July 22-27
Hi All
After doing a few chores we left Tarempah around noon on Saturday July 22. The previous night we had closing ceremonies with Stedem on mv Atlantis……steak dinner with some very good red wine and of course, chocolate!!!! He is heading back to Nongsa for a few more projects then will be heading east to eventually make New Zealand by the end of the year……so another cruiser that our paths crossed for a year or so and now we both go different directions….but, you just say “see ya down the road”…..one never knows when our paths will cross again!!!!
We were headed to a small anchorage off of Semut, about 16nm north of Tarempah. But, on the way, we noticed 4 AIS targets already in the small anchorage……and, 2 of the boats were having a heated discussion on the VHF about being too close to one another…..so, we said we will give it a pass and onto to the next anchorage between the islands of Setuju and Penjalin Br about another 10 nm to the east. In all, we went about 24nm from Tarempah!!
What a beautiful island…..however, these islands consist of huge boulders…..granite we think……sort of like the Baths on Virgin Gorda in BVI’s but on steroids. The islands are all covered with shrubs/trees/boulders but not so much a lush rainforest growth….more on the arid/scrubby sort. We did one snorkel and it was ok……something has/is destroying the coral…..dynamiting, pollution, bleaching……and there were not a great amount of fish but the diversity was excellent….good to see many of our friends again. We did some beachcombing and found several sea beans….even some hamburgers……we have not found these on a beach since our Bahamas days with Wayne and Sharon on mv My Sharona……whoa!!!! The wind picked up……15-20kts+……the last detailed weather we got in Tarempah we saw some storms brewing up north near Vietnam and Japan and our forecast here shows strong winds for the next week…..so these storms must be sucking in some big South winds…..anyway, the anchorage got a bit rolly so we moved on…..like 6nm!!!!
Mandariau Darat: Another beautiful anhcorage and set of islands……this one much more protected and calm!!!! For entertainment we watch the 10+ fish platforms go out at dusk and come back in @ dawn…….yep, cruising is a lifestyle:)))) These are squid fishing platforms (called Cumi in Indonesian, small squid) with huge lights to fish at night. We went over to talk with some of the guys but no English….drats. These platforms are constructed of wood, like an open A-frame on pontoons, a generator to run these massive amount of lights, pulled by another boat to where they will fish for the night…..they have a net in the center which they use to catch the squid…..they have a little house structure in the middle where they cook et al……every morning we see them off load their catch to a mother ship although we also see them boil the squid during the day and take that to market as well…….not sure the quantity of the night’s haul…..from another blog we read 100-200 kilos a night, that’s 200-400 pounds……hopefully we will find someone who can speak a little English and learn a lot more……anyway, fascinating to watch, what a completely different world they live in…….they are certainly happy…..friendly, smiling, joking with one another and singing!!!!
Dive Compressor: Gave me a scare the first time we used……it did not come up to pressure for about 5 min……we have not used the unit for maybe 10 months although we did test it before we left…….it finally started to fill and acted normal the rest of the fill…..gulp!!!!!
Beachcombing: There are several beaches in the area and we explored them all…….beautiful, white, champagne sand beaches……but still littered with plastic trash….ugh!!! Kathy found a few treasures and we continue to find the polished round sea beans and HAMBURGERS…..it’s a Bahamas thing taught to us by Wayne and Sharon…..when you find a sea bean that looks like a hamburger you shout out the name….yep, good times!!!!
Diving: We did 2 dives….one was ok and one was well….way above average to almost excellent….what a relief to find something healthy for a change!!!! We will name the 2nd one coral garden….lovely hard colorful coral of all varieties……and in good health!!!! There was a cruiser last year who wrote a fabulous blog on their time here in the Anambas islands complete with waypoints for anchorages, and snorkel and dive sites. There is not much other information available so it’s become the bible……which is good to get you going but after that you need to remember to explore on your own. The 2nd dive site was one we tried on our own as it was on the west side of the bay, a bit calmer and the water looked clearer…..and wow. Both dives we had to navigate on our own back to the dinghy….the 1st dive was easy as you went along the edge of the reef, turned around and came back. The 2nd dive was a bit of a challenge…..we did a box and came back close but no cigar…..I had to surface and saw the dinghy maybe 30-50 yards away…….not too bad!!!! Of course, navigating always makes me a bit nervous and I sucked a lot of air…..came up with 300 psi after an hour……usually we come up with ~800 psi which is what Kathy did!!!
Weather: The winds stayed in the 15-20+kt range for the past 4-5 days……we noticed the squid platforms only go out maybe 0.5 miles when it is this rough and maybe 2-3 miles in calm weather…..in fact one platform just stayed in the anchorage for 2 nights and fished from there…..he said he did well…..but again that was our interpretation of his Indonesian…..It has not rained yet in over a week so we expect that to change any day!!
Boat Stuff: Our idyllic days were interrupted twice with small, irritant issues……oh ok, several of you liked the “pissant” term used before:))))…..the shower hose in the cockpit split…ugh….we use this hose to wash our feet after beachcombing et al as well as to wash all our dive gear. So, we had to take the whole faucet and box out…..oh, honey, while your in there how about changing out the faucet as well….the cold water faucet is hard to turn….oh joy……luckily the Admiral was well prepared with all the parts!!!
Then the sliding hatch from the pilot house to the flybridge decided to join the pissant issues…..the U-shaped latch that secures this hatch from sliding decided to break it’s weld….really, in the middle of no where and after 13 years you pick this moment…..so, for the next 3 hours we went through various solutions and finally had the fix……used seizing wire to hold a cable tie….sounds easy but the tolerances were difficult so it took many iterations to get the repair just right!!!
The Plan: Time to move on Friday July 28……another big day……6 nm to Sagudampar……LIG!!!!!
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Anambas Indonesia
