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“Football field sized” patch of clear sand surrounded by coral. Anchor in 7.5 m. Room for 2- 3 boats. Can be a bit rolly in the afternoons. Serawu village and its characters a charming place. Harbour master Bapak Decky. Navy Officers (Alpha Lima) Bapak Bambang and Bapak Ardi. Visit the middle school – Principal Bapak Sam, English teacher, Bapak Daniel. Only one phone (satellite) in the village at the wartel. Meagre fresh food supplies at the market. Local people (as opposed to officials who are from Java and elsewhere) are very poor and isolated and would probably welcome jars, used oil, empty cans, in addition to cigs, maybe basic foodstuffs like rice, milk powder. But no-one asked for stuff. The school could use childrens’ books, any sort of school supplies, old equipment such as slide projector/screen, computers and peripherals, cassette deck etc, video.
5.5m over coral. Try for a small patch of sand. Very clear water – can steer your way around coral heads if needed when leaving. Anchorage good in light conditions. Lots of officials.
Whole north coast very steep to. (4,000m...40m...fringing reef). Anchorage in 28m over coral, hanging out over 36m. Because we were searching for protection from NE, we arrived too late to see the reef clearly enough to anchor on it. Another boat, Cuchara, had anchored there but tucked in closer and found the anchorage OK. Another anchorage at 7.36.1’S, 126.27.7’E (near timber cutting camp off Tg Poro) looked OK in S-SE. Small river mouth at 7.37.4’S, 126.23.9’E (other end of bay where CMAP shows 7m) has small bay which might be good in SE.
Anchored in 5m over sand 200m off shore. Protected from all directions. Excellent anchorage. Small camp/settlement ashore renovating boats. People asked for diesel – weren’t overly friendly. We gave 4 litres of diesel and 4 litres of outboard. After a few days when word got around a few hawkers offered us meagre produce for a few rupiahs. These people are very poor and isolated. We gave pegs, pieces of metal, beer cans, jars, sugar and clothes and they asked for scissors which we didn’t have. Basic foodstuffs would be popular, also maybe batteries, sunglasses/reading glasses. They could trade coconuts, of which they had plenty.
While at this anchorage we did a day trip on the boat to Kalisana village about 7 nm away. This is an extremely poor village. Lots of kids follow you everywhere. “Smiley stamp” and bubble blower popular. Children’s toys, clothes, pencils and books, maybe swim goggles, music tapes might be welcome. The “teacher” asked for our Indonesian/English dictionary as there are none on the island. They sell honey.
Anchored at Kanari Lang (about 2km out of main street, Kalabahi) in 15m mud/sand. Excellent protected anchorage, with spring ashore. Could fit 20 boats. “Big” town. Phone and internet available (kantor daerah). Shops, banks, post office, several markets, bemos and eating places. Nice people. Harbourmaster Sam and assistant, Tutti. Tour guide/agent, Achmad good source.
Anchored in 5m sand patch among sand and coral. Did not go ashore. Clear warm water for snorkelling. Coral not terrific but good shells among rubble. Volcano on W side of bay.
Anchored in 13m sand/mud in front of Lewoleba town. Comfortable anchorage. Picturesque palm lined bay 2 volcanoes either side. Larger interesting town. Good market, warungs, nice people. Deserves more time than the 1 night we stayed.
Anchored in 4.6m on sand adjacent to reef (hanging back into 10m). Reef anchorage. Need good light to see your way in and calm conditions. We approached from north side of reef. N10kn when we anchored. SE overnight. Mirror calm by morning. Good snorkelling near boat – coral heads separated by sand. Coral at drop off on nth side of reef looked very interesting as we drove over it coming in.
Dropped anchor over sand and coral in 4m. White beach and palm trees ashore. Protected from N, NE, SE in light weather. Held parallel to shore by current. Room for 2 -3 boats. Another sand patch nearby. Snorkelling on point on eastern edge of baylet (swim from boat) excellent variety and colour of corals. Unusual fish.
Another beautiful anchorage we did not stop at 8.13.72’S 122.44.77’E 3.5m – 4.4m (rising tide) 100m from shore. Looks lovely. In first baylet (electronic chart shows 11m).
This whole bay looks like it has many protected anchorages.
Anchored in 6.5m black sand (pulled back over 20m). Water is clear but because sand is black need care to avoid fingers of reef sticking out from shore. Anchored opposite Seaworld resort. Resort beautiful and welcoming – want to see papers to give to officials. Long way from Maumere, where all facilities are available including internet.
