LOG
From Australia to Oman

 

 

 

March 17, 2011

The arrangements for shipping our boats are now all in place and the contracts signed. All 20 of the remaining BWR boats will be shipped by Dockwise from Salalah to Marmaris in Turkey. The timing is still a little uncertain as the logistics are quite complicated. The cradles for the boat are being shipped from Florida, via the Bahamas and Saudi to Salalah and will arrive about mid to end April. The timing for ship itself has still to be finally confirmed, but we expect to be in Marmaris with our boats unloaded about mid May. The boat will be a cargo boat that is delivering non perishable hold goods to Europe and as a side line the company transports yachts as deck cargo. The yachts have to be mounted on individually constructed cradles/ supports which are welded to the deck, the voyage up the Red Sea and Suez canal will then take about 5-10 days. We have to supervise the loading of the yachts onto the boat so we will have to stick around for some time!

We are still debating whether to take Enchantress back to Scotland this summer or to keep it in Turkey for a year or two and do some Med sailing. The current favourite is to keep it in Turkey as the the timing will be very tight to get it back to Scotland in time for Susan going back to work, and the berthing in Turkey is a lot cheaper than Scottish marinas.

We are trying to be patient and enjoy our time in Oman. We have done some sightseeing and have seen lots of desert and camels. We have also visited the maritime museum and the local souk, both of which were very interesting. Some people are planning short trips away to Dubai etc and even back to the UK. As soon as the yachts set off we will head off to Turkey. We have a desert trip planned involving an overnight stay in the remote desert, probably sleeping under the stars - should be fun. (North Oman Pictures)

There is an expat type club near the port which caters for the navy personnel and sells alcohol. They have a very good 10 pin bowling rink and we have been going there on Tuesday nights.

Febuary 27, 2011

We have had a number of briefings over the past few days. Initially the evidence looked like the piracy risk for the next leg was low and even reduced from the level of 2009, when the last BWR did the transit.

This morning we had a memorial service for the crew of Quest, including our friends Phyllis and Bob. The service was attended by the US Ambassador, the head of anti-piracy control for both the US and combined forces and an Oman government official. The service was very dignified and pitched at the right level to celebrate the lives of particularly Phyllis and Bob, who we all had known for such a long time. There were lots of messages from both participants of this rally, who had left at various stages and also from the previous BWR where Phyllis and Bob had sailed Bob's boat from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean.

After the service the head of anti-piracy gave us very detailed and frank information on both the known information on piracy attacks and intelligence on the current attitude of the pirates and their likely targets, as well as the changing approach to hostages etc. Our assessment of the risks to ourselves and the potential consequences for our family of any ransom demands, mean that we have decided along with virtually all the other BWR boats, to ship our boat by commercial transport (likely by ship) to Turkey in the Mediterranean.

We are clearly very upset by having to take this approach and the financial consequences, but we have to be sensible and we will be able to liquidate the money. It has been a very emotional day, but we will bounce back and will let you know our plans as soon as we know them. We will be in Oman until the ship arrives and Enchantress is on board and we will have to get to Turkey for the ship arrival.

Now the decision has been made we intend to enjoy our time in Oman and will do some touring.

Hope we haven't caused too much worry back home, but as you can see we are not completely mad!! (Salalah Pictures)

Febuary 25, 2011

We left Mumbai on Sunday 13th February and followed the recommended BWR route, which took us quite far north and over to the coast of Oman and then hugged the coast to Salalah.

We were travelling with Aspen, Bali Blue, Chsalonina, Fai Tira and Lucy Alice. I am the leader of the group and Steve from Aspen is the Communications Coordinator. The forecast was for very light winds and we were immediately concerned about whether we all had enough fuel to complete the trip, which was 1280 miles, if we had to motorsail all the way.

We had agreed the formation we would travel in and our processes for when there were suspicious vessels etc, before we left and while we were apprehensive we were not very frightened.

