Extended Visa in Indonesia

We arrived in Indonesia 8 weeks ago, and have visited dozens of anchorages and several incredible islands. The Sail Indonesia Rally 2013 just completed the visit to the island of Bali, where Sea Child was anchored for about a week. We visited Ubud, the artsy village above Kuta with its compact streets and bundles of tourists all crowding around the scenic palace and across town, the monkey forest where wild monkeys scavenge for food from the tourists. We had to watch our sunglasses and pockets, and as Eric crouched down to take a look at a monkey, it became aggressive and went for his wedding ring and took a bite out of his finger. The monkeys at the monkey forest are protected and worshipped by the Balinese people.

We were so blessed to have the kids visit for a too short 6 days in early September. Sea Child was full, minus Brittany who stayed back on Maui, and while we were able to hike Rinca Island in Komodo National Park and search for komodo dragons, we felt incomplete without her with us. Carter returned to Maui shortly after arriving, but before he left, we took the family to the welcome ceremony at Labuan Bajo. There, we were regaled by the local dancers, speeches from the local regency heads and tourism officials. A week after this welcome ceremony, the President of Indonesia arrived in Labuan Bajo for the Sail Komodo Sail Pass, a parade of sorts by various nation war vessels and the Sail Indonesia Rally boats were asked to sail past as well. As Americans, we understood the security measures that the Indonesian police force adopted during the preparations leading up to the Sail Pass. There were Navy Seals in numerous RIBs taking notes on every vessel at anchor, and several rally boats were searched as well. On Sea Child, we were invited to visit a local maritime school and with other rally participants we were given a formal escort to the school, where a festive native dance show awaited us along with a traditional lunch. We visited the school for about an hour, then invited the students out to Sea Child for a quick hour lesson on an ocean-going catamaran. We had about 24 people on board, students and faculty, and they were truly thankful at the opportunity to ask us questions and learn more about what Sea Child is capable of doing on the sea. Many of the students had never been on board any type of boat, so as we opened up about what we do, we could only wonder what they may think about crossing an ocean themselves, let alone if they would ever have the opportunity to do so in their lifetime.

We are currently on a sail from Bali to Kelimantan Island (Borneo) about 300 NM away. We will sail through the night to reach the Kumai river anchorage and make arrangements to take a river cruise up to see the orangutans. Hopefully they will be a little nicer than those pesky Ubud monkeys. The rally fleet is splitting again, with several dozen heading up to Kumai, and others heading to the largest temple in all of Indonesia on the island of Java. Our visas have been extended another 30 days, a process that took about a week in Bali, and its hard for us to believe that we have been in Indonesia for 8 weeks now. Sea Child will be leaving the rally a few weeks early, and head up to Pangkor, Malaysia.

Labuan Bajo, Indonesia

Please see this link for new details about our current location:

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild



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Kelimutu Visit

We arrived at the Sea World Resort anchorage, site of the Maumere, Flores Island welcome for the Sail Indonesia Rally on Wednesday, August 21, 2013.  There were a few other boats here that we had not seen since we left Kupang 3 weeks ago.  It was nice to meet up with some old friends, who shared with us their unique visit to Kelimutu Lakes National Park.  They advised us to hire a car through the Sea World Resort, so we took their advice and set up a tour to Kelimutu on Friday, August 23, 2013.  What an incredible tour it was.

The driver met us at the Sea World Resort at 7am, a nice local man named Memile.  He took us into Maumere, for a brief stop at the local bakery where we picked up some delicious pastries, which tasted much like the Hawaiian Sweet Bread we have on Maui.  Then, we began the long drive across the island to Kelimutu, 4 hours away.  About one hour into the drive, we got a flat tire and Memile stopped right in the middle of the road to change the spare!  Eric & I both noticed how bald the spare tire was, and we hoped that we would not get another flat tire, since we were really a long way from any roadside assistance or another vehicle to help!  We drove across the island first, almost to Emde town, and followed along the shoreline for a while, noticing the village people walking the streets and the tiny little shops selling powdered coffee and tea.  

