Leaving Malaysia at last.....
As we did not want to spend another season in Langkawi waiting for the NE Monsoon to blow itself out, we decided to sail down down the west coast of Sumatra, through the Sunda Straits, have a look at Krakatoa and then sail NE up to Singapore, hoping to catch the beginning of the SW Monsoon. This is a trip that few if any cruising boats seem to do, most boats that venture to Sumatra's west coast only going for the surfing season.
We enjoyed a final meal shoreside with Helena and Bruno from SV Helena Zwo, who introduced us to their friends Jim and Helen from Yacht 'Gaia', who were also intending to go part of teh way down the west coast.
After a final stock up of provisions and duty free wine and beer, on 22nd March 2012 we left the cruisers comfort zone of Telaga Harbour for the last time and set off south east, crossing the Melaka Straits towards Sumatra. We had virtually no wind and in all took 6 days, motoring most of the way. These are one of the busiest shipping lanes of the world, witha continuous stram of shipping coming up the Melaka Straits and over the top of Sumatra and our AIS was invaluable to warn us of approaching cargo boats and gave us ample time to take evasive action. However the many fishing boats were still a hazard as they are built largely of wood and do not show up on the radar. Particularly at night as they often do not have adequate lights or even on occasion the correct lights, so night sailing can be a little fraught.
We enjoyed a final meal shoreside with Helena and Bruno from SV Helena Zwo, who introduced us to their friends Jim and Helen from Yacht 'Gaia', who were also intending to go part of teh way down the west coast.
After a final stock up of provisions and duty free wine and beer, on 22nd March 2012 we left the cruisers comfort zone of Telaga Harbour for the last time and set off south east, crossing the Melaka Straits towards Sumatra. We had virtually no wind and in all took 6 days, motoring most of the way. These are one of the busiest shipping lanes of the world, witha continuous stram of shipping coming up the Melaka Straits and over the top of Sumatra and our AIS was invaluable to warn us of approaching cargo boats and gave us ample time to take evasive action. However the many fishing boats were still a hazard as they are built largely of wood and do not show up on the radar. Particularly at night as they often do not have adequate lights or even on occasion the correct lights, so night sailing can be a little fraught.
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Banda Aceh Northern Sumatra
Finally we arrived at Lampageue, five miles from Banda Aceh. This is where the Tsunami was most destructive and one can see why. the huge waves must have curled around the headland and hit the narrow level shoreline with incredible force. From the shore the hills rise steeply, giving the water nowhere to go but to roll around and destroy everything. Only one building was spared, the local mosque.Needless to say this was taken as a sign from God as Banda Aceh is very staunchly Moslem.
These strangely shaped Sumatran fishing boats
came to greet us.
Many of them had flags painted on their
transoms, maybe as a tribute to the nations
who had contributed to the disaster relief
funds? We saw one with the South African flag.
Alec went ashore to try to find an ATM and to look around. There is now very little evidence of the Tsunami as World Relief funds poured in and everything has been rebuilt. Banda Aceh received most of the funds but we understand that other communities were largely ignored.
Alec looking relaxed after a wonderful day's sailing
Jim and Helen joined us at Banda Aceh and we had sundowners on their yacht 'Gaia' and Helen made copies of various pilotage details of the area, plus logbook entries from a boat that had sailed these waters. These proved invaluable as our chartplotter in this area is not very accurate, sometimes up to 1 km out.
We left Banda Aceh together, 'Gaia' taking a short cut through a narrow gap without checking the tides and were almost swept onto a rocky shore by a strong current against them. We fortunately had decided to take the longer route between mainland Sumatra and Pulai Weh, as with our small motors we would have been in real trouble. We picked up lovely winds and had a lovely day of sailing. We went through one small squall but in the main just flew across the sea - marvellous. Poor 'Gaia', being closer inshore, had no wind and motored all the way.
We left Banda Aceh together, 'Gaia' taking a short cut through a narrow gap without checking the tides and were almost swept onto a rocky shore by a strong current against them. We fortunately had decided to take the longer route between mainland Sumatra and Pulai Weh, as with our small motors we would have been in real trouble. We picked up lovely winds and had a lovely day of sailing. We went through one small squall but in the main just flew across the sea - marvellous. Poor 'Gaia', being closer inshore, had no wind and motored all the way.
Seudu
Thursday afternoon at Seudu. We went ashore, no diesel available and tried to pre-book a meal at the only restaurant in Seudu, which was closed on Fridays, so planned meal was off.