We had been briefed on the very large number of pirate attacks in the Indian ocean and felt that this was going to be our most dangerous leg of the rally. We initially had some difficulty in maintaining discipline in the group as some people were sailing and others motoring. It was only after we had some potential suspicious vessels that we got our act together and became an effective team. The suspicious vessels were typically unlit boats or small skiffs or fishing boats heading towards us or apparently following us. These all turned out to be innocent vessels trying like us to maintain a low profile. The exercises in responding to these 'incidents' were useful in helping us to maintain our vigilance.

The irony of the trip was that the weather was very nice with lots of sunshine and clear starry skies and we even had a small amount of good sailing.

We kept monitoring our fuel consumption and gradually became more comfortable that we had enough fuel between the yachts to make it all the way without a fuel stop on the Oman coast. This was partly achieved by our towing Bali Blue for a total of 550 miles. They had a faulty autopilot and because of the light winds they had to hand steer unless we were towing them. We towed them every night for 6 nights and for 4 days. This meant that they saved a large amount of fuel and were able to distribute this to other boats, although in the end they did not need this extra fuel.

We were of course devastated with first the kidnapping of Quest and then the murder of all the crew. Phyllis and Bob who were crew on Quest had been with the rally for a long time and many of us were very close friends. We could not understand why the skipper had decided to go themselves on a route, which we clearly believed to be more dangerous. However we are very sad for all of them as they were all innocent victims. We, like Phyllis and Bob's family, are consoled by the fact that they were doing what they loved. (To Oman Pictures)

We are now safely in Salalah and enjoying a bit of R&R, including celebrating our wedding anniversary. There are still a couple of boats to get in but they will be here shortly. We are getting ready for the next leg to Djibouti and feel that the last leg has put our group in a very good position to work as a team and feel confident in the support we are getting through BWR. So don't worry about us we are in good health and good spirits.

We are having real difficulty with sending emails when we are at sea, so don't worry if the updates are irregular. Fai Tira has a satellite phone so if you look at their blog you will see what is happening with our group.

Febuary 12, 2011

We had a good and interesting 5 day tour of Sri Lanka, starting with a trip round the huge wildlife safari park. The highlight of which was seeing elephants close up in the wild. We also visited a elephant orphanage and watched the elephants bathing. A lot of the trip was about seeing the country and since a lot of time was spent travelling in the bus we certainly achieved this. We stayed in a variety of hotels, from the wonderful new hotel on the first night to the extremely stuffy and old fashioned, famous Hill Club, to one or two hotels which had really suffered from poor design and the monsoon weather they had had. We got a real taste of Sri Lanka and really enjoyed it, despite some frustrations. (Sri Lanka Pictures)

We then spent 3-4 days getting the boat ready and sorting all the problems from the last leg. We also had a lengthy briefing for the next leg.

Despite a forecast for relatively light winds we had a pretty boisterous sail across to Cochin in India. The channel Between Sri Lanka and India is notorious for channelling the wind and you often get gale force winds. We had 25-35 knots for most of the way until we got into the lea of India. It meant that we had a very fast passage, although lots of people were sick and had a hard time. We were fine and enjoyed some of the sailing. We had managed to fix nearly all our boat problems prior to leaving and didn't have any new problems on the way.

Cochin has a new marina and it is the first in India. This is pretty obvious from the mistakes they have made. There is not nearly enough space between the pontoons, so getting in and out is very difficult. There is not enough depth in parts of the marina, so we spent the first night at an angle before we moved to a deeper berth. They had not built a toilet and shower block, as they assumed that all visiting sailors would want to stay in the hotel rather than on their boats. We therefore had to use the showers in some unoccupied hotel bedrooms. They were very nice however!!

We also had our first experience of Indian bureaucracy and we spend a day checking in at port authority, immigration and customs and another day checking out. All in 30+ degrees.

Cochin was quite interesting, but didn't feel like the real India, or quite the hustle and bustle we expected. There were however lots of colonial buildings and the Chinese fishing nets were pretty unique in India.

