Last Day in Indonesia

Nongsa Point Marina and Resort

Rally boats leaving in a gale!

Batam/Singapore ferry aground!

Dinner out with cruisers and marina manager

Seaweed and garbage washed in with high swell

Last Day in Indonesia

Feb.10 2016

I hate to say that we are still in the marina, but we are going tomorrow morning regardless. We feel much better prepared than if we had left quickly. We have done a lot of much needed work and talked to quite a few sailors about what to expect as we travel north. Last week as we went through checking all the systems, we found out that the autopilot was no longer working. Rob spent several days taking it all apart and talking to the service department in the US. Considering the time change some calls were done at 3 am. In the end there was a faulty wire that needed replacing. We bought a new remote control for it on ebay over Christmas and that works as well, fortunately.

By the time all that was done it was the weekend of Chinese New Year. And a bad weather system had blown down from Siberia- very unusual for here. Winds were well into the thirty some knot range for days and lots of rain. We have sailed in those conditions if need be but want to enjoy the trip up the Singapore and Malacca Straights. The exit from the marina is right into the wind and the surf. Didn't look very pleasant watching the  few boats that left. We will likely do a few overnights now to make up the time

We have been enjoying our time here and getting some work done as well as finishing a few books. While tidying I have found four things that I wanted to take home in Dec but couldn't find. You wouldn't think the boat was that big. It has been fun to see the marina and resort very busy compared to the first week and early Dec. There is a week's holiday for the Chinese New Year so many families are here on holiday. Also the marina is sponsoring a week long regatta heading south into Indonesia. We got a chance to meet some of them before they left. There have also been cruisers passing through whom we have visited with. It is really helpful for us as we are not familiar with Malaysia and Thailand except from what we have read.

There was entertainment and fireworks for the celebrations on Mon. Also each time we were at the mall provisioning there had been entertainment for the holidays. The Chinese New Year's Eve is a reunion dinner, where all families get together for traditional foods and visiting. (The women go to their husbands families.)

 The date of the holiday coincides with a new moon so the tides are always higher than usual. On top of the winds, the tides have been even more extreme. We were out to dinner Sunday at a seafood  restaurant that was perched out over the water. Near the end of the meal the waves were crashing into the structure and water was splashing up fairly high between the floor boards. Time to leave! Back at the marina parts of the breakwater gave way with the waves riding over it. Piles of seaweed and garbage have been coming over it onto the beach. We watched one of the buoys marking the entrance channel fall over. We also watched the ferry on the other side of the breakwater run aground. (Third time in three months!)

We just received an email from Bluewind this morning saying they have decided to ship their boat to the Med instead of crossing the Indian Ocean with the rally. We will miss them! That leaves us with 3 boats now. We hope to see the other two somewhere in Malaysia or Thailand in Feb or March. We meet at the north end of Sumatra, Indonesia, near the end of March. Then it is cruising down that coast to Pedang until a May 9 start across towards Africa. We have sent in our application for permission to stop in Chagos for two weeks enroute. It is a military base so permission needs to be given for a stop. The only other stops are at Reunion and Mauritius, both of which are close to Madagascar.