Seudu had been badly damaged by teh Tsunami, most of the coast road washed out and many buildings. The coast road has been rebuilt inland, with foreign donations. But there was still a sense of desolation, a small depressed community sitting in the middle of nowhere.
Friday: The Gaia's came to tea and Alec plugged in waypoints from the information they had given us A very pleasant sociable time.
Seudu had been badly damaged by teh Tsunami, most of the coast road washed out and many buildings. The coast road has been rebuilt inland, with foreign donations. But there was still a sense of desolation, a small depressed community sitting in the middle of nowhere.
Friday: The Gaia's came to tea and Alec plugged in waypoints from the information they had given us A very pleasant sociable time.
Pics of tsunami damage at Seudu
PULAU TANGKURA
SATURDAY: Miserable wet drippy day, Left Seudu for Tangkura, both engines were needed to get around headland against a strong current. Anchored off “Tsunami Island” (not it's real name) It was formed when the force of the tidal wave washed away a huge area of land cutting a channel through portion of the mainland, thereby forming a new island. Incredible!!!
SUNDAY: Next morning was magic! Bright sunny day, a herd of cattle on the new island, and Cherry watched a calf being born on the beach. Cows standing protectively round the mother and waiting for the new baby to stand up and start suckling. Very special moments.
We unfortunately had arrived too late and then left again too early for photographs. The light was against us.
SATURDAY: Miserable wet drippy day, Left Seudu for Tangkura, both engines were needed to get around headland against a strong current. Anchored off “Tsunami Island” (not it's real name) It was formed when the force of the tidal wave washed away a huge area of land cutting a channel through portion of the mainland, thereby forming a new island. Incredible!!!
SUNDAY: Next morning was magic! Bright sunny day, a herd of cattle on the new island, and Cherry watched a calf being born on the beach. Cows standing protectively round the mother and waiting for the new baby to stand up and start suckling. Very special moments.
We unfortunately had arrived too late and then left again too early for photographs. The light was against us.
Pulau Raya
Pulau Raya. A lot of damage.visible here. Very small local village, all wooden houses. Sheared off trees standing in water in the bay and the fishing boats now have to use a small inlet to get ashore. New road has been built and new bridges but the whole place had a lost and forlorn feel to it.
We went ashore and met some local men who invited us for coffee. It is quite an effort socialising when neither party speaks or understands the other's language. We resort to sign language and a Bahasa dictionary and manage to get some sort of rapport going.
We went ashore and met some local men who invited us for coffee. It is quite an effort socialising when neither party speaks or understands the other's language. We resort to sign language and a Bahasa dictionary and manage to get some sort of rapport going.
Calang
On to Calang on yet another sunny bright day. Very difficult dinghy landing, for some reason the whole beach area is fenced off with high security fencing and the only place to land a dinghy is among rocks. We did this with much trepidation and were then faced with a 2 kilometre walk into the “city” proper. Banks were offline so no ATM service so once more no diesel, but we managed to get some vegetables.
Calang was totally destroyed by the tsunami. Not one building was left standing and we walked past many gaps in the street where houses had once stood and not been rebuilt. There are also numerous concrete slabs where there were formerly buildings. Although the damage was so extensive as this town is only about 75km from the epicentre of the earthquake which caused the tsunami, there was no feeling of the hopelessness that Cherry felt at Seudu, rather a feeling of hope and rebuilding.
On returning to the yacht (with difficulty and getting very wet) we were visited by local lads, some from the army, who swam out to us.
Calang was totally destroyed by the tsunami. Not one building was left standing and we walked past many gaps in the street where houses had once stood and not been rebuilt. There are also numerous concrete slabs where there were formerly buildings. Although the damage was so extensive as this town is only about 75km from the epicentre of the earthquake which caused the tsunami, there was no feeling of the hopelessness that Cherry felt at Seudu, rather a feeling of hope and rebuilding.
On returning to the yacht (with difficulty and getting very wet) we were visited by local lads, some from the army, who swam out to us.
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Pulau Simelue
Wednesday 4/4 Calang to Simelue :Our port propeller got caught in a float line from a fishing platform leaving Calang, but thanks to folding props was easy to disentangle.
The sea was like a millpond again so much motoring, taking two days and 2 nights to reach Langton bay. Which was not pleasant. Big swells, very uncomfortable night. Went on to Bosong bay next day, once again no wind.
Anchored 5.30pm, lost lure and fishing teaser when a local fishing boat came too close and snagged our lines, This was not good as we are now down to one teaser and only a few lures.
