Indonesia, A Most Unusual Destination
By 0615 on Saturday, 13th July 2019 we had weighed anchor and started to snake our way out of the Horn Island anchorage, headed for the Prince of Wales Channel and, with that, it was goodbye to Australia after a much longer stay than intended; 12 months longer, in fact.
Enjoying a speed of 9 Kts thanks to the fast flowing current, we had expected at least four other yachts to join us, but by 0800 we could see at least eight on the horizon. With the winds being much lighter than forecast, we had a rather slow start, but by mid-morning we were flying the chicken chute and making good time. However, by 1500 the winds had dropped again and we were barely doing 5 Kts. So down came the chicken chute, up went the white sails, followed by a slight change of course. By early evening the winds had picked up again, so we changed sail plan again; this time to wing-on-wing, but by 2300, with winds in excess of 25 Kts, it was time to bring down the mainsail and continue on headsail alone. Averaging a boat speed of 7.4 Kts and reaching speeds of close to 8 Kts for the remainder of the night was definitely unexpected, but we weren’t complaining. All in all, it was a busy and frustrating day at sea, with the multiple sail changes due to the winds being all over the board in terms of strength and direction, but, by nightfall, we had a waxing gibbous to light our way, along with friends for company. Chatting to everyone on our evening net was definitely a highlight.
With slighter winds on the morning of Sunday, 14th July 2019, but still averaging 6.5 Kts, we contemplated putting up the mainsail again, but decided against it, given that the forecast indicated stronger winds for later in the day and the following day. We did, however, notice a number of yachts take off in various directions like bats out of hell overnight and wondered why. It wasn’t until the morning net that we heard they had chosen to continue to fly their kites overnight, while others had full white sails strapped down, wing-on-wing, which meant they weren’t able to jibe in the darkness with the stronger winds, leaving them with no alternative, but to go where the wind took them. Comments of cruisers being seasick or not being able to sleep because their speeds made for a very uncomfortable night, left us feeling pleased with ourselves for dropping the mainsail, albeit that we slowed down. We weren’t alone in this decision as two other rally yachts, The Pub and Element took the same decision, so we all trundled along comfortably. As things stood, we had possibly shaved off a night at sea, regardless; a nice unexpected bonus!
The afternoon was a continuation of the morning, though, with winds slightly lighter, contrary to the forecast, but we still had a visual on Element to our port side and we could hear a number of yachts on the VHF radio. We were simply happy to be sailing in the Arafura Sea; a nice change from the Tasman and Coral Seas, albeit a tad lumpy! It also helped that we’d completed 265NM of our 650NM passage.
So, after continuing to trundling along on headsail alone, another perusal of the weather forecast indicated the continuation of the conditions we were experiencing, with the exception of the winds veering to the southeast from east-southeast. This meant a better point of sail for Paw Paw on the mainsail and it meant the sail wouldn’t be flogging around in the swell. However, we decided to just continue trundling along.
In many respects this turned out to be a good decision, especially when we were hailed by the captain on Element in the middle of the night, indicating that he had spotted a fishing boat with a net in the water passing all the way across the path of both yachts. Since Element was to our port side at the time, this meant the net was situated a few miles to their port side crossing for a few miles to our starboard side. Impossible to alter course, he indicated that the net was lit up with flashing red, white and green lights and, fortunately, he was familiar with this fishing method from time sailed in the Mediterranean. Relaying that the lights lit up the highest point of the nets used for deep sea fishing of tuna, this meant it was safe to pass over the net as long as we stayed between the flashing lights where the net was deep below the surface. So, after Elaine woke Roy up to ensure we were both on deck and could keep a good lookout, we altered course to follow Element and cross the net between the flashing lights. Success, except for one small issue. This particular fishing boat had decided to run a surface line the entire length of the net, spotted at the last minute by Element. Having relayed the additional information and that the line had passed beneath his keels and rudders, we had no choice but to do the same without incident, thankfully. The experience, however, forced us to rethink our track and to alter course in order to pass Papua New Guinea further offshore, thereby avoiding any more fishing boats and nets. That also emphasised the better point of sail, so decision made; hoist a double reefed mainsail, reef the headsail, alter course and we were set for the remainder of the night with the bonus of having increased our SOG (Speed Over Ground).
