FOUND AN UNCHARTED SHALLOW PATCH

13 November 2023

05:20 engine on and weighing anchor from Tg. Sada.  Another beautiful calm morning, the the sun not yet up, still cool, well just less than 30 degrees.  The water temperature here is over 30 degrees, on the boat the temperature rarely gets below 30 degrees in the cabin.  With the engine running the temperature reaches almost 40 degrees after a while.  The boat is never as cool as it is on land at night.

This morning I has an alarming experience.  As we were approaching the coast I knew that there were offlaying reefs.  According to the chart the track I was taking would take us clear inside the reefs in deep water.  The chart showed the current water depth to be over 200m.  However, for some reason I decided to switch on the depth sounder.  Shortly after the 5m shallow water alarm went off.  This didn’t cause me any concern as when off soundings the echo sounder can turn up spurious readings.  I went to cancel the alarm and saw that the sounder was showing 4m and decreasing.  Whoa! Something wrong, immediately I put the engine in neutral and looked over the side.  Amazingly, I could see the coral bottom, very close on the starboard side.  The port side seemed clear.  I put the helm hard to port and immediately got back into deep water. 

I drifted for a while, checked my position, scanned the water around and double checked the chart.  I could see no discolouration of the water indicating a shallow patch or reef.  That evening I scanned some satellite images and detected a slightly lighter patch where I had found the shallow water.  I don’t know how close to touching bottom we came, I guess we never had less than 3m of water under the keel – but consider that is 197m less than I expected. 

The lesson is – always keep the depth sounder on when there is any chance of reefs about outside the established deepwater shipping lanes.  It reminds me of a teacher we had when I was studying for my Second Mates ticket – during a navigation lesson he said to me “remember sonny, the nearest land is usually underneath you”  I have not forgotten that advice.

Following my close encounter with the seabed, I navigated cautiously around the reefs into a bay under the lighthouse at Tg. Kartebileh.  It was a short trip today, we arrived at the anchorage late morning and anchored with some fishermen in 20m of water. 

In the afternoon I made some fresh water, as usual I ran the feed pump for ten minutes to flush the pipes before switching on the high pressure pump.  After a few minutes I realised the valve to the drain line was open and I was filling up the bilge with seawater.  What a day! I set about pumping the bilge dry and doing a bilge clean.  Thirsty work in 36 degrees temperature.   

I then put 40 litres of Indonesian diesel into the port tank, fingers crossed its OK.  It looks good and clean and has a strong gas oil smell.  I will monitor the filters for any debris and crud.  Nothing else untoward occurred, the night was quite at anchor .  The fishermen worked the bay during the night.

Another early morning start.  With yesterday’s experience fresh in my mind, I gingerly navigated through the outlying reefs using some satellite imagery as back up.  By 06:30 we were clear of reefs and heading to Tg. Lenjawa.  

Another day of no wind and motoring.  By mid afternoon we were anchored in 20m of water in the most picturesque Bay.  Protected on all sides, the sort of anchorage where a sailor can relax in the knowledge that anything short of a storm is not going to cause any problems.  By far the best anchorage for protection so far in Indonesia.  Peaceful, relaxing and surrounded by birdsong.

I sat in the cockpit and watched a couple with a young child clearing an impossibly steep hillside of bush.  Obviously very hard work in the heat and to my mind they were getting a meagre return for their efforts.  In the evening they paddled their boat back to the village over a mile away, waving happily to me as they passed.  What fortitude they possessed.

A couple of fishermen came over for a chat early evening.  They said they don’t see many boats.  That evening they lay their nets around the bay and by early morning had hauled nets and headed home, hopefully to sell their catch.

I slept in the cockpit and balls of lightning flashed across the sky, some kind of reflected distant lightening below the horizon.  There was no thunder.  In the early morning I was awoken by birdsong, the dawn chorus.  Time for a cup of tea and get moving again. 

I carefully departed the anchorage through the reef fringed entrance channel.  Another flat calm morning.  Mr. Yanmar happily clattered away beneath my feet, sipping his new Indonesian fuel, no indigestion yet.

As I motored along the coast a couple of whales headed in the same direction close by.  They were coming up for air together in flawless harmony.  When they dived is was perfect coordination as their backs arched and their tails came free of the water to drive then down to the depths.  10:10 for the perfect synchronised dive.  Awesome creatures, I never tire of watching them.

Todays anchorage is at Toro Baso, I anchored off the beach in 8m of water.  A nothing special sort of place.  The local boys didn’t have a boat to come visiting with, they each had a piece of wood to paddle out with.  I am afraid their efforts were wasted, I didn’t have anything to give them.