Year 2 22 July 2025 – Arafura Sea – Indonesia- Nearly There
We sailed on in a westerly direction and could still see the lights of that fishing fleet stretched out over the horizon like the glow of a city at night. Adam thought that there were at that location as the ocean went from 1,000m to 200m on that sort of line. The worry is that with so many fishing boats and such large nets that they are literally hoovering up all the fish and is this sustainable? We know from history and evidence that it is not.
We gybed at midnight and headed back toward our waypoint line. We were managing about 5-6 kts in quite a calm sea. If we sail we have to wait until light of the 24th to arrive as we cannot arrive in the dark. We therefore have time and so this sort of speed is fine.
It was a calm watch 2.00am -5.00pm and we sailed slowly and peacefully with the glow of lights on the horizon. We had had our fill of dodging fishing nets and boats. At 8.00am it was light and we were coasting along in a serene fashion. The ocean looked beautiful, vast, blue and strong. William and Nicola cooked scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms and tomato which was a great start. This was strengthened when we saw about 4-5 pilot type whales swim by. They looked like large dolphins but they were too big to be dolphins. Indonesia has many whales including sperm, humpback, pilot, bryde and blue whales.
The morning passed peacefully gliding along and it was warm, sunny and humid. It was quiet in relation to the previous days and one of those days where you could sit in a hammock and rest. Our 24-hour run was 151nm which reflects the lower wind we have had.
We had lunch and continued at about 5-6 kts toward the west set of islands round from the proposed anchorage to start the rally. We saw some odd things. First of all, I saw an orange object floating in the sea – I wondered whether it was a life raft. If it was we would have to investigate in case someone needed to be saved. As we got close I could see it was a cone shape. Was it fixed to the bottom? I did not think it could be as it was 1,000m deep at that point. We then saw a black object floating with a black flag and another orange cone. They were both in deep water. I then saw a tree trunk – yes I did mean that – a huge tree floating past. If we had hit that it would not have been good.
The afternoon wore on and we began to approach the islands about 20 nm ahead. We started to see what appeared to be fishing boats and nets again on AIS. The sun went down with a fabulous sunset. As it got dark we began to approach the fishermen (about 10 of them) and I thought here we go again. However, our course was good and we began to pass them. We thought they had seen us as they turned away a bit to allow us to sail through.
I cooked some ratatouille and William & Nicola a fish curry and we enjoyed our supper watching the fishing boats with their lights off our starboard side. We continued on and we could see some lights ahead. These lights were not on AIS but local we presumed local fishermen in their small boats. This is when we had to have a very good lookout. William & Nicola on their watch used the torches to shine on our sails which seemed to be enough to get them to move out of the way. They did not use normal navigation lights but green or red or blue or just white. Some were flashing and others not. Welcome to Indonesia!!
We continued and began to see some lights on the land – the island ahead of us. We could see a boat nearby with a green light and a flashing red. He appeared to be coming quite close so I shone the torch at him and he increased speed and passed ahead of us. You could hear the phut phut sound of his engine. We came round the Southwest side of the first island and it seemed as if all traffic had gone. We had to cover about 22 nm in 7 hours as we have to wait until it is light to proceed to the anchorage.
THe picture of the day is a lovely sunset.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com