Karimun Jawa - 8 to 11 Oct 2015

Tashi Delek
Mike & Carol Kefford
Sun 11 Oct 2015 04:32

05:52.39S 110:25.51E

 

We arrived in Karimun Jawa at midday with the light perfect for seeing the reefs and shoals on the way in.  There was plenty of room in the anchorage despite there being numerous yachts from the “other” Indonesia Rally (started from Darwin) still present.  Unfortunately the anchorage is very deep and with the windlass still not working properly anchoring has become a bit of a nightmare.  We have taken all the parts of the system apart but cannot find why it is running so slowly and keeps tripping the electrical circuit.  We have to drop the anchor by releasing the clutch with the hand lever and using gravity to pull out the chain.  In these depths that can be pretty dramatic!  The danger is the chain going out so fast that it flies off the gypsy and you end up with all 70 metres to the “bitter end” out before you can re-engage the clutch.  Pulling in 60 metres of 10mm heavy chain and a 27 kg anchor is painfully slow and the yacht becomes vulnerable to wind and tide once the anchor is off the bottom.  It can all get a bit emotional and the last 15m is now usually pulled in by hand to speed up the process.

 

There is not much to do or see at Karimun Jawa except snorkelling off some of the adjacent islands.  It is an undeveloped, unsophisticated fishing village and a rather sleepy place with lots of small home stay hotels.  There are few foreigners as it is mostly used by Indonesian tourists who come by ferry from the mainland of Java for weekends and holidays.  But, they are able to receive the Fox2 Sport television channel so we have been able to watch a couple of the Rugby World Cup matches, albeit in the middle of the night here.

 

Re-joining the fleet

Iced mango juice at the Amore Restaurant

 

Hugh settles down to some internet in the wonderful traditional Java house at the Amore

Hassin delivers 80 litres of diesel for Tashi Delek