We then left Cochin in a group of 6 boats, Aspen, Bali Blue, Chsalonina (aka Chizol), Fai Tira, Lucy Alice and ourselves - the small boat group. We will be traveling in this group all the way to Djibouti. The trip to Mumbai (Bombay) (600 miles) was a bit of a slog as the wind was on our nose most of the way. We also had to divert a bit for a mayday from one of the other BWR boats (Moonshiner), who had lots of water coming into the boat. By the time we got to Moonshiner they had worked out that the problem was their engine shaft seal and they were able to fix the problem. A workman in Phuket has left an oil "nappy" under the shaft and it had got caught up in the shaft seal - you have to check everything you get done. We got to Mumbai without further incident and arrived on Tuesday (8th Feb).

Mumbai is the real India, it is totally manic and chaotic. The city has about 20 million people and it is obvious. We are really enjoying it although, as we have been here 5 days it is about enough - it is quite tiring. There are lots of good restaurants and the food is very good and inexpensive. Lots of the buildings are quite spectacular, particularly round the University and the High Court. The Victorians had a real flair. There is an amazing central park area where there are hundreds of people of all ages playing cricket. There are however lots of beggars and it is just like in Slum Dog Millionaire.

You have to be a bit careful and I had what seemed to be an attempted mugging by 4 teenagers. They came up behind us (Steve & Maria, Susan and myself) looking suspicious and I tried to push the ladies aside so they get past us. Two of the lads bent down and grabbed my legs, but after I thumped them a few times and Maria screamed they let go and went away. It was a pretty feeble attempt at a mugging, but we can't think what else it could be - they must have been learners. (India Pictures)

We are now ready to leave for Oman and will be leaving tomorrow morning. It will take about 10 days and it looks like we will be motoring a lot of the way (1200 miles) because of very light winds. Some of the boats in the group cannot carry enough fuel to motor 1200 miles so we may have to adopt innovative ways to cope with this. I will explain more once we get there.

We are having difficulty sending email over the SSB radio in this area so we may well not be able to send an update until we get to Oman. Fai Tira has a satellite phone and use this for email, so as we are travelling together you can see how we are getting on by looking at Fai Tira's blog.

January 12, 2011

We arrived at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club on Langkawi, Malaysia on 2nd December and spent a very pleasant few days doing some touring and shopping. The drink was duty free and the beer and spirits were very cheap so we took the opportunity to stock up - 9 litres of malt whisky, 4 bottles of rum, 4 bottles of gin, 50 bottles of wine and 300 cans of beer - no wonder the boat feels a bit sluggish at times. The rum and beer, and some of the rest, was all aimed at my 65th birthday party. The Glenfiddich was ?14 per litre!!

On the 6th December we went round the coast to the Taleda marina, which was in a pretty spectacular setting, although a bit remote. We then booked out of Malaysia and headed up to Thailand. We once again suffered from very light winds, but it was only 100 miles to the Island of Ko Lipe. We were there with Aspen, Moonshadow and Spirit of Nina and had a very pleasant day and night there. The Island has an amazing collection of slightly seedy shops, bars, restaurants and tattoo parlours, all packed on a very small island.

The next day (9th) we sailed to Ko Roc Nok and had a very disturbed night in an uncomfortable anchorage. We then sailed to Ko Muk & about 7 boats all went ashore for dinner & to celebrate Glenda on Lucy Alice's 60th Birthday. The next morning we went to a Hong called the Emerald Cave. A Hong is a small volcanic island where you enter through a cave into the centre of the island to a sort of oasis with open skies. The Emerald Cave is one of the best Hongs in Thailand and was very spectacular. You swam or took a kayak or dinghy through a very dark tunnel/cave of about 40 meters and came out in brilliant sunshine to a beach and palm trees with the inner rock cliffs all around - a must do if you are there.

