Late Feb, 2022, location Bitung, NE Sulawesi, Indonesia.
The last time we went from NE Sulawesi to Sorong, we went over the top of Halmahera, with a stop in Morotai and Wayag. We were leading a small rally that time, and our stops were cast in concrete.
Our Track from Bitung to Sorong
This time we went the other way around Halmahera / Maluku--south about.
We blasted out of Bitung/Lembeh Strait on Feb 9, 2022, with a plan of making it
a long day-hop and anchoring overnight in the middle of the Molucca Sea
(between Sulawesi and Halmahera), at either the tiny island of Maju, or the even
tinier island of Gureda. This was after a heated discussion between the Captain,
who hates going overnight, and Navigator, who hates rushing all day--motoring
usually--to make it to some half-assed anchorage at the crack of dark, or maybe
after dark. We have this discussion regularly. In theory, if we got going at
just before daylight, and had good winds, we could make it the 72 miles to the
open roadstead anchorage at Maju. Nobody we knew had ever been there, but it
looked anchorable on a satellite picture. Though the island was misplaced by 3/4
of a mile--our anchor waypoint dropped using the satellite view plotted well
inland.
Well, we didn't actually get underway right at the crack of dawn, and we ran into some current going around the north tip of Lembeh Island, and the winds were not good enough to consistently make the 6+ knots we needed to make.
Coming around the N End of Lembeh Island
I finally convinced Dave that we weren't going to make it before dark, and we should plan to go overnight. We hadn't seen a fishing boat or a FAD for hours, and unlikely to encounter much out in the middle. This ended up saving us 3 days of long up early-motorsailing all day-and in late day-hopping. The next morning, we were approaching the islands off the SW coast of Halmahera. By sunset we had made our way to an decent-looking anchorage. This spot wasn't quite as good as it looked because the pretty beach had been taken over by fishermen and a fish farm. We ended up anchoring in 72 feet at 00°01.40' S / 127°13.43' E. We had a little 2G internet--enough to pick up email.
Though there were some interesting places to explore on Halmahera, we had already seen a bit of the island, and were hurrying to catch up with another boat--Screensaver, with Alan and Yanina aboard. Alan had been loitering around in hopes we would catch up, and we could cruise together for awhile. And THEY were on a schedule due to visa renewal issues. So we didn't really cruise this area, but proceeded south and east through the islands just west of Bacan Island west of the southern peninsula of Halmahera. We spent one night in an anchorage called Firefly Bay (00°26.94' S / 127° 16.44' E). Cruisers a few years before had seen a lot of fireflies there, but we didn't see any. No cell signal here.
A Fast Ferry from Labuha
In 2 more days, we finally caught up with Screensaver. We ended up cruising together with them for 3 weeks all the way to Sorong. The weather was good and we were in a pretty remote area. As always, we could have spent weeks exploring the area, but we were on a MISSION. My motto for 2020 had been "Singapore or Bust", and it was Feb 2022 already and we had 5,000 miles to go still. Also, Screensaver had visas coming up for renewal soon, so we had to get to Sorong by March 1.
Ahhh! Sunset on the Foredeck with Friends--This is Why We Cruise!
It took a couple of days to finally clear Bacan Island. We stopped overnight at a few small islands, and then we were treated to a long day SAIL to reach the Boo Islands. We actually caught a fish on this sail!
Oh my Paws! What is that!?
Labuha 00°37.741' S / 127°27.664' E 25-45 ft mud. 4G.
Beautiful Anchorage in Boo Channel
Our Track and Stops in the Boo Islands
Click on the Picture to see a larger version
We spent one night at Yefman Island--the site of a World War II Japanese airfield. After walking around and asking a few of the locals, we found a few bunkers still around.
A WW2 Bunker at Yefman Island
Our last anchorage was a day anchorage off tiny/beautiful Matan Island. Yanina just HAD to go visit the beautiful sand spit, and what looked like nice coral for snorkeling. So we tagged along. It does look beautiful, but it's a lousy anchorage (too much coral), the locals want to charge you for stepping ashore, and the snorkeling wasn't very good (murky water).
Beautiful Looking but Crappy Anchorage at Matan Island
An afternoon squall was brewing, so we left Screensaver there and went for a better anchorage.
Guess who we finally hooked up with in Sorong, at Wick's Tampa Garam Marina? Our old Soggy Paws. Poor girl had been stored for 2 years--the owner, whom we had hope to hook up with in 2020, had left her at the marina to fly home to Australia for 2 weeks. Then COVID happened, and he didn't get back for 2 years. There was supposed to be some caretaking going on, but no boat does well sitting for 2 years.
We did eventually meet John, and actually shared an anchorage with him for a few weeks... but that's a story for another blog post.
Well, we didn't actually get underway right at the crack of dawn, and we ran into some current going around the north tip of Lembeh Island, and the winds were not good enough to consistently make the 6+ knots we needed to make.
I finally convinced Dave that we weren't going to make it before dark, and we should plan to go overnight. We hadn't seen a fishing boat or a FAD for hours, and unlikely to encounter much out in the middle. This ended up saving us 3 days of long up early-motorsailing all day-and in late day-hopping. The next morning, we were approaching the islands off the SW coast of Halmahera. By sunset we had made our way to an decent-looking anchorage. This spot wasn't quite as good as it looked because the pretty beach had been taken over by fishermen and a fish farm. We ended up anchoring in 72 feet at 00°01.40' S / 127°13.43' E. We had a little 2G internet--enough to pick up email.
