Palau Sipora , Mentawai islands, West Sumatra ( 6th May to 8th May 2016)

After an overnight voyage on the 6th of May, we arrived at Sipora Island (Siburu) which is part of the Mentawai Island chain of West Sumatra. There are some lovely quiet resorts here aimed at the surfers who come for the great swells brought in from the southern Indian ocean. We were boarded by friendly coastguard offficials while we were underway and they checked our cruising permit and visa's.

 We continued to a small island and stayed in a lovely protected anchorage with our friends on SV Leto while making final preparations for the long voyage to Chagos.

John and Ainsley have a most appealing resort here. They have put many hours of hard work and artistic flare into creating this unique hideaway. We enjoyed "Happy hour" drinks one evening with some surfers off a launch and a very nice smorgasboard lunch the next day, entertained by their pet monkey.

CRUISERS NOTES

Siburu: (Sipora) We anchored off the Aloita resort jetty.

The holding did not feel good and there was a strong tidal flow. The resort management was very friendly and suggested re anchoring just on the south eastern end of the island in a semi bay. It was only a short distance back. We tried to re anchor and did manage to find a good sandy patch in around 6m but the Leto's who were traveling with us immediately hooked on a bombie. There was not really enough room on our patch for two boats so we followed them on to the Hawaiian resort. Half way there we were stopped by the navy in a long canoe style outboard powered boat all in camo! The uniformed officer that came aboard was courteous and had good English. He asked why we had not checked in at Topejat? We told him that we had cleared in Padang and after a sleep at the resort we would be heading for Chagos. The sleep over was fine. But he still wanted the usual copies of our CAIT, crew list and ships papers even though it was irrelevant and out of date!

So you never know. Keep some even after you’ve cleared. We assume it qualifies their job. Just the same as back home! They took photos of Leto but didn’t board.

Hawaiian resort : The resort is on the small west island on the western end. The anchorage is to the eastern end of this island. We anchored off the white sand beach at the eastern end. The holding is good in sand. We then reconnoitered by dinghy a snugger anchorage and moved to 02' 07.6415 S 99' 31.613 E

The bottom is sand in 6 m. The resort is very easy to access. They are nice folk and the chill out lay back and very interesting main building is a great place to mentally prepare one self for the next passage. They do good meals, sell beer , have a slow wifi and cute monkey.

We were approached by young fisher men in dugouts that offered drinking coconuts and octopus. One man showed me his very worn out single flipper. At least he didn’t ask for money! Leto's were approached by two aggressive men in a dugout with the usual hand written form with a stamp on it demanding anchorage fees. Peter said no!

From here we began our passage to Chagos.

Padang and Cubadak Island (25th April to 6th May 2012)

We arrived at Teluk Bayur, the cargo port of Padang on the 25th of April and  spent a week restocking with supplies and orientating to our surroundings.

The morning anchovy catch fresh for the market

private wharf used by charter boats and  yachties

My brother Ralph arrived from NZ to crew for us to Mauritius via Chagos (BIOT) We hired a guide and a driver for the day. On the way to pick Ralph up from the hotel we were stopped by the police as part of a roadside check. Nothing was wrong but the driver had to pay him a bribe. He said that as he was transporting tourists and earning good money he should have his cut! A common occurence in Indonesia

Motorbikes and sidecars/trailers carry huge loads but there appears to be no restrictions on cargo size 

Meeting Ralph on the 1st of May

We lunched at a traditional Padang cuisine restaurant

The cat under the table wanted his share too

Our guide Azu and driver John

Ralph organising new transportation???

Cubadak resort, Cubadak Island, 10nm sth of Padang

Enjoying beers with hosts Marco and Dominique

Filling water tanks at the resort jetty

Cruising friends Peter and Cathy. We joined them for dinner at the resort that night to celebrate his birthday

View from the top of the hill

Cathy on top of the world!

We got a lift with Marco to and from the nearby village, Carocok. He had guests to pick up and others who were leaving

We had 4 hrs to look around before getting a ride back to the resort

We got a ride in an opelet (motorbike with sidecar) to the nearby town, Tarasun where there was a market. It took about 20mins.