The rocking motion of the boat caused Cherry's carefully precooked dinner to land on floor, (@#$@!!), She then spent the next half hour sifting it for any glass and recooked it to sterilise it. One cannot afford to waste food when there are no shops around. Then made coffee and inadvertently used a spoon that had been used for measuring a herb flavouring to mix up the powdered milk. Ugh!!.....................................Not a good day!!
The sea was like a millpond again so much motoring, taking two days and 2 nights to reach Langton bay. Which was not pleasant. Big swells, very uncomfortable night. Went on to Bosong bay next day, once again no wind.
Anchored 5.30pm, lost lure and fishing teaser when a local fishing boat came too close and snagged our lines, This was not good as we are now down to one teaser and only a few lures.
The rocking motion of the boat caused Cherry's carefully precooked dinner to land on floor, (@#$@!!), She then spent the next half hour sifting it for any glass and recooked it to sterilise it. One cannot afford to waste food when there are no shops around. Then made coffee and inadvertently used a spoon that had been used for measuring a herb flavouring to mix up the powdered milk. Ugh!!.....................................Not a good day!!
Sinabong on Pulau Simelue
Next day set off for Sinabong for provisioning. We had to walk three km to the nearest crossroad and then started the long weary slog of 11km to town. Thank goodness a “songthaew” type local transport came by and picked us up.
The market was good, lovely vegetables but terrible chicken. It was killed in front of us and then skinned to get rid of the feathers. Tough, stringy, expensive and not worth it. We have decided to become vegetarians at sea, unless we catch fish or are able to by from the local fishermen.
Getting back to the yacht was quite an adventure. Our chart showed the name of our anchorage as Lugu Bay so we hired one of the local becak (trishaw type transport) and asked him to take us to Lugu. Well we realised that he was going across the island in totally the wrong direction so it was back to Sinabong to try to find an English speaker. We finally found a lady who helped us and it appears that our bay is called Bosong and not Lugu. So our trishaw man, with much huffing and puffing and (in Indonesian) “Long way, Long way” finally got us back.
We stopped at a beach coffee house and had a very good meal of Murtabak and were then invited to (would you believe!) “Drop in for tea” with a local lady. We were fooled into thinking she could speak English, but no such luck. “Drop in” was her total vocabulary. Anyway, tea with her and dozens of schoolkids enjoying the beach and playground and then back to Rainbow Gypsy. Lovely, long, tiring, fun day.
The market was good, lovely vegetables but terrible chicken. It was killed in front of us and then skinned to get rid of the feathers. Tough, stringy, expensive and not worth it. We have decided to become vegetarians at sea, unless we catch fish or are able to by from the local fishermen.
Getting back to the yacht was quite an adventure. Our chart showed the name of our anchorage as Lugu Bay so we hired one of the local becak (trishaw type transport) and asked him to take us to Lugu. Well we realised that he was going across the island in totally the wrong direction so it was back to Sinabong to try to find an English speaker. We finally found a lady who helped us and it appears that our bay is called Bosong and not Lugu. So our trishaw man, with much huffing and puffing and (in Indonesian) “Long way, Long way” finally got us back.
We stopped at a beach coffee house and had a very good meal of Murtabak and were then invited to (would you believe!) “Drop in for tea” with a local lady. We were fooled into thinking she could speak English, but no such luck. “Drop in” was her total vocabulary. Anyway, tea with her and dozens of schoolkids enjoying the beach and playground and then back to Rainbow Gypsy. Lovely, long, tiring, fun day.
Pulau Lasia
Pulau Lasia: 9/4/ We arrived at this beautiful anchorage at 5.30pm. Very scenic, enclosed and calm. We had hoped to meet up with “Gaia” and “Fast Forward” (another South African yacht) but they had had a very rough and rolly night here the night before and decided to move on. We got there after the storm had abated and had a wonderful calm night. Slept very well.
Alec took advantage of the calm sea and dived down to polish the propellers to try and make them work better. They are not performing as well as we hoped and it now appears after much toing and froing of emails that Beta supplied the wrong size props! We are totally ticked off about it as we have spent a lot of time and money trying to get better performance from our boat.
Alec went ashore for a walk while Cherry pottered about doing various computer jobs and getting the Calibre library for our Kindles sorted. During the afternoon there was a short, strange movement of the boat and a low rumbling sound from the anchor chain. WEIRD IN THE EXTREME!
We heard later from “Gaia” that another huge earthquake had occurred off Sumatra, but thankfully no tsunami followed.
There was, as has become the norm, no coral so no snorkelling. All we seem to do is sail or motor from one island to another, West Sumatran islands all being very beautiful, but do not have much for travellers to do.
