PREPARING TO DEPART INDONESIA

7 June 2024

Belitung is a really nice place and I have enjoyed my time here.  But, good things must come to an end so you can go and find more different good things.  I have used my time here well and am happy to report the spinnaker pole is repaired and ready to be used in anger again.  I also received a new needle valve for the water maker, fitting was a bit tricky and required some improvisation.  The pressure gauge is now upside down, but the good news, there are no leaks this time, is its working as well as ever.  Once the pressure is adjusted by the needle valve it stays constant.  Unlike previously, when the pressure would fluctuate and almost constant monitoring was needed.  The water maker is a real bonus in the tropics where a slightly cool shower is very refreshing, no towel is needed, just dry off in the breeze to get cool.

Social life on Belitung  has been good with a few hardy cruisers passing through to have drinks, food and conversations with.  The local village has an excellent coffee shop and café serving delicious Indonesian food.  The girls serving were surprised when I ordered ‘local hot’ as they are used to serving bland mild food to non-Indonesians. The staff were very kind, helpful and interested in what I was doing. They sort of adopted this old man, on one visit they made me a special soup, it was delicious. I even left a tip which is usually against my religion.

In preparation for sailing again I enlisted the services of the local diving contractors who have a dive support boat. The guys turned up and cleaned the hull which had grown a grass skirt at the anchorage.  Underwater the hull was slimy and crustaceous creatures had taken up residence on the propellor.  The dive kit consisted of a compressor on the boat with a long air hose stuck into a face mask, it worked. It seemed an inconvenience that they couldn’t smoke underwater. They did a great job of cleaning, blooms of red antifoul paint could be seen in the water.

More stores had to be loaded on board for the voyage ahead. I have cupboards full of food but can never decide what to eat, I am completely lacking in imagination when it comes to cooking. Like a lady who stands in front of the wardrobe and declares ‘I have nothing to wear!’ I visited the local shops and bought some provisions.  For some of the  bulkier and heavy items like bottled water, box of noodles, cases of soda water etc.  I arranged with a local store owner to deliver the stores to the dinghy on the beach.  Helpfully, Mr. Chandra did his stuff and I received my boxes delivered as promised.

On the 4^th June I had a visit by the Indonesian Customs.  They wanted to check Truce over and satisfy themselves all was in order for the clearance out of Indonesia.  The Customs officers did a good job of checking I hadn’t changed out the engine and the drugs (medical) on board were as listed.  With the customs clearance complete they lightened up and we had a good chat and laugh on the way back to the shore in the dinghy.

The following day I headed down to Tanjung Pandan to complete the rest of the clearance with Immigration, Sanitation (Port Health) and the Harbour Master.  All went extremely well and my helper Mr.  Ervan was indeed a good helper.  With my clearance papers in hand I was all set to sail onwards.  However, not so quick.  When I arrived back on the boat I checked all the documents.  I know from experience that Port Officials the world over are looking for anything out of place on a document to cause trouble and start the ransom process.  I noticed that the Harbour Master had entered the wrong month on the outward clearance papers.  A quick call to Ervan confirmed that the papers would have to be changed in the morning.  So, another day in Belitung.

Truce and I are all ready to go again, the new clearance document is on board.  We are sailing in the morning and heading across to the west coast of Borneo.  This next part should be interesting, I am looking forward to it.

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