The wind died right off as we glided along through the dark
on the smooth ocean doing over seven knots. There was nothing to see on the
radar and no AIS targets to be seen, just us way out in the middle of nowhere
with only the flying fish to keep us company.
Several dolphins leaped high in the air and splashed back
down right next to the boat, scaring the hell out of me, you can’t tell me that
wasn’t an accident.
In the early morning hours I was getting pretty fried, so I
got my head down for a couple of hours sleep while Putu took watch. I woke shortly
after sunrise to the view of East Timor poking through the hot humid misty air.
We were there, we had done it, crossed our first ocean, well
almost. We still had about another 30 to 40 miles to go and that last little
bit seemed to take forever.
We cruised up the Roti Strait for a while and then turned to
starboard and headed up the Semau Strait looking at all the villages, ports and
coastline as we cruised along.
As we turned to head up the Semau Strait, the wind increased
for a fast close-haul sail and I could finally shut the engine down and sail
for the last couple of hours.
Kupang’s power supply
coming from a floating coal fired power station
It was a fast sail helped along by a north setting current
and we were racing along doing over nine knots past the main shipping port,
then dodging all the floats from the pearl farms on either side of the channel,
picking our way through anchored tankers with small fishing boats darting all
over the place.
I entered in the coordinates of the anchorage out front of
Teddy’s Bar and pointed Sirocco in that direction as the sprawling city of
Kupung spread out across the sky line.
We dropped anchor at 15:15 a short distance out from the old
Dutch lighthouse and right away we got Sirocco ship shape and lowered the
dinghy.
It was Sunday, so we couldn’t clear in until tomorrow and
technically we were meant to stay on-board and wait, but we were keen to go
ashore and check things out.
I raised our Indonesian courtesy flag with our yellow
quarantine flag underneath it to indicate we were a foreign vessel quarantined
and waiting to be cleared into the country. Our red ensign was flying on the left side
indicating our port of origin.
While I was setting up the dinghy, we got a visit from a
local boat by a guy called Michael offering his services as a clearance agent
and he gave me his card. Technically you don’t need to use an agent to clear in
as you can do it all yourself, but if you add up the cost of taxi’s for all the
running around and if you don’t have to pay too much, it can be a convenient
option to remove a lot of the hassle and get the task done quicker.
Around 16:30 we cautiously headed into the beach towards a
group of men now forming up at the waterline. It was very intimidating, not
knowing if we were about to be torn to shreds by hungry cannibals or have all
our possessions stolen and our throats cut.
There was lots of jibber jabber going on in Indonesian with
many hands grabbing our tender jostling for possession. Through the confusion
it turns out they were all just trying to be super helpful and hold the boat
steady while we get out, then take care of the boat in our absence.
We met a few other clearance agents offering their services
as well as Michael. I didn’t want to rush into anything and just feel the vibe
for a while before making any decisions. I needed to get a handle on how the
whole system works and the politics behind it.
We were both feeling very edgy as well as dead tired and I
wanted to relax and enjoy a few beers and maybe go check out the night market
and get some street food. I was concerned about the dinghy getting stolen
though.
The place was very run down yet alive and bustling, with car
horns tooting and bimos blasting loud music. By now the sun had gone down and
every now and then we would check the anchor light on Sirocco when suddenly
Putu jumps up and says there’s a small boat at Sirocco probably trying to break
in.
I freaked out thinking we were being distracted by their
counterparts on the beach while their mates are stealing all our possessions.
So, we race down to our dinghy, quickly pull anchor and speed out to Sirocco.
As we got closer the small boat starts putting out a net and acting all
innocent. I went quite close to give them the eyeball, then headed off over to
Sirocco.
Thankfully Sirocco was untouched and after a short time we
both fell asleep with the baseball bat at the ready.
Track Sirocco’s
progress
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