Alec took advantage of the calm sea and dived down to polish the propellers to try and make them work better. They are not performing as well as we hoped and it now appears after much toing and froing of emails that Beta supplied the wrong size props! We are totally ticked off about it as we have spent a lot of time and money trying to get better performance from our boat.
Alec went ashore for a walk while Cherry pottered about doing various computer jobs and getting the Calibre library for our Kindles sorted. During the afternoon there was a short, strange movement of the boat and a low rumbling sound from the anchor chain. WEIRD IN THE EXTREME!
We heard later from “Gaia” that another huge earthquake had occurred off Sumatra, but thankfully no tsunami followed.
There was, as has become the norm, no coral so no snorkelling. All we seem to do is sail or motor from one island to another, West Sumatran islands all being very beautiful, but do not have much for travellers to do.
Aloban
We moved on to Aloban .Very peaceful, no swell but were attacked by battalions of midges which drove us inside. We have never seen so many flying creatures, and had to barricade ourselves against them. All mozzie nets up, ports and hatches closed. So we moved early next day to:
Calm Bay (Serangatan) On the way we were hit by a 25kt squall so we reefed the mainsail and enjoyed a wonderful sail for 2 to 3 hours until we turned the corner into Calm Bay. Was this bay ever well named!!.
“Gaia” and “Fast Forward” were already there, having squeezed past rocks without seeing them! The rocks were shown on our chart, so we of course found them. Thinking that the way was clear they had suggested we anchor next to them! Not good! This is at least one reason we rarely buddy sail, you have to be responsible for yourself! We tried twice to get past the rocks but finally gave up and anchored in the entrance to the bay in much deeper water. Lovely calm night with no midges.
Calm Bay (Serangatan) On the way we were hit by a 25kt squall so we reefed the mainsail and enjoyed a wonderful sail for 2 to 3 hours until we turned the corner into Calm Bay. Was this bay ever well named!!.
“Gaia” and “Fast Forward” were already there, having squeezed past rocks without seeing them! The rocks were shown on our chart, so we of course found them. Thinking that the way was clear they had suggested we anchor next to them! Not good! This is at least one reason we rarely buddy sail, you have to be responsible for yourself! We tried twice to get past the rocks but finally gave up and anchored in the entrance to the bay in much deeper water. Lovely calm night with no midges.
Sibolga:
Leaving Calm Bay taught us a very scary lesson. If you have been given waypoints, STICK TO THEM and do not deviate by even ten metres. We went slightly off beam and found ourselves right over a reef in about 2m of water. Not a good feeling at all.
Once again no wind, glass calm sea. Wind picked up a little during the morning and “Gaia” who had left Calm Bay an hour behind us caught up. They took a different course to us to Sibolga trying to avoid numerous shallow patches and islets shown on the charts. We decided to follow a rhumb line, and we were lucky enough to find wind and have a wonderful overnight sail. Arrived off Sibolga and found “Gaia” behind us! Their circuitous route had meant they did not get the wind and had had to motor all night.
We anchored and went ashore to do the official business of checking in etc. All very professional and no suggestion of asking for bribes, notwithstanding the many warnings we had received on this score.
The hotel WIH suddenly slapped a fee of RP250 000 per day for the use of their jetty which was rather a shock. We managed to find another jetty owned by “Mama D” who cost us only RP30000 and was just as convenient and close to town. Filled up with diesel, made arrangements to travel to Danau Toba the following day, and through Mr. Beng Beng (so called agent) also arranged for Toga to sleep in the cockpit as a security measure.
Once again no wind, glass calm sea. Wind picked up a little during the morning and “Gaia” who had left Calm Bay an hour behind us caught up. They took a different course to us to Sibolga trying to avoid numerous shallow patches and islets shown on the charts. We decided to follow a rhumb line, and we were lucky enough to find wind and have a wonderful overnight sail. Arrived off Sibolga and found “Gaia” behind us! Their circuitous route had meant they did not get the wind and had had to motor all night.
We anchored and went ashore to do the official business of checking in etc. All very professional and no suggestion of asking for bribes, notwithstanding the many warnings we had received on this score.
The hotel WIH suddenly slapped a fee of RP250 000 per day for the use of their jetty which was rather a shock. We managed to find another jetty owned by “Mama D” who cost us only RP30000 and was just as convenient and close to town. Filled up with diesel, made arrangements to travel to Danau Toba the following day, and through Mr. Beng Beng (so called agent) also arranged for Toga to sleep in the cockpit as a security measure.
