Extra Stop: Kongka Besar, October 24 2016. Over night stop only.

What a gem this anchorage is. It took us 5 hours to sail 24 nautical miles from South Lingga to get here. We anchored at 00 04.55S & 104 51.58E in 11 meters with very good holding. No rolling, as the anchorage is very well protected. We did not go ashore here, but could clearly see the entire village on Kongka Kecil which seemed to all be on stilts in the water. It looked very interesting, and worth visiting if you have time.

Extra Stop: South Lingga, October 23 2016. Over night stop only.

This anchorage is awesome. We took 13.5 hours to get here from Panbatijang Island, covering 60 nautical miles. Dropping the anchor at 00 19.11S & 104 55.74E in 5 meters of what we think was sand. The bay is huge and very calm. We watched a crocodile swim from one side of the huge bay to the other: don’t swim here!

The channel between Lingga Island and Sunsa Island is very picturesque, but the current can run up to 3 knots. Take care to keep a look out for the floats as the local fishermen make the most of the water flow here for fishing. Make sure you watch out for the light house. It is extremely well kept, and if we had of had more time we would have gone for a walk up the stairs for a look.

Down the bottom of the bay was a village with spread out (we think) huts/homes on stilts. Worth a visit if you have time.

Extra Stop: Panbatijang Island, October 22nd, 2016. Over night stop only.

We had a good start to the day from NE Bangka to here, fitting in a good sail. We stopped at 01 09.18S & 105 17.93E dropping the anchor in 15 meters. Be very careful here. There is an extensive reef from our way points to the north and one of our fleet boats had his anchor wrapped around a rock/bommie. Apart from that is a glorious well protected spot. Some of the fleet went to Cebia Island, just South West of Panbatijang. Cebia is at 01 12.4S & 105 16.53E. Panbatijang is also known as Palau Pekacang – north anchorage on the west side and also on the west side on the southern end is Palau Tuju 01 10.453S & 105 18.054E.

We went for a look around and a snorkel from the anchorage. Most of the coral was dead and broken. However we still saw quite a few fish, 2 stingrays and one of our friend saw a huge maori wrasse. The place is littered with enormous rocks, some are in the water we snorkeled in which was quite the sight and the fish certainly seemed to enjoy the nocks and crannies.

Some of the fleet took their tenders over to the little beach and enjoyed some beach combing.

No internet or phone here at the time of our visit.

Extra Stop: North East Bangka, October 19 - 21 2016

Much to our delight and relief the anchorage at North East Bangka was calm and not a bit rolly. The 33nm journey from Parai Beach took us 6 hours, taking a wide berth around Mengudu Island as per instructions in our guide book. The area is not chartered particularly well and reports of needle coral was something we did not wish to rediscover. Please note don’t be tempted to sail between Mengudu Island and Bangka Island towards the anchorage, it’s littered with boulders and rocks awash.

We anchored at 01 30.43S & 105 52.74E in 6 meters of water over sand. Holding is very good. From Parai Beach, it is only 33 nautical miles.

The bay here is huge with little hazards, we cannot see any coral heads or reef. As we sat enjoying sundowners 5 other rally boats trickled into the anchorage after picking up their passports at Parai Beach as they also couldn’t stand the rolling, so they left.

Early evening many fishing boats came out and visited us and the other yachts in the anchorage. Not to sell anything, just having a look. We cannot see their villages so they must be set back from the water front. We are not sure about any supplies being purchased here.

The anchorage is very exposed to the north but during anything southerly it is a great spot to catch your breath before taking off again.

Stop 17: Parai Beach Resort, Bangka. October 18, 2016. We stopped here over night only.

We took 2 nights and 3 full days to travel the 368 nautical miles from Karimumjawa to Parai Beach, Bangka. We anchored at 01 48.37S & 106 07.92E in 5 meters of water. Good holding, in sand. We know its good holding because unfortunately the anchorage was abdominal.

We must have arrived right at the wrong time as quite a few of the rally fleet had been there for a week or more and the conditions where wonderful and calm. However, the day before we got there the winds turn from being offshore to an onshore breeze – S, SE’ly and the sea had understandably picked up. The swell was keeping all the boats beam on and the rolling was the worst we had ever seen and experienced in 6 years – and we have been in some shocking anchorages.

We did not sleep a wink. Bruce got up several times during the night to check we had not moved, we hadn’t. But one time was up he was nearly thrown overboard as the swell was pushing Matilda to the gunwales on both sides. Yes the rub rails where in the water and we had water on the decks from rolling so severely. Needless to say by first light we hauled anchor and left Parai Beach, Bankga bound for NE Bangka anchorage in the hope we could find a calm anchorage and catch up on some sleep.

Approaching the anchorage we had more flags, floats and massive structures to avoid. We were not so lucky during our second day of the trip to Parai Beach. We hit and snagged a double float. It frightened the living day lights out of us. Bruce had to dive in and remove the cord from both the rudder and the prop. No damage was sustained. The cord was made up of a poly tarp which had been stripped and braided to make a cord. Very clever, but very difficult for our prop cutter to cut it. Once this was cleared we then dodge about 3 more lots and could see in the near distance many more of them, we estimated around 30 that we could see. They are difficult to see as they don’t become visible until you’re nearly on top of them due the wavelets hiding them. We saw these double floats in mass just before we entered Selat Gelasa near the (island) Palau Kebatu approximately 45 nm’s south of the strait.