Though there were some interesting places to explore on Halmahera, we had already seen a bit of the island, and were hurrying to catch up with another boat--Screensaver, with Alan and Yanina aboard. Alan had been loitering around in hopes we would catch up, and we could cruise together for awhile. And THEY were on a schedule due to visa renewal issues. So we didn't really cruise this area, but proceeded south and east through the islands just west of Bacan Island west of the southern peninsula of Halmahera. We spent one night in an anchorage called Firefly Bay (00°26.94' S / 127° 16.44' E). Cruisers a few years before had seen a lot of fireflies there, but we didn't see any. No cell signal here.
In 2 more days, we finally caught up with Screensaver. We ended up cruising together with them for 3 weeks all the way to Sorong. The weather was good and we were in a pretty remote area. As always, we could have spent weeks exploring the area, but we were on a MISSION. My motto for 2020 had been "Singapore or Bust", and it was Feb 2022 already and we had 5,000 miles to go still. Also, Screensaver had visas coming up for renewal soon, so we had to get to Sorong by March 1.
It took a couple of days to finally clear Bacan Island. We stopped overnight at a few small islands, and then we were treated to a long day SAIL to reach the Boo Islands. We actually caught a fish on this sail!
Labuha 00°37.741' S / 127°27.664' E 25-45 ft mud. 4G.
Siliang 00°50.991' S / 127°43.784' E 25-50 ft sand. No cell
Waringen 00°48.376' S / 128°09.282' E 42 ft sand. No cell.
Damar 00°59.216' S / 128°22.382' E 40-45 ft sand, 30 ft bar
Tadoku 01°08.779' S / 128°25.998' E 15 ft, shallowing slowly.
Boo Chan 01°10.948' S / 129°22.419' E 52 ft, sand, buggy
Boo Beach 01°10.378' S / 129°23.673' E 45 ft nice sand beach
Note: All of our anchorages have been send to Terry Sargent, and are maintained in the Indonesia Anchorage gpx file maintained by Terry. See Terry's Topics to download this file, and his accompanying satellite charts.
Click on the Picture to see a larger version
We did do a little playing as we cruised through the area. We got the drones out one day and took some nice pictures. Screensaver almost lost his drone by flying it too far away while we were underway (exploring the channel at Damar). We had to turn the boat around and race back to the launch spot to try to reconnect with the drone. These pics were taken with our drone at a pretty beach on Boo
Pretty Beach Inside the Reef
The next stop was Kofiau, another group of islands a little further east. We holed up here at for a few days due to bad weather. We managed to pick up a little cell signal by motoring around one day, halfway to the town on the north side of Kofiau Island.
Our Track and Stops in Kofiau
Click on the Picture to see a larger version
Then we finally made the jump to the west end of Batanta Island. This was another long hop. We thought we had a good anchorage big enough for both boats identified, but once we got there, it was too deep right up to the reef. One boat may have been able to plant a hook somewhere, but definitely not 2. So, with the light waning and a light drizzle, we moved east along the south coast of Batanta, bay by bay, looking for a suitable anchorage. We finally found a deep bay with a river emptying into the end of the bay. Sounding it out, we found anchorable depths that looked like black sand all the way in, with enough room for 2 boats. This turned out to be such a nice rain-foresty place that we stayed for a day to enjoy the birds and the sounds of the waterfall. 00°53.806' S / 130°28.233' E
Anchored Next to a Rainforest
Birdwatching at Sunset on Batanta
We spent a few more days poking east along the south coast of Batanta before finally arriving in Sorong on February 28. We couldn't really dally, however, because Screensaver HAD to get to Sorong to renew their visas.
The next stop was Kofiau, another group of islands a little further east. We holed up here at for a few days due to bad weather. We managed to pick up a little cell signal by motoring around one day, halfway to the town on the north side of Kofiau Island.
Click on the Picture to see a larger version
Then we finally made the jump to the west end of Batanta Island. This was another long hop. We thought we had a good anchorage big enough for both boats identified, but once we got there, it was too deep right up to the reef. One boat may have been able to plant a hook somewhere, but definitely not 2. So, with the light waning and a light drizzle, we moved east along the south coast of Batanta, bay by bay, looking for a suitable anchorage. We finally found a deep bay with a river emptying into the end of the bay. Sounding it out, we found anchorable depths that looked like black sand all the way in, with enough room for 2 boats. This turned out to be such a nice rain-foresty place that we stayed for a day to enjoy the birds and the sounds of the waterfall. 00°53.806' S / 130°28.233' E
We spent a few more days poking east along the south coast of Batanta before finally arriving in Sorong on February 28. We couldn't really dally, however, because Screensaver HAD to get to Sorong to renew their visas.
We spent one night at Yefman Island--the site of a World War II Japanese airfield. After walking around and asking a few of the locals, we found a few bunkers still around.
Our last anchorage was a day anchorage off tiny/beautiful Matan Island. Yanina just HAD to go visit the beautiful sand spit, and what looked like nice coral for snorkeling. So we tagged along. It does look beautiful, but it's a lousy anchorage (too much coral), the locals want to charge you for stepping ashore, and the snorkeling wasn't very good (murky water).
An afternoon squall was brewing, so we left Screensaver there and went for a better anchorage.
Guess who we finally hooked up with in Sorong, at Wick's Tampa Garam Marina? Our old Soggy Paws. Poor girl had been stored for 2 years--the owner, whom we had hope to hook up with in 2020, had left her at the marina to fly home to Australia for 2 weeks. Then COVID happened, and he didn't get back for 2 years. There was supposed to be some caretaking going on, but no boat does well sitting for 2 years.
We did eventually meet John, and actually shared an anchorage with him for a few weeks... but that's a story for another blog post.
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