What we weren’t expecting was for the weather to deteriorate, with stronger winds and higher seas. We were, however, configured for this and enjoyed boat speeds a little higher than expected, even after triple reefing the headsail, all of which had provided for an earlier arrival in Debut. Although it was a very dull, overcast, squally day, the winds moderated and the sun tried to peek through. We also still had Element for company and enjoyed a chat to Shawn on the VHF radio and Roy had the additional bonus of seeing a huge pod of dolphins on his morning watch.
That evening, having decided to drop the mainsail due to a change in wind direction again, back to east-southeast, we’d no sooner put both engines on, when we spotted another surface line associated with a fishing net, but unlit. Needless to say, it was a mad scramble to get both engines switched off again and the propellers folded just as we surfed over the line. Thankfully, it passed beneath us again without incident and we continued our sail change.
The evening net, however, was full of stories of other yachts experiencing these lines, specifically Talulah Ruby III (Andy and Paul) who had experienced three instances over a period of two hours and had just hit another one while participating on the net. While bad enough for the catamarans, for a deep draft yacht this was proving to be very stressful indeed, forcing a hard turn to port in order to slide over the lines sideways to prevent the yacht getting hooked on to the net by the keel. Fortunately we were all able to swap information about the location of the nets encountered thus far in the hope that all the trailing yachts could avoid them. Despite the challenges of the day, though, spirits were up overall, especially since we were well past the halfway mark by this point with less than 200NM to go.
Having enjoyed a relatively peaceful night without any further encounters with fishing nets, the morning of Tuesday, 16th July 2019 was all about fishing boats instead. By noon we’d already had eight pass on either side of us; one coming within 100 metres regardless of how we altered course. We’d heard that this is typical behaviour of these vessels as there is a belief that they can pass any bad omens from one vessel to the other. We had a good giggle at the idea of any boat coming close to Paw Paw, as they would likely receive more bad juju than they expected and Elaine was definitely willing to pass it on. When this particular vessel eventually changed course and decided to move further away from us, they probably realised they were getting more than they had bargained for!
The fun was yet to begin, though. Within the hour we’d spotted five more, two of which decided 50 metres was a sufficiently safe distance and a look at the radar indicated hundreds more. It was raining fishing boats! This procession continued all afternoon and at any one time we could see at least five or six, but all giving us a wide berth. The word was clearly out; avoid that yacht at all cost!
By the evening we were on the home stretch and Paw Paw was like a horse to the barn, romping along at 9.6 Kts on headsail alone. She clearly wanted a break from all this sailing like the rest of us. So, with Lady (Jenny and Charlie) and Element (Shawn and Sherrie) a few miles ahead of us, the evening net relayed that Entice (Karen and Greg) was at anchor on one of the outer islands and Talulah Ruby III was arriving in the early hours of the morning, but anchoring out as well to then proceed to Debut during daylight. Based on our SOG, we estimated a daybreak arrival at the Kai Islands, following which we would proceed straight to Debut. With more fishing boats and nets to contend with overnight, we both had very little sleep, which made for a very long day, but “land ahoy” at daybreak on 17th July 2019, was a welcome sight indeed and, with that, it was “Hello Indonesia”.
Entering the anchorage at around 0900, only to learn that all our charts, both paper and electronic were not an accurate reflection of the water depths, made for a few anxious moments, though, but fortunately we received help from Element, yet again, who had unfortunately hit the bottom three times on entering the anchorage ahead of us earlier that morning. With helpful information relayed via the VHF radio as we slowly progressed, we were able to remain in the deeper water and reach the anchorage safely. By the time we were anchored, all Elaine wanted was her bed, while Roy decided to stay awake and start tidying up. It wasn’t long afterwards, however, that we noticed officials doing the rounds. That meant all hands on deck to get ready to clear in. Not what either of us wanted or needed after very little sleep the night before.