We left in late morning and sailed to Ko Lanta which was very nice but another uncomfortable anchorage with the wind from the South West. Steve and Maria on Aspen actually slept on their boat with the Lee Cloths up. Next Day we went to Pho Phi Don which now has the reputation of being pretty manic. We anchored fairly close to the Diving tour boats as this was the most sheltered spot, but there must have been nearly 1000 people snorkelling in the water along the cliff side and a very large number of tour and speed boats collecting and dropping off the snorkelers. The speed boats went flying past the anchored boats making the boats roll all over the place, however all this crazy activity stopped around 4-5pm and it became relatively peaceful. On Shore it was also extremely busy and noisy, you either hate it or love it. We were in the right mood and had great fun with a few of the other rally boats.

We only stayed 1 night as the plan was to go back there for Xmas, so we then sailed up to the Phuket Yacht Haven, where the Rally was having the next official get together and briefing etc. The next day Steve & Maria (Aspen) hired a car for 8 days and we shared the hire on most days. We drove to Ao Chalong at the bottom of the island and booked in to Customs, Immigration and Pot Authority as usual, however it was relatively easy as they were all in the same building. We still had numerous bloody forms to fill in!! Susan and Maria then took advantage of Thailand's reputation for being the place to buy spectacles and had eye tests then bought 2 pairs each. After a tour of the south of the island we then paid our first visit to Patong Beach. Maria had found reference in her guide book to a TexMex Restaurant/Bar called Cayotties, which sold 75 different Margaritas, we arrived at happy hour and sampled their special offer of a large Margarita for 99 Bacht (?2). After 3 margaritas we were pretty mellow and ready to sample Patong's night life, and have dinner of course. We had tremendous fun watching the outrageous goings on.

The next day (Tuesday 14th) we went to Phuket Town to an agent to organise our visas for India, the toured the old Phuket Town - we were not impressed. We then went shopping for things for the joint Birthday Party planned for the 15th. Most of the 15th was taken up organising the Pontoon party. The party was for my 65th, Glenda's 60th (Lucy Alice), Jeremy's 62nd (Fai Tira) and Moonshadow's leaving the Rally, however Susan and I did all the organising. We set up Xmas decorations & Lights and had tables set out for all the food and drink. We had large cooler boxes with ice blocks for storing the drinks and people all brought some food to be shared out. We (the birthday and leaving people) supplied all the beer and rum punch and Mark and Chrissy (Blue Magic) provided the music. We had a great time with at least 50 rallyers in attendance.

We then had a quiet, slow day!!!, but there was a Blue Water Rally welcome party in the evening. We had our Rally briefing the next day covering both the trip to Sri Lanka and also the first briefing on the passage to the Red Sea and the security measures we will follow. We had a couple of more visits to Patong Beach with Aspen and several more margaritas. Some of us also bought several 'Rolex & Tag Heur' watches and a supply of Thailand Silk shirts. Steve on Aspen also had his photo taken with 2 Ladyboys in a hug - definitely XXX. The last night we arrived in time to see a spectacular float procession to celebrate the start of festival week The procession lasted for an hour and a half and there was clearly severe competition between the hotels and businesses sponsoring the floats. We had a grandstand view from Cayoties with many of the floats and associated dancers stopping in front of us. Some of them were like a Broadway show.

We left Phuket on the 23rd and after a stop over in Ko Uoa Yai we went back to Phi Phi Don for Xmas Eve. We had a lovely Xmas mainly with Aspen, Lucy Alice and Fai Tira, although there were several other BWR boats there as well. We left on Boxing day and spent an night on Ko Racha then went to Ao Chalong at the bottom of Phuket where we would have to book out of Thailand and collect our India Visas. On the 30th we sailed round to Patong Beach where about half of the Rally decided to see in the New Year. On Hogmanay about 35 of us had dinner together and at about 11.0pm went back to our boats to watch the fireworks. Aspen & Lucy Alice came back to Enchantress and we all sat on deck with some bubbly and had a grandstand view of the wonderful firework display which took place right round the bay. There were also hundreds of the very large Chinese lanterns set off across the skyline. Just after midnight, Pete fro Fai Tira joined us and shortly after fell asleep = as he normally does about 9.30pm, Aspen and Lucy Alice took their dinghies back to there boats about 2.30, but then Paul, Derry, Jack and Aimie, from Jackamy, arrived and we kept going to about 4.30am. There were some pretty hairy dinghy trips that morning, but it was a great way to see in the new year, although we look forward to a good Calleidh in 2011/2012. (Thailand Pictures)

