Crossing the Water Super-Highway to a New Land

A flash back from our arrival in Johor Bahru - Malaysia, the second country as we sailed west through Asia, just over a year ago.

So many milestone events had occurred in the last week, we had crossed the equator for the first time in a sailing boat, visited our last Indonesian city and were now sailing away from Indonesia for the short 30nm crossing of the Singapore Strait to arrive in Malaysia, the second country on our adventure.

The Singapore Strait is a tricky piece of waterway, our maps identified lanes for direction of travel, eight lanes in all and a turning area just at the entry to the Johor Strait - our target. It was like a water freeway all chopped up with waves and intensely filled with enormous cargo boats and we had to make our way across it without getting in the way of these boats that travelled at such speed, they really meant business. The Singapore authorities said that we were only to cross using motor, though we sailed for some of the way until the typical midday windlessness set in. Dodging cargo boats that were steaming south at about 15kts, we were crossing to the west and trying to make the jump across lanes without getting run over by any ships, 'look left', 'look right' and all that trying to figure out how fast a moving boat was travelling.

The first thing we noticed was the smell, a not so subtle fragrance of diesel fumes that hung in the air and left a fine layer of black soot on any horizontal surface. The next was the sky; a grey haze filled the atmosphere, a combination of heat haze and pollution caught in the inversion layer. The lack of any discernible colour or differentiation from east to west or north to south was a big difference, we were definitely in the doldrums now - the place adjacent the equator, notorious for little wind and hot hot heat. And it was hot. We were melting as we slowly chugged our way west. The next noticeable thing was the plastics littering the surface of the water.

We marvelled at the sheer number and size of ships and the business that revolved around it. Imagining the days when the waterway was filled with sailing boats waiting for weather systems to change or to pick up supplies kept us entertained on the slow hot crossing.

Shipping infrastructure in the Johor Strait

As we made our way up the Johor Strait the immense size of the cranes and other docking systems that supported the shipping was mind-boggling. We were skirting the edges of the Singapore island and far removed from the internal busyness of the goings on in the city. Next was what would become a common sight, huge barges and accompanying conveyor belts, sending thousands of tonnes of sand shooting into the water for land reclamation. 

Land reclamation that happened day and night to get the sand dumped and
manicured into shape, hopefully before the daily rain downpour

Our anticipation was mounting for our arrival to Malaysia, just across the 2nm wide waterway (the Johor Strait) from Singapore. We landed in Danga Bay marina and promptly made our way via the convenient local bus service into Johor Bahru town for the first of many local Indian food gorge-fests. Lights glimmered at us from tv sets booming Bollywood movies into the street from the Indian quarter and we were drawn in like moths to a flame. The food was very exciting, a big change from the standard rice or noodle dishes of Indonesia. Dozens of curries were on show in huge vats, no information on what was in the mix and I just pointed and tried to make some assessment of what would be a good dinner. I would try to ask the attendants if it was panas (hot) or not and find out if it would blow my head off. Unfortunately my understanding of what was 'hot' was not theirs. Time would show that my judgement on what looked hot or not was not always on song and on more than one occasion I would have smoke escape from my ears as I was overwhelmed with the amazingly hot dish. There seemed no limit to the level of mouth burning chilli that the locals desired.

The big change from Indonesia was stark, Johor Bahru (JB) was just a short bus ride from Singapore and it seemed that the city was looking up to its modern neighbour and had embraced the cosmopolitan feel and modern features of a land that they were at war with for so many centuries. Large, modern unit blocks filled the streetscape and new luxury condominium developments were sprouting up where there was water last week via the land reclamation work. Progress was happening and nothing was going to stand in the way of JB reaching for the same status that Singapore held. The proposed Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) line that would come through JB soon was bound to increase the value of Malaysian land for Singapore commuters that could not find housing there. 

The arrival to a new country was most satisfying and lit the flame of excitement and intrigue just as we had felt a few months previously on our approach Indonesia. 