After, an hour of the various officials onboard, we were then informed that we had to visit the Customs office onshore. Unfortunately that turned into a very laborious process, as it transpired that our Vessel Declaration form, which the rally had provided to us, had, in fact, expired. That meant it had to be reissued, but unfortunately there were problems with the computer system. Third time was the charm in re-entering all the information required, but then printing the new form became the next technical issue. Despite the fact that it was nearly four hours later before we eventually got back to Paw Paw completely exhausted, the officials were extremely helpful and professional, let down only by technology, through no fault of their own. All we wanted now was our dinner and bed, but undertook one last task for the day; assist Rubicon (Lucy and Johan) get into the anchorage safely, given the help we had received from Element. It was our turn to “pay forward”!
There were a number of highlights to our first day in Indonesia, though, including a phone call to Keenan, meeting the cruisers off The Pub (Angela and Steve) and Charlie off Lady as they too waited to get their paperwork redone, meeting the cruisers off Amarillo (Lynn and Eric) who stopped by Paw Paw to introduce themselves and, finally, meeting the delightful, friendly people of Indonesia, especially the children who paddled out to us in their dugout canoes, calling out: “Mister, mister” in their attempts to say hello and the children who helped with the dinghy, although, a short ride in it was what they really enjoyed.
When thinking about writing this article, it became apparent that there was so much to try and portray in words, both the positive and the negative. It’s fair to say, we almost felt traumatised by the time we left Indonesia and actually couldn’t wait to clear out and put the entire experience behind us, but it was also the most unusual destination that we have ever visited. Asked if we would consider visiting it again, the answer is a definitive no, but asked if we would recommend it to other cruisers, the answer is most definitely yes. Why such an opposing perspective? Well, we hope this article answers that question for you.
Indonesia, although it involves extremely difficult and dangerous sailing, which we soon discovered, it is also the most diverse country and, on hindsight and reflection, one of the rare remaining destinations where a cruiser can see little to no influence of the modern world. It is also difficult to perceive that it is one country, as every island you visit is completely different with the exception of, possibly, the food and the language, although the latter has many different dialects. Everything from the shape and style of fishing boats, the shape and style of FADs (Fish Accumulation Devices), the landscape, the traditional dancing and outfits worn, the fruits grown, the livestock farmed, the colour of the beaches, the texture of the beaches which ranged from powdery flour to rocky and from white to black in colour, including pink, anchorages that were either dreadful, deep and rolly or fabulous, shallow, protected and calm, the vastly different colours of water ranging from deep blue to green to turquoise, clear to opaque with sanding bottoms, dark mud or rock, weather ranging from warm and dry to hot and humid, with no rain for months to multiple downpours in a single afternoon or evening and from rain showers that cooled everything down to thunder and lightening storms that had us reaching for our blanket to hide underneath it, wind that ranged from absolutely nothing which had us motoring for hundreds of miles to wind that was so strong we couldn’t slow Paw Paw down to ensure daylight arrivals. Add the diversity of the stunning underwater world, where snorkelling revealed fish and coral species, not only varieties which we’d never seen before, but each new snorkelling spot revealed something new and unique and, of course, the magnificent sunrises and sunsets, the natural beauty of the towering volcanoes and the diverse wildlife from flying foxes to whale sharks to Orang-utans to Komodo dragons. Then there was Bali which felt like an entirely different country.
Hello Sydney
After a relatively uneventful overnight motor-sail from Port Stephens, we entered Port Jackson at around 0630 on the morning of Monday, 11th December 2017. It’s hard to describe just how we felt that morning. Given that there aren't too many iconic cities in the world, sailing Paw Paw into one of them, two years into our circumnavigation, brought home the magnitude of our achievement. Although tired from our overnight sail, covered in goose bumps and grinning from ear to ear, we slowly made our way along the outer edges of Port Jackson, avoiding the numerous high speed ferries flying past us in every direction, carrying commuters to work, who had no idea of where we’d come from, how far we’d sailed, how proud we were of ourselves and, actually, didn’t care or even noticed us. But, as we rounded Bradley’s Head, slowly and cautiously making our way towards our chosen anchorage for the night, seeing the most magnificent sight of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge spread out before us, was beyond words. We actually couldn’t believe our eyes that we were seeing this sight from Paw Paw, after the thousands of nautical miles we’d sailed and all the adventures we’d enjoyed along the way. We were simply in awe and, with that, it was HELLO Sydney and a whole set of new adventures awaited us!
