Enroute to Kupang

Hi everyone,
We've had a pretty good sail so far from Dili. We've had to motor several times when the wind died entirely, but we've had some great sailing. The engine is performing well.

Yesterday evening we sailed past a set of fish traps as mentioned in the preceding blog. It turns out they were moored where the current splits. To the east of them the current flows east and to the west it flows west. So we ended up in a strong favourable current of 2.5 to 3.0 knots - very nice!

For several hours overnight we had a 20-25 knot breeze in a very lumpy sea. We put one reef in and unfurled the staysail which gave us good progress and a drier ride. We were doing 6 knots boat speed but 9 knots over the ground. Excellent.

This morning we passed Pulau Balek which is an isolated small island off the coast. The strong current set up a huge "wake" to the SW of the island, complete with upwellings, whirlpools and small overfalls. All this in water too deep to register on our depth sounder. Spectacular to sail through.

Approaching Pulau Balek

We hope to arrive in Kupang this evening but I suspect we may have to motor quite a lot. There's only a 3-4 knot breeze blowing at the moment, and right on the nose.

Departed Dili

Hi everyone,
We departed Dili at 1530 this afternoon, bound towards Kupang. Now sailing along at about 3 knots in a 4-6 knot NE breeze - very quiet and peaceful. We just sailed through our first set of fish traps (at least the first we've noticed). These ones were wooden structures attached to a set of barrel floats, from which presumably a very long line runs to an anchor of some kind. We'll have a nearly full moon tonight so hopefully should be able to pick out any others in our path.

Departing Dili

After fitting the new freshwater pump yesterday afternoon we ran the engine this morning to test it. The engine seems to have far fewer knocking and rattling noises which is encouraging. I suspect the pump has been on its way out for some time. With the engine working we arranged with Kym Miller for our clearing out, which was completed at 2pm. While waiting in the morning we went ashore to get bread and run a few final errands around Dili.

Last night a large Thai junk came into Dili harbour. It has been re-anchoring constantly in amongst all the nice new yacht moorings. I suspect several are now entirely destroyed and some others probably weakened considerably. Apparently the junk is going to offer diving holidays from Dili for the next few months. I expect it will entirely destroy the moorings in that time.

It's great to be out on the water again. A bit more wind would be nice, but we're on our way to join Sail Indonesia at last! We decided to sail to Kupang since the rally folks will still be there when we arrive, but probably wouldn't be there in Saumlaki. Also the western route seems our best bet while we (hopefully) bed in the engine with its many new components.

New Freshwater Pump Delivered

Hi everyone,
We took possession of the parcel containing our spare parts this afternoon.  Huzzah!  The folks at SDV managed to get the package onto an aircraft yesterday morning, one day earlier than estimated.  It took several visits to their local office to arrange customs clearance, pay duty and arrange delivery, but everyone was keen to help, efficient and spoke more English than we do Tetum.

With the package aboard we unpacked it and happily confirmed the pump fits.  Only one of the four hoses provided was one of the two we wanted, but fortunately the old hoses are in OK shape.  No gasket was provided so we had to re-use the old one which was in OK shape too.  We added "gasket goo" to be on the safe side.

After fitting the new pump, the old hoses with new hose clamps, the pulley and the V-belt we refilled the freshwater system with coolant.  We decided to wait until tomorrow morning before starting the engine since that will allow the gasket goo to set.  Hopefully all will be well when we run the engine.

Kym from the Dili rally organising committee has confirmed she can assist with our clearing out tomorrow.  Presuming the engine runs OK and the clearing out goes OK we may be sailing tomorrow afternoon!

Trust all's well where you are...

4WD Tour to Maubisse

Hi everyone,
Yesterday (Saturday) we had a great day driving from Dili to Maubisse in the central highlands and return.  We departed at 0800 and were back at our hotel at 1730.  Our 4WD driver Afonso spoke English quite well and it was very interesting talking to him during the day.  He is from eastern East Timor, near Jaco Island, and survived being shot by Indonesian soldiers during their occupation.

Driving out of Dili and up into the hills was interesting.  We passed one of the major market areas which was teeming with people.  As we headed up into the hills we got above the Dili smog and the temperature dropped rapidly.  Luckily there was no cloud over Dili or the southern hills so we had great views.