There were many children who had finished morning school walking home

This man at the market (pasar) was very happy to have his photo taken shredding coconut

The local people were extremely friendly and inquisitive

Indonesian coffee (Kopi) was enjoyed here while Ralph purchased gifts to take home to NZ

We had a great day out

Tomorrow we leave for the Mentawi Islands, an overnight sail, and we will leave there for Chagos (BIOT)

CRUISERS NOTES

Padang: 01' 00.01S 100'23.06E. We chose to go to Padang even though many people had said that anchoring south at Cubadak Island and commuting north to Padang by bus was nicer. We needed supplies, diesel and also to pick up Cathy’s brother as crew. This would have meant multiple trips and we didn’t know what we might get at Cubadak. We knew we would get it all at Padang.

We had a recommendation for an agent (guide) in Padang. Azu. Ph 082171871084. He is a pleasant young man who is trying to establish himself as a fixer (surfers term). He is young and is just coming to realize that cruisers needs are different to those of a surfing boat charterer.

We had him arrange some cheap transport 250,000 Rph/day. This included a non English speaking driver and fuel. Azu charged 250,000 Ir for the day and you are expected to buy them lunch. Azu knows some nice places. We got most of what we needed from Basco mall super market.

We landed our dinghy at the small private jetty at the head of the bay. This is owned by Azu's ex boss and he has an arrangement to use it. However this requires a payment of 250,000 Rph through Azu to the owner. This is for one use or multiple uses. We paid as we would use it often. But we found that Azu's colleges were not looking after our dinghy as arranged and we hauled it on the little beach just to the right of the jetty. While in harbour a squall came through and we dragged anchor. As many as six ships dragged and there was a near collision. Moorings may be arranged if any of the charter fleet are out. The bottom seems to be a fine mud of varying thickness and may be covered in rubbish.

We had been told that the authorities here, particularly the immigration can be quite brutal with fees.

We paid the immigration nothing. He did hint at whiskey. We paid Harbour Master and Quarantine 50,000 Rph each. The immigration man works between town and the port and keeps his stamps at his home ?

There is a good little market a short walk from the anchorage. Diesel is 10,000 a lt and a 110,000 delivery fee to your boat. We organised cheaper 7,000 fuel around the corner at Bungus habour and got a bogus shitty brew! We arranged another day to pick up Cathy's brother and do the clearing rounds. For this we hired a better vehicle, 600,000/day with driver. We were stopped at a police road block and the driver had to pay a 50,000 rp bribe or things could be made difficult ? The car and driver we all legal but if there are tourists aboard then there's money and the police want their cut. We did reimburse the driver.

Cubadak: 01' 12.94S 100'24.06E. The anchorage is on sand in 16 to 25 meters. The shallower you anchor the greater the chance that you may pick up a bomy. We had no problems. There is moderate fetch to the east but we felt safe. The resort is run by Marco and Danial. They are french but have excellent English. They could not have been more accommodating. We carefully tied up along side their light weight but well braced jetty to take on water and enjoyed a beer while the tanks filled. They refused to take any payment for it. They then went further, as at that time no fuel was available at the Menawies and they felt it may not be good to fill up over at Corocok. (We have heard from others that it was good and convenient to fuel there.) How ever Marco kindly topped us up with 60 lts of diesel and also sold us 4lt of petrol at 5500 per lt. They took our rubbish and burnt it. The only small profit that they may have made from us was from a few modestly priced beer's and a superb evening meal.

I hope no-one in the future does anything to change their attitude to cruisers calling in there in the future.

Nias, Telo, Batu, Tanabahla Islands and Siberut island ( 15th April to 24th April 2012)

On the 15^th of April we left Afulu on Nias Is  for Palau Asu with SV Leto. We anchored off a very picturesque beach next to this local boat with a very happy young lad singing away and pumping the bilges..

We kayaked ashore and took the children lollies much to their delight.

The next day we motorsailed to the bottom of Nias Island to Teluk Lagundri. This is an extremely popular surfing spot.

SV Serannity arrived (Lou and Ann) whom we'd met in Langkawi and we were all invited to a meal aboard. It was great catching up on their adventures.

The next morning we beat the others out of bed and headed for Palau Telo. They soon caught up and we had a day of shifting wind and rain followed by good winds....About time.. Eric caught a bonito which he filleted and we cooked some fillets straight away. It was delicious...

The next highlight was crossing the equator and to re enter the southern hemisphere. It was too rough to swim across the line so we celebrated with a rum instead.