We left Thailand on Monday 2nd for Sri lanka (1100 miles). The first 4 days were really good sailing with a good trade wind behind us, and we made really good time with our twin headsails poled out. This was the best sailing since Australia. The winds then changed and for the next 4 days we had winds on our nose, varying from 10-35 knots with lots of squalls with stronger winds and often torrential rain. They were having the same conditions in parts of Sri Lanka and there have been lots of flooding, mud slides etc, and hundreds of people killed. We just had to tough it out and use a fair bit of diesel. We got to Sri Lanka on Monday morning (10th) and this was a day ahead of schedule - a real tribute to our strong 77hp Yanmar engine. We left a day behind some of our similar sized boats and got in before them.

We have however been experience a series of boat problems over the past few weeks, after an amazing trouble free 18 months.
- our generator seized - now being overhauled
- our autopilot failed a number of times - we got a new pump taken out to Sri Lanka
- our engine had starting problems - the snuffer cable & return spring needed servicing
- we had shredding fan belts (bought in Rarotonga) - New Yanmar belts taken out to Sri Lanka
- Genoa furling system pulled apart - new parts on their way
- Main halyard came apart - will be fixed tomorrow
- Nav lights corroded with waves crashing over and through them - now overhauled and working
- VHF antenna disappeared fro top of mast - I have a new one to fit
- Wind pilot seized - Just salt in the system so will be fixed in a day or two
- Anchor fixings coming apart - easy to fix now we are in port
- Chart Plotter screen has started to give problems - trying to order a new system to be delivered to India

Lots of these problems occurred in 30 knot winds and often at night - like the main halyard parting and the mainsail heading overboard at 11.0pm. Well it can't all be plain sailing otherwise it wouldn't be an adventure.

We are now in Galle, Sri Lanka and getting to grips with the problems. There are still some of our colleagues out at sea having 50+ winds and very large seas, hopefully now past the worst, so we are feeling very fortunate yet again.

We start a 5 day tour of Sri Lanka on Friday so we are looking forward to a holiday!!

All the best for 2011, we are looking forward to another exciting year.

December 1, 2010

We arrived in Singapore in the early hours of Saturday 20th November after crossing the equator back to the Northern Hemisphere. It really made us feel that we were on our way home, even though we have lots of exciting places to visit before then.

As we approached Singapore Straits our speed rose to over 8 knots and we had quite a bit of tide with us all the way into the Marina. The number of ships in the straits was amazing, although most of them were anchored. Our chart plotter was completely overwhelmed with AIS signals and Susan got me up at 5.0am in a bit of a panic as the chart plotter froze up and we were fairly close to the shipping lane. We found out that if we restarted the plotter without the AIS it would work ok, so once it was light we crossed the shipping lanes just using our eyes to judge when we had a sufficient gap. At least we were doing 8.5 knots so we crossed fairly quickly.

Kepple Bay marina in Singapore was very nice, it is very new and was voted the best Asian marina in 2009. All the staff were very attentive and kept the marina very clean and all the facilities were 5 star. It was also fairly inexpensive given the quality of the marina (~?20 per night). The only draw back was that it was a fair walk to the shopping malls and the underground (MRT), however we needed the exercise. We both really enjoyed Singapore, it is very clean and well organised with all the facilities and lots to do. We did quite a few of the tourist attractions, e.g. Singapore Slings in Raffles and the Night Safari, however there are lots more for the next time! (Singapore Pictures)

We left Singapore on Sunday 28th and motor sailed (very little wind) over night to Port Klang in Malaysia. This is the major shipping port in Malaysia and it was very busy and the river at the yacht club moorings was filthy. However it was the best stopping point for visiting Kuala Lampur and we took the train there on Tuesday. Malaysia is very cheap and the train took over an hour and cost less than ?2 return. Kuala Lampur is a bustling city with lots of new skyscrapers being built. We took a hop on hop off tour bus round the city and went up the Telecoms Tower, which gave a great view of the city and the famous Petronas Towers. We also went to China town and bought fake watches and had a lovely and very cheap dinner.