View from the hills back to Dili

View down a large river valley

The houses gradually thin out as one climbs the hills above Dili.  The road gradually worsens until there are large patches of unsealed road and large undulations and potholes in the tarmac.  There is obviously work going on to improve the roads, with large cuttings let into many hillsides to "smooth out" the worst hairpin corners (of which there are many).  The average speed for our trip was 20km/hr, which shows the roads are a little rough.

Very noticeable alongside the road once clear of Dili were the electricity poles carrying power inland.  Afonso explained that electricity was last year's project and that this year the government is focussing on roadworks.  It's great to see such clear improvements happening.  The power extended all the way to Maubisse and apparently provides the first ever reliable power to some of the towns along the way.

At Dare (pronounce Dah Ray) in the hills immediately above Dili there is a memorial to the cooperation between the East Timorese people and the Australian Army "Sparrow Force" which waged a guerrilla war against the Japanese during WW2.  The memorial is well worth a visit.  It has a great view of Dili, interesting information, a small cafe and is well kept.

Traditional village buildings

Memorial for 1942 massacre

Rice paddies in a river valley

From Dare we continued inland where we passed many coffee plantations.  Some surrounded small lakes formed near hilltops where no natural drainage occurs.  Most plantations have groves of tall Samtuku trees (very like Jacaranda) which provide shade for the smaller coffee trees.

The country changes dramatically between Dili and Maubisse.  Areas of coffee cultivation are mixed with river valleys filled with rice paddies and market gardens, and with areas where the hills are quite barren.  The latter reminded us of parts of Australia.

Lunch venue in Maubisse

Maubisse

Another memorial

All in all it was a great day.  Sometimes misfortunes have a silver lining and our being delayed in Dili has allowed us to see a lot more of East Timor.  It also allowed us to watch the Opening Ceremony at the London Olympics which we didn't expect!

Today (Sunday) we checked-out of the hotel and managed to get a ride out to Zen Again on a small powerboat which was escorting divers in Dili harbour.  It's blowing quite hard from the east here and the boat is jumping around uncomfortably.  Nonetheless it's good to be back aboard.  We've started listening in to the Sail Indonesia HF skeds.  As the fleet moves further north we should be able to play our part as radio backup for the fleet, despite not being where we expected to be.

Parts Enroute

Hi everyone,
Our new freshwater pump arrived in Darwin from Sydney yesterday but the first available flight to get it to Dili isn't until Tuesday morning.  So we have an enforced stay here in Dili.  We can think of worse places!

We spent most of yesterday morning arranging transport of the pump.  Later in the morning Barry and Sue from Nefertiti 1 visited us on Zen Again and then gave us a ride ashore.  We checked-in to the Dili Beach Hotel and spent the rest of the day relaxing.  We had a very nice meal at the Beach Cafe nearby which has Burmese style cuisine at reasonable prices.  Most main courses seem to be under US$10 here in Dili.

Dili Beach Hotel

Today we spent the morning walking around central Dili.  We visited the ANZ bank to change a US$100 bill which the hotel and restaurants we've visited wouldn't take (successful); visited a Timor Telecom office to try to get "internet tethering" or "personal hotspot" on our iPhones working (unsuccessful but see below); the Tais markets to order a custom woven runner with "Zen Again" woven into it (US$20); and visited several cafes along the way for refreshment.

There are a surprising number of traffic light controlled intersections in Dili.  Interestingly some of them have downcounters displaying how long until your turn.

Castaways Restaurant

Tomorrow we have a tour booked with Eco Discovery Tours which will take us out of Dili to Maubisse in the Central Highlands.  On Sunday we'll return to Zen Again where we'll stay until departure, hopefully on Wednesday.  We have advised Sail Indonesia that we will enter Indonesia in Kupang since that's a shorter trip from Dili and we're late!

View from the beach adjacent to the Dili Beach Hotel

With regard to iPhone "internet tethering" / "personal hotspot" with Timor Telecom we eventually stumbled upon the trick.  In General => Network => Cellular Data Network you need to set the Internet Tethering APN to "internet" and then restart the iPhone.  We got one of our phones into a strange mode where it was eating credit at a rate of about 5c/minute.  We got out of that by turning off Cellular Data entirely, restarting the phone and then enabling Cellular Data.  The data charges are very reasonable, but watch out for your phone getting into a strange mode and eating your credit.  We turn off Cellular Data when not using it to be on the safe side.

Also on Timor Telecom more generally, you can buy credit from street sellers.  They sell at face value and you simply scratch the little card to reveal the number.  You then dial "100" plus the card number appended.  i.e. The trick is to prepend the "100".  To check your credit dial "*#102#".  Don't include the quotes in any of the above!

