Our remaining time in Indonesia will be spent making our way to Nongsa Point, the hop off spot for crossing the Singapore Strait. This is about 1,100 miles. We have plenty of time for this which is a good job as we don’t expect a lot of help from the wind. We intend to split this into three main stages , stopping in Bawean and Belitung to top up supplies and maybe some additional short stay anchorages.

Makassar to 1. Kalukalukuang, 2 Kangean, 3 Bawean and finally Belitung.

Leaving Makassar, we retraced our inward route down the main shipping channel to avoid the reefs, motoring for three hours until the wind picked up. We were headed for Kalukalukuang a small island which was reported to have a sheltered anchorage on its south side with a Sandy bottom and some good snorkelling on reef.  Arriving at 11.00 the next day we made our way into the anchorage which was not well sheltered from the wind but was protected from the waves by the reef. We had difficulty finding a sand patch among the many rocks or small bomies where we also had enough swinging room that we would have time to up anchor and clear out if we dragged. We have a facility on our instruments to set an anchor alarm when we drop the anchor, this continually monitors our distance from the anchor and sounds if we exceed a set distance. After spending most of the day here we felt safe and were considering settling down for the night when the anchor alarm went off. The wind had eased right down, and we had plenty of chain out so couldn’t understand how we could have dragged the anchor. Looking on the app display we had moved slightly but the anchor then appeared to have reset itself. We increased the swing distance allowed and were just about to settle down again when the alarm went off for a second time. Our choices were:
1 let out more chain, a normal tactic but we weren’t sure how much space we had before the chain would be laying on coral,
2 lift the anchor and then try setting it again in another spot, it was a pitch-black night and we had no chance of picking out a sandy patch to drop the anchor in,
3 leave now following our inward track and sail through the night toward our next possible stop. This is the one we took, heading for Puala Kangean. This was 170 miles away and if we sailed normally we would not arrive in daylight but by sailing slowly through two nights we could arrive in early morning. We set the sails well reefed down and accepted a speed of less than 5 knots. Near to the equator, as we are, we have days and nights of almost equal length, the days seem short and the nights long.
As we approached Kangean we saw Wirraway of Sydney on the AIS.  She had been with us on the rally and was heading for Bali before setting off back to Australia. Gary and Bev had come south down the Borneo coast rather than make the crossing to Sulawesi that we did. This was the first time we had seen them since leaving Nunacan, our entry point to Indonesia so we invited them over for dinner. They departed the next morning, but we awarded ourselves an extra day's rest as we had effectively been on passage for three nights.
Bawean was to be our next stop, we had been here last year with the Sail 2 Indonesia rally and knew that there was a good traditional market for topping up with fruit and veg. Another 170 miles so another overnight and, leaving at first light, we arrived late afternoon the following day. We knew the anchorage was large and as there was only one other yacht there we had plenty of choice, unlike last year when there were probably 20+ yachts. We rested one day then went ashore in the morning prepared to walk the 40 mins each way to the market but were lucky to be met by the local organiser for the Sail Indonesia rally who was overseeing preparations for their arrival. He offered us a lift into town which we gladly accepted. On this side of the island you see few cars, most people get about on motorcycles so hitching a lift would have been very difficult. As we were late most of the fruit and veg stalls were closed or closing but we managed to find enough to keep us going. The walk back along the road to our dinghy was not very fast as we had to stop for a number of ‘selfies’.

Selfies in Bawean.

Moving on next day we had a 350-mile passage and the likelihood of running out of wind, we actually sailed for one day out of the three it took us. On the second morning we had a heavy rain shower and knowing that this was likely to be a precursor of gusty winds we put two reefs in the mainsail and rolled away most of the headsail. The wind rose to a maximum of 38 knots, by which time we had three reefs in the main, and at times we were sailing at 8-9 knots. The forecast had been for the wind to die off, certainly not increase like this but we made good use of it. Once it was passed the wind died away completely leaving us to motor the final 250 miles.

Belitung is a good place to stock up on food and refill with fuel. Eddie and Ervan run a small warung (restaurant) on the beach which they have renamed the Belitung Yacht Club and ashore here we met up with Graham and Kate, Barracuda of Islay and Allen and Maria, S/Y Jamala, both British yachts. We gave Eddie our laundry, left our fuel cans to be filled and organised a ride into the town for shopping. We ate ashore on two nights, once with Graham and Kate at a local dive resort and secondly at the “Yacht Club” where we joined two local customs officers who had come over the island to do clearance for a yacht. An entertaining evening where we discovered from Ervan that the main work on the island is tin mining. There is a smelting works which buys ore mined by locals who have their own holes in the ground where they can dig enough ore to live in relative comfort. When we came in to say goodbye the next day, Eddie and Ervan were working hard to create a temporary western style toilet in preparation for this year’s rally arrival.

Belitung  Yacht Club

Fuel station in the 'yacht club'. The diesel bought in town is run through a water separator and filter before being sold for use on yachts.

Fishing boat tenders on the beach

 

Eddie and Ervin constructing a western toilet for the rally which is due in about a couple of weeks.