The sail to the next destination at Karimunjawa National Park was uneventful. We sailed from Bawean on the morning of the 17th August and arrived the following morning off Palau Karimunjawa. The main island is very low lying and there was little protection from the wind in the primary anchorage which was pretty restricted and a fair hike from the town. Given the prevailing conditions we decided to push on to Belitung Island a further 2 days sail away. We stayed at anchor for a few hours to get some rest and then at 1530 started the passage.
The whole time we have been coming from Lombok
we have had the prevailing South Easterly trades blowing. This makes for really enjoyable sailing most
of the time however as we progress north the Java Sea becomes shallower and
there can be an uncomfortable chop build up on the swell which produces a jerky
roll. For the most time we sail with a
reefed main and the jib poled out to the opposite side and there is little in
the way of sail handling apart from when we have to gybe and reset the pole on
the other side.
The night watches are interesting coming from
Bawean as there are lines and lines of squid fishing boats stretched out along
the horizon. Some have AIS but some don’t
so an active look out is an imperative.
They fish at night using high powered lights to attract the squid into
nets. You see the lights for miles so it
is pretty easy to see them but difficult to anticipate which way they are going
to move.
Having Abi onboard is great as I can get some
rest during the nights, there is an extra pair of hands for the onboard chores,
and she is really good company. Initially
I was going to just sail as fast as possible to Malaysia but am now stopping at
the islands to make it a bit more interesting for both of us.
We sighted Belitung Island early on the 20th
and spent the rest of the day working our way around the southern end of the
island and up the west coast to the recommended anchorage. Belitung Island is another destination that I
had never heard of before starting this trip.
Belitung is about the same size as Lombok but with only a tenth of the
population. It is also quite low lying
with a max elevation of around 500m. The
northwest coastal area is a UNESCO recognized Geopark for its beaches and
granite boulder landscape.
We anchored off a pristine white sand beach in
about 5m of water after a very near miss in some shallows entering the
anchorage. There are numerous small
islands with clusters of boulders on them and huge isolated boulders
surrounding the bay. It’s very
picturesque and reminiscent of a place called the Baths in Virgin Gorda which
we visited on Dulcinea many years ago.
Apart from the stunning scenery there is not
too much else. Ashore there are a number
of Warongs and there are a couple of very low-key resorts on the beaches. Further down in the next bay there is a
Sheraton resort but that is also very low key.
The main town Tanjung Pandan is about a 40min drive south. The plan was to check out here so we could
then sail direct to Malaysia without a stop off in Batam. Check out would be done on Monday and we
would depart Tuesday so we had the Friday and all weekend to look around.
We spent the first day walking on the beaches
and ended up at the Sheraton for a couple of drinks on the beach before dinner
at a local Warong closer to the boat. The
next day we had organized to hire a local boat and they took us out to a number
of nearby islands and snorkeling spots.
We finished up on one island closer to shore with amazing walk/swim
through caves and had dinner on the beach again. The final day we took a scooter ride along the
coast to check out some other beaches.
All in all it’s a really pretty spot and a great place to spend a few
days. It was also very quiet in tourist
numbers and this is the high season so you can have the beaches to
yourself. Needless to say the locals
were all very friendly and helpful. Not
sure there is much else to see on the island.
Most of Monday was taken up clearing the vessel
out of Indonesia and getting ourselves cleared through immigration. There was some kind of mix up with the vessel
papers which delayed us but overall it was relatively painless. The offices for all the various departments
(customs, immigration, etc) were all in Tanjung Pandan and we used the slack
time to top up our fresh food for the transit to Malaysia.
Tuesday morning (25th Aug) we waved
goodbye to Belitung and headed northwest towards the approaches to Singapore. This was a three-day sail and again was
pretty comfortable sailing with following winds. We anchored in the islands just south of
Singapore on Thursday so we could cross the Singapore Strait in daylight.
The Singapore Straits is one of the busiest if
not the busiest shipping areas in the world.
Thousands of merchant ships, tugboats and barges, tankers, ferries and
other craft ply the straits daily. There
are strict traffic separation zones to organize the vessels and prevent
accidents. Simply put there is one north
bound traffic lane and one Southbound traffic lane. These lanes start all the way from Port Klang
in Malaysia and run south the east until open water is reached on the other side
of Singapore. We were heading to a
marina about 13Nm up the Straits of Johor (the narrow body of water separating Malaysia
from Singapore). To get to the Johor
Strait we.had to cross both of the traffic seperation lanes a transit of 8 to 9
Nm.
The crossing required absolute attention to the
navigation screens and radio and a constant visual lookout. Apart from the massive cargo vessels and
tankers running end to end of the separation zones there were smaller craft who do not need to abide by the TSZ rules
zipping about. Also some of the large
cargo ships were exiting the lanes to dock in Jurong, Singapore or entering the
lanes from the port. Some of the ferries
were doing over 20kts so they come upon you extremely quickly especially when
visibility is limited to around 5NM. To
make things interesting as we were entering the first lane a squall came
through and reduced visibility to a few hundred yards. Obviously we got through OK but there were
some anxious moments. Once through there
are another throng of vessels anchored which you make your way through.
Once across we entered the Johor Strait and motored
to Pinetree Marina and secured ourselves in a berth. We can clear into Malaysia here and the plan
is to complete these formalities and then head to Lumut, our final destination. Unfortunately for me Abi had some pressing
personal issues at home and has decided to leave Sea Otter here. It’s a shame and I will miss her company for
the final leg.
So whats left now is a solo sail from Pinetree
up the Malacca Straits to Lumut. Am not
really looking forward to this as we have a lot of traffic on the route which
makes night sailing particularly challenging.
Much of the traffic is fishing boats with their own set of rules. In addition given the full moon there are strong
tidal current just now. I have a plan
though.