We anchored off the island of Telo to the sound of pigs squealing. It appeared to be a predominantly christian island with more churches visible than mosques

Celebrations were held aboard Leto that night.

 After re provisioning with fruit and veges, we organised diesel and then enjoyed coffee at a seaside cafe, Indonesian style..

A ship had been in the day before so local boats were coming in to pick up supplies to take to the outer islands

That afternoon we motored between a narrow gut of reefs and land to the Batu islands. They are low lying and coral fringed with palm trees and few inhabitants. Cathy stood on the spreaders up the mast to spot reefs and to take photos along the way

Satellite dishes were quite common

 We went ashore the next day to stretch our legs and burn our rubbish and  discovered a surfers lodge and restaurant being built.

Another day of motoring took us to the island of Tanahbala. We had to keep a good lookout as there are reefs just above the surface and low lying islets all very wrongly charted. The entrance into the bay where we anchored was interesting as the reef on both sides was throwing up some spectacular crashing waves.

We have found the Indonesian people have a great sense of humour and very friendly

We anchored in calm water. The swell was dampened by the reefs.
The next day we were visited by dugout canoes full of school children and they were delighted to be given books, pens and pencils

Boys and birds competing for fish

After an overnight sail we arrived at Limo on the island of Siberut where there was a fishing village and busy trading post

This massive jellyfish  passed under the kayak. It's tentacles were huge

Squid boat

After an overnight voyage we arrived in the port of Teluk Bayur in Padang.

That will be another story

Cruisers Notes

ASU: 00'54.3891N 97'16.8040E We anchored in 20m. We gave reasonable scope from the shore as we were exposed to the East. The bottom is sand. This is a pretty place. The resorts were empty. We gave lollies to the children ashore and felt that the locals were friendly. We found a small patch of fresh good coral with lots of fish life just 20m to the north of the jetty.

LAGUDRI: 00'33.76N 97'44.31E This anchoring area seemed to be the most free of swell. At the time we were there it was almost flat. There were quite a few surfers on the break on the far side of the bay. We didn’t go ashore.

TELO: 00' 02.493S 98'16.96E We anchored several hundred meters to the north of the wharf. The town looked very interesting. As always one is never sure whether one is going to be challenged by a harbour master. We went ashore, landing on a small sandy patch right next to the wharf. There were official looking buildings with uniformed people lurking around them but I don’t think that they were keen to do any paper work. Just outside the wharf area we found good vegetables and solar at 6000 /L . But the young side car lad wanted 120000 to deliver it the 50m to the dinghy!

PALAU BATU: 08'1326S 98'20.67E We anchored in sand, 16m. Be aware that the fringing reef to the north projects out a moderate distance in some spots. The area and landing in front of the resort is sand and weed but with some bombies . We went ashore and looked around. Easy and interesting. A young builder from the work crew making a good job of the new building that was under construction was detailed to look after us. Unfortunately he had no English. We burnt our rubbish ashore.

TANAHBALA: Finger Bay: 00' 20.174S 98'2931E Approach the anchorage straight down the middle of the bay there will be large breaking swells on each side that may have surfers on them. At the time and weather state when we were there the swells at the top of the bay were almost completely gone. The top of the bay shallows to a large area of around 3m. The bottom is sand and a beard like weed. The bay is picturesque and we had a nice visit from school children. They appreciated lollies, pens and books. Unfortunately on our second day we were approached by two aggressive men waving a piece of paper hand written in Indonesian with an official stamp on it. They wanted mooring fees. We pretended not to understand but this didn’t work so we got angry and sent them away. We upped anchor and left.

LIMU: 01'04.8237S 98'57.3282E This little hideaway may show on electronic charts as the Tabekat river. We thought of the place as Tabby cat! Please note that we did not go ashore here. We sat for two days observing, keeping a low profile and relaxing. The anchorage is very sheltered although there is modest fetch to the north. The holding is exceptional in heavy sand mud mix. ( 10 to 14m)The access is good but there is a ridge extending across the entrance that gets down to 6 to 7m. This seems to be a busy little port with a small commercial wharf and a small supporting trading post (no mosque). There is a lot of river boats bringing goods to trade. The river may be fun to explore by dinghy. There is a large drying sand bar off the river mouth marked on the charts. We suspect you would find most basics here. We dare say there is a harbour master here but one could go straight to the trading post at high tide and avoid the wharf.