As we started to climb the hills inland, a giant statue of Jesus laid out his hands above the villages, and stood about 75’ high on the hill.  We continued to drive through the mountains, where road work was everywhere.  Rockslides had fallen all along the steep roads, and the repair work was tedious but well manned with several local men working in the hot sun with little more than t-shirts, shorts and bare feet.  We noticed how the rocks were sorted and stacked, then cemented into place to create retaining walls and retaining basins all along the roadway.  Several village homes were literally built right over the steep cliffs, hanging onto the  road with little more than bamboo posts.  The road was windy and the going was slow, and at points, the curves were tight and the edge of the road would drop off several hundred feet below.  Our driver was slow and cautious, and we were in no rush to arrive, enjoying the views as we seemingly inched along.

As  we neared Kelimutu National Park, the terrain became populated with rice fields, each surrounded by hand-formed mud berms.  These rice fields were laid out in an organic maze of lush green water pads, with a few local farmers tending to their fields with pride.  The fields took our breaths away, they were so beautifully laid out like tapestry fields of green, stacked up the hillsides, every inch covered with rice and water, creating a beautifully serene landscape that captured our souls.  We stopped to take several pictures of the rice fields, and every turn had another incredible view, dozens and dozens of fields for several miles.  It all felt almost surreal, the unique vistas as we turned up the road to Kelimutu National Park creating a sense of excitement as we neared the three lakes at Kelimutu.  Again, the narrow road climbed and the curves became tighter the higher we went.  The evidence of a massive rock slide, quite recently, was ominous as we drove up towards the park.  The dirt had recently been pushed aside, and the giant excavators had recently left their tracks, tamping down the dirt slide but leaving the giant tree trunks sticking out of the dirt.  We were thankful that our visit was on a bright, sunny day without a cloud in the sky!

Kelimutu National Park is a national treasure in Indonesia.  The Lonely Planet Guide Book of Indonesia states that the park is one of the top 10 things to do in Indonesia, with the three lakes changing color without notice.  Once we entered the park and paid the associated fees ($2.00 per person, and $6 per camera!), we continued uphill again by car, finally being able to park and walk after the 4 hour journey to get there.  We had packed a picnic lunch to enjoy in the park itself, and we were glad we had the food along since the closest restaurant was an hour away.  We hiked up the steep stairs to a trail that led us around the first two lakes, and then climbed up several more stairs to our first vista of the amazing pale blue lake, situated right next to a bright green lake.  The colors of these two lakes looked unreal, like God had painted them with deep oil paints, and left a stunning view behind.  The lakes are actually the remains of very old volcanoes, their changing colors are explained in the park brochure as being the result of volcanic activity.  We never fully understood why the lakes change colors, or what really causes their colors to change, but we did notice that the pale blue middle lake had a creamy white streamer on its surface.  There was a defining edge of color all around the edges of the lakes, they looked as if they were suspended in air, and the quiet of the park along with the amazing view kept our attention for over 2 hours.  We hiked to the highest point that we could find, and enjoyed our picnic lunch in total solitude and peace at the lakes, where the local people believe the spirits of the dead come and the three lakes are for either the young spirits, the old spirits, or the bad spirits.  The quiet at the lakes was only marred by the sound of the wind through the mountains, and the absence of engines, airborne or otherwise, was a delight.  

When it was time for us to go, we slowly made our way back to Memile and our car.  The visit to Kelimutu Lakes was well worth the +8 hours of drive time it took us, and once we returned to Sea World Resort, we noticed that the sea breeze had filled in and our dinghy took a beating on the beach.  The local rally boats had kindly moved our dinghy up the shore, knowing we were hours away.  While every day on the Sail Indonesia Rally 2013 has us busy with sailing to another destination along the rally, or participating in the welcome festivities, the chance to take a tour like the one to Kelimutu was well worth the effort.  The experience will be with us for a very long time.