En route to Geliting passed through strait between Tg Darat and Pulau Kaabah (islands west of Babi). Interesting looking villages in extremely picturesque settings. Worth another look. “Indonesian Dive Sites” book rates this area 5 stars for snorkelling.
6.7m over black sand. Clear water (can see white shells on the bottom). Nice quiet anchorage with no current. NE seabreeze 10kn.
FLORES ISLAND Teluk Riung 12 September 8.23.5’S 121.00.0’E
9.2m over sticky grey mud and sand. Perfectly sheltered anchorage. Looks scary to enter (coral) but quite straightforward in reasonable light. Save track on CMAP going in for easy exit in the morning when sun low. Lots of curious fishermen from small village of Barangkeli ashore. We took “ojek” (motorbike taxi) into Riung (5kms) but nothing there.
FLORES ISLAND Teluk Bari 13 September 8.20.61’S 120.10.83’E
8m over sand. Calm anchorage. Bari village tidy, clean, friendly. Calm anchorage.
9m sand near island opposite town. Calm protected anchorage - quiet. Interesting, attractive, port town with lots of boats coming and going. Saturday markets good (close 9.00am). Several foreigners sighted.
Dropped anchor in 16m mud/sand near landing for ranger station. Protected from all directions. Quiet. Excellent tour of national park with lots of Komodo dragons. Next morning approached by very persistent hawkers in boats selling pearls and carvings. Ensure you are in the cockpit when they approach to tell them they may not board.
Picked up mooring in 26m. Quiet. Did not go ashore.
Anchored in 7m clear water over sand. Beautiful bay with fringing reef, every bit of which is good snorkelling, shell collecting. Can swim to reef from the boat. Note: very strong currents created 1 – 2 m breaking seas with no wind for about a mile near the entrance to this bay. As you get closer this disappears and you can enter through smooth water. (We spoke to fishermen anchored in the bay to find out the best time to exit the bay the next day – had smooth seas).
Dropped anchor in 8m clean water over sand in line with local boats. Shelves quickly from 20m to 5m. Local boats on LONG ropes. Had to re-anchor to avoid one which was dancing around its anchor. Current in bay sat us sideways to NE swell. Interesting village with many large (20m) boats being built on the beach under thatched “sheds”. People not overly friendly – asking for stuff and trying to sell junk - and town not overly clean. Bus to Bima 1hour.
Dropped anchor in 10m (hanging back into 17m) in bay adjacent to Kilo village. Quiet. Did not go ashore. Kilo village looked very attractive from seaward.
Anchored in 11m in man made harbour. Very protected and apparently central to town but we had a very unpleasant experience with a corrupt local policeman at the port and left early the next morning. We had a raging onshore breeze when we were there so the outer harbour behind the point was not viable, but this could be an option in the right conditions.
Anchored in 7m sand against mainland Lombok behind Gili Lawang. Could get in OK at night here – gently shelving. Nice quiet anchorage. Investigated “anchorages” on Gili Lawang side of channel: coral with steep dropoffs. CMAP reasonably accurate here. Clean friendly attractive village 2km along beach from anchorage (east).
Dropped anchor in 22m sand and mud (hung back to 25m). Good anchorage. Mohamad and Abdul can organise tours, cars, fuel, washing etc. Also sell better pearls than Komodo hawkers. Apparently can clear customs and immigration in Mataram – in retrospect would have been a better option than Bali.
Fierce currents in Lombok strait meet Indian Ocean swell making large waves. Surf at Lembongan Island anchorage. Hard to see fairway buoy. Use waypoints given by marina – we didn’t and nearly went to wrong place. Marina fingers are decrepit (half sunken), power poles have exposed wires, showers are cold and filthy, beer is expensive, water is not safe to drink and you pay western prices for everything (but not up to western standards.) Used agent to check into customs and immigration ($US30) and to get our harbour clearance ($US30).
Many hawkers everywhere – especially Kuta and on tourist route. Have marina phone for a taxi – the ones hanging around outside the marina are ripoffs. Despite this Bali is an interesting place. We used the marina because we left the boat for two days to fly to Yogyarkarta to visit Prambanan and Borobodur. Diesel is relatively expensive but available from a fuel dock at the marina.