We left Klang yesterday morning and are now on our way to Langkawi which is an island just below the Thailand border. It is supposed to be very nice and we intend spending a week there. Susan is hoping to be able to swim there but there are warnings about jelly fish, so we will need to be careful. Langkawi is also duty free so it is the place to stock up on refreshments for Xmas etc.

Well I better pay more attention to the boat as we are just about to go through yet another batch of fishing boats. (Malaysia Pictures)

November 17, 2010

We had a great time in Carol & Pete's villa & really enjoyed having Indonesian food cooked for us each evening. We even had Colin & Sara from Moonbeam join us for dinner on one evening. The work on the boat inevitably took a bit longer than planned, but we left on Saturday lunch time as planned. It meant that we only had a couple of hours getting things organised to leave and in fact did some of the sorting out while underway.

The boat is looking really smart, but time will tell how long the deck lasts before needing replaced and whether it was the right decision. The new interior floor looks really good, although the actual fitting could have been a little neater, there are slightly larger gaps in one or two areas than I would like, however we are pretty pleased with it. The new cockpit table and main hatch washboards are really classy and the cockpit gratings are also really substantial and impressive. We also have other nice touches, like new teak rods in our cleats and teak boards for our jerry cans to sit on. We also had new cockpit cushions made with burgundy leatherette which can just be wiped clean and our cushions at the navigation table have also been recovered with cream leatherette.

We are now over halfway to Singapore (980 miles) and expect to arrive sometime on Saturday 20th. As expected the winds have been very light and we have had the engine on all the way so far and expect to need it all the way to Singapore. I am pretty sure we have enough diesel to take us all the way but I need to keep an eye on it. The South China Sea is pretty interesting to sail through, it is very busy with all sorts of boats and close to land there are lots of obstacles to look out for, including unlit bamboo platforms which seem to be associated with fishing. We are however staying well away from land whenever we can to avoid the main problems. The number of fishing boats is quite amazing, I counted over 50 fishing boat lights at one point last night as well as ten tanker/cargo boats showing on our AIS and chart plotter. It in fact wasn't a great problem as the fishing boats were lit up with very bright lights, although no visible navigation lights. They also largely kept out of our way and had adequate channels to sail through. There is also quite a lot of debris floating about including some small logs which can give the boat a loud thump if we hit them in the dark.

We will soon be approaching the Singapore Straits which is one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes so we are really glad to have our AIS so that we can see what direction and speed boats are travelling. I have already called up one or two boats on the VHF to clarify whether they have seen us and what there intention is. It makes a huge difference knowing the boat name (from the AIS) in getting a response.

We are both well and looking forward to celebrating in Raffles with a Singapore Sling.

November 7, 2010

We really enjoyed the Gili Islands, beside Lombok, everything was extremely cheap compared to Australia and the food was very good. Everyone was very friendly and it was very relaxing despite still being in an illegal position as we weren't cleared in to customs. (Gili Pictures)

We motor sailed down to Bali on Wednesday 27th and got into Bali Marina. The marina is a bit of a dump although the bar/restaurant area is quite nice. The problem is that the owners only get a rolling 6 month lease so are unwilling to invest. We also had to pay the 'bribe' of $600 to get our boats temporarily imported to Indonesia, the customs system is very corrupt and everyone is extremely pissed off with the system. It is a real shame as Bali and the people are very nice.