Hope all's well where you are.

Organising Parts

Hi everyone,
Thanks to everyone for the comments on yesterday's blog. We had a busy day today. We started by going ashore to meet Bruce who recommended how best to get goods into East Timor. Bruce runs the Beachside Hotel (mailto:beachsidehoteldili@gmail.com) here in Dili and was involved with the rally. Next we drained the engine's coolant and removing the fresh water pump. We then took the clearly damaged pump ashore to A1 Services where Leigh had a look at it and declared it unrepairable. Evidently pressing the shaft out always damages the casing. Yanmar's workshop manual says to always replace the full assembly. Leigh gave us further information on importing goods rapidly.

The next job was to obtain SIMs for our iPhones. We hadn't bothered previously but now needed a phone to arrange the spare parts from Australia. A SIM for an iPhone costs US$10 here and took about 30 minutes to buy, fit and test at the Timor Telecom office. Take your passport! With US$20 credit added we suddenly had voice and data communications! A combination of phone calls and emails resulted in Darwin Shipstores ordering the required parts from Sydney and SDV in Darwin being prepped to transport the package by air to Dili, through customs and to their office (only 200m) from the beach. With luck the parts will arrive in Darwin tomorrow morning, but if not they won't get there until early next week due to the public holiday in Darwin.

We've booked into a the Dili Beach Hotel (US55/night) for Thursday and Friday nights. We might as well enjoy our enforced stay in Dili so being ashore for the first time since early May will be fun. We also hope to do one or two day tours into the hills around Dili.

We've informed Sail Indonesia of our delay in Dili. There's a chance we may make it to Saumlaki before they all depart, but if not we can clear in ourselves without them. We have all our paperwork aboard.

Back in Dili

Hi everyone,
We're back in Dili this evening after an eventful day. We departed shortly after dawn for Atauro Island, initially having to motor due to lack of wind. We eventually got a good wind which took us close to the island.

Departing Dili with Babar

Early morning departure

As we approached the island the current became stronger and directly against us rather than across our course. It built up to 4 knots just as we entered the wind shadow of the island so we had to motor again. There were several "tide lines" where rough water met calm water, both with strong currents. At these lines we saw lots of dolphins and big fish. The water was amazingly clear.

Approaching Atauro

Jumping Fish

Amongst the fish

Just as we were breaking out of the strong current passing the west-most point on Atauro Island a nasty noise started coming from the engine. We throttled right back and opened the engine bay doors for a look. The belt-driven pulley which drives the fresh water pump was jumping around instead of spinning neatly - the bearing had collapsed. We shut down the engine and realised we needed to sail back to Dili. Sailing back was an adventure with 2 to 4 knots of current with us but wildly varying winds in the lee of Atauro Island.

After bobbing through the tide lines with zero boatspeed but 4 knots over the ground we finally got into a nice easterly breeze which carried us rapidly back to Dili. The breeze held in the harbour as we picked up a mooring first time. We hoisted the Q flag and went ashore to arrange inward clearance since we had officially departed East Timor. Happily the rally organisers were still about, and they arranged our clearance. They also arranged for a mechanic to visit us early tomorrow morning.

With the official requirements taken care of we visited Vega (http://www.sailvega.com). They provided a cup of fine coffee which was very welcome!

Hopefully we'll get the bearing or water pump assembly fixed within a week. That means we'll be late to Saumlaki, but we should be able to catch up with the fleet. Just one more drama!

Cleared Out from Dili

Hi everyone,
We've had a great 5 days in Dili but it's nearly time to leave. We arranged our outward clearance from East Timor today so need to sail from Dili tomorrow. We intend to sail north 20nm to Atauro Island with several of the Dili Rally boats. We all have 90 day cruising authorisations for East Timor. We hope to overnight there before heading east for Saumlaki.

Awards Ceremony Band

The Skippers

The anchorage

Our time in Dili was spent on organised rally events, doing our own thing, and resupplying the boat. Fuel was arranged by the rally organisers at US$1.55/litre. Water was also supplied, as was a bar, a water taxi and dinghy guarding service. The organised events included a tour of Dili, a presentation ceremony and a dinner. We had dinner with the guys from Freedom Express one evening and Scot Free 2 on another. Both were adventures due to difficulty communicating with taxi drivers.

