We arrived in Belitung in the late afternoon on the final day of the rally activities. The organisers greeted us with great warmth and hospitality showering us with bags of goodies and hand painted local hats (see equator party photos). This island was like no other in Indonesia. The water was clear and the granite rock formations on the beaches were beautiful.
Beach at Belitung.......................................................... Swimming Indonesian style
Within a short time David had befriended a tourist police officer, Augustian Khadafi, who was committed to giving us a memorable time while we were in Belitung. It seems the island had many tourist police officers whose primary role was to look after the tourists. For us, this encompassed all aspects of our stay almost to the point of him pushing our trolley around the supermarket. He would stop traffic to allow us to cross the road, making us feel like royalty. Luckily Daryl was able to get all the official checking out and refueling done within a few hours so Augustian was out to show us a good time. Funny how, because we are westerners, he perceived that KFC (which he referred to as Kalifornian Fried Chicken) would be our lunch preference!! He kept saying they were only a small town because they only had one KFC and it was obviously an establishment that only the wealthier could afford to eat at.
We got taken to his home to meet (and have our photos taken with) his wife and baby. We visited his place of work and got introduced proudly to his colleagues and met the ‘big’ boss. We saw all the local sights and much more.
Visit to Augustian's home.................................................Visit to the Chief of Police's office
Outside Augustian's house
In return we gave Augustian and his brother their first inflatable dinghy ride and their first time on a yacht. They seemed overwhelmed by our lifestyle and seemed petrified and excited at the same time when in the dinghy. They went home sporting new sail Indonesia tee shirts and big smiles on their faces.
We all agreed that Belitung was a great stop and one we would like to revisit in the future.
With the final check out of Indonesia completed it only remained to motor sail the remaining 500 miles to Malaysia. This was done with ease and included dodging the thunderstorms, fishtraps, unlit fishermen in canoes and curious squid boats.
We crossed the equator once more and so it was necessary to pop another bubbly to share with Neptune.
For me, anxiety grew as we neared the shipping lanes of the Singapore Straits.
Equator crossing...............................................................Equator hat party
On the last day we set off early morning and when we got to the edge of the Straits it was like waiting to cross a laned highway. When the closer lanes cleared the three yachts set off together and we soon got into the rhythm of dodging between the ships. The currents were against us so progress seemed slow but…… we made it …..over to the other side where we counted more than 100 anchored ships of different shapes and sizes. We wove our way through them and off up the channel between Singapore and Malaysia.
Different regions- different strokes.........................David as we come across the straits
Towing 'Morning Star up the river between Singapore and Malaysia
It was then we got a call from one of the other boats, ‘Morning Star’ to say that his motor had just broken down. So ‘Cool Bananas’ did a swift about turn, pulled out the tow ropes and David got to practice his skills from his days in the Melbourne Water Police. All went smoothly and we were impressed with the way she towed, especially as we were running on only one motor ourselves. All arrived safely into the new luxurious Puteri Marina in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
In Malaysia looking back towards Singapore
