to Lembata. Stay tuned!

KIT, Scott and Nikki