Too tired to try and shoehorn into one of the other so called "anchorages" en route through the port, we opted for Farm Cove overlooking the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Unfortunately we weren’t to know that it was an extremely uncomfortable anchorage due to the churn created by all the ferries, but it was, nonetheless, very scenic and centrally located, so, we planned on staying for that first night, at least.
Once we were settled and had a nap, we had a rather precarious dinghy ride to the closet pier. Then, having successfully negotiated our disembarkation without falling in the water, it was time to celebrate our arrival in Sydney and the Opera Bar was the perfect venue. A walk around Circular Quay and the Royal Botanical Gardens afterwards helped stretch our legs and clear the cobwebs. We had also hoped to reconnect with Raya (Ros and Rick), whom we hadn't seen since Fiji, but thought we’d seen them from a distant arriving in the anchorage. However, they were nowhere to be found on our return to Paw Paw. Hoping we could catch up with them once we'd completed our explorations the following day in the hunt for a more suitable anchorage, even possibly determining that they'd found one and we could simply just head their way, didn’t materialise either! We did, however, receive an invite to Allure for after-dinner coffee that night, but, unfortunately, we were both fading fast, so we took a rain-check instead, also something we were unable to redeem.
Having survived one of the lumpiest, not to mention precarious, anchorages we'd ever been in, fortunately the churn settled down once all the ferries stopped running that night and we were able to enjoy the calm for a few hours. Waking up at around midnight, though, and seeing the Sydney Opera House lit up against the night sky was very surreal indeed, not to mention, a fabulous sight. Something Elaine regrets not taking a photograph of to this day.
We nonetheless decided that one day in Farm Cove was more than enough, so just after daybreak on the morning of Tuesday, 12th December 2017 we set about finding another anchoring spot west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Our explorations took us under the famous bridge and around every "anchorage" noted in the cruising guide and a few extras that weren't mentioned. Regardless, every single one, with the exception of the tiny "dedicated for small craft anchorage" of Balls Head Bay, was full of private swing moorings and, besides having limited space and full of anchored yachts, Balls Head Bay was still in the chop and churn of the ferries. Blackwattle Bay we understood was better protected, but also filled with yachts.
Our reconnaissance, however, paid off when we found what we thought would be a great spot at Birkenhead Point, just off the Iron Cove Bridge. After settling in and having breakfast, we commenced what turned into the most frustrating, disappointing and incredulous day. After sailing halfway around the world to a city like Sydney, where the waterways and marinas were jammed full of yachts, we had, at the very least, expected to find the basic amenities every cruiser needs; diesel, petrol, water, garbage disposal, laundry services, propane refills, grocery stores, a chandlery and, most importantly, somewhere safe to land the dinghy so that we could actually get ashore. An additional amenity needed on this occasion was a medical centre.
Well, after spending hours riding up and down in the dinghy, we couldn't find a single place to land it. We were even turned away from every marina and sailing club when we asked if we could use their facilities for a fee. In fact, besides being able to purchase diesel and petrol, the marinas would not even provide us with water. So, since we couldn’t eat and drink diesel and petrol and with no way of accessing the possibility of any other services, because we couldn't actually access the shore, we were completely dumbfounded and in shock. These feeling were exasperated after speaking to a few cruisers we encountered on the swing moorings when they informed us that there is indeed nothing offered to cruisers, unless "you are in a marina or on a swing mooring belonging to a marina”. Of course, that was an impossibility as well, since they were all full with permanent yachts and did not cater to transients like ourselves. That included Cammeray marina, where we had reserved a swing mooring months previous, only to discover that there was a mix-up with our reservation and, in fact, it was no longer available.
In desperation we decided to expand our search further down Iron Cove and the gods had decided to smile on us. We found a well maintained jetty where we could safely leave the dinghy along with communal garbage bins and water, which, at the very least, would allow us to jerry can water back to Paw Paw, given that the water pollution precluded us from running our watermaker. We weren’t to know at the time that these challenges were to become the norm for our entire stay in Australia, with a very few exceptions, but, although the jetty was on the wrong side of the waterway, we were still able to access various amenities by walking over the Iron Cove Bridge. The Birkenhead Shopping Centre had a grocery store and a medical centre. Walking a little further down Victoria Street provided a chandlery, a dermatologist, a dentist, etc. That left laundry and propane refill services unaccounted for, a task for another day!
