Kumai River

Hi everyone,
Today we sailed from our anchorage N of Cape Puting to the mouth of the Kumai River and upriver to Kumai.  We logged 40nm in about 9 hours.  We motored for much of the journey upriver due to light winds and regular commercial traffic.  We are now anchored opposite the town in 9m over mud at 02 44.382S 111 44.037E.

Zen Again Track

Zen Again track up the river (GoogleEarth)

The journey upriver was less eventful navigationally than expected.  We followed the waypoints given in the book "101 Anchorages in Indonesia", which match those given in various cruising notes by yachts which have visited previously.  The minimum depth seen was 4.9m, and that was while approaching land initially.

What made the journey upriver interesting was the commercial traffic.  They are moving at 10-12 knots and don't always appear to notice you exist.  We had three ships pass us heading downriver during our journey up the river.  One of them ran aground abeam of us - hope they didn't zig to give us room!  They were high and dry when last we saw them.

Kumai seems to be quite a sizeable town.  Certainly the docks are large and there are several medium size cargo ships, tankers and barges anchored in the river and moored alongside the wharf.

Tomorrow we expect to go ashore to explore, to acquire food and Rupiah, and hopefully will line up a tour upriver "into the jungle" for Monday-Wednesday.

Kumai River (almost)

Hi everyone,
Tonight we are anchored north of Cape Puting, at the SE corner of the bay at the mouth of the Kumai River. We anchored here after a faster than expected passage left us with no light to cross the bar and head upriver to the town of Kumai. We are anchored at 03 23.324S 111 47.903E in 6m over mud.

Zen Again Track

We covered 163nm in 28 hours, for an average speed of 5.8 knots. Not bad at all in winds mainly in the 10 to 15 knot range, on or behind the beam. We had expected a 36 hour passage, which would have put us off the river bar at dawn. Instead we would have arrived at midnight if we hadn't diverted to anchor.

As usual we had to dodge ships and many fishing vessels. Not major incidents though. Kakadu stayed ahead of us and found the spit NW of Cape Puting extends further than charted and is shallower. They gave us a waypoint of 03 24.3S 111 38.8E, where we found at least 5.5m of water. We approached the waypoint from the SSW and departed E towards the anchorage.

Tomorrow we'll head on up the Kumai River, arriving only a few hours later than expected but having had a good night's sleep on anchor!

Enroute to Kumai River

Hi everyone,
We had a quiet day at anchor at Bawean Island today. Baked some bread, checked the engine, topped up the diesel tanks from jerry cans, checked all shackles etc on deck, repacked the asymetric, and then rested for the passage ahead. At 1700 be hoisted the main, weighed anchor and departed Bawean Island. The anchorage was in a very pleasant bay. The locals were friendly but didn't ask for anything from us - a unique experience for us so far in Indonesia.

Unflagged fish trap off Bawean

Last night we had our first real rainstorm since the Darwin-Dili rally. It came through at about 0300 with 30 knots of wind as well as quite heavy rain. Lasted for perhaps half an hour, with most of the rain and wind in 10 minutes. We had a cuppa while checking we weren't dragging. The rain gave the deck and the sheets a much-needed wash. The sheets (ropes) were getting so salty they'd stand upright all on their own.

Tonight we're sailing at about 4.5 knots boatspeed under full main and #2 jib. We're doing 6 knots over the ground, which if we keep up will see us arrive in Kumai in the dark, which we don't want. Our plan is to arrive at dawn on Saturday and then proceed immediately up the river to the town of Kumai. We plan to arrange a tour up-river from there to see the Orang Utangs in particular and the jungle and wildlife in general.

Kakadu departed Bawean Island with us. They're gradually pulling away from us, as they should in nice 8 knot beam reaching conditions. It's certainly champagne sailing, or would be if we could keep up with Kakadu! ;)

Trust all's well where you are.