Safe arrival

We departed from One Fifteen Marina in Singapore on Thursday the 14th of Aug and cleared western Immigration once out in the harbor. They come to you in a patrol boat and you pass your paperwork to them in a fishing net. After they do their computer work they pass the paperwork, passports etc, back to you in the net. The next thing to do was cross the Singapore straits which is not that far across but has a lot of traffic. Freighters are lined up about a mile or less apart going in both directions in traffic lanes on top of this you have all the tugs and barges and other smaller ships moving all over the place and we had to cut across all of this. This was the start to our voyage to Cocos Keeling island which is part of Australia and our next port of call. It about 1200 miles and we worked our way through Indonesia stopping every night except for one overnight passage. The anchorages were for the most part ok but rather open to the weather. We had mostly headwinds and currents against us on the way to the Sundra straits that separate Java from Sumatra so not a fun 600 miles. We were with another boat for this part of the journey called Mantra of Glasgow and it was good to have another boat around to travel with and talk to. On the 15th we crossed the equator and into the southern hemisphere again. This is not something that we thought we would be doing again with Kilkea II but as we say we write all our cruising plans at low tide in the sand and then have a clean slate to rewrite them the next day or year!

We have now sailed down through the South China Sea and into the Java Sea to Sundra Strait. Jakarta is on the Java side of the strait and the approaches to the strait are busy with shipping and just before the strait are lots and lots of LPG and oil wells out in the middles of the sea. This area of the world is very shallow with water depths around 20meters. Actually that is about the depth all the way through Indonesia to Thailand other than a few straits such as this one. This was on our one overnight passage so were happy that the radar was working well and we were able to work our way through without hitting anything.

We arrived in a small bay on the Java side of the strait with s/v Mantra and anchored outside a small Muslim village. There were a number of fishing boats about and one came over and we were able to communicate that we needed diesel for the boats. They call diesel here Solar so after some negotiation Gordon and I headed ashore in the 30 foot fishing boat with our guide?? we called one tooth for the obvious reason to go to an ATM and then to fetch some fuel. Well the trip to the town of Labuan was interesting in a van of sorts that somehow ran. The rice fields were still be dug by hand and with water buffalo so very basic and poor. We did find an ATM that worked and we got our money and then it was off to the gas station. There is a problem we found out in Indonesia with carrying fuel in containers, of which we had twelve 20 plus liter containers, that are not allowed to be filled without a permit. Now this was a problem since we had no permit and had not checked into Indonesia. After much discussion and the price of fuel rising One tooth assured us that he could manage to get us the fuel. We did find a beer store and picked up a couple of flats of Bintang beer and some fresh water containers with water for Gordon on Mantra. Well after anchoring, at around 1pm, having traveled all night we finally got back to the boats just before dark. We did have 8 containers filled so dumped them into our tank with the assurance that One tooth would be back at 9am. He arrive on time and picked up the empty jerry cans but indicated that the price of fuel had gone up but he could manage to get the fuel. So for the rest of the day fuel was transferred to us until we had both boats full plus the jerry cans. We tipped him well and I imagine that what he made from us was a pretty big deal for him. The highest price of the fuel got to around 70cents a liter so no problem. All was well and we had Gordon and Helen over for drinks. We were sitting out on deck when around 9pm we felt a presence and found One tooth boat sliding along side of us. He was very apologetic but said he had a problem with the police and that we needed to go and see them at 0500 in the morning!!!! This did not sound good so we told him to have the police come and see us at 10am. This seemed ok and off into the dark he went. Gordon and I looked at each other and said how about 0530, which was first light, and we just nodded. So at 0530 we upped anchor and headed out of the bay as talking to the police would require another bribe and could take days to do. We sailed down to the bottom of the strait and anchored in a national park just a mile or so from the outlet to the Indian Ocean.

We spent a couple of days there and cleaned the bottom and did other boat jobs that seem to never end. We had a great meal on Mantra and have enjoyed there company for the last couple of weeks but it was time to say our goodbyes as they are headed for Chagos and we to Cocos Keeling. on August 25th we left at 0600 and by 0700 were well out into the open ocean with winds in the 20k plud range. We were with the current and wind and made 195 miles in the first 24 hours. The next couple of days the winds dropped but the seas were confused with waves coming from all directions. We arrived in Cocos Keeling on the 28th around 1300 which was good as we needed to work our way into the anchorage at Direction Island through shallow areas in the lagoon with lots of coral outcroppings. It was not a bad run of 600nm in three days and seven hours. We had only one mishap on the way as we blew up our mizzen sail when the wind dropped as it did a big flap and disintegrated. Now we will have to go the next 2000 miles without that sail which is ok but not what we would like. We hope to get a new sail in Mauritius, either made there or one sent down form France.

 Cocos Keeling is a beautiful atoll with colours  that are out of a painting. Bombay Sapphire Gin in colour with many shades. We will stay here for a week and enjoy and look for a weather window for our next leg to Rodrigues Island which is 2043nm away. 

Future Plans

We have enjoyed the summer in Vancouver or at least the first half of it. On July 31 we left for Hong Kong after putting away the boat for the year. Very sad as this is the nicest time of the year in Vancouver and the best boating month but we need to be off to do our next sailing trip with the best weather window available.

The last two weekends we had Nevan, Sarah and Elise and Hudson out for a couple of nights at Cabbage Island where we caught crabs and dug up clams and then the next weekend had Eamon and Callum out with just us. Lots of fun as the Eamon and Callum are a little older and they can manage with us just fine now.

We left on July 31 with a quick over night in Hong Kong and arrived back to Puteri Marina in Malaysia Saturday evening. Since then we have been working from dawn to dusk on Kilkea II. We brought back a bunch of boat parts that needed to be installed and have found a few more jobs that need to be done. Boats really don't like to be left alone and not used. So with the jet lag and the extreme humidity in SE Asia we are exhausted by 9pm. We have managed to get most of these done and on Saturday we sailed over to one fifteen marina in Singapore. Very nice to be back in the first world and hope to finish off the boat bits here over the next few days.?

Our plans after this will be to leave here and head for the Sundra Straits which are between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia which are about 500 miles away. Once there we will be off for a 600 mile run over to Cocos Keeling which is an Australian territory consisting of a coral atoll or a number of them. It will be great to get back to some crystal clear water again with lots of opportunity for some swimming and snorkeling. This will take us to around the beginning of September. Then the real fun starts as we will be sailing over to Rodrigues Island, Mauritius Island, and then Reunion Island all in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The first leg is just over two thousand miles and could be a bit of a rough ride with the SE trades blowing and the Antarctic swell moving from the south west. With luck we should make that passage in about twelve days. The end run will see us arriving in Richards Bay South Africa sometime around the beginning of November. All told that is about five thousand miles, maybe a little more, of sailing at an average speed of seven to seven and a half knots. It is a little daunting and we admit to have a few butterflies in our stomach as we look forward to this but once we are underway things will balance out.