We happily left Pontianak behind – without a backwards glance – as we begun our journey across the South China Sea. We soon arrived at Pulau Pengiki-besar… This trip was delightfully packed full of visits to villages, schools, local restaurants as well as many local visitors to our boat. We barbecued on shore and enjoyed a bit of snorkelling.
Pontianak… I promised you pirates! In this case we thankfully didn’t meet our pirates but the act of piracy that befell us went like this….
After a 24 hour, overnight sail, we arrived at Pontianak in a torrential downpour. Pontianak is about 10 mile up river and, once there, we anchored, had some dinner and fell promptly to sleep. We woke the next morning to find our newly acquired (and near new) motor had been stolen. The pirates had pinched our little putt putt and we were not happy! The day didn’t get any better…
We discovered a paradise of sapphire blue seas, palm fringed islands and white sands as well as coral gardens over run by Nemo and his mates. It was amazing and it quickly went to number one on our list of favourite places in Indonesia. This tiny archipelago of little islands is a conservation area and although its hard to say exactly what that means in Indonesia the area has certainly benefited from it. The snorkelling was amazing; by far the best we have done in Indonesia so far. Hardly any dead coral, no rubbish to swim through and clownfish by the hundreds.
Two nights and three days of awesomeness! Awesome place, awesome people, awesome animals, and an awesome experience! I would do this trip again in a heart beat if given the chance. I loved everything about it. The orangutans and other wildlife we saw, the delicious food, the wonderful crew, sleeping on an open boat under a mosquito net, the gorgeous sounds of night descending and the raucous awakening of birds, bugs and gibbons in the morning!
A little jewel in the Java Sea! We spent six days exploring this beautiful area. White sandy beaches, uninhabited islands, coral reefs, monkeys and friendly local people. After the big city chaos of Surabaya, Bawean was just what we needed! We left Surabaya and motor-sailed, the Java sea, into head winds as we crossed to Pulau Bawean. The crossing took 13 hours…
… we started the arduous saga of extending our visas. We looked up the address for Kantor Immigrasi (the office of Immigration), caught a ferry to Surabaya and then a taxi a long way out of town (out near the airport) to the Immigration Office. Once there, we waited for about an hour until we were called to the desk, where we were told that we needed to go to another office. A couple of minutes later we were walking in the rain trying to catch another taxi. Wet, and a bit disappointed, we caught a cab to another immigration office…
A few days after our boys left Bali we moved Thorfinn to a mooring at Serangan. Trish came along for a sail, and it was a good thing she did. During a routine check on the engine room, Dwayne found the bilge full of water. We had a leak somewhere… a very fast leak! A semi-controlled panic ensued as Dwayne set up the manual bilge pump. It was my job to pump and Trish steered the boat, as Dwayne searched for, found and fixed the busted hose…
After the relative peacefulness of Gili Air, Kuta during the holiday season appeared pandemonic. The chaotic cacophony was made worse by the heat in the un-air-conditioned van that slowly made its way through the congested convoluted streets. Upon arrival at the hotel we found there had been an error in the booking and three of us did not have a room. Following a long exhausting debate over what we should, could and would do, Dwayne, Alex and I went and found another hotel room for a couple of nights. The disorder at the next hotel would have been comedic had I not been so tired…
Christmas on Gili Air! After a week in Bali it was a treat to get back to the boat and head out to the small island paradise of Gili Air. The kids had been out that night and when they arrived back to the boat about 2300 we left the marina and began the eight hour sail. There was no wind so we actually motor-sailed throughout the rest of the night. I was on watch when the sun came up. It was a beautiful sight. The super-calm conditions and sleeping kids scattered all over the boat. Priceless…
© [2016 - 2024] The Captain & The Cook