Indonesia so far

For details on our arrival into Kupang and visit to Rote Island, please see this link

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild

Google earth position there as well, including the 2 anchorages we visited in both Kupang and Rote Island.

Nearing Indonesia

This passage is a delight, calm seas and clear skies, light winds and easy sailing. We have enjoyed the spinnaker and look forward to more fishing today as we are very near the Sahul Banks of the Timor Sea. The morning grib files show a bit more wind in our near future, up to maybe 12 knots, which will be a nice change. However, this passage is peaceful and therefore wonderful. Kupang is now 136 NM to our WNW. Please see this link for more details on the current passage, as well as a google earth position of Sea Child:

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild


CURRENT POSITION:

11 DEGREES 05.480 MINUTES SOUTH
125 DEGREES 38.530 MINUTES EAST

The Stops around The Top End

To better understand our route across the Top End of Australia, from Cape York to Darwin, please see this link:

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild

There you will see Google Earth positions of the anchorages we made during the week long passage from Wessel Islands to Darwin, with some notes on each days sail. Sea Child is currently in Darwin, Australia, preparing for the Sail Indonesia Rally which departs Darwin July 27, 2013.

Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, AUS

Sea Child is now in the Wessel Group, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. We had a crazy sail across the Gulf of Carpenteria after pulling anchor at Seisia, QLD. During our stay at Seisia, we were able to take the ferry across to Thursday Island and tour this very small and very interesting little island in the Torres Strait. The ferry visit is about 6 hours, and with the size of Thursday Island, 6 hours was pretty much all we needed to visit the charming town, see the fort and the Japanese Cemetery, and enjoy a fine lunch at the Grand Hotel before the 2:30 return journey to Seisia.

The strong SE trades kept Sea Child performing at amazing speeds during the crossing of the Gulf, and you can read more about this sail and see a google earth position as well at:

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild

The Wessel Islands are beautiful though very remote and a bit difficult to get to. The anchorage here at Hole in the Wall is secluded and the Aboriginal Islands require a permit to step on shore. We are in the process of route planning for the journey to Darwin and expect to be there by the end of next week.

11 DEGREES 33.662 SOUTH
136 DEGREES 20.936 EAST

North to Cape York with Croc Warnings

The crocodile warnings are now a prominent listing in every anchorage we have visited, including Margaret Bay where we anchored just last night. The beautiful shorelines are now a worrisome sight, with the threat of crocs and their vicious behavior now the tales of legends. In Margaret Bay, there is a tale of a croc back in 2001 that "took out one person, attacked another in a kayak, and sunk a float plane".

We are currently less than 90 NM from Cape York and expect a visit to Escape River and the pearl farms there later today. You can read more about our fast sailing and see a google earth position of Sea Child here:

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild

Of note, Sea Child has lost both 120 amp alternators and the wind generator. Our charging system is now the 2-55 amp alternators as well as solar panels. Its good to have redundancy in charging systems, but we will still make good time to Darwin to repair the breakdowns. Darwin is +800 NM away.

11 degrees 57.608 SOUTH
143 degrees 12.467 EAST

Cooktown

The winds howl through the rigging as we prepare for our final push up to Cape York. The unique landscape here in Cooktown have bullets of wind whipping down Grassy Hill, into Endeavor River and across the decks of Sea Child. We have had incredible sailing with these strong SE trades, and have used most of our sail inventory in the process. Our top speed of this leg is 21.7 knots, under full main and screecher. And the journey north from Whitsunday has had so many special highlights, the tops has to be (outside of diving the Great Barrier Reef) the inside passage of Hitchinbrook Island between Orpheus Island and Dunk Island. The rain squalls had the surrounding hills filled with waterfalls, visible halfway up the mountains! The +3 hr journey through the 26 NM passage was the most visually beautiful and scenic ride, and one we enjoyed with Eric's parents who visited us for a few weeks in May. The spinnaker has seen its share of work, too, and even though we lost one of our battens while sailing out of Airlie Beach, the main alone has given us great speeds as well.

