Maratua to Makassar. 05:08.3S, 119:27.2E

Serenity of Swanwick
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Tue 1 Oct 2024 02:30
Maratua to Makassar is about 450 miles, there is a major current which flows south at all times which helps but if the wind is from the south you get choppy conditions which make it uncomfortable. We had waited for the southerly wind to die down before leaving Maratua. There are very few anchorages documented on either side of the strait so at times we would be reliant on our own interpretation of electronic charts and satellite images to choose our overnight stops.  
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Maratua to Makassar
After two nights we pulled into Teluk Baleisan, a bay on the end of a peninsula which just happens to sit astride the Equator. There are two anchorages documented here, one appeared to be on a narrow ridge of reef and the other a patch of sand. We went for the patch of sand. Very soon a local boat went past to the village with a family in it and, having dropped off the adults, the boys returned for selfies on the stern of Serenity. Soon they were called back, probably for school, and they rushed off. Later still we had four boys on board who paddled out in outrigger canoes. The first two brought drinking coconuts which we happily bought from them for a few pence. All four came on board and took photos and videos, everyone now seems to have a mobile phone.
Visitors in Teluk Baleisan
The next day we moved on and headed for Donggala, we hoped to pick up a mooring off a resort as the anchorage here is not reported to be very good. Unfortunately we received no reply to emails or WhatsApp messages so decided to bypass this totally and head around the next headland. In 2018 there was an earthquake which destroyed the village at Donggala and the tsunami created took a number of lives in the town further into the inlet, we weren’t really fussed at missing this stop. When we had passed the next headland and entered a large bay we found what we hoped for. The echo sounder showed a steadily shallowing bottom with no unevenness, the satellite picture looked like a sandy or mud bottom and that’s what we got, perfect. The fishermen here waved as they passed in their boats but made no attempt to make contact. We stopped here in Teluk Towale for two nights as it was so peaceful and went ashore at the village to our south. The locals were welcoming, showing us where to leave our dinghy and helping to pull it up the beach and we had a wander through the village. A few selfies were posed but there seemed to be an attitude of wariness with their curiosity.
Family selfie with the funny foriegner.
Strange bioluminescent spots in the water that we saw a couple of mornings. They look like sequins and the lights go on and off.
Next an overnight sail to the city of Mamuju and a chance to top up provisions and get an Indonesian SIM for Phil’s phone. The anchorage was quite open with a lot of tide running through between an island and the mainland. There were two options for landing with the dinghy one in a narrow creek with rocks on either side and the other a small beach between rocks with some rough steps going up to a plaza. Both required the use of an anchor to keep the dinghy off beach and rocks and a line taken ashore. We chose the beach and went ashore to undergo the two hour ordeal of buying a SIM, at least that’s what it seemed like. In Indonesia foreign phones have to be registered before an Indonesian SIM can be used in them, something to do with stopping black market phones being used. In the Mamuju office of Telkomsel Phil had to deal with a young trainee using google translate, carrying out a process that the office would rarely need. At the end of it all we had to have selfies with the office staff in front of the company name, probably now used somewhere on their website. We went to the local hypermarket, near the anchorage and also to a bottle shop to stock up on beer, the first we have been able to buy since Malaysia. In the same anchorage was a replica Indonesian ship from 100yrs ago which was being sailed down the coast, authentic to the point of having no engine. They left the anchorage before us in the morning and we soon passed them, we then saw them again as we left our next anchorage at Tubo.
At Tubo we searched the bay for a suitable spot and ended up finding a spot with 7.5 m of water where we dropped the anchor but shallowing quickly further in. This is a situation where we could be anchoring on reef but it didn’t feel like it and when we lifted the anchor next morning it had muddy silt on it so that was OK. Just before dark we were surrounded by spider boats fishing, they didn’t seem worried that we were there so probably we were not a problem for them. After a couple of hours they had drifted away and then all went back into harbour. I hope they had a good catch and we hadn’t disturbed the squid or whatever they were after.
Fishing in Tubo, we think they were after squid.
Our next and final stop of this section would be Makassar, Indonesia’s sixth largest city and major freight port. It sits behind an area of reefs and islands stretching 70 miles N-S and up to 30 miles E-W.  Given that the electronic charts are not accurate and we don’t have full satellite coverage of this area we sailed south outside the reefs until we reached the main commercial shipping route in and followed that. On the 120 miles south to the start of this channel we had to contend with shipping including coal barges being towed in the same direction as us at 3-5 knots and badly lit, unlit fishing boats, FADS (Fish Aggregating Devices) some lit. Keeping a lookout through the dark night was difficult, thankfully some vessels can now be ‘seen’ on the plotter thanks to AIS.
We made it into Makassar harbour early afternoon and dropped anchor close to the 99 Kubah Mosque, the Centre of Indonesia, a massive brand new hospital building (not yet in use), Pantai Losari (lively open air night spot) and easy access to shops. It didn’t take long for a local, Anton, to approach us from the nearby ferry dock to ask how much diesel we wanted. Not wanting to discourage him totally we said we would check and talk tomorrow, maybe 120 litres. In the morning he arrived with 120 litres and two helpers to transfer it to our tank and Jerry cans. We could probably have arranged to get it cheaper if we had paid a taxi to take us to the fuel station.
Welcome to Makassar.
99 Kubah Mosque