Author: Salty tales from Bali Hai

Meeting up with old friends is always great and when it comes as a surprise it’s even better. When we reached Puteri Marina – our first stop back  in Malaysia – we discovered to our delight that our buddies from the 2015 Indonesian rally, James and Cindy from YouYou, were in town.  Dinner reunion We…

The plan was to check out of Indonesian waters at Tanjung Pinang but as we all know, plans are like rules – made to be broken.  Our last sunset in Tanjung Penang As we had inadvertently put “Nongsa Point” as our point of exit from Indonesia on our paperwork that was where we had to…

There is so much more to Tanjung Pinang than the port area – fascinating and busy as it is.. This time we walked more (our first visit was in 2015) and also hired a car and driver for a day, visiting some beautiful spots.  When walking along the seafront we were delighted with the newly…

We had a wonderful sail from Benan Island to Tanjung Penang cranking up to eight knots an hour in a perfect broad reach with 15 knots of wind under headsail only. So good after too much motoring! Farewell to pretty Benan Island The wind indicator showing a broad reach Yay! Eight knots As we approached…

We left Penuba in the Riau Island group of Indonesia heading for the major port of Tanjung Pinang.  Farewelling our friend’s yacht S/V Thalassi S/V Yantara sailing out of Penuba Farewell to the Sea gypsy (Orang Laut) village in Penuba One of the many fishing huts we encountered on this trip Our first overnight stop…

A couple of days after visiting our 2015 Sail2Indonesia rally friend from S/VThalassi and his wife in Dabo on Pulau Singkep, we returned to the island to check on the progress of the repair to Yantara’s (our cruising buddies) anchor winch.  The dock at Dabo We had previously dropped it off at the engineering workshop…

We had played host to several boat loads of young children who had rowed over from the local stilt village to look at our boat and say “hello” but after a while we had to shoo them away as we had a visit of our own to make.  Having met up the previous day with…

Heading towards Pulau Gelasa after leaving Belitung got me thinking about the famous Belitung shipwreck, an Arabian dhow, that sank in the Gelasa Strait around 830CE. What happened? Did everyone drown? What went through the mind of the Captain as the ship went down with all that treasure aboard? Yantara our travel buddies anchored in…

A chance meeting with Glenn who runs the turtle sanctuary and conservation centre on Pulau Kepayang, close to the anchorage off Tanjung Kelayang on Belitung, led to an invitation to visit the sanctuary.  Glenn and me at the turtle sanctuary Glenn, who was born and raised in Belitung and is half Dutch, half Indonesian by…

What do yachties do when they are having a break from sailing? They hire a traditional style tourist boat, they buy model boats and they investigate how local boats are made of course!! Capt’n Birdseye enjoying the ride without the worry of reefs ahead! On a boat going past our boat. How does that work?…

At a time when there are so many religious and ethnic issues plaguing us worldwide it was heartening to see tolerance and respect for “others” in Belitung on Indonesian Independence Day (celebrating 72 years of independence). The Independence celebration was a colourful event Like much of Indonesia, Belitung is a religiously diverse island, with Sunni…

Our hearts were a little heavy when the river trip to see Orangutans in the Tanjung Puting National Park was nearing completion as it meant that not only was this special trip finished but also our daughter’s visit was drawing to an end.  Our last night on the Klotok We had one more night in…

I have been putting off writing this blog update about our trip to see Orangutans in the Tanjung Puting National Park, in Kalimantan, Borneo, as it was an such an incredible experience. Somehow I really don’t seem to have the words to describe it.  Our Klotok ready to roll Maybe a big part of the…

We had an unexpected free day in Belitung to do whatever we wanted as the previous day we had turned back from sailing to the Kumai River due to adverse weather and decided to fly there instead.  Someone was delighted to have an extra day in Belitung With the position and the strength of the…

We departed Belitung soon after sunrise,  heading for the Kumai River where we were meeting our friends from Sydney, Australia, who with our cruising mates on Yantara, were joining us in hiring a traditional boat (a Klotok) to travel upstream to see Orangutans and other creatures in the wilds of Borneo.  We were travelling East…

This was to be our last day in Belitung before we set off for the the Kumai River – a two night/ two and a half days sail away.  Such a wonderful view from the anchorage Our main objective was to get our cultural/social visas extended. These visas can be renewed several times to allow…

