We have now been traveling for 6 months. Our odyssey has taken us from our Lake Macquarie base, at Alkira Boatshed, to Thailand via Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. During that time we have been assessing Argos' performance, thinking of improvements, re-designing the layout of a future boat, and getting suggestions from other cruising people about what they would like on their ideal boat. Having previously cruised in a sailing vessel we were a bit apprehensive if our decision to go overseas in a motor cruiser was the right one. We have no more doubts! For us there is no going back. In fact the older we become the more we find motor boat cruising more comfortable than, and just as satisfying, as sailing. Travelling up the Queensland coast, we had the usual boisterous weather. From Cooktown on one can count on strong winds. Sure enough we sheltered there for two weeks! Cooktown is a nice town but they desperately need a dinghy dock. In fact, on the Queensland coast be prepared to drag you dinghy ashore to cater for the tides. We were pleased we took an inflatable dinghy with a hard bottom plus wheels with a small outboard. Our lighter stern davits enabled us to launch our inflatable easily and pull it up quickly at night. The locals call inflatable dinghies "crocodile teething rings". We carried a larger dinghy with a bigger outboard when we fished in the creeks! Heavy duty davits to lift the larger dinghy onto the cabin roof make life a lot easier for the captain and crew. If you register your boat in Queensland the price of diesel is magically reduced by a few cents per litre! Whether your boat is registered in Queensland or not, the relevant authorities are able to board her, inspect your safety gear and then slap a fine of $150.00 on you if you don't have the required gear aboard. Make sure you have flares that are stamped with the current date and get rid of the out of date ones! The laws are becoming stricter! There are publications available from the Queensland Government Marine Department that list the requirements. The free colour coded fishing zone charts, of the Great Barrier Reef, is another publication that should be aboard. Another free publication is the Ship to Shore magazine that includes land contacts and the Darwin tide tables for the season. We have had no real dramas, the exception being the thick rope that became tangled around the propeller off Portland Rd. Phil had to go into the water to cut it off. We didn't stop at Thursday Island because the fierce tides were running in our favour, the forecast was good so we took advantage of them! Anchoring out in Gove can be a challenge because it is a windy place and the trip to shore, can be a wet one. Still, if you hate wet feet, a wet bottom or salt spray maybe life on the ocean waves isn't for you! The captain and crew have to go to the Yacht Club as soon as they have anchored, to fill in the usual forms that are faxed to the authorities. The Gove Yacht Club is a friendly place but it is a long way out of town. We hitched a ride in but we had an expensive taxi ride back from the town's supermarket. Before arriving in Darwin contact Quarantine as they may require your boat to be hauled out (they pay!) if you have stopped in Cairns Harbour for any length of time. We were late leaving Darwin mainly due to the delay with our CAIT. We were slack in putting in our application and paid the price by sitting on our hands for a fortnight, waiting for our Visa to enter Indonesia. At least 6 weeks notice is necessary before the CAIT is approved. The Indonesian embassy in Darwin will not issue a Visa without a CAIT. No CAIT, no Visa, no departure! There are other agents besides Bali Marina for the CAIT but it is a good idea to get their web site and download the information they provide. Noonsite is worth a browse. It is necessary to provide a list of places one intends to visit, in Indonesia. A Travel map of the archipelago will give you an idea of the places along your intended route. Two of our great experiences included Kumai in Kalimantan (Borneo), where we saw the orang-utans and Rinca and/or Kumodo where we saw the sinister Komodo dragons! There are three good marinas in Darwin. These are entered through locks, so there are no tidal problems to worry about. Some boats choose to anchor in Fannie Bay. The chore of dragging the dinghy up the beach is almost worth achoring off the popular yacht club there. There is another quirky little yacht club called Dinah Beach YC near Tipperary Marina. Most of the new chums gather at these Yacht clubs (over a beer or two) to pick up useful information from the boaties who have been to Indonesia many times. We stayed at Cullen Bay Marina. It is handy to the city and in walking distance to the Parap and Mindil markets. The only disadvantage with Cullen Bay is that the maina office is not staffed continuously during the day, and it can be frustrating if one is expecting spare parts by a courier service. The Darwin area is serviced by a shuttle bus service. There are day tickets available on the public buses to the bigger shopping malls. Make sure you stock up with duty free grog as the time spent socializing on other boats is a large part of the cruising experience! The one big disappointment of the trip so far was our mail and how to get it! The Poste Restante is a service that leaves a lot to be desired. Letters that have been posted well in advance and marked Poste Restante, have either been left lying on a shelf at the local PO or have not been delivered or have arrived too late for us to collect and have beenreturned. Nowadays most boats have laptops aboard. A service called Sail Mail is used to access and send emails. It seems emails and Internet Cafes are becoming the most efficient way to get and send news! So get a free internet address, Hotmail or Sail Mail or have a wireless connection. A mobile phone that takes Sim cards is also very handy as these are sometimes interchangeable in the different countries and SMS and text messages are a cheap way to contact home and other boats. Then, others simply leave their boat on a marina and fly home for a few months to fill the coffers and catch up with family before resuming their voyage! We left Darwin after clearing Customs at 1100 on the 10th September 2005. We encountered light winds after a few hours and that suited us just fine. Our fuel consumption has turned out to be a very pleasing 8 litres per hour doing 7 knots. If it gets too rough we deploy our flopper stoppers which work equally well underway, (we lose about .5 knot) and at anchor they steady the boat down considerably. After weaving our way through scores of Indonesian fishing boats close to Timor, we anchored in Kupang Bay at 0300 on the 13th September 2005 and started our cruise in a new and totally different region. |
