Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Saumlaki, Indonesia

One of the things that the organizers of Sail Indonesia had warned us about is that things in Indonesia don't always work on the schedule you were told and often don't happen at all, especially when it comes to working with the government's bureaucracy. Foreign-flagged vessels are required to check in upon arrival to a country and some countries make it easier than others. We set our expectations appropriately and patiently waited for the skiff that carried the eight government officials to stop by Rutea. Every time the government skiff would leave the boat of a rally participant, we'd get hopeful that we'd be the next stop but our disappointment rose when the skiff headed back to shore. A call to another boat told us that we were to go into the Custom's office to clear in. Dropping the dinghy into the water, loading the outboard onto the dinghy, all of us piling in and steaming towards the Customs wharf as we were getting soak from the chop generated by 20-knot winds, we met the boat who had told us to go to the Customs office. "Turn around and go back to your boat. Customs is coming back out," they said. Eventually, Customs, Immigration and Quarantine did arrive, checked us in and welcomed us to their country. The chatter on the VHF radio was that a bunch of boats were heading into shore to go to a hotel for food and drink so it didn't take us long before we had piled back into the dinghy and we were tying up at the dinghy dock - only to find that we hadn't completed our check in and we all had stupid looks on our faces when they asked for our passports and crew list. I had to go back out to the boat to get them. They were very efficient, though, and we were able to complete everything in a matter of minutes. They gave each of us shiny Sail Indonesia gift bags stuffed with swag including a teal-colored polo shirt covered with elaborate embroidery about Sail Indonesia's sponsors.

This morning was the Welcoming Ceremony and I was pretty blasé about it. We all wore our new polo shirts and they had us line up. Cameras clicked noisily as we all got into position. Some elderly men in traditional garb (strange hats with feathers, woven scarves and shell necklaces) started to sing and pour a local rice wine on the ground. The ceremony suddenly became serious and meaningful, even though I couldn't understand a word they were saying. A glass of the wine was hand to each skipper to drink from by one of the elders, who later came by and put a cross on our foreheads of sand. Pretty girls put woven scarves around our necks. The ceremony was followed by a dance of beautiful young women in long skirts and a couple of young men with small drums. From there we were directed to sit in chairs under a huge canopy to protect us from the hot sun while more dancing, singing and speeches were made. It was all followed by a reception with lots of local foods, all of which I thought were pretty tasty. The effort that was made to welcome us was more than significant - they obviously invested a substantial amount of resources to put it all together. I felt honored.

After the reception, we walked through town and it seemed like we couldn't walk more than 10 meters before someone would say, "Hello, mister!" Apparently, not many Anglos make it to Saumlaki and there was much giggling when we would reply. Often, people would reach out and shake our hands as we'd be walking down the street. There was much more giggling when we'd take someone's photo and all those near would insist that we take their picture also. I took one old man's photo and he had us come into his small shop where he gave us a pancake-like treat and bottles of water. He talked incessantly and we nodded politely. Whereas this is definitely a Third World country, it feels safe and friendly.
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At 7/30/2013 10:16 PM (utc) Rutea's position was 07°58.52'S 131°17.30'E

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Monday, July 29, 2013

Saumlaki, Indonesia

After 36 hours of 2.5+ meter seas and 20-25 knots of wind, we anchored in Saumlaki this morning at 0730. Even though the conditions were about average for us, we were all glad to be over that passage. We're still waiting for Customs and Immigration clearance and that might be several hours yet as we've been warned that time has a different meaning in Indonesia and often things don't happen at all.

The entire fleet is here except for three boats, one having to drop out altogether due to autopilot problems. One other boat should be arriving on Thursday and still another on Saturday. If all goes according to plan, we should get internet access tomorrow.
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At 7/30/2013 12:17 AM (utc) Rutea's position was 07°58.53'S 131°17.30'E

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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Arafura Sea

We're slightly more than halfway across the Arafura Sea, having left Alcaro Bay near Cape Don last night at 2330. Once we left the wind shadow of Australia, the wind built to 20+ knots and has been consistently blowing between 20 and 25 ever since. That's good but Rutea is making too good time so we've had to furl our genoa and deploy our staysail instead in an effort to slow us down. We don't want to arrive in Saumlaki in the dark (we never want to arrive in any strange port in the dark) as we have been warned of unlit boats and FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices, ie, fish traps). With this brisk wind also comes larger seas and that's made the passage a bit uncomfortable - none of us have felt well.

