Cocos (Keeling) Islands to Sumatra Indonesia

Tuesday July 20, 8.30 - Departed Direction Islands – winds around 6 knots from the north, where I was headed. It was going to be a slow few days with light and variable winds. At 15.00 motored past North Keeling Island – an uninhabited bird sanctuary and smelt like it too. Boobies, Gannets, Wedge tail Shearwaters etc.

An aside: I am writing these notes from the ships log while at anchor in a beautiful palm fringed bay on an island off Sumatra Indonesia with a cold Bintang and Jimmy Buffet playing. Surely it does not get much better than this. Back to the ships log.

On Wednesday I was able to turn off the motor and do some sailing. Sadiqi carries around 100 litres of fuel, giving a range of 400 miles, working on one litre/hour travelling at 4 knots. We had nearly 700 miles to travel to the island of Bojo off Sumatra. The wind came and went during the day, if the wind falls below 8 knots the boat just wallows, sails slat and it is time to start the motor. We were headed for the “Horse latitudes” or Doldrums where there is not much wind.

I noticed the engine was running hotter than normal so checked the water pump impeller. The impeller was cracked in places but still ok. I replaced it anyway. The water temperature where I was sailing was around 28 degrees Celsius more than 10 degrees hotter than the waters off Fremantle. The fridge was also having a tough time with the warmer conditions.

Thursday and the sails were slatting again! Slatting is where there is not enough wind to fill the sails and hold the boat in the swell The sails just bang from one side to the other – causing more damage to the sails and frustration to me than anything else. By morning the wind had increased to 10 – 12 knots from the east and we were sailing again at 4 knots - very pleasant sailing. In two days we had travelled 133 miles. As there was wind it was an opportunity to change the engine oil. No, I did not throw the old engine oil over the side.

Friday the winds were up to 20 knots again from the east– fantastic. I dislike sailing in light airs – it’s bloody hard work! Boat speed was up to 5.5 knots and we were sailing along very nicely.

Saturday, five days out of Cocos, with the good winds we managed to sail 117 miles for the day. The best distance covered between Cocos and Indonesia. I discovered an unwanted passenger onboard. A Boobie, I think, seabird had somehow managed to land on the solar panels on the Binini during the night. The evidence was the white crap all over the place. I nicked named it “Crap-a-Lot” as this bird was a serial shitter!

I pushed the bird off and it somehow it landed on the boat twice more before landing on the pulpit railing at the front of the boat. I was happy with this arrangement as it was not shitting on my solar panels. We were probably sailing in 4 to 5 metre seas and swell how this bird managed to land on the boat beats me. The whole landing approach into wind and big flare on landing was amazing. By Midday Crap-a-Lot had flown off and with the wind in the east I was able to raise the asymmetrical spinnaker – the big coloured sail. This was fantastic sailing.

Sunday – alas all good things come to and end and so to did the wind. I made up and Indonesia courtesy flag for when I arrived in Indonesia. Then the winds, pretty much, died altogether I furled all the sails and tied off the tiller and went to sleep. I must have been tired as when I woke up two hours later the noise for the boat rolling around the waves was incredible. Mind you I did for the first time in days have more than an hours sleep in one stretch. “Crap-a-LotII” turned up and after three attempts landed on the foredeck and stayed there.

Monday was one of those days that I would rather not have had. It was a day that tested my metal. What wind there was rotated from all points of the compass and not with any conviction. I was woken at 6 am from a very deep sleep with winds up to 30 knots and all the sails backed, 20 minutes later the wind was 5 knots from the north! Being conscious of the quantity of fuel I had already used since Cocos I was wary of using the motor with 170 miles to go to Bojo Island. I stood on the deck and shouted at the top of my voice at the injustice and lack of wind. There was a lot of cursing as well. I was quite hoarse the next day. I wonder if it should be called the “Hoarse Latitudes”. I eventually rationalised the situation thinking would I rather be parked in rush hour traffic on the Freeway. I shut up after that and all was good with my world – a little irrational rationalisation. Somehow “Crap-a-LotII” endured all this human emotional outpouring or just ignored it.

Tuesday – a week after leaving Cocos I saw the lights of a fishing boat. This was the first sighting of human activity since leaving Cocos. As the winds permitted I was either motoring or motor sailing. There is a fair amount of debris in the ocean, in fact a lot. I notice one pile of the stuff tha

t seemed to have some life so I motored over and saw a large turtle entangled in pieced of fishing nets. I rescued the turtle by cutting the ropes and putting it back in the water. I could only hope that it would survive. I could see mountains in the distance, come evening, the island of Siberut. Being closer to land I had to be more observant about fishing boats and possibly nets in the water. This meant sleeping for half an hour at time and checking for boats. The AIS would alert me to any ships (greater than 300 tonnes) if there was a risk of collision.

At first light on Wednesday I could just make out Bojo Island my destination. Just after midday I dropped anchor in a sheltered, palm fringed bay near the village of TG Duru – Tanahbala Island of the Batu group. Latitude: 00.33’20”S Longitude: 098.29’18”E. We had travelled 693 nautical miles from Cocos (Keeling) Island and used the motor for 76 hours in just over eight days. It was also with great relief that I saw several other yachts in the bay. Why I chose Bojo Island as a destination in Indonesia, I’m not sure. I had acquired some charts of the islands off Sumatra from Toby. Being on my own I had planned to skip Indonesia other than to have a rest for a few days. The Southeast Asia Cruising Guide that I use did not really rate the West Coast of Sumatra other than to say “unless you are a keen surfer or something eccentric would you go to Padang…. Annual rainfall of 4,500mm. I’m guessing there are probably not enough cappuccino stops on the West Coast of Sumatra, which there probably aren’t. I had chosen Bojo as on the chart there was a sheltered anchorage pencilled in near by. I am so glad I stopped here.

Shortly after dropping anchor a dugout canoe motored slowly toward the boat. I though this was some sort of officialdom. I was presented with a form in Indonesian, which I could not understand by two people who could not speak any English and was led to believe that I should pay some money. I had no Indonesian Rupee with me. Being tired and wanting a rest I gave them US$50.00! They eventually left. It was only after the guys on the other yachts came over to me and told me what the deal was. I had probably given them an equivalent of a years donations – I had been effectively fleeced 50 bucks! Some of the Indonesians have got wise to surfing tourists and charter boat operators coming to the area. They go out to the boats and ask for donations for their village, this can be used for sports equipment or fuel for generators etc. An individual donation of around AU$5.00 is perfectly adequate. We live and learn.