Enroute Report - Bali to Borneo
Sea Mist > Sold to New Owners July 2016
John and Cheryl Ellsworth
Mon 1 Oct 2012 09:49
We weighed anchor at North East Corner of Bali about 2 pm yesterday and set out for Kalamantan/Borneo with an intended stop for a brief rest at anchor there. We were doing a number of maintenance chores....including scrubbing the water line (toughest swell that I have ever had to encounter while doing that job....but it needed to be done. We had a young guy do all the stainless cleaning/polishing...and the fiberglass...while at the Bali Marina so it was even more obvious that the water line needed to be scrubbed. By the way, Bali Marina was a great place to get boat work like that done....absolutely the best quality work that has ever been done on the stainless in our 7 years....and thatg includes the work done by yours truly. The cost was minimal: $25 per DAY....working steady without supervision at all for 7 of the 8 hours int he day...with a 1 hr lunch break. I was impressed!!
S/V Imagine had left the anchorage about 3 hours ahead of us and we expected to be within VHF range with one another most of the way for the 450 nm. They remain presently about 6 hours in front of us.We motored for the first 25 hours but as of about 3 pm this afternoon, there was just enough wind to shut down the engine....HURRAH!! >>> we are making about 5.5 - 6.5 kts....plenty of time to reach our destination with a couple of days of rest or whatever before we leave on Sat Oct 6th for our 3 day trip to orangatang territory...on a live-aboard charter boat that will take 8 of us up the river from where we will leave Sea Mist at anchor....with a boat boy attending...and charging batteries each day to keep up our refrigeration.
There has been quite a lot of fishing boat (BIG and small) as well as a lot of commercial shipping activity on our route so far....several close encounters that required avoidance manouvering to avoid collisions....but no real problems....just some obvious incompetence on the part of a couple of big commercial ships....REGISTRY: Indonesia.
Only play from mother nature have been a few brief visits from dolphins as they passed by on their business...without lingering long at Sea Mist.
During the night last night, Stuart and I decided to forego the intended diversion to the anchorage at Bawean Island....and continued heading direct to our Borneo destination. We intend to manage our arrival time for early morning at the mouth of the river at Kalamantan....and use the daylight to finish the 25 miles up the river to Kumai which is our destination to meet Harry Rousaman who is the tour operator with whom we have the trip booked. (8 of us: 2 Swedish boats, Ambika and Roxy...and IMagine and Sea Mist)
Thats all for now...cyl/J&C - the Seamisters
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