So, feeling rather chuffed with ourselves we headed back to Paw Paw only to discover she had dragged, the first time ever on our Spade anchor, not to mention the fact that she also had a bright pink “Notice of Removal” sticker plastered all over her port topside. This was shortly followed by a visit from the Roads and Marine Services (aka the water police) informing us that there was a resident in one of the apartment complexes who used a camera with a high power lens to photograph the activities of any cruisers anchoring in this area and then passed on complaints of any infringements to the authorities. In our case, this individual was complaining that we were anchored too close to the submarine cable and we were to make sure we "didn't throw anything overboard because he's watching". Given that we had already dragged, we repositioned Paw Paw and let out more scope anyway, but no one could tell us if the law pertained to an anchor that cannot be within 200 metres of a submarine cable or if it referred to the position of the yacht, the latter of which would change depending on the wind direction, resulting in a possible transgression if it blows out of the north in this particular instance. A phone call to Raya the previous evening confirmed that they were having similar challenges. "The mind she boggles!"
We did eventually encounter one honest chap, though, throughout this ordeal; a manager of one of the marinas, who basically informed us that full-time cruisers are not needed nor welcomed in Sydney - Ah Duh - I think we'd realised that by then! By this point, though, after being so enthralled following our initial arrival in Port Jackson, we were definitely starting to doubt our decision to have sailed to Australia at all!
By Wednesday, 13th December 2017, although we had dragged the previous day, all was well through the night in fairly strong winds gusting to 26 Kts, but with stronger winds forecast for that day, we decided to stay on board anyway. However, while the stronger winds didn't actually materialise in this part of the harbour, we nonetheless had the opportunity to catch up on a few back-burner tasks like paperwork that had been put off since leaving New Zealand, as well as a few other activities. Roy also prepared our final shopping list of yacht parts and spares we needed to place our order at the chandlery, finalised the location of where to mount our watermaker sanitiser and boost pump and hauled out all our spare sheets and halyards to replace the old ones and determine what additional new ones had to be purchased. The disappointing discovery, though, was that, although we were a "yacht in transit", we were not GST exempt, unlike the majority of other countries we had visited. It was another “black mark” against Australia at this point.
Elaine, on the other hand, busied herself obtaining various medical results from tests she had undertaken during our recent visit to the US, in preparation for her long awaited doctor's appointment. She also perused all the information we had collected at Circular Quay the day we had arrived regarding the various tourist attractions to be enjoyed around Sydney and the surrounding area. We now had a laundry list of fun activities to be pursued over the coming weeks, if only we could find a secure place to leave Paw Paw!
Fortunately, by the end of that day we received the good news that we had secured, what we initially thought, was a less than ideal swing mooring in Roseville Chase through Cammeray marina, in lieu of the mix up with our original reservation, while we awaited the availability of a stern / bow mooring which we had originally reserved. Although the swing mooring was 3NM from the marina itself, we knew we could use the dinghy to get to / from the marina and our research of the public transportation system indicated we would be able to get to / from the city centre. All in all, this was a reasonable compromise that would suffice in the interim and was definitely better than nothing, given the precarious anchoring situation and associated lack of amenities for cruisers. At least this way we would have access to all the basic amenities we needed in one location and it would allow us to undertake some land travel to places further afield, knowing Paw Paw was secure.
Thursday, 14th December 2017, was packed with a host of diverse events and activities. It started with the alarm clock waking us at just before 0500 so that we could be available for the closing of escrow on our second condominium, assisted by our friend, Lisa, who had, once again, acted as our Power of Attorney. Once that was out of the way, it was time to divide and conquer. After a morning coffee at the Birkenhead Shopping mall, Roy headed to the chandlery to purchase what we thought was the last of our parts and spares. Unfortunately they didn't have the new wind generator we wanted, something we’ve never got to replace, but the modifications Roy made to our existing one, have certainly lasted until the time of this writing in November 2020. Not bad at all!