24/11/2014

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00'00'.000N 104'54'.709E

It was so still yesterday that I could hear the sweat beading on my arms before it ran down. The dark clouds built over Pulua Lingga just 100m away and hovered menacing before shirking off to dump their contents on the ocean to the south. At night we were entertained by a lightning storm which lit up the clouds appearing as a shadow pantomime where the lightning (the actor) was shielded from view by a layer of clouds (the screen) and our imagination was left to draw a scene of the gruesomeness of the destruction made by the actors behind the screen. The actors danced away into the distance, nonchalant about the devastation they had left in their path.

We had entered the Intertropical Convergence Zone  (the equatorial trough or more commonly known as the doldrums) the weather was less predictable with rain and wind squalls, lighting storms and wind coming from all sorts of unusual directions or just not at all. This makes for challenging sailing conditions and more patience sometimes than we can summon, which means using the motor to get to an anchorage in daylight.

At 1235hrs on 20/10/2013 as Elizabeth Jane II crossed the equator into the northern hemisphere, King Neptune unleashed his wrath, dumping a torrent of rain and squally winds upon us. We still managed to trim the sails, toast our glasses of rum and take a photo of our GPS as we made our way across the invisible line. And it was indeed invisible as we could not see more than 20m in front of our boat. The rain fell for the best part of an hour and it was incredible to watch the sea become flattened by the falling rain as if it were trying to retreat to shelter.

Disappointingly the wind was on the nose and we were beating to make forward progress, tacking across the equator 3 times, but the first was very exciting as together we entered a new stage in our voyage and Hugh and I officially became shell-backs (a shell-back is an experienced sailor who has crossed the equator). Importantly, we provided a libation for King Neptune with a glass of rum that we donated to him overboard (this was a gift and to provide us with good luck during our travels on the sea).

The evenings celebratory festivities included rum cocktails and spaghetti bolognese (with mince!!!) aboard Solstice with Bill and Olivia. Bill was an old hat at equator crossings, with this being his third. Once again we were reminded that much of the fun of cruising is enjoying special events with good friends!

23/10/2013

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Things We Have Learnt About Indonesia

• Everything must be amplified and once it is amplified, must be at full volume. There is no such thing as too loud, if it is not distorting it should be turned up.

• In Indonesia, people think the radio will travel further when they shout into it. This also goes for microphones.

• Cassava can be in any food, be it sweet, savoury or other. If you are not sure what you are eating, it is probably cassava. It is the favourite lengthener to any dish or dish in its own right.

• There is no such thing as too much sugar. Even a drink of coke can be enhanced by the addition of more sugar.

• To goreng something (fry it) is a must for 90% of the menu items. If it is edible (and often if it is not), it can be improved by battering and frying it. One of our favourite dishes did not have a formal name, so our guide told us it was goreng goreng (fried fried). An accurate description, and also quintessential Indonesian while still bearing no information on the ingredients! 

Fireworks fun

• Too much fireworks are never enough. We arrived in Indonesia at the end of Ramadan which is celebrated with eating cake and drinking tea and then lighting up the night for the best part of a week with hand held fireworks (which are labelled 'do not hold in hand'). Not one to be left out of the fun, Hugh bought some fireworks and asked some non-English speaking kids to help him use them. They thought it was very amusing when Hugh was holding it the wrong way and asking if he had it right for ignition. Thankfully they corrected him before he lit them!

• Indonesians loooove to sing and dance, the only thing they enjoy more than doing that themselves, is having you do it with them. Hugh and I became the singing duo of our rally group and deftly performed 'brown eyed girl' and 'somewhere over the rainbow' on the ukulele. I also mastered the jamila line dance and the lulu group dance, much to the adoration of our hosts!

• There is no 'mix' of businesses that is to obscure. The mobile phone shop where you top up your phone credit is also the LPG seller. The scuba dive shop is also the womens shoe and handbag shop. However the guy who sells the ink for a stamp is different to the guy who sells the stamps. Obviously!

• Talking about the weather is a mute point. It is always the same as yesterday, 33C blistering sunshine and 75% humidity. 

Indonesian Petrol Station

• Any motor can be reincarnated to propel a boat, be it a single cylinder, World War II era, diesel engine with a hand starter, two whipper snippers attached precariously to unsupported prop shafts or 8 x 400HP outboards strapped to the back of a passenger vessel carrying people 40nm between islands (that sometimes explode, as our friend experienced).