We expect to sail from Cooktown to Lizard Island in the next few days, and plan our journey north. The shipping lanes inside the Great Barrier Reef are getting busier the closer we get to the top of the Cape, so our attention will be sharp as we sail on as well. To date, Sea Child has sailed +21,000 NM since the beginning of the adventure at Trinidad. We are very near our 1/2 way mark on the journey.

You can read more about our adventures between Cairns and Cooktown, and see where we are as well via Google Earth, at this link:

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild

Pearl Bay to Curlew Island

Please see this link

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild

for information on our current position and other notes about the sail north along the Eastern Queensland Coast.


22 degrees 08.126 minutes south
150 degrees 25.795 minutes east

Fraser Island, Queensland And the Great Sandy Straits

Great Sandy Straits

15 April 2013 | 25 25'S:152 56'E, Fraser Island, Queensland

Passage through the Great Sandy Srait from the south mandates a crossing of the Wide Bay Bar, near Inskip Point. This bar is made up of sand deposits from tidal activity at the passage between Fraser Island and the peninsular point just above Rainbow Beach. Transiting the Wide Bay Bar takes skill in determining the line of passage, marked on shore with large white triangles and on the charts with position lines. And when the swells are well over 3 meters from the SE, the breaking waves make the passage more daunting. As Sea Child approached this passage, we were under mainsail alone, as the winds had gone light and variable. The swells were another thing, to truly catch our attention. As we neared the passage, we noticed another catamaran coming out of the passage, climbing over each wave with her bows well out of the water. As we were entering the bar, however, the swells were with us, and as we transited Wide Bay Bar, Sea Child surfed down the waves, at one point up to 18.5 knots, as the waves on either side of us broke over the bar itself. Once inside the passage, another set of triangle markers were positoned on Inskip Point, and we aligned Sea Child with them for the 4 mile journey towards the main channel between Fraser Island and the mainland. We paralleled the bar itself, and as the waters were deep here in the inside passage. The water itself was chaotic and sloppy and unorganized. Once we were clear of the rough water, the calm Great Sandy Strait laid out before us and we found ourselves at anchor at Pelican Bay, just around the bend of the Inskip point. We paddled to the shore in the retreating tide, and walked around the Wide Bay Bar beach to the triangle markers on land. Even at low tide, the bar itself broke with an impressive array of waves, and we even noticed other vessels approach the passage at low tide. We transited at high tide, but with local knowledge, it seems that its possible to enter the bar at any tide.

We are now motoring through the Great Sandy Strait toward the white cliffs of NW Fraser Island. Winds calm, seas flat, temps in high 80's. We hope to reach Lady Musgrave Island by mid-week.

Please visit this page:

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild

for information about our passage of Wide Bay Bar at Fraser Island.

Preparing for the Journey North

We returned to Sea Child after spending the last 4 months back in the USA.  We opened the double doors and were met with a boat in disarray, the boat smells of mildew, diesel, and those profound stale bilge smells that scream boat closed for many months.  The new freezer from Airlie Beach is not working and the starboard head pump is frozen.  So far, these two issues are the main problems with Sea Child.  The projects will surely start to back up, but all in all, Sea Child weathered the January cyclone well.  We hope to begin our journey north in the next few days, with our first hop to Mooloolaba.  We are excited to see our old friends, Steve & Lindsay Robins from Jemellie.  Our last visit with them was the crossing from Fiji to Vanuatu.

As we continue to go through the systems on Sea Child, its amusing to see the response from Eric as he wakes up the water pumps that sat idle for many months.  Will they work?  A delay in a pump comes with a choice profanity, and then, alas, the pump springs to life.  After the first 36 hours here at Redcliffe Marina, the repair list is starting to grow.  This important review of the systems will give us the confidence to leave the western world and sail into Indonesia, as we expect to join the Sail Indonesia rally from Darwin - Singapore on July 27.  Darwin is +2,000 miles around the tip of Australia from Brisbane.  We expect to arrive in Darwin by mid-June.