October 2-3, 2011 -- To Batam and Nongsa Point Marina

Greg let us all sleep in until about 5am, which, given the plan for an early departure, was generously late, especially since we had an hour's time change. (We are now only eleven hours ahead of Eastern US.) Still we were underway in the cool morning dew long before the sun was up. In fact, for the first time, the sky was actually overcast which kept us all quite a bit cooler...for a while at least.

We were expecting ship traffic to increase on this leg as we got closer and closer to Singapore. There were a few more AIS targets on the screen, but the gray sea stayed relatively empty...until nightfall. Heat lightning flashed in the west over unseen Sumatra, and fishing boats with blazing lights materialized on the horizon as if they'd somehow popped up from the bottom. Even then it was nowhere near what we'd anticipated. The worst surprise were several fields of small buoys marking drift nets marked by only a weak strobe...or not marked at all! But once we'd coasted through the first group without collecting a snarl behind us, we at least knew what to expect. And it gave us the chance to play with the spotlight.

The next morning the sea abruptly got lumpy and we had actual rain! This was the first rain beyond a few droplets anyone had seen in months! It was enough to force us to bring out all the isinglass windows but also enough to give the boat a good rinse.

By mid-morning the rain was over, and we were into the long channel between Bintang and Batam islands, part of the Riau island group off western Sumatra. Geographically, this looks like it could have made a fun cruising ground if the islands weren't essentially industrial suburbs of Singapore. According to the Lonely Planet guide, even where resorts have been built, tourists are diverted to golf courses and swimming pools and discouraged from swimming in the sea.

(Note Ivory Street heading to the left at the bottom right of the photo (by the yellow arrow.) Singapore and the major lanes of ship traffic are at the top of the screen. non gas Point Marina is just aheaad of the boat on the bottom of the picture.)

Greg's AIS display was suddenly working overtime with up to 90 targets listed, most of them huge ships and even one oil platform. Fortunately, most were anchored along the sides of the channel and in ports and few were actually underway. However, the burden of responsibility may have been too much for the chartplotter because just as we turned down the home stretch to Nongsa Point Marina, the chartplotter locked up.

This failure was the closest to unsettled we've seen Greg get...and it probably didn't help matters to see, as we approached the marks for the marina, a yacht on her side on the reef with shredded sails flapping! It was a very confusing approach to the marina, but fortunately they'd sent a boat out to lead us in.

So, suddenly, after many months, finding ourselves tied up in an upscale marina/ resort is a bit disorienting. It is a nice change to be motionless for night, but it is hot, still and there is the odd mozzie. The boys got into the arrival beers a little too quickly, especially when a fellow Kiwi turned up to discuss rugby scores, so that the power cord never got unearthed which meant no air con in the still night. Frankly, I hardly noticed. After a week of two night watches a night, I was glad for the chance to sleep through.

So today, once our papers and passports come back from customs and we are cleared out of Indonesia, we will make our last bit of passage over to Singapore. The adventure is not yet over. There's the busy straights to survive yet, not to mention touring one of the largest cities in the world.