10:9.47S

123:34.52E

 

We arrived in Kupang the main city in Timor, Indonesia, on Tuesday 30th July 2013. Having had very little wind across from Darwin, the last stretch through the islands suddenly was very breezy with 25 to 30 kts of wind so romped in. And sailed right into the anchorage. There were quite a number of Sail Indonesia yachts already there so we anchored at about 3pm (Indonesian time). Rally Control said that we might manage to clear in with Customs and all the other authorities today. But it did not happen until the following morning.

 

In the morning the police launch arrived and we had eight people on board all asking questions with open smiling faces. It al seemed to go well as was able to copy documents as we went. And Stamp them with the ships stamp!! It is a symbol of authority and we were asked to ensure that most documents were stamped. So we did!

 

Then ashore with our passports and another round of department visits. Luckily as we were part of the rally all the different departments were located in an office near the Anchorage which made it very easy for us. Having said that it is always a testing time as you want to know that everything is in order and that all is going well. Some boats experienced requests for ‘gifts but when we were I politely ‘did not understand’ and after saying that several times, the request was dropped. Other boats had similar experiences and some did provide gifts. In one case the Chief Customs officer returned the gifts and apologised to the boat as this is a practice that they are trying to stamp out.

 

After all that we could then look around and enjoy ourselves. And what a lovely time we have had.

 

See next entries for more details.