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.