We tried to arrange to get our teak deck replaced, but we were told that it would take 2 months to do. We were also assured that the deck did not need replacing as there was sufficient teak thickness left and it just needed refurbishing, so this is what is currently happening. The work is being done by Senyo and a team of up to ten people, who also did the deck on Zippydidooda of Dart 2 years ago. All the caulking is being removed and the grooves deepened before new caulking is inserted, any cracked wood is being replaced, lots of the screws will have the holes deepened and flat head screws installed and the whole deck, toe rail and doghouse will be sanded. We are also having the cabin sole replaced throughout the boat, new washboards and a new cockpit table made, plus some other minor items done. It should really smarten up the boat.

While all this work is going on we are forced to move out some luxury hotels. We started out with 5 days in North Sanur in the Segara Villages Hotel, which is very Balinese and very luxurious with 3 pools etc, and ideal for shops and restaurants. We then moved inland to Ubud to a very high class hotel called the Mansion Resort and Spa, which is only 10 years old but it is done in a traditional mansion style so it feels quite old and grand. From here we have taken a tour up to the mountains to see a bit of Bali and areas like the wood carving and silver/gold jewellery centres. We are now back to Sanur for 3 nights to another hotel, but in the south of Sanur. It is a bit cheaper, but is a bit nearer the marina and handy to check on the work going on to the boat. We will be moving again tomorrow, but this time to a very nice villa, also in Sanur. The villa belongs to Pete and Carol of Bali Blue and they have very kindly offered it to us from tomorrow (Monday) until we can move back on to the boat. It comes complete with a couple of staff, a pool etc. (Bali Pictures)

We plan to leave Bali on Saturday 13th to sail/motor 1000 miles up to Singapore. If the work is on time and we can leave on the 13th we should be able to catch up with the rest of the rally in Singapore.

October 23, 2010

We had better sailing up to Kupang on West Timor than we expected, particularly on the last day and once again we arrived at an anchorage in the dark. We had lots of thunder and lightening, but none of it was very close, this part of the world is famous for the frequency of thunder and lightening.

We arrived at Kupang at about 4.0am, but as we had to put our clocks back another hour and a half it meant that we had a decent sleep before starting the quarantine and immigration process. This was fairly painless but cost about ?45. We then discovered that although Rally Control thought they had a process in place for custom clearance, they did not. After 2 days we were ordered to leave Kupand at first light the next day. Indonesia have a law, brought in 2 years ago, that requires yachtsmen to pay a bond of 10% of their boat value on entering the country and you are supposed to get it back when you leave the country. No one trusts this process so you have to have an agent arrange for temporary importation of the yacht at a cost of $600-800. Rally Control thought they could get round this but totally failed so we are now sailing in Indonesia illegally. They have however now made arrangements in Bali for us to get clearance at a cost of $800 per boat so we will be ok, but a bit poorer.

We really enjoyed Kupang, everyone is very friendly, and everything is very cheap, food, beer etc, which is a great contrast to Australia. We hired motor bikes with a group of others in an organised tour and even had a police escort take us round the Island. It was pretty exciting although pretty hair raising. The roads were atrocious, full of pot holes, and the traffic in towns was manic. (Kupang Pictures)

We all left Kupang on Wednesday morning (20th) and had to motorsail nearly all the way to Rinca Island where we are now. This is one of the islands with Komoko Dragons (Monitor Lizards), unfortunately they are pretty shy and we haven't seen any so far, although one or two other people in the group have. We are deliberately staying away from main conurbations until we get to Bali and complete the process for entering the country legally.

We are leaving tomorrow morning to sail to the Gili Islands, beside Lombok, and this will take 2 days and nights. We will then relax at the Gillies for a couple of days and then do the 50 miles to Bali marina. The Gillies are famous for blue coral and is very popular for swimming and snorkelling.

We hopefully will be able to get reasonable internet access in Bali as it has been very poor since we left Darwin.

October 13, 2010

We are now (Wednesday 13th) on our way to Kupang in Indonesia and expect to get there on Sunday morning. We will be in Kupang for several days before making our way up the islands to Bali.

We are expecting very light winds but frequent squalls, which is largely what we have had today.

 

This page was last modified on:
November 14th, 2011