A Bit of a Dreary Day

With thin high cloud and lots of smoke haze, hardly any wind but some uncomfortable swell, it was good to finally arrive here at Teluk Bolaanuki.

We had a thunderstorm through the anchorage yesterday which although it didn't last long, generated a swell which has been with us day. We are tucked around the corner here and out of the swell so should be a quiet night.

An early start tomorrow means an early night tonight - we leave before sunup for Manado, 70 NM away.

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Another First?

The usual early start at 0530 this morning from Pulau Paleleh. Our initial plan was to anchor at Pulau Papaya but it was very exposed so we looked at a couple of bays on the mainland and they were too deep so plan three: continue on a bit more to what seemed to be a very protected bay at Teluk Tudi. This was a very good move as on our way the wind picked up to 15-18 knots from the NNW and our bay opened to the NE so we have lovely flat waters, depth of only 15 metres, the shallowest since Kalimantan, and plenty of distance from the fringing reefs.

Now the big news. (Almost) another first for us. We actually hooked a 90cm wahoo and landed it! First time we have had a fish aboard since about 2009 from memory. So guess what we are having for dinner? Certainly not tofu, or chicken.

Position: 00 52.569 N, 122 43.176 E

That Was Only a Week...?

Time flies when you are having fun. We have now crossed the Makassar Strait to Sulawesi, enjoyed three nights in Toli Toli, and now at our second stop along the northern coastline.

The crossing went well. We had 150NM to travel and left Maratua about 0730 last Friday for a very easy exit through the channel and were quickly in water which plunged to over 3000 metres. Current was with us and we had about 12 knots of breeze. We were moving along at good speeds and when the wind picked up a bit more were travelling at high 7s, 8s, 9s and even hit 10.2 knots! But wait...this is too fast - we will arrive at midnight. We did our best to slow down but Tweed just hung in there. With a double-reefed main we managed to get the speed down to around 4 knots and arrived off Toli Toli Bay at dawn.

Toli Toli town is in another bay inside the big bay and we made our way into the hazy anchorage where there were a few other boats at anchor. We had travelled with another two yachts and soon we were all anchored in about 20 metres. Position: 01 02.773 N, 120 48.372 E.

No time for sleep though! It was the beginning of three very busy days enjoying the welcoming hospitality of local guides - all students of English at the local college and extremely keen to practice their English.

The town sits below a rugged hinterland which rises just inland. The hills are covered in clove trees which is the main industry in this town. Most of the cloves are exported to China for cigarettes. We found out later that the fallen leaves are now gathered and exported to India for burning at funerals. Nutmeg and mace are also produced. It seemed a lot hotter and more humid than Kalimantan which we thought may be caused by the hills trapping the heat in. Even the locals seemed to suffer.

Along the shoreline near us there were some very big outrigger fishing boats. They were on the mud in low tide but floated off later in the day to go squid fishing out in the bay. We have only seen this type of boat before in the Philippines.

The next three days passed in a bit of a whirl. Hendra must take responsibility for most of this. Not only does he teach English at college and secondary school, he also works for the Ministry of Tourism and is a an excellent photographer as well. He organised fuel for us, going miles away when the local man decided to double his price. If you are ever looking for somewhere different to visit come to Toli Toli, you won't be disappointed!

Our guides, Dina and Aresty, took us to the markets, a visit to a secondary school to meet students, lunch at a local warung where we had a traditional dish called Tinutuan or Manado rice porridge. A welcoming dinner the first night including the most delicious gado gado and smoked fish dish. A visit to a village of Toli Toli people, the traditional people of the area, was a highlight. We enjoyed a lunch of salt fish, sweet corn, boiled bananas, sweet potato and fresh young coconut juice.

Another excellent dinner followed with some local entertainment, including a bamboo 'brass' band. All the instruments were made by the musicians and it sounded just like a brass band. Then the fun of dancing the local 'two steps right, two steps left' dance that everyone, young and old joined in. We had also done this the night before but this night it continued on with many variations and had everyone dripping with perspiration! It was great fun.