With less than 90 miles to go, we're all glad that we'll be arriving in Indonesia just after sun up tomorrow.
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At 7/28/2013 8:20 AM (utc) Rutea's position was 11°17.00'S 131°47.73'E

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Van Diemen Gulf

Our spirits were high as we sailed out of Darwin on the beginning of the Sail Indonesia Rally. There were supposed to be 87 boats sailing over the 'starting line' but getting cruisers to do what they're told is like herding cats as many boats left the day before, the night before and some weren't planning to leave for a few days.

The timing of our arrival at Howard Channel was perfect, just as the current changed to be in our favor. This time we took the southern channel and though narrow, navigation was pretty easy and the 4+ knot current made up for the lack of wind. Initially, we planned to do a run straight through the 110-mile long Van Diemen Gulf but decided to hole up for the night just off of Cape Hotham. We ran the calculations and decided that we could leave the following morning at the civilized hour of 0700 and catch a favorable current out of the Gulf and into the Arafura Sea. Unfortunately, the winds were almost nonexistent so we wound up motoring almost the entire way.

Now we're waiting in a small bay near Cape Don as if we were to leave now, we'd wind up arriving in Saumlaki, Indonesia well before dawn. It's better to get some rest at anchor and leave later tonight, maybe somewhere around 2200. There's a good forecast for steady winds in the 20-25 knot range and we should make the crossing in about 36 hours.
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At 7/28/2013 4:56 AM (utc) Rutea's position was 11°31.02'S 131°38.99'E

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Darwin, Northern Territory

Cockatoos - Photo by Corie
We arrived in Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory, on July 7 at 0400, after sailing more than 2,500 miles since we left Sydney in New South Wales.  The last month has been kind of a push for us but it hasn't been without it's highlights as we've had several adventures that we'll never forget.  One of the most indelible was spending several days at the Aboriginal village on South Goulburn Island.  Landing ashore is prohibited unless you secure a permit beforehand and through a friend of Corie's, we were able to get permission to visit.  For a well-written account of our stay there, please read Corie's blog.  There's a link to it at the top of the page.

Back to Darwin:  With a population of about 130,000 people, its a bustling city with more than it's fair share of pubs.  The day after we arrived, we spent part of a Sunday afternoon drinking cold beer in the air conditioned comfort of Shenanigan's, one of the larger and more popular establishments.  Since Darwin is so close to the equator, it remains hot even in the 'winter', in fact, the seasons here are classified as 'wet' or 'dry' and not summer or winter.  We're in the middle of the dry season now.  We moved Rutea into the Tipperary Waters Marina but we had to go through a lock to do so as the tides are often in excess of 7 meters.  The lock can't handle boats much larger than Rutea and my heart was going pitter-patter as I tried to navigate against a strong wind and stronger current.

Lock at Tipperary Waters Marina

Not much time was wasted before we got started on boat projects since we don't anticipate being able to accomplish much once we get to Indonesia.  Our To Do list is long and I worked for several days straight but still didn't manage to get to anything on the list.  It is better now but I still have lots to do.


4-Meter Croc

Today we took some time off from boat projects, rented a 4x4 and drove up to the Adelaide River, where we had booked seats on a river trip.  We had heard so much about crocodiles that we worried that we would leave Australia without seeing any.  The river trips are a little kitschy but we did get to see crocodiles up close - very close - but it was still worthwhile.  On our way back to the boat, we took pictures of the massive termite mounds.  Corie's friend, Kyle, is joining us as we sail through Indonesia.


Shortly after we got back to the boat, we barely had time to get cleaned up for the Sail Indonesia Farewell Bar-Be-Que.  As our time in Darwin winds down, the Sail Indonesia Rally events ramp up and almost 150 people showed up for a night of food and fun at the Darwin Sailing Club.