Elaine, on the other hand, started her journey through the Australian medical system. While she was very apprehensive about her appointment that morning, this initially appeared to be without reason; she had a fabulous doctor and a battery of tests, MRIs and X-rays were scheduled, with nothing suspected as life threatening or crippling and that a treatable underlying problem was likely. Unfortunately this initial assessment was short lived and significantly off the mark!
Lunch consisted of a rather interesting and unusual sushi meal before we headed back to Paw Paw to drop off all our purchases, then returned to explore a little further afield.
After wondering through King George's Park and a beautiful residential area of period homes, we stumbled upon Darling Street and the suburb of Rozelle. While window shopping in the quaint and rather trending shops lining the street, we encountered the delightful owner of the Persian Rug Bazaar. When we informed him that, although we weren't in the market to purchase a rug and that neither of us knew much about Persian rugs, but would love the opportunity to browse around, he was more than willing to educate us on these handmade marvels. It was an absolutely fascinating "tour", where we learnt about the entire process, including how to discern their value, with some having been sold at auction for millions of dollars. Sadly, however, like many ancient crafts we have had the pleasure of encountering during our travels, this too was dying with the existing generation of craftsmen. Afterwards, given our new "footloose and fancy free" status after unloading the last of our properties, we found a pleasant venue to celebrate the sale and entered into a rather philosophical conversation about where we might live once we decide to "swallow the hook". Given the fact that we had one too many options and would want to consider our immediate family members, especially the grandchildren, we decided to leave it in Gods hands, safe in the knowledge that it will all work out as it was intended to. This conversation, however, has continued over the years since, with no firm conclusions as yet!
Back onboard, a dinner of bangers and mash, accompanied by some bubbly, was a fitting end to a very eventful day. Unfortunately this proved, on hindsight, to be a premature celebration!
The following morning we were up relatively early to head ashore for Elaine's pathology appointment and to do some provisioning, following which we weighed anchor and headed to the fuel dock at the Birkenhead Point marina to fill up with diesel and water. Although Roy had the unfortunate experience of an extremely rude individual putting the phone down on him when he called the marina earlier to confirm that we could indeed obtain water if we purchased diesel and neither of us really wanting to give this marina our money after the incident, it was, nonetheless, the most convenient dock to approach. Of course, when this same individual decided to be rude to Elaine while we were on the dock, he received far more than he bargained for. After the verbal exchange, while Elaine simply continued with what she was doing, Roy said the individual was so astonished that someone had dared to retaliate, he was completely speechless and just stood on the dock staring. He had simply picked on the wrong person on this occasion it seemed and Elaine wasn’t having any of it!
With that task out of the way, we motored the 12NM from Birkenhead Point, Drummoyne, in Sydney Harbour to Killarney Point in Middle Harbour, fortunately making the opening of the Spit Bridge with 15 minutes to spare. It was complete chaos as we passed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge en route, though, with traffic going in every direction and no one really obeying any "rules of the road". In all the mayhem, we spotted Raya heading in the opposite direction to us, slip-streaming a huge cargo ship which was motoring diagonally across everyone, but we made it, without incident, to the swing mooring out in the "burbs" of Killarney Heights and Castle Cove, boarding on the Garigal National Park, amongst our millionaire neighbours. At least we no longer had to worry about Paw Paw getting another “Notice of Removal” for some or other arbitrary transgression and, if we happened to need a water taxi into the Sydney Opera House, there was one that motored right passed our "front door". We weren’t to know at the time that these were for private hire, but the fabulous public transportation system, we discovered later, was a short dinghy ride and a walk away. By now, however, it had become abundantly clear that any cruiser wanting to sail to Sydney needed to have a swing mooring or berth reserved before arrival, since there was literally nowhere decent to anchor and, if you happened to find a spot, you were not permitted to stay for more than a few days before the authorities would order you to move. We were, however, pleasantly surprised by the location of our swing mooring and decided to enjoy the peace and quiet of our new home and everything the Garigal National Park had to offer, as well as the amenities of the Cammeray marina, albeit a rather long dinghy ride away. A small price to buy for peace of mind!
