BELITUNG ISLAND TO SELAYAR ISLAND

We departed Belitung Is @ 0930 hrs on November 2, 2014 (02-33.264’ S x 107-40.704 E) for Selayar Island (00-19.324’ S x 104-27.713’ E).  The distance is about 240 nm.  With light ESE-SSE winds at 10 kts or less, it was going to be a long haul.  Also, there was an adverse current setting against us most of the time.  Coming out of Belitung heading NW, there are several straits coming from the South between the various islands.  We encountered more refuse and big logs than we have seen anywhere else in our passages.  After we got West of the straits, the refuse and logs tapered off.  It would not be a good idea to sail this stretch of water during the night.  There was nothing eventful during the passage.  It took us 76 hrs to sail 240 nm.  That’s an average of 3.2 kts per hour.  We have never sailed so slowly.   I was sailing under a poled out jib and should have set up the mainsail to sail “wing ‘n’ wing” ( mainsail on one side and a poled out jib on the other).  The only problem with this configuration is that, if there isn't enough wind to keep the mainsail pressed, it has a tendency to flog.  Also, if the wind varies too much in direction, it can creep around the leech of the mainsail and cause it to back.  This isn’t too worrying with light winds but stronger winds are a concern.  Most yachts always have a preventer on the boom to keep it from suddenly swinging from one side to the other with possible damage to the boom.

We had to motor the last thirty miles as there was no wind and a lot of current.  We arrived off the island of Selayar at 1345 hrs on November 5^th and dropped anchor in sixty feet of water depth with 210 ft of chain out (00-19.290’ S x 104-27.705’ E).  The small town of Penuba on Selayar Island has about 5000 people living on it.  There is another island to the East called Lipan Island and has a small population of sea gypsies living there.  The anchorage is between the two islands and the currents run strongly.  Since it was full moon, we were experiencing 4 kts of current at times.  The holding was good and none of the anchored yachts had a dragging issue.

Penuba is a town that has never hosted a fleet of yachts coming to them.  In fact, there is no tourism on this island: no banks, ATM’s, cars, hotels or other amenities.  The island is “dry” so no alcohol either.  This would be the place to come if you asked the question of what it would be like to experience a place that has no tourism.  The town has outside communications and good internet.  Satellite dishes are everywhere and they are very much in touch with the modern world around them.  They do not have electricity during the day.  For the most part, the population is Islamic with one Pentecostal church under construction.  In Indonesia, the Islamic religion has an easy going quality about it.  The women are beautiful and express their sexuality in a very pleasing manner.  They love to dance, sing and interact with foreigners.  The Islamic rigidity found in the Middle East does not exist in the places we have visited.

The town leaders gave us a warm welcome.  I was selected as the speaker for the Wonderful Sail2Indonesia Rally.  Indonesia thrives on leadership.  If you are the speaker for the group, your are “de facto” its leader and will sit with and be honored by their village leaders and chiefs.  The event took place at 0900 hrs on Friday which is their holy day.  At 1100 hrs we finished with the welcoming ceremony and were invited back to a “traditional dance” that evening.  Surprisingly, it was the town people that decided to host the event so everyone turned out.  There were ten beautiful women dancing.  They wear a long scarf around their neck and will “lasso” someone to dance with.  If you are at one of these events, you are going to dance:  there is no escape.  We have noticed that the music in this part of Indonesia has more of the Arabic influence in sound, beat, singing and dancing.  It is quite pleasant on the ear.  Additionally, there is the typical modern Indonesian music which is melodious and one hears many of the songs from the USA and Europe being sung by Indonesians.  The people love  karaoke and, in any entertainment event, they will have their smart phones and laptops on the internet with the words to the song displayed.  These are, truly, a  joyful people.  Every day, I look forward to interacting with them.

On November 8^th, we were invited to attend a farewell ceremony at the school for one of the educational masters on the island.  He had been promoted and was going to another island as administrator.  The event started at 0800 hrs in the morning and lasted until 1230.  Now this was an event to seen because all the children honored him with traditional dancing in beautiful costumes.  This was followed by modern dancing and singing.  The children and local leaders were very happy to have us there.  Everyone wanted to take a photo with us.  The children just wanted to shake hands:  So friendly, humble and welcoming. 

Lipan Island, which is the domain of the Sea Gypsies, would make for an interesting visit.  It is amazing to watch them row across a 4 kt current from Lipan to Penuba.  Most of the rowing seems to be done by the women.  All the boats are wooden and small.  They have two vertical sticks, as the thole pins, mounted for the oars and these are held by cordage wrapped around the oars.  They row forward and standing up.  It is fascinating to watch them negotiate the currents and countercurrents.  We have seen five year old children, in these small boats, making their way across from one side to the other.  These Sea Gypsies are more difficult to approach and have, only recently, started to interact with the locals on Selayar Island.

On Selayar Island and Lipan Island, the houses are built on wooden stilts and overhanging the water.  All sewage goes into the water.  The town is relatively clean and I have seen a local boat bringing plastic refuse somewhere.  All the boats here are wooden.  The art of wooden boat building is still very much alive on these islands.  We have seen some beautiful wooden boats being built using the most primitive methods.  They don’t seem to paint the topsides.  That must be because paint is too expensive.

We are starting to experience the tropical thunderstorms and squalls during the night.  Wind gusts exceed 40 kts but are of short duration.  We had an incident last night (Nov 9^th) where two of the vessels in our fleet collided with one another during one of the thunderstorms.  That’s unusual because there was a current running and one of the vessels was downstream of the other.

On November 9, 2014 we have been invited to Mepar Island (00-15.637’ S x 104-35.792’ E).  It’s only about 12 nm from Selayar.  This will be another small island that has never had a fleet of yachts visit them.  They are planning a Welcome Ceremony, tour, Gala Dinner.