As we steered our dinghies between the beautifully painted traditional boats bobbing at their moorings in water so clear that you could see right to the sea bed, we could see a figure striding down to greet us as we made our landing at Kelayang Beach, Belitung.  Traditional boats moored with Bali Hai in the…

On our way to Belitung from Pulau Genting we stopped to anchor for the night at Karimata where coincidentally, the last vestiges of the Sail Wonderful West Kalimantan fleet – S/V Matilda and S/V Liberte – had also headed, on the same day, from Ketapang.  It was a delightful reunion and we particularly enjoyed the…

New friends We had enjoyed such a wonderful walking tour of Pulau Genting the previous day and wanted to show our gratitude to our new friends  – one of the local school teachers and a government administrator – who had shown us round, so we decided to invite them them for afternoon tea and to…

We were on Pulau Genting, a small and quite isolated island off the coast of Borneo – at the mercy of the weather again. We had hoped to get to Ketapang in time for the final events of the Wonderful West Kalimantan rally but a 20 knot plus wind straight on the nose and a…

After a good rest overnight in the great anchorage at Pulau Genting in the Pelapis group of islands we felt ready for the final leg of our trip to Ketapang to catch up with the Wonderful West Kalimantan Rally.  On our way to catching up with fleet in Ketapang We were a week behind the…

Captain Birdseye and I were crossing the Equator for the second time in Bali Hai but for our daughter it was her first crossing in a boat so in accordance with longstanding marine tradition she had to undergo an initiation ceremony, conducted by King Neptune.   So we went from the Northern Hemisphere across the…

Things can change so quickly even when things seem quite dire. One moment our yacht Bali Hai was crippled with a busted gearbox and six days later a replacement had been sourced, collected and installed.   We had booked flights over the Internet to Brisbane, Australia, our daughter had driven four hours to Pontianak, taken…

While our spare gearbox which was stored under our son’s house in Brisbane, Australia, was in the process of being collected and hand delivered to our boat (thanks to our daughter), we took the time to do a few boat jobs.  We had been very occupied with the Wonderful Sail Kalimantan Rally in the previous…

Bali Hai’s gearbox had busted and we were stuck at anchor in Tangung Bajau, a little bay near Singkawan on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. We had two choices – try and repair the gearbox or install a new one. We called our diesel mechanic and Yanmar engine agent in Brisbane who advised against…

We were stuck in Tangung Bajau near Singkawan, in Borneo, with our yacht crippled due to a broken gearbox and unable to continue with the Wonderful West Kalimantan Rally until a replacement gearbox was found. Having broken down on the way to Lemukutan Island, a popular place for snorkeling, we were feeling a bit sorry…

It was the last day of the Bengkayang/Singkawang leg of the Wonderful West Kalimantan yacht rally and the morning got off to a great start with the grand opening of the biggest mango we have ever seen. The biggest mango we’ve ever seen! It was not only the biggest but the juiciest most delicious mango…

Due to the weather we had anchored in the wrong bay for the next stage of the Wonderful West Kalimantan Rally but organiser Raymond Lesmana was as always, totally accommodating and arranged for a bus to take us to the cove where the welcome celebrations were to be held, as well as organised security for…

Our next stop on the Wonderful West Kalimantan Rally was Bengkayang where we were scheduled to anchor at Kura Kura Beach.  Wow what size yachts were they expecting?! Along with Yantara, Shakti and Liberte, we pulled our anchor up in at around 7.30am and were relieved to find none of the mass of fishing net,…

The Sambas section of the Wonderful West Kalimantan rally had come to an end but we decided to delay our departure for one day as we needed to restock with fruit and vegetables before taking off.  The markets had lots of things in sale besides food We booked our car to leave early and made…

After an extremely long day of sightseeing and visits the previous day we were relieved to hear that our final day in Sambas was going to be a little less busy.  All the boat crews needed to do bits of maintenance and prepare for the trip to the next stop so it was good to…

We were on the third day of the Wonderful West Kalimantan Yacht rally and once again on our small tour bus.  Sadly only five yachts managed to make it to the rally out of eleven starters. We felt bad that some of the yachts hadn’t even had the courtesy to let the organiser Raymond Lesmana…