We planned to leave Tuesday so Monday was spent at the markets topping up supplies. Pam needed chicken and ended up buying two live ones which were dressed for her. Or so she thought. When she got them home she still had the job of cleaning their insides! Another first for her. Jon had the job of getting the guides plus Dina's mother, Aresty's friend and Alfon, who had helped at the markets in the morning, into our dinghy and bringing them for a visit aboard but they didn't stay long. The anchorage was quite rolly and before long they were all feeling a bit queasy!

With some of our group we went ashore for dinner to eat at a nearby restaurant and enjoyed chilli crab and fried fish. Wow, the food here in Indonesia is great and much better than we remember from 2006. The people have been fantastic and we will long remember them.

We will now be travelling in a loose group of five or six yachts which are all headed back to Australia. On Tuesday we set off for Teluk Pinjan, about 39 NM away and around the corner to the northern coast of Sulawesi. Towards to top of the western side we struck the Makassar Strait current which slowed us down considerably and patches of turbulence made it a bit bumpy but the anchorage was very placid. The reefs at low tides were covered in local reef pickers and there were many small fishing boats out and about. Position: 01 18.670 N, 121 04.283 E.

Yesterday we did the 62 NM to Pulau Pelele inside a large bay. A light breeze allowed us to motor sail but with such a long way to go we kept the engine running. It is quite deep and we are anchored again in 20 metres. Very protected though. We plan to do some snorkelling and visit the village ashore before leaving tomorrow.

Position: 01 02.444 N, 121 57.873 E

Maratua Island

Left this morning as soon as we could see! Close to spring tides making life very uncomfortable on a mooring that had us swirling around the place at Derawan Island. The 27NM passage to Maratua Island was quite comfortable with current helping us along but as usual the wind a bit light. Today and the next few days it has a bit of westerly which will be good on the crossing to Sulawesi.

The last one mile through a channel edged with reefs was a slow passage as we had arrived while the outgoing tide was still running. Our speed slowly dropped from 6 knots to 5, to 4 to 3 and finally to .8! We could have stood off for a while but decided to push in. The channel is quite wide but there were whirlpools and the turbulence associated with a fast flowing tide. It was quite difficult to calculate the slack water time as the nearest tide station is on the mainland in the delta area.

This anchorage is just beautiful with the iconic turquoise waters over sand, reefs very discernible, a few scattered islands, fishing boats and tiny villages. We are thinking of staying over tomorrow as well.

Position: 02* 14.791 N, 118* 37.877 E.

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Kicking back in Derawan

After five days here at Derawan Island we can report that we have been having a pretty good time, including several 'first' experiences.

The island is surrounded by coral reefs and sand cays, and turtles are seen often in the anchorage area and also while snorkelling.  The tide fairly rips through - it settled down for a few days during neaps but now that springs are approaching again we are getting 2+ knots, whoops make that 2.5+ knots, during the strongest flow.  The turbulence has boats dancing about the place and everyone watching out in case another boat gets too close.  There are several moorings here which cannot be used as they are too close together.
 


A couple of evenings ago we were invited to participate in the release of over 200 turtle hatchlings.  It was a happy/sad time to see all the little ones make straight for the water, knowing that maybe only one would be lucky to survive the waiting predators.





A two-hour boat trip to Berau City, the administrative centre of this Regency gave us our last glimpse of life in Kalimantan.  The city, situated quite a way up a river delta, is celebrating its 60th birthday and we observed one of the ceremonies although we were a bit late.  The ceremony culminated in the cutting of a huge, round, three-layered flattish rice 'cake'.  Not sure of the significance of this but a line of younger people carried smaller versions of the cake around. 