Dropped anchor in 25m (pulled back into 18m) under Gunung Agung (volcano). Some fish traps close in. Anchor behind these. Picturesque black sand beach. Many prahus ashore. Fierce currents against us en route from Benoa. Less current inshore – stay 1nm off. Watch you are not pushed out. At 2nm off near Gili Selang there were rough seas and strong current (3-4 kn). Can see the “tide line” – stay well inside it. CMAP innaccurate – shows anchorage on land. Did not go ashore.
BALI ISLAND Lovina Beach 12 October 8.09.43’S 115.01.4’E
Anchored in 12m (hung back over 16m) sand behind a finger of reef that juts out from shore. CMAP innaccurate. Lovely anchorage. Picturesque and protected. Beachside warungs and restaurants. Touristy but lower key (backpacker) than Kuta. Cold beer, western style meals as well as local and fast internet right near the beach. Can hire drive yourself cars cheaply. Possible alternative to Benoa for day touring of Bali. Use track function on CMAP in case night exit required. VERY persistent hawkers on the beach but leave you alone as soon as you gat to the street.
Anchored in 8.3m grey sand/mud in “harbour” formed by islands and coral reef. Entry from south over coral (5m least depth). No northern exit. Need good light to see coral. Interesting looking town. Did not go ashore. Use track function of CMAP in case not good light when you need to exit.
BAWEAN ISLAND Teluk Promahan 14 October 5.43.87’S 112.40.32’E
6m over sand. Interesting Arabic style boats painted in psychodelic colours and covered in flags. Very pretty scenery ashore “south seas island” and friendly village. Interesting larger town in next bay.
Anchored in 3m behind sand spit. Good anchorage to stage entrance to Kumai River or start journey to Serutu or Belitung. Take care to avoid shallow water in this area. Water murky so use depth sounder. (Note: soft bottom ? – our Navman did not read. Had to use big Furuno echo sounder).
Dropped anchor in 11m mud opposite Kumai town up the river. GPS points from the green buoy up the river are:
3.00.35’S 111.40.19’E
2.57.29’S 111.40.73’E
2.57.01’S 111.41.41’E
2.54.24’S 111.42.53’E
2.53.46’S 111.42.19’E
2.51.17’S 111.43.55’E
2.49.83’S 111.43.48’E
2.48.15’S 111.42.26’E
2.47.62’S 111.42.03’E
2.47.15’S 111.42.10’E
Watch for nets strung across the river. Also huge barges towed by tugs which travel up the edge of the river opposite the town. Anchor so they have enough room inside of you. Good anchorage. Interesting port town. Organise tour up Sekonyer River with Prince of Kumai or Hari’s Yacht Services. Can also organise fuel etc. Pangkalanbun, 20kms inland, has ATMs, internet, fantastic “spare parts/hardware” shops.
Anchored in 14 m sand. Anchorage troubled by NW current affected swell coming around the island while we were there. Got quite steep for a few hours each day. Very high attractive island visible for a long distance. Did not go ashore but apparently there is a fresh water pool accessible at high tide – no beach. We had some heavy rain strong wind and squalls while we were there waiting for calms to leave.
LINGGA ISLAND S.E. Bay 29 October 00.19.12’S 104.57.12’E
6.5m mud. Pretty bay. Nice beaches. Thickly forested island and picturesque lighthouse. “Whitsunday-esque”. Calm in nil-light SW wind. Night entry watch for fishing boats (spotlight on bow – don’t show up on radar, but usually put on a light when they see you coming) for last 2-3 miles).
Dropped anchor in 10m sand and mud in front of reef off beach at end of village. Attractive friendly village of stilt houses over water and white beach (film set material.).
10m sand. Children in boats came to visit bringing cumi cumi (squid), coconuts and cookies. We gave them t-shirts, powdered milk, magazines and pencils.
7m sand. Surprisingly comfortable anchorage (given shape of the island) in W and SW. We had rain storm overnight (to be expected most nights) – fortunately from west. Would have been very exposed from any other directions.
Slightly down at heel marina attached to fancy resort complex with no tourists. Pool, bar, restaurant etc. Showers/toilets. ONE twin tub washing machine and no dryer (or resort will do washing paid per item). Price about the same as RQYS, Manly. Employees here studiously unfriendly. Long way from anywhere. Marina bus to shops (30 mins away), power and water all charged separately. Everything charged in Singapore dollars (though they accept rupiahs). Can check out with Immigration here – need unexpired visa and CAIT or fines levied. Cost (2005) $US30 per boat to check out. Need cash to pay for this. (Can also check out for free at Tanjung Pinang, Sekupang and other places, but need to anchor.)