Today we shopped for fruit & veg at the markets and for bread at the "supermarkets". We had a good walk around the centre of Dili which is quite dirty but full of all sorts of shops supplying everything from food to computers to satellite dishes to furniture.

Charity suppler Vega

Zen Again the The Doctor

We also spent some time at the Hotel Dili using the free WiFi internet connection they made available to rally yachts.  For some reason we couldn't edit our blog, but it was good to get our email and take a look at what's been happening in the world recently.

It would be nice to have a few more days in Dili to explore, but time marches on and we need to meet up with the Sail Indonesia fleet in Saumlaki next weekend.

Hope all's well where you are.

Dili

Hi everyone,
We arrived in Dili at about 1130 on Wednesday after a good sail along the spectacular coast. After finishing we entered Dili harbour with our courtesy flag and Q flag flying. We picked up a mooring buoy in the set laid specially for the event. It was great to arrive in Dili after just over 4 days at sea. We logged 512nm, so pushed about 50nm of current since we stuck close to the direct route. We motored for 60 hours which is by far the most motoring we've ever done on a single passage. We used about 100 litres of fuel. Our top boat speed was 9 knots. We broke nothing!

Many of the other boats had various breakages or other adventures so we're happy our passage was relatively uneventful. It was fun running the skeds and many boats have thanked us for doing so. It was good to confirm our radio's performance.

Zen Again Track

After arriving we went ashore and presented our papers for clearance inward. That was straightforward process with the help of the rally office. We never even saw an East Timorese official! We went to dinner with the crew of Freedom Express, being thoroughly ripped off by the taxis but having a great meal together.

On Thursday we went ashore and had a shower at the Hotel Dili, then took our laundry to the Hotel Ventura which provides a service at reasonable cost. Then we taxied to Castaways cafe for a very pleasant time with The Doctor and Nefertiti crews. From there we returned to the rally office area where we found Ano waiting for us. Ano was recommended to us by Urs and Maggie on Better Than Shares. He sought us out and we had a very nice conversation with him.

In the afternoon we joined the complimentary rally tour of Dili which was really good. We visited the statue of Pope John Paul which overlooks Dili from the west, the art school, the Tais markets, the excellent Museum of the Revolution, the beach at the foot of the path up to the Jesus statue (which overlooks Dili from the east) and then to the Beachside Hotel for refreshments.

In the evening we all had dinner at the Turkish Kebab Club, featuring "belly dancing" on the tables by some rally competitors. It was good to catch up with the crews of Scot Free 2, Our Philosophy and Ala De Oro who arrived in Dili today. Great food and a fun time had by all.

Today (Friday) we have the formal presentations this morning and the formal rally dinner this evening. We'll also change to a smaller headsail, top up our water and fuel, and try to sort our our photos and video from the trip so far. So plenty to do - must dash!

Along the East Timor Coast

Hi everyone,
Last night we had a mixed bag of occasional great sailing between long periods of motoring due to light wind. We think the increased wind was due to funnelling down valleys on the coast. Although there was no moon we could still see the silhouette of the mountain ranges. Very spectacular. The short bursts of sailing had us charging along at 9 knots under full main and No 1. Great fun.

We had a brilliant, red sunrise this morning. Most of the cloud cleared away overnight and the coast alongside us is slowly changing from grey-scale to full technicolour. Tall tree-covered hills and mountains with cloud capping some of the mountains.

Only 15nm to go to Dili but we still have a strong current against us. We're only a mile offshore but the water is over 1000m deep! Haven't seen a reading on the depth sounder since the middle of the Timor Sea (which is very shallow on its southern side). We hope to get to Dili in time for lunch.

Passed Jaco Island

Hi everyone,
After last night's excitement with Colleen's steering problem, today has been relatively quiet. We had a good sail to the approaches to Jaco Island but then the seas became quite confused. We also had the wind almost behind us which made the ride very rolly. Worst of all we had 2 knots of current against us. In short it took a while to get around Jaco Island!

When we did approach the island it was only glimpsed between rain showers and low cloud. Similarly the main island of East Timor, which is very high but was (and still is) mostly shrouded in cloud.

Storm approaching

We're now motoring along the north coast of East Timor. The swells are gradually dying away and the ride is improving. The wind is very light and has been varying in direction continuously as showers come through. It rained hard several times, giving the boat a good wash and forcing us to don our wet weather gear.

East Timor to port

I'm sure East Timor will be very spectacular when a bit of sun arrives to illuminate it!