The large structures in the water where massive. The Indonesians live on them until they have enough fish to bring home to sell. They are prolific here and need your full attention, you do not want to hit one of these things. Some were lite and some were not! We started to see these massive fish traps once we were well north of the Selat Gelasa between Bangka and Belitung.

At the time approaching the anchorage we had to pass a massive dredge which we think was dredging for tin. The structure was absolutely huge, was anchored and had several boats around it. It was working and as it spat out the sand it was creating a new sand bank out of the water. The water was also very milky, making us wonder if the waters where being polluted and unsafe to swim in. We did not run our water maker here.

Stop 13: Karimunjawa, October 15, 2016. Over night stop only,

We sailed overnight from Bawean to Karimunjawa. The trip took us 26 hours to cover 145 nautical miles. We mostly motor sailed and motored. Some sailing was had only when squalls hung around and kicked up some wind.

We anchored in 17 meters of water at 05 52.58S & 110 25.6E with good holding. Arriving at 0800 on the 15^th we were able to navigate the channel between Karimun & Menjangan Besar. The channel is marked with good markers and isn’t very long.

A small floating home, or fishing hut right beside the green beacon.

During the night we had to dodge several passenger ferries, they seem to like to come over for a look, which is very unnerving. We also had to navigate several long liners. These vessels are fairly easy (at the time) to distinguish as they don’t have light like squid boats. They do have lots of lights but all of these ones had 2 very bright lights out the back. They seemed to be in packs of 3 at the time we sailed through and when they are about to drop their nets, they push out a flags on a ball which will have a ‘little’ light flashing.

While here we rung Hasim for solar (diesel) on 0853 2507 1626. His solar at the time was 10,000 Rupiah for 1 litre which is a good price.

Before Dinner we enjoyed a walk around the evening markets.

A common way to complete boat repairs in Indonesia.

The anchorage is exposed to the West, but has a little reef for some protection. Here we went ashore and had pizza which was very good. The town here is quite large. The streets are clean and there is loads of locals about. Before dinner we enjoyed a cold Bintang at a marvelous place on the water in superb settings.

Karimun has a good ferry service to Java if need be. While we were here a passenger ferry came in, well it anchored a fair way out and they pick up and drop off their passengers via the little run abouts.

On the run up we caught a Mahi Mahi fish which gave us 4 fish fillets. It was great to eat fish & chips again!

There was a quite a lot of floating homes and buildings here, giving the area an interesting look.

If your arriving here early morning, have your camera ready and look behind you – the sun rising is spectacular.

The local ladies all found great amusement with Bruce's mustache.

Sun rising over the Java Sea.

Extra Stop: Bawean Island, October 13, 2016. Over night stop only.

We sailed from Lovina, Bali directly to Bawean. It was an overnight run for us covering 210 nautical miles, over 37.5 hours. We anchored in North Bawean at 05 43.81S & 112 40.14E in 7 meters of water, in mud with very good holding. Arriving at 1815 Bali time, 1715 Bawean time. Remember your clocks need to go back one hour here and the sun is setting by 1745.

Our friends catamaran, coming into anchor with the glorious pinks of the sun setting with them.

We traveled between Pulau Raas and Pulau Sapudi in the Selat Raas with plenty of depth. It’s a good idea to try and travel this strait with some day light.

The small village at Bawean.

The sail was never dull. As we passed Madura Island and sailed toward Bawean we had nonstop vessels to dodge. There was never a moment when we didn’t have anything to watch out for. We had FAD’s, local fishermen in small vessels (close to shore), long liners, and squid boats, tuna fishermen, commercial vessels (including passenger ferries, cargo ships, and freighters) and tugs under tow. Note with the tugs, they carry no AIS and their tow is poorly lite, however they all had the correct international tug/tow lights on the tugs as per International Collision Regulations. All the tows where on very, very long tow ropes, so give these a very wide berth.

On the eve of the 12^th we had a very impressive lightening show and early morning on the 13^th in the we had incredible rain. It was torrential for quite a few hours reducing visibility to the bow only. We did make the most of the rain, filling our water tanks and enjoying longer than usual showers. We managed to sail during the down pour as the wind was constant. Other than that, its pretty much all motor sailing.

The anchor down and my Captain is looking forward to a home brew after 2 very long days.

We would not approach Bawean at night. It was littered with local fishermen, fads and semi commercial fisherman. The reef – Kar. Gosong is extensive and very safe to travel behind, but it would be impossible to judge its length at night. There is only one light on the reef at Kar. Gosong and is on the northern end, the rest of the reef runs a long way south of the light.

Once in the Northern Anchorage, it is heaven. Quiet, calm and good holding. Quiet as in little shipping traffic, however the call to Allah is constant and very, very loud – they must have enormous speakers here. The local town looked busy but we didn’t go ashore here.

Another spectacular sun rise.