Debut Harbour, Kei Island
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Mon 22 Jul 2019 06:55
We have arrived in Indonesia and were so tired but elated after our five day passage I clean forgot to update the blog!
By the evening of 20th were had reached to the top end of the fishing fleet and were hoping for a clear run up to Debut. All the fishing boats had bright white lights and so we were a bit puzzled when an orange glow came over the horizon with nothing showing on either AIS or Radar. We assumed this apparition to be another fishing boat and set a course to pass four miles to one side. At this point we were in contact with Time Bandit, a 15m catamaran desperately trying to keep its speed down to 7kts so as not to arrive at Debut in the dark. We were desperately trying to keep our speed above 5kts, also so as not to arrive in the dark, but 12 hours later than Time Bandit! Anyway, Time Bandit was on a similar course five miles to the west of us and at the time a similar distance behind.
As the orange glow came within 10nm we picked up a radar target and could monitor the distance between us. When we drew level we could see the orange glow was coming from a series of lights along the side of the vessel. We were just admiring these when the sky was light up by bright blue and violet laser light. The light was raised and lowered in front of us and then at 45 degrees behind us then quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered in the direction of this indicated ”quadrant”. Our immediate quandary was whether the message was to get out of the indicated area or stay within it but move further away. There was no response to calls on the VHF. On the basis that Time Bandit had sailed passed 5nm to the west and had no problem with nets we opted to head further away from the fishing boat, staying within the quadrant and then head north along the same track as Time Bandit. One further confusion was that the laser light was so powerful that it was reflecting off cloud some miles to the west and at one point I thought this was another boat also signalling at us!
Earlier in the evening we had taken down the pole and the staysail and raised the mainsail as our more northerly track, combined with a wind shift to the east, meant that we could sail without the mainsail blanketing the genoa and making it easier to manoeuvre in the event we encountered more nets in the dark. We were immensely grateful for this as we gybed onto the new course to take us away from the fishing vessel!
Successfully out of the way of the fishing vessel we romped along to the north at 6 to 7 kts in a nice breeze and settled in for the rest of the night. Until the early hours that is when we were passing another fishing vessel, again about 4nm away. All seemed well until a small group of red and green flashing lights came into view. Sailors often mistake these lights for a vessel some distance away but in fact they are mounted on poles and buoys at one end of a fishing net and you suddenly realise they are much closer than you were thinking. We discovered during one of our net breaking incidents that one end of a net is lit with these red and green lights, the other by white lights. So where were they?! The only white light to be seen was the fishing vessel itself and as the red and green lights were between us and the fishing vessel we held course, gritted our teeth and waited for the stretching and thump. Neither was forthcoming so it looks like we made the right call.
As we approached the island of Kei we had reports of two net incidents up ahead, again right on the course I was steering so we reverted to Annie’s original plotted track (surely not plotted with fishing nets in mind?!) and all was well.
We dropped anchor at 1300 on 21st July, and within a few hours customs and immigration had been on board and we were clear to go ashore. Or to bed in our case.