The Sail Indonesia Rally only has 3 months in which to complete the journey from Kupang, our port of entry. to Nongsa Point in Batam, just over the Singapore Strait from Singapore itself. We always felt a little hurried and now we had to leave again.
Our passage north was again in company with Tweed. Our boats sail well together and we never tire of their wonderful company. Down the Kumai River we went, smog unabated. We anchored at the entrance off a nice sandy spit but didn't go ashore as we had preparations to make for the overnight passage commencing next morning. The passage to the northern anchorage on Banka was around 350nm. I think this was the leg which Silver Fern took off in the night!! The pitter patter of little pistons maybe? Anyway it was just a couple of days sail in light wind for most of it. In the anchorage at Banka we caught up with some of the fleet and all left towards Singapore after a nice BBQ on the beach.
The equator was the next milestone. Neptune had to be placated and we duly dressed the boats and ourselves as we crossed the line with Tweed and Ventana. The next anchorage was party time aboard Silver Ferne. Several people elected to have their head shaved for cancer and the rest of us cheered them on. This would be one of the last get togethers of the fleet.
Sailing on north to Nongsa Point via some really interesting small islands we were increasingly coming across the Indonesian Fishing houses. They are various shaped structures built in the sea. Occasionally floating but more often built of bamboo onto the ocean floor. The fishermen have lights and at night they attract goodness knows what to their nets which they haul up and harvest. In the morning a boat comes round and collects the catch and we presume, feeds the crew.
The variety of Indonesian Fishing boats is endless too. So many shapes colours and sizes. They are very curious and often come quite close to see us before peeling off and getting back to business. In an anchorage in Kentar we were aproached by 5 men, one of whom had a serious infection in his hand. They wanted antibiotics which we gave them. Their medical facilities on these remote islands are non existent. Next morning they bought us a Conch shell as a gift. Lovely thing freshly caught and we expressed our gratitude but wished they had left it on the reef.
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| Squid Boat. |
Nongsa point was our final destination in Indonesia. It has a beautiful marina with every amenity. Seeking to attract Singaporean sailors across the Strait. We cleared out of Indonesia with authorities here and as we had experienced throughout the rally, this was achieved with expediency.
The passage across Singapore Strait looked fairly daunting with a constant parade of very large ships going at speed, in both directions, not far from the entrance to the marina. We snuck along the coast of Batam just out of the channel until we could find the narrowest point of the divided Traffic Zone. Then we hot footed it dodging ships. into the middle ground before making another mad dash across the traffic coming from the other direction. Only one ship blew his great big horn. We were really playing dodgems out there. The very tropical Singapore weather as usual was threatening to drench us and lightening and thunder heralded our arrival safely in Singapore
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| Nongsa Point Marina. Batam |
Our destination in Singapore was the very new and incomplete One Degree 15 marina on Sentosa Island. The infrastructure which was there was of an extremely high standard and it will be interesting to see it when its finished. We made good use of the courtesy bus to the amazing Harbour Front Shopping Mall, a huge complex and with access to the excellent Singaporean rail transit system. Second to none.
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| Dodging ships and squalls on the way into Singapore. |
The final Rally event was at Sebana Cove marina which we managed to get to by taxi shared with ....yes our partners in crime for the Rally. Tweed and Silver Fern.
The end of an amazing journey. Exceptionally well run from beginning to end and we hope to return to Indonesia to cruise again.
