E44 – BLANG MERANG TO NORTH HADING BAY
Heading out of Blang Merang in calm weather. Taking advantage of a light and suitable breeze, we sailed the anchor out at Bang Merang and headed north through the reef entrance just as the sun poked its head above the horizon. Outside the bay, we found about 10 kts...
E43 – KALABAHI TO BLANG MERANG
Early morning start from Kalabahi. We left Kalabahi about 5:30am on a flat calm sea planning to time the tide which flows very strong in the passage between the islands of Alor and Pulau Marisa (?). By timing the tides according to Navionics, we’d hit the passage right on...
E42 – WETAR ISLAND (WEST) TO KALABAHI (2/2)
Fishing vessels EVERYWHERE! Continuing through the night after our passage across from Wetar Island, we found ourselves in a cloud of fishing vessels and FAD’s off the north coast of Wetar. Every vessel had a different lighting system, mostly a mish mash of colored flashing lights if they had...
E41 – WETAR ISLAND (WEST) TO KALABAHI (1/2)
Sailing out the pick. With a very light easterly breeze and wanting to continue to save fuel, we sailed the pick out at our little anchorage and headed further west towards the island of Alor. There is some seriously deep water here and as we were clear of shipping...
E40 – HELA TO WETAR ISLAND (WEST)
Sailing the pick out at Hela. As conditions were calm and the exit clear, I sailed the pick out in a light breeze in order to save as much fuel as possible. We knew fuel was difficult to get and if you can get it, it’s usually a very...
E38 – LATALOLA BESAR TO KAIWATU
The anchor is dragging! As is often the case, I slept with one eye open and noticed the change in Starlight’s motion during the night. By the time I had figured out there was an issue and was on deck, we had already dragged completely off the narrow shelf...
E35 – SAUMLAKI TO NAMTABUNG
Checking In at Saumlaki… We found the process at Saumlaki confusing as our agent had failed to show and without internet, we were unable to reach him. Checking in shouldn’t normally be delayed by more than 24 hours, so we took it upon ourselves to check in and went...
E34 – DARWIN TO INDONESIA (PT 2/2)
Arriving in Saumlaki, Indonesia… The second part of the crossing from Darwin to Saumlaki, Indonesia saw our Raymarine main GPS chart plotter fail to lock our GPS position even with it’s own internal GPS. So, I ended up using our backup tablet with Navionics installed. This works OK, but...
E33 – DARWIN TO INDONESIA (PT 1/2)
Departing Australia… We cleared out of Cullen Bay Marina in Darwin with the Australian Border Force who we’re very friendly and had us on our way with no problems at all. Cullen Bay Marina utilizes a lock to enter and leave the marina due to the huge 9m tides...