We’ve sailed 600nm in the last week! We’ve got our ears pinned back and making tracks for Langkawi.
After our overnight stop at Gili Air and an excellent pizza ashore with all the young European tourists, we set sail for Barwean Island, approximately 250nm (two nights at sea). We enjoyed a rest day at that anchorage and watched the comings and goings of the huge barges filled with coal and logs. I feel so sad when I think of the population pressure and plastic bag use of 277 million people! We’re certainly seeing the “real” Indonesia and not the sanitised resort version. It’s the plastic bags…everywhere, that I find difficult to deal with.
There is no local rubbish collection, no landfill, and certainly no recycling. Don’t get me started on the drift nets, and the plastic bottles and rubbish thrown over the side by the fishermen. The Indonesian people live in absolute squalor but seem happy, busy, and going about their day to day lives. The people that we’ve had as drivers and agents have been fantastic, friendly, and so helpful in navigating us through the chaos.
More sailing. From Barwean, another 360nm up the Java Sea in very challenging conditions. 25kts of wind in a confused sea….and then at night the fishing boats materialised. Hundreds of them! All lit up, as far as the eye could see, and we had to try and find a way through them. It took us a while to realise that they were mostly anchored. The Indonesian fishermen don’t adhere to the maritime rules of lights that we know. They have blue flashing lights, disco lights and no port and starboard lights, and shine lasers at you if they think you’re getting too close. I was a stressed-out mess😵💫 but somehow, we got through it without having a crash! The shipping channel was next, where there were lots of ships, but all acting in a predictable way.
To add to the stress levels, Angus returned from poling out the head sail, covered in blood after dropping the pole on his nose. So much blood, but it could’ve been worse! It doesn’t appear to be broken. Tonight, we’re anchored at a little island in the Riau group of islands. It’s beautiful, with big limestone rocks. We’re anchored next to some local fishermen. Two more overnight passages, then day sailing as we head into the Malacca Straits, where we check out of Indonesia at Batam.
Cruising Innocenti 
Leave a reply to ALwillison Cancel reply