 Representatives from various parts of Indonesia, including New Guinea, were at the ceremony

We visited the former Sultan's palace, now a museum, had a very nice lunch, went to the Expo which has a new wet market area plus other retail outlets, and took the time to visit some shops where yachties could purchase some necessary bits and pieces.  It was a bit of a long drawn out day.  The boat trip back did not seem quite as bad as the trip in though and we were soon back to our own boats and relaxing aboard. 

Chicken tonight?

Yesterday we joined four other couples on a boat ride to visit three nearby islands.  At Sanggalaki Island we had the amazing experience of swimming with two Manta rays plus saw several others gliding gracefully through the water or along the bottom.  

 
Nearby Kakaban Island is home to a brackish lake which supports three species of stingless jellyfish.  This is only one of two places in the world where this occurs, the other being Palau.  We took the opportunity of taking a swim in the not-so-clear water to see these creatures but we think once is enough for this activity.





Tomorrow we will sail to Manatua Island for an overnight stop  before continuing on to Sulawesi.

A Friendly Welcome in Indonesia

With just over 100NM from Tawau to Tarakan in Indonesia we decided to break the trip and anchored overnight on the north side of Pulau Bungyu.  This anchorage was a little out of the way to get to but proved very calm and we slept well.  We could just as easily have anchored further south as the conditions were very settled.

 Coal loading facility on Pulau Bungyu

Next stop was Tarakan, our official entry port into Indonesia. Check-in procedures took time as it was a new country and a few hoops to pass through.  It was just a matter of being patient and spending a lot of waiting about!  Our agent had a driver at our disposal so we were able to get to an ATM for some cash, a fresh market for more produce and a mobile phone shop to buy SIM cards for phone and wi fi router.

We had arrived during big spring tides and the first afternoon we spent waiting for the tide to come in to refloat our dinghy which was sitting in the mud at the bottom of the jetty!  Pity we hadn't tied it further out.  A storm the first evening had us feeling uneasy as we dragged slightly and it seemed like we were surrounded by other yachts.  All was well but we decided to reanchor the next morning to give ourselves a bit more room.  When the anchor came up it had a piece of rubber caught on the point which prevented it from digging in properly so we were glad we had decided to move.


The water here is extremely busy with all sorts of boats - hi-speed ferries, water taxis, fishing boats of all sizes, etc.  Some of the boats now use outboard engines while a few still have the very noisy 'longtails' which have no mufflers.  We even had tugs moving along between us and the shore.  The wakes from all these vessels plus the strong tidal flow made it pretty uncomfortable at times but it quietened down during the evening.  All the passing boats were very friendly and called and waved to us.  We certainly felt very welcome with no cause for unease.

Tarakan has a big fishing industry with most of the fish being exported.  Coal is also mined and tugs and barges loaded with coal are seen sitting at anchor offshore waiting for ships to come in and be loaded as there is no real port here.   All of the coal is exported.

We had a late start leaving Tarakan due to a miscommunication regarding some of our papers.  By the time we were ready to leave it was after 1300 but along with two other boats we set off in the direction of Derawan Island.  The route was about 90 NM and we decided to break the leg to anchor in a small bay about 52 NM south.  The weather was still calm and settled, although there were rain showers about.  Light winds off the bow meant we had to motor sail as usual and we continued into the evening, arriving at the anchorage just before 2200.  The bay was very gently shelving and we anchored in 5M over mud.  Very comfortable.

On our way out of the bay next morning we passed about 50 fish-attracting structures.  We had seen the lights on them the night before and thought they must have been fishing boats.  These structures have a small shack on them for the people who man them and nets hanging below into the water.  We assume the bright lights at night attract the fish and they are caught in the nets.  




So it was another relaxing motor sail to Derawan Island.  It was so flat we brought the little twin tub washer into the cockpit and did all the laundry which we hadn't been able to get done in Tarakan.  It was all dry before we arrived!

Welcome to Derawan!