We were up early and ready to go by 9 am on this, the second day of the Wonderful West Kalimantan Rally.  We had been invited to another wedding (the one on the previous day we sort of gate crashed).  Fortunately no funeral though.  These guys were like ushers – guiding the guests and any…

We woke early on 1 July to the sound of small boats passing very close to us – everyone who went past us seemed to want to get as near to the boat as possible to have a good look at us! We needed to get ready quickly as this was the first day of…

The day had finally arrived when our daughter would fly in from Delhi, India to join us on Bali Hai in West Kalimantan, Borneo.  On the way to Pontianak – a Chinese temple The plan was for her to stay for the whole of July and get a taste of sailing in a rally with…

Our first morning in Sambas, in West Kalimantan on the Indonesian side of the island of Borneo, we woke up to grey skies and a little rain but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the local people or the welcome we received.  But of a grey old morning From early morning onwards we had people…

It was our last night in the deserted and magnificent Tambelan Islands and we cooked a delicious meal of barbecued fresh fish purchased from a lone fisherman who had visited us in our isolated anchorage at Pulau Benoa.  This was “the change” we received from the small sum we gave for a bigger fish The…

Stormy weather delayed our departure from Nongsa Point Marina on the first leg towards Sambas, in West Kalimantan, Borneo, but by early afternoon we were on our way at last.  Yantara leaving the marina As the weather had been quite unsettled we decided to just do a small hop 16 nautical miles south and then…

It was a wonderful feeling being in Indonesia again after 18 months of cruising round Malaysian, Thai and Indian territorial waters.  Having done sterling service our Malaysian flag has been given an honourable discharge We were helped into Nongsa Point Marina on Batam Island by the charming staff and our fellow yachties from S/V Yantara…

Sailing under a road bridge is always a nail biting experience – even when you have been under the same bridge successfully on a previous occasion! We followed Yantara out of Puteri Harbour in Malaysia and under the bridge that leads from Johor Bahru to Singapore and despite knowing full well that both our boats…

The main reason for stopping at Puteri Marina was to visit the Indonesian Embassy to apply for our social/cultural visas. This type of visa allows you to stay in Indonesia for an initial 60 days and then can be renewed for further thirty day periods for up to six months.  Puteri Marina Applying for a…

In company with Yantara, we set off on the last leg of our trip down the Malaysian Coast before crossing the Singapore Strait to get to Indonesia.  Motoring past Malacca with Yantara It was rough going out of Admiral Marina, Port Dickson – with 20 knots of wind “on the nose” and a big swell.…

We were one stop away from leaving Malaysia and crossing the infamous Singapore Strait to Indonesia so we decided to hire a car while we were in Port Dickson to enable us to complete our provisioning for the next few months.  Driving along the coast heading for Tescos! We needed to buy many items we…

Moving down the coast of Malaysia we began to feel we were making good progress towards our destination of Sambas, in Indonesian Borneo, where we would soon be joining the West Kalimantan Rally.  Our anchorage at Sungai Burnam From Pangkor we sailed to Sungai Burnam a river that marks the border between the Malaysian states…

As we hadn’t spent any time at Pangkor when we had travelled north after the Sail2Indonesia Rally in 2015, we decided to have a few days there on our way South to joining the West Kalimantan Rally in July.   We were delighted to meet up with fellow Indonesian rally participants Psycho Puss and Slip…

This is the last my out-of -“real time” posts detailing Bali Hai’s four week trip to India’s remote outpost – the beautiful Andaman Islands. Thank you for sticking with it! Before we left Port Blair, the long arm of Indian bureaucracy had us noting down the names of each anchorage we stayed in so that…

Continuing our journey south to join the West Kalimantan rally starting on 2 July, we left Pulau Rimau just after the sun rose heading for Pulau Talang where we would spend the night.  Another beautiful sunrise It was a long but uneventful day although we had quite an uncomfortable swell for the whole trip so…

We were glad of an extra day in Port Blair which allowed us the time to visit the notorious cellular jail and then take a short ferry ride over to tiny Ross Island which served as the capital of the Andaman Islands during the British occupation from 1858 to 1941 after which the Japanese occupied…