possibly leaving Indonesia

The high pressure system at 30 degrees S (equivalent to the Azores high in the N Atlantic) which has been causing strong SE Trade wind for the past few days is apparently breaking up so the winds are getting lighter but the swell will remain.

Sea Bunny will probably leave our comfortable and scenic anchorage at Pulau Peucang in the morning and head for Cocos Keeling - out of SE Asia after nearly 7 years and back to Australia, albeit 1200 miles out in the ocean west of the large main part.

Unjung Kulon National Park- Unesco listed

Arrived in Puau Peucang part of a large national park on Thursday and as such there are fees to pay. It is on the remote southwestern tip of Java.
This location provides a very sheltered anchorage to wait for a weather window for the passage to Cocos Keeling which may be in three to four days.

Yesterday was a long white beach walk. Today a trail across the island through primeval forest - deer, pigs, peacocks and monkeys are the main fauna seen. Lots with strangler figs hitching a ride to the canopy. Walk was pleasant as the forest floor is clear of scrub and except for the climb to the end viewpoint the way is flat.

Anak Krakatoa

After leaving our anchorage at Pulau Rakata, the highest part remaining of the volcano that exploded. Sea Bunny headed towards its child, Anak Krakatoa, which emerged from the sea in 1930. It is now 1500 feet high and very much active. One photo shows the Anak Krakatoa in front of Pulau Rakata, the other of Anak Krakatoa alone.
Shall we climb up Anak Krakatoa? Having climbed on black lava in tropical sunshine (or even sub-tropical, Rangitoto, Auckland) we recalled that it is not a terrible pleasant experience and decided - not today.
The rangers had kept out of our way in the eastern anchorage and not told us to leave, as they had with another yacht the day before.
We contented ourselves with photos on such a calm day.

Sunda Strait 16 June 2015

After leaving NW Belitung we had a couple of nights at anchor resting up and debating our assault of the Strait. All available information is conflicting - if we get it wrong then it will be like rounding Portland Bill against the tide complete with lit and unlit oil rigs!

Transited the narrow part of the Strait just before dusk in a flat calm and the tide just turning in our favour and little wind. Negotiated lots of Java ferry traffic waiting to enter the port on Sumatra through the haze of burning rice paddies/land clearance/volcano.

Belitung

View from the anchorage

Sea Bunny got to Belitung on Sunday afternoon after a long haul against wind and current from Bangka. The tides here are diurnal i.e they only change once a day but the stream didn't change in direction, only strength. We anchored virtually on our 2008 waypoint.

Monday was doing a successful temporary fix of the fridge - new one being delivered to Cocos Keeling P.O - so the cheese mountain does not have to be thrown away!
Tuesday was Indonesian bureaucracy day - immigration and customs - and shopping. Excellent fruit and veg market.
Wednesday the battens for the cupboard shelves were found and fixed in.

Company - US yacht Strider

Thursday - taking on and filtering another 300 l of diesel from dirty (outside) leaky cans in a fairly choppy sea and between heavy rain showers.
Dutifully followed agents advice to return cans to different location as the police were with the delivery truck.
 Not pleasant! Nearly all day job including clean up.

Now we are back to Plan B and will leave here tomorrow for an anchorage further south in Belitung ready for a departure towards the Sunda Strait on Sunday.

When we leave this anchorage we shouldn't be somewhere we've been before for the next 12000 miles or so.

NE Bangka Plan D - 5 June 2015

On getting a reasonable 3G connection we realise that the posts we have been sending by satellite have been stored as drafts, rather than published im
mediately- hence the recant batch.

Having got to NW Bangka yesterday the cool light of day and a more benign weather forecast led us to revise the plan of going round Bangka to get to Belitung (plan C part 2), Accordingly we headed from the NW to the NE of the island ready for a 130 mile passage to Belitung (Plan D).

The 35 mile trip across the top of the island was uneventful, except both the tide and wind were against us so it took longer than expected.

Any ideas?

We passed a couple of small floating factories - use uncertain. Best guess is sand dredging and drying.

Plan C - NW Bangka 4 June 2015

Sea Bunny left Lingga at first light Thursday, intending a 216 nM, 36 hour passage to Belitung (plan B - we don't have Plan A),
On clearing the island we found 10-15 knots of wind from SE - the exact direction we wanted to go. Seas were 1 m. The 36 hours would be much extended, meaning an uncomfortable trip and a night arrival amongst the reefs at the NW of Belitung.
Plan C was adopted - alter course 60 degrees to starboard and head for the NW of Pulau Bangka for a 15 hour passage and the option of continuing to the west of Bangka and then NE to to Belitung (Plan C part 2).
This worked and after a stressful hour passing through the fishing fleet 10 miles N of Bangka we anchored at 2115.

Retired ferry

Dawn revealed several fishing boats, a couple of retired Thai ferries and a largish island marked on the chart as a small rock.

Inquisitive local 

 In the morning a local fisherman came alongside for a chat - somewhat difficult with his 10 words of English and our 10 words of Bahasa Indonesia!

Latitude South 3 Jun 2015

Sea Bunny crossed back into the Southern Hemisphere 00:00'.00 S or N, 104:47'.62E, just south of Kantar island at 1400 local time (0700 UTC).
Another mostly upwind trip in light winds, although we started off with a westerly. A few fishing boats and lots of fishing structures.
A few jobs were completed, including laundry!

Pulau Mesanak 2 Jun 2015

A gradual return to life at sea. A 40 nm trip against the light wind but with up to 2 knots of tide with us very pleasant.
Not many ships or even fishing boats and the VHF surprisingly quiet after Singapore. Small underway jobs completed.
Now at Pulau Mesanak, where we stopped on our way up in 2008. Another quiet anchorage, little motion but much calmer than the RSYC marina. Beers on the aft deck with a view of the full moon rising, which will be good for the overnight passage to Belitung in a couple of days.
Not sure how this post will turn out - testing the email post over the new Iridium GO satellite link.

Heading South

Fuelling team - shared birthdays

After 4 days in Nongsa Point we were ready to leave. Having checked several times that we could fill up at the fuel dock before leaving, when we went to the office we were told that there was no diesel. R had to go to the ATM at the ferry terminal and put the card into the machine three times as the limit is about GBP 60. Marina staff collected 315 l from the service station. This was probably, as they insisted when saying we didn't need to filter it, clean when coming out of the pump. After it had spent time in their dirty jerrycans it was far from clean. We passed it all through the Baja filter with took an hour.

We're now anchored off Ayer Rajah, some way down the Riau Strait. Sheltered and peaceful, with only fishing stakes for company.