Category: Sailing in the Andaman Islands

The trip north from Lillehammer to Trondheim (which served as the capital of Norway during the Viking Age until 1217)) took us through some amazing countryside – it seemed that with every bend in the road there was a new vista, another wonder. Green meadows with hay bales piled up high, picture perfect villages with…

We had loved the eccentric and iconic Netflix series “Lilyhammer“ in which a New York Mafia boss turned informant, was relocated in Lillehammer – a place he had fallen in love with after watching the 1994 Winter Olympics. The writers intentionally made Norway and Lillehammer in particular, characters in this clever show. Every quirk, oddity,…

We rushed through Sweden in our camper van anxious to make it to northern Norway while the weather was still reasonable as even in late summer it can get quite chilly up in the Arctic Circle. Hopefully there would be plenty of time to explore Sweden on our way back south. It was tempting to…

We are yachties at heart and living in a campervan can sometimes feel like being a fish out of water. When it gets too much to handle we head as fast as we can to be amongst yachts and in the salty air. Fortunately there were plenty of opportunities in Scandinavia to answer the call…

Call me ignorant but I had absolutely no idea that Denmark, in addition to the peninsula of Jutland, is composed of more than 400 named islands – 70 of which have a significant population. That doesn’t even include Greenland or the Faroes! So it was quite a surprise to discover that in order to visit…

Burial mounds, mystical messages written in runes, a massive stone Viking ship buried in the ground, and a 14th Century Church were just some of the treasures that awaited us in the picturesque Danish town of Jelling. The trip from medieval Ribe to mystical Jelling was just over an hour even taking the back roads…

It was an easy bike ride from our campsite on the outskirts of Ribe in Denmark to the famed VikingeCenter. We had heard good things about this popular Danish tourist destination but were a little worried that it would be very child focused (nothing wrong with that) and maybe not aimed at adults at all.…

We were driving our newly purchased camper van through Germany en route to Scandinavia and looking for somewhere to stay the night. The call of the sea meant that we were inexorably drawn to Flensburg, a bustling port on the tip of Flensburg Fjord in Northern Germany. Having been away from the sea for more…

It was peak holiday time when we took off in our camper van for the first time since collecting it from Veron in France and driving it to Pijnacker in the Netherlands. We had decided to head North towards Scandinavia as we thought that countries like France, Spain and Italy would be heaving with people…

We had a major annoyance and a minor disaster on the second day of driving our brand new camper van through France and Belgium to The Netherlands, where we were going to load on all the gear we had bought to make it “home”. The trip started fine as we drove down the beautiful country…

Our arrival at the small station in Sens, an hour’s train ride out of Paris, was an exciting moment for us. At last – after all the research, the international phone calls between Australia and France, the many emails and the to-ing and fro-ing of paperwork – we were about to drive away into the…

Our camper van had been ordered over the Internet from Australia, and a company (“Socitie Civile”) set up so we could own it legally. It was now waiting for collection in the small French village of Veron, an hour’s train ride from Paris. But first we had to pay for it! Due to a technical…

So we (Jonathan and Dot) bade a sad farewell to our yacht, in Langkawi Malaysia, sold our family home in Brisbane, Australia, and sold/gave away most of our furniture and other possessions. Now we were ready for a new adventure. Having spent the last three years enjoying a fabulous time sailing to, and cruising, in…

Well this is the blog update I have been putting off as it’s hard to accept what I am about to write: We have sold our beloved seafaring home Bali Hai! A bout of crippling back issues for the skipper and the need for a hip replacement on my part made us realise we weren’t…

Our last few days in Port Blair, capital of the Andaman Islands, passed in a blur. We had a good trip over from Havelock Island and arrived about midday. That afternoon we had lunch at our favourite spot- the Megapode Hotel and as always relished the beautiful view over the water as well as the…