We picked up one of the new moorings put down for arriving yachts.  Some have come from Davao in the Philippines while the rest have come from Malaysia.  The channel is quite deep and the tide flows fairly fast once it gets going.  The moorings are good but not laid out very well.  We soon had a smaller boat almost alongside of us so we decided to move.  That one seemed too close to a reef for comfort so we moved again.  This one seemed OK...mmm.  Sleeping soundly at about 9.30 p.m. when we hear voices.  The boat on the next mooring had drifted down and Tweed's bowsprit was almost in their cockpit!  We managed to separate them without any damage but it was a bit unnerving to have a boat only about 5 metres away!

We knew another boat had left a mooring earlier so we shone the spotlight to see if we could see it.  We could so we marked it with a flashing light and moved across there in the dark at 10.00 p.m.  Safe at last!  There is another mooring buoy not far from ours so just hope any more arriving yachts don't decide they want it.  The problem seems to be that the moorings all have lines the same length without taking into consideration the depth.  The channel is 15M deep at the sides and goes down to over 50M in a very short distance.  We were in 35M so the mooring did not swing very far, whereas the other boat that touched us was only in 15M and he swung a long way each turn of tide.  Somebody didn't do the maths!

Love the colour of the water!

The main street - very clean.













Going ashore to the Mutiara Pelangi resort jetty restaurant for a welcoming dinner.

Ready, Steady, and Going Tomorrow

Our port, immigration and customs clearance procedures were completed this morning and the larder is stocked up.  The anchorage is calm at turn of tide after a bumpy morning due to strong spring ebb tide and a 15 knot wind for a bit.

So tomorrow morning we will set off on the falling tide which will help carry us out of this inlet called Cowie Bay and back into the Celebes Sea, towards Tarakan in Indonesia.  With 90 nautical miles to travel we will probably stop along the way tomorrow night and arrive in Tarakan on Sunday afternoon.

The pasar ikan or fish market is right next to the ferry terminal which houses the Customs and Immigration offices.  We did a quick walk through on our way to the produce market this morning and saw some huge fish including tuna and other pelagics, trevally and a dismembered Manta Ray which was a bit sad.  Also, crabs which look way too small to catch.

These fish look way to small as well!

Time Out in Tawau

We will probably be in Tawau until the weekend when we will leave for Tarakan in Indonesia.  There are about 22 boats anchored off the Tawau Yacht Club, most of which have arrived with the Sail East Malaysia Rally.  Some will be continuing to Derawan for the water festival and then making their way in different directions - continuing south of the island of Borneo to complete a circumnavigation of the island; returning to Malaysia; sailing north to the Philippines, etc.

There are many choices and some of us are planning to sail back through the Spice Islands of Indonesia to Australia, with some travelling over the top of New Guinea, others south or towards Darwin. 

Our stop has involved getting our Indonesian visas from the Indonesian Consulate here.  This is a very busy office with very friendly and helpful staff.  We applied for our visas on Monday morning and picked them up early afternoon. 

The town itself is quite busy and has all the shops and services that yachts people require.  The fresh market is huge and has an excellent variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, chicken, beef, water buffalo, eggs, etc.  There seem to be numerous supermarkets to fill those lists of top-up provisioning and diesel has been easy to acquire at the right price. 

The Tawau Yacht Club has been very welcoming and we have had several good meals there.  Some of the crews gather later in the day after having showers in the facilities for a drink or a meal together. 

The anchorage itself has so far been OK.  We are approaching spring tides and the morning ebb tide certainly goes out with a rush - we feel like we are sailing at times.  The danger is a squall during these times but fingers crossed on that one.  We have had several thunder storms pass close by without any affect on us.



 This thunderstorm just missed us
















The harbour front which stretches along the shore both sides of the yacht club is busy with big ships coming and going, fishing boats ploughing through the anchored boats, fast ferries in the channel, and Customs, Police, and Maritim Malaysia vessels making their presence felt with the wakes they leave.  Oh, and don't forget the tugs.

Fishing the reef near Gaya Island