• A bloke on the side of the road with Absulute Vodka bottles full of fuel constitutes a petrol station.

• Our hosts had trouble pronouncing Hugh's name, we learned that the word for shark in Bahasa Indonesian is 'Hiu'. Hugh introduces himself as Hiu wherever we go making the sharks fin on his head, much to the enjoyment of the Indonesians!

• It's not official unless it's been stamped. At ports and for invitations to events, either our stamp or that of the Government had to be on the paperwork. This was at its most hilarious in Saumlaki (our checking in port) where we didn't have a boat stamp yet and Hugh had to draw a picture on the page as if it were a stamp. This was received with much humour by our hosts, a smile will get you anywhere!

Invitation - stamped of course

• A smile and some bumbling version of Bahasa Indonesian will almost get you anywhere. I was surprised at how politely the locals applauded our minute comprehension of their language while their English skills far exceeded our Indonesian skills.

• Navigation lights on Indonesian boats are as much for fun as they are to provide information. Red for port and green for starboard is what we are used to, but red, blue and green flashing lights are par for the course here. Just part of the nighttime sailing adventure!

• It is an enormous country with a huge population and they are wonderful and welcoming people. An archipelago of some 18,000 islands with a population of around 250 million people are spread through fishing villages, farming communities and enormous cities throughout the country. An excellent place to visit by sailing boat.

14/10/2013

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Is this War?

You could be mistaken for thinking that, with 25 navy vessels in the harbour (including one from China and one from Singapore), our yachts being searched for bombs, helicopters doing circling routes over the beach and navy officers clogging up the streets, cafes and port. Thankfully no, this was all in preparation for the President of Indonesia's visit to Labuan Bajo, a bustling town which owes its mark on the tourist map to the Komodo dragons and the Komodo National Park just across the bay. So what do the lucky people of Labuan Bajo owe the pleasure of a visit by their very own Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono? A yacht rally whose participants have taken over the restaurants, cafes and the only bakery in town for 10 days as the three routes of the rally converge and continue their journey westward!

We had just spent the best part of a week in the Taka Bonerate National Park, a world class dive site, containing the worlds third largest atoll and some not very inhabited islands. It was a stark contrast to Benteng, our previous city stop, where we had guides walk with us everywhere and haggle at the markets while we tried to save 2c off our carrots. Other excellent features of our time in Benteng was our releasing of a 3 month old baby turtle into the wild (we named him Bruce) who had been protected for conservation by a small village. After this excitement and watching Bruce swim strongly into the big blue, we were taken to a remote village where we went through their welcome ceremony which included some women channelling a village spirit from the past, us being in a water fight with the local kids, all rounded up with a sing along and being swung on a giant swing. The local government officials and the Vice Regent of the island also joined us and they had a blast. All in a days work!

An overnight 150nm sail was marked by Hugh and I seeing a humpback whale for the first time. Gracefully swimming through the water and blowing water high in the air we were enraptured by its enormity being about 10m long. A most awesome sighting! And with that it slapped its tail and dove below! We also had our first night sail with the spinnaker up, sailing for about 16 hours in company with our friends on Hokulea and Kite, we made excellent time in <10kts of breeze. Our arrival at Labuan Bajo was a real introduction into full swing 'tourism dominated' Indonesia. Some people here spoke English, could not give two hoots about having visitors in town and enjoyed the business that we brought to town as we emptied them out of long life milk, beer and cheese. We had been warned by our guides that with the end of the eastern route of the rally, so did the innocence and relative naivety of the townships. We had to haggle for our trips on local transport which was either in a vemo (van that could seat 10 people), an ojek (motorbike) or the flat bed of a cement truck which we ended up catching one night home after dinner. But it has all been fun, and we feel quite spoiled by the hospitality and generosity that has been shown to us by our hosts in the various small towns on the way through.

We decided to leave Labuan Bajo and seek respite in the National Park. We will get as up close and personal as you can get to what are touted to be aggressive dragons. Unfortunately we will be unable to meet the President, but I sent him my regards and hope to have a coffee with him one day soon!

11/9/2013

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