On 20/10 we left Belitung in the smog of a local fire for our 370nm trip to Puteri Harbour Marina in Malaysia. Initially we thought of at least making one stop just before crossing the Singapore Strait, but due to favourable currents we sailed/motored directly to Puteri in 55 hours, of which 32 hours motoring due to light winds.

At 19.00hrs local time on 21/10 we crossed the equator to the northern hemispere after we did the opposite to the southern hemisphere 4 years and 106 days earlier 9,900 nm East of us on our passage from Panama to the Galápagos. We honoured Neptune and Poseidon again by sharing a tequila shot with them this time and requested their blessing for a continued safe passage.

In the afternoon of 22/10 we crossed the Singapore Strait, allegedly the busiest shipping lane in the world, to get to Malaysia. We passed west of Bantam, as the channel is wider there with a better chance of dodging the many tankers and cargoships that travel East- and Westbound at impressive speeds. Prior to crossing we called VTIS West, the vessel traffic information Service, who were very helpful and warned all major traffic concerned of our presence. We crossed in an area where, a bit to our surprise we also had to contend with quite a bit of major vessels crossing the shipping lanes like us, as well as a 3kn current setting us westward. In the end it all went rather smooth, but it did require some careful analysis and judgement.

The screen print below demonstrates the intense traffic, each grey triangle representing a boat.

Now safely tied up to a modern dock at Puteri Harbour Marina with all facilities present, luxury.