It doesn’t get any more gorgeous than this. We had sailed from Diglipur to stunning Sound Island in the southern end of the bay that encloses Maya Bunder, on Middle Andaman Island. The water was so clear where we anchored (in ten metres!) that we could see the anchor chain all the way down to…

On the way back to Port Blair after visiting Interview Island we stopped for the night at Paget Island – an unscheduled stop but we had noticed how lovely it looked on the way down the west coast of North Andaman Island. The anchorage was great but due to the extensive reef at Paget Island…

With our fellow travellers aboard Yantara and Beach House we had anchored in a sheltered spot at the southern tip of Interview Island in a rocky bay formed by a break in the reef. As there didn’t seem to be a good place to land on the nearby beach we decided to set off in…

We had sailed over the northern tip of the Andaman Islands in the company of Beach House and Yantara, and were heading south down the western side of North Andaman Island towards the rarely visited Interview Island. After a brief overnight stay at Reef Island on the north-west side, we set out for our next…

I think the Harbour Master at Diglipur was a little surprised that we wanted to anchor outside the town rather than at Smith Island where he had directed us. Although Smith Island, a 20 minute boat ride away from Diglapur’s main jetty, is known for its beautiful white sand beaches and turtle hatcheries, we were…

We had arrived in Mayabunder, on the northern part of Middle Andaman Island, late in the afternoon so we waited to go ashore for the first time until the following morning. Access to the shore wasn’t easy – along the beaches were huge notices warning of crocodiles so the idea of taking in our dinghies…

There’s nothing like pulling up the anchor after a week or so of land time. As much as we had enjoyed our stay in Port Blair, capital of India’s Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, the crews of the yachts participating in the inaugural Andamans Yacht Carnival were all excited to be heading out…

Typically Yacht rallies and carnivals take you to some exotic places where apart from all the wonderful sailing and socialising, you also have the opportunity to learn a little about other people’s lives and culture. So it was with the inaugural Andamans Yacht Carnival. Before setting sail for the many beautiful islands, we were taken…

The opening ceremony for the inaugural Sail the Andamans Yacht Carnival was a grand affair and the welcome very warm. In addition to the 27 crew members from 13 yachts, the evening was attended by local officials, representatives from various government departments and importantly, the very charming and erudite Lieutenant Governor D K Joshi (retired)…

So far on the two week Sail Thailand Rally we had enjoyed some terrific sails and done a lot of eating, drinking and socialising. And so it continued once we arrived at Ao Chalong, in Phuket, Thailand. Putting faces to boat names at the Sailor’s Lunch We anchored in our usual place on the outer…

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and when it comes to yachties – of any gender – this statement is almost always true. So what better way to start the two-week Sail Thailand rally than with a massive buffet breakfast at the Vivanta Resort on Rebak Island? On January…

Life is full of sad farewells but also many – and often unexpected – happy reunions. It was with a tinge of sadness that we spent our last few days with the crew of Yantara after four months of travelling together before they headed to Rebak Island Marina to prepare their boat for a few…

Having decided to do the trip from Penang to Langkawi in one hit we left before the sun rose and followed Yantara out of the Jerajuk anchorage in the semi dark. Yantara leads the way as dawn begins to break The first road bridge and Penang city were still ablaze with street lights as we…

You can’t go past Pangkor Island without stopping – that is once you have experienced the delight of dining in the sand at sunset with hornbills landing on the tables and monkeys watching from the trees.  Perfect dinner venue With some interesting companions (photo credit: Jill Sheppard) So it was that we stopped at Pangkor…

Once we had left Port Dickson, Langkawi – our Malaysian “island home” – was most definitely in our sights.  We had been on the move for almost four months – travelling through Indonesia’s West Kalimantan and islands off the coast of Borneo and we were looking forward to catching our breath a little in familiar…

Our three day trip from Puteri Marina to the Admiral Marina at Port Dickson was fairly uneventful except for yet another prop emergency.  Diving down under the boat when there is a wicked current isn’t the best way to start the day! On the second day, after leaving Pulau Pisang at first light, the poor…

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…