Left at 7am with Whistle down the Wind, Cilantro, Kristie 1 and Wave Sweeper. Seas flat, absolutely no wind - motored at 5 knots - have joined the motor boat club!!! Very very hot. Printed off some sail notes, played ludo, read, sat on deck on deck chairs. A few big ships passed. A quiet calm night.
DAY 186 - Sunday 25 October - at sea (night two)
Very hot. Meridian called up Wave Sweeper and said he had seized his engine so Geoff immediately headed off to give him a tow. Towed him all the way to Malaysia!!! Lightning all around at night but no storms - still motoring. A little swallow flew around us as we were sitting on the deck - perched at the front but didn't like it there. When we came into the cockpit he settled on the railing beside the cockpit and stayed there all night. At 5.30am he preened himself and flew off to the nearest land. He had cadged a ride for about 70nm. Good company through the night.
DAY 187 - Monday 26 October - at sea - Kentar Island
00°03.252N 104°45.666E
Crossed the equator at 06.16.16am at longitude 104°54.45E. Anchored at Kentar Island at 8.30am just as Aweia and Brio were leaving. When we came in we went a bit closer to shore. Peter went forward to watch for reef and I was putting my reef sunglasses on and suddenly we were in 5m, 4m, 3m, 2.8m and we made a very sharp turn to starboard and found some more water - whew!!!! Jumped in the water then had a shower, sleep etc. Saw a big water spout out to sea. Went to Cilantro at 5pm for our crossing the equator party. Dave was King Neptune as was Peter, Jean was done up like coral and was a "Bommie Lass"! Sandra had knickers pinned to her chest and was a chest of drawers! And I went as a mermaid with tin foil hair with fish in it (the ones I got at Wakatobe!). We had a very noisy party and rowed back.
Miles: 245 Total 4,818
DAY 188 - Tuesday 27 October - Kentar Island to Temiang Island
00°22.567N 104°45.6618.508E
Upanchored at 8.30am. Whistle headed up the channel through myriads of fish traps etc. Cilantro, Kristie and we headed out around the islands. Spent the day looking out for fish nets between flags and one ran parallel to us for about a mile. Motored all the way. Got in at 4pm. Came in between two islands and shallowest was 18m but then Dell cut the corner too much and was suddenly in 2.4m of water over reef. Another quick turn to starboard!!! At low tide we saw a huge rock sticking out of the water and realised that we must also have gone very close to that!!! A lovely quiet night.
Miles 35 Total 4,853
DAY 189 - Wednesday 28 October - Temiang Island to Moratengah Island
00°45.574N 103°40.093E
Happy Birthday Dell Happy Birthday Richard
Upanchored at 7.30am - had the mainsail up and motored all the way! Peter caught a fish. A couple of storms threatened but nothing. Sandra and James sang happy birthday over channel 16 (emergency channel). Dont think it matters much up here though as we are always getting music played or karaoke or whistling and all sorts of things on that channel. After coming round heaps of small boats with fishnets everywhere off quite a big town our first choice of anchorage turned out to be no good. We continued up the channel and anchored in 8m beside the middle island at 4.45pm. The current had been with us so made good time. James picked us all up and took us to Kristie 1 for sundowners. Sandra had baked a birthday cake for Dell and we had a lovely evening.
Miles 46 Total 4,899
DAY 190 - Thursday 29 October - Moratengah Isand to Kariman Island
01°08.262N 103°22.177E
Happy birthday Simone
Upanchored at 7.3am and motored all day. Did not bother to put up the mainsail. Dodged some mile long nets and some kamikaze local boats. Came across some fairly shallow water and our first waypoint was no good for an anchorage, the second too shallow so we eventually went around the island and anchored in 8m water overlooking the Singapore Strait. Could see heaps of huge ships going up and down. A local boat went past very close and shouted and said hullo. This is our last night in Indonesia. It has been such a great trip in a great country with great people. We feel we have just scratched the surface of the place. I think we may be back again one day.
DAY 191 - Friday 30 October - Kariman Island to Peturi Harbour
01°25.066N 103°39.552E
Upanchored at 6am and headed down the Singapore Straits to find a place to cross. We felt really sad to be leaving Indonesia after all these months. We could see heaps of boats with fishnets out so went on the inside of them with Kristi and Cilantro while Whistle went on the outside. We had a near miss with the nets and Cilantro finally found a way through and we saw a break in the shipping traffic and headed out across the Strait! Dodged a couple of ships on the other side and weaved in and out of huge ships and went up the channel between Malaysia and Singapore. We passed under a bridge with 25m clearance - it was a bit disconcerting looking up and seeing your mast so close to a bridge!!! Called up the Peturi Marina and were allocated a berth (first marina for us since Yorkeys Knob near Cairns). As we got closer a little boat came out to show us the way in and there were people waiting to take our lines so it was pretty easy. Peturi Harbour is a brand new marina currently in the middle of nowhere but the State of Johor has just moved all the public servant departments from the town out to this area into beautiful brand new buildings such as you may find in the Emirates. Our berth was free for the duration of the rally. We got in at 11.30am and then had to head to Danga Bay at the town of Johur Baru for a rally briefing at 4pm. Peturi had a huge flash motor boat which was running hourly to Danga so off we went. The Sail Malaysia celebrations were to be on at Danga Bay which is an older marina with no facilities. It took us 20 minutes in the motor boat. We had a free late lunch then the briefing and then a free dinner followed by cultural entertainment. However it poured down rain before the dinner and all the pretty chair covers and tablecloths got wet. We had dinner and entertainment after the rain and then a band. We were very tired and caught the last motor boat back at 10.30pm and fell in to bed exhausted!
Miles 27 Total 4,956
Love to all
Fair Winds and Calm Seas
Dell and Peter
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