Gorgontalo
Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Mon 24 Sep 2012 05:43
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00.30.597 N 123.03.714 E
We lifted anchor at 02.00 hrs. The idea was to get
around the SE corner of North Sulawesi before day light when the winds pick up
again. The sailing was indeed a lot easier, but the wind was still in the nose
after rounding the corner. We did manage to sail most of the night, we even had
to slow down to arrive in Gorgontalo at day light. We decided to stop at
Gorgontalo to try and get fuel, find an ATM and maybe get some fresh fruit and
veg. It turned out to be a very difficult bay/river mouth. It was either very
deep or very shallow with a small area in the middle. We went aground in the mud
three times, but did manage to anchor with good holding. That was fine with the
tide going out, but we would be on the mud bank when the tide turned. So we had
to do our business quickly. We took the dinghy ashore and found a helpful
taxi/rickshaw driver who took Duncan to find fuel. That turned out to be a
mission, as it is against the law in Indonesia to sell fuel in jerry cans. A
truck driver came to the rescue and sold 80 l of diesel out if is tank. I did
manage to go to an ATM and get cash. By then time was running out and we had to
hurry to get the dinghy back on board and lift the anchor. The wind and swell
had also got up by then. We manage to get out of Gorgontalo unscathed with some
diesel and with cash.
As with previous anchorages in Sulawesi, we have
very little information to help us. We have an American publication for bigger
commercial shipping, Maxsea and Navionics charts, which are extremely basic and
show no depths and when we have internet we look at Google Earth satellite
pictures.
We are now on our way to the Togian
Islands.
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