Tarakan

Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Thu 6 Sep 2012 13:34
03.17.746 N 117.34.448 E
 
We were very sorry to leave Tawau. We made many friends and our last night was memorable with live music and Duncan singing and me playing the electronic drums.
But it was time to move on. We made one overnight stop on the way to Tarakan. Different story here. We arrived late afternoon on Tuesday 4 Sept. I informed the agent of our sponsor Raymond that we had arrived. We had to stay on the boat until the next day when officials from Quarantine and Customs had arrived. The first lot came on board at around 9 o'clock.  More people arrived at around 11. When they were finished we were told we had to go ashore to see Immigration and Customs again. At around 2 a boat arrived to take us ashore, where we met the agents Dewi and Roy. They took us by car to customs, then immigration, then customs again, then port officials and customs again. There was a lot of paper work involving importing our boat into the country. We were told to come back tomorrow. By now it was getting dark. Dewi and Roy took us to a warung to have something to eat and then to buy simcards for our phones and dongles. We were finally back on board at half past seven.
Today we were picked up by boat again and then by car to go to the bank, get some food, do a bit of sight seeing and go back to customs for the final papers. This was all done by about 2 when we were back in the harbour masters office to get our final papers. We then had to have all these papers photo copied for future officials before returning to the boat. Before we got on the water taxi we were presented by an emormous bill, which we refused to pay. After several phone calls and re-calculations we came to an agreement and parted company with the agents.
So all in all 2 exhausting days, but we have all the paperwork now. Time will tell if it was all worth it. Tomorrow we'll set off before day light for Derawan Island, another divers paradise.
 
 
Playing the drums
Duncan singing The Young Ones
Fishing platforms on the way
Quarantine officials
Customs officials
The Harbour master's office
The anchorage at Tarakan