We had a great crossing to the Anambas. Leaving One15 marina in the afternoon we had just enough time to make it to Pengelih in Malaysia before dark. Fortunately we knew the anchorage from last year, so it was no problem to find a good spot for the night. On Friday morning we drove up to the fuel barge to fill our Diesel tanks to the brim. Rainbow Safari was now heavier than she had probably ever been and the waterline was markedly low, but we were well balanced and even. Diesel in the back, water in the front, plenty of food and 7 happy sailors in between. Seven.. did I mention that our niece/cousin Celine joined us on this leg from Singapore? She joined the crew seamlessly and is great to have on board.
Leaving the Pengelih fuel barge at 10 we had a long day ahead to make it to our next destination. Fortunately we had a strong and steady wind to push us along, and in fact we had a great sail going between 7 and 8 knots all day, sometimes close to 9. This got us into Pulau Aur by about 11 at night. I was not too worried about arriving at night, since the anchorage is an easy channel between two islands, and we had come here before on our charter in 2017. But the spot I remembered was over 30m deep, deeper than we can easily anchor, and as we circled looking for better depth without getting too close to shore we had to keep a lookout for fishing boats and smaller moorings with their associated lined – not a nice thing to run over and wind around the prop. Eventually we found a spot and dropped the hook in about 24m depth, with more chain and thus more swing radius than we wanted, and fishing boats nearby. I slept in the aft cockpit to keep an eye on them from time to time until 5 in the morning, when they started their engines to go to work.
We had a day off for watersports at Pulau Aur, swimming around our boat in the clear water, testing the new stand-up paddles board, and heading to the beach. Only downside was the dense haze from the fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, fogging up this otherwise so beautiful spot.
On Sunday we left at 5 a.m. to cross the first leg of the South China Sea to the Anambas. Despite a couple of slower hours in the late morning the southerly wind held throughout the day and we again had an amazing sailing day, running at 7 to 8 knots. We crossed the traffic zone where the merchant ships from the Melakka and Singapore straits head North to China, but had no issues except the last ship we met. Our heading and speed had us crossing its path, under sail, about 400m in front of it. Too close for comfort, so I turned into the wind, let it pass, and then continued on about 300m behind it. We reached the Northern tip of Jemaja, the first island in the Anambas group, just in time to find a nice anchorage at sunset, safe from the surrounding reefs.
Monday we spent exploring the local village, with a warm welcome by a committee of curious islanders, paddleboarding in the bay and climbing the rocks. The kids also found a new hobby swinging from the spinnaker halyard in a climbing harness from Decathlon. Great fun.
We had a thunderstorm in the afternoon, first sign of the change in season. The winds turned to Northeast and finally blew away the haze and cleared the air. The village turned from grey to colorful.
Tuesday we continued, motorsailing to Telaga island. We had seen a beautiful spot on the satellite photos, and tucked in right next to the reef edge near some smaller islands – blue and turquoise waters all around. After a break we went snorkeling and had our first glimpse of the extensive coral and underwater landscape of the Anambas.
On Wednesday our lucky streak broke, we woke up to pouring rain and no wind, so the morning snorkel was cancelled, and after an early lunch we motored to Tarempa, the main town in the Anambas. Here we started the inbound clearance and immigration process to Indonesia, which was friendly and painless but took almost 1.5 days.
More on the Anambas in the next post – we look forward to some beautiful beaches, snorkeling and diving, and detox from the Internet which is slow at best of times, but almost non-existent outside of Tarempa.
Rainbow Safari 