Australia To Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Madagascar Route

[theway]

Originally Posted by daletournier

I agree, the wessels are nice. Personally after Lizard I don't think there's much worth seeing until there, although I enjoyed the history of Thursday island.

Another option for the Op if he's running out of time is to enjoy the Indonesian archepeligo upto Bali and then stay there until May. From Bali you could head Cocos, Chagos, seychelles, Madagascar.

I tend to accept I can't see everything therefore never rush a trip, I'll stay in a place for months if I like it.

I don’t feel like I’m running out of time just yet. I’ve received a lot of feedback suggesting October is ok to arrive in Indonesia. I understand it’s not the best but I’ll just prepare to motor more and calculate my distances. I might even be able to get there late September.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by theway

I don’t feel like I’m running out of time just yet. I’ve received a lot of feedback suggesting October is ok to arrive in Indonesia. I understand it’s not the best but I’ll just prepare to motor more and calculate my distances. I might even be able to get there late September.

Hi, arriving in Indonesia during October isn't an issue. It's getting up further that becomes harder. Heading up between sumatra and Borneo in Nov or later can be tuffer, you will most likely have northerlies channelling between those two land masses at that time of year, if I remember rightly.

Not saying it can't be done.

[Fore and Aft]

Thats an excellent idea Dale, just hang around Indonesia until you can head for Cocos etc. I just checked Air Asia and there is plenty of cheap flights to the rest of asia to see those sights you might have missed. The marina at Bali looks reasonably priced as well.
Cheers

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Thats an excellent idea Dale, just hang around Indonesia until you can head for Cocos etc. I just checked Air Asia and there is plenty of cheap flights to the rest of asia to see those sights you might have missed. The marina at Bali looks reasonably priced as well.
Cheers

You can easily leave the boat on a mooring at Serangan. Some of those moorings hold very large boats. Ruth at isle Marine can organise one (there's others that can as well). . You can even get a very large mooring put in for you for quite cheap although they must be running out of room by now.

There's always a risk of a boat letting go in a strong nw'ly. I has no problem for the 6 mths I was there. You are right across from Sanur which is very nice.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by theway

I don’t feel like I’m running out of time just yet. I’ve received a lot of feedback suggesting October is ok to arrive in Indonesia.

I'll take the hint from conachair - not that I really care how uncomfortable your life will be if you leave entry to October.

I'll post a series of wx graphics from 2004. Nothing special about 2004, it's just a year. A year before windy.com and so. In 2004, Singapore Met Office still created their superb wx charts for SE Asia.

The wx charts show surface streamlines: the gradient wind at 10 metres above mean sea level. Not the atmospheric pressure charts, showing isobars, with which sailors from temperate climes are familiar. Pressure charts are meaningless in the tropics, you have to understand.

So I'll post wx charts about one week apart starting from late July 2004. The idea being you will look at the surface streamlines and work out how you deal the wind under sail and in an anchorage. Remember (for the 3rd time) surface streamlines: the gradient wind at about 10 m above MSL. Think of where the centroid of your sail plan is.

I cannot leave the graphics on CF for long. A moderator will come along and tell me to delete them. So look now.

Any question? All understand. Here goes:

wx20040731: 31 July 2004. See the reliable dependable SW wind blowing you at 10 - 15 knots through the Nusa Tenggara island chain. Note how the wind turns to SW just a little N of the Eq. Note how at about 20 N the wind is being pulled to the E into a tropical revolving storm somewhere E of the Philippines. That's cyclogenesis taking place.

[Alan Mighty]

Now one week later. wx20040807.

Excellent cruising in Indonesia and up the Malacca Strait. Note that cyclogenesis still pulling winds E of Mindanao (the S Philippines).

[Alan Mighty]

20 days later. wx20040728

The cyclogenesis E of the Philippines has moved N and is now a tropical revolving storm E of Taiwan. Great sailing winds in Nusa Tenggara. You'd be on a lee shore in S Kalimantan if you were want to stop to see the red apes (orang utan)

[Alan Mighty]

wx20040904 early September.

Getting close to the Equinox (which should be around 22 Sept). The ITCZ is sliding S towards the Eq.

See that mess at 5N in the centre of the S China Sea. That's an ITCZ phenomenon.

Back to Nusa Tenggara. Great sailing wind.

And you could sail smoothly all the way N up the Strait of Malacca to Port Dickson, Pangkor, Langkawi, or even Phuket.

[Alan Mighty]

One week later. wx20040911.

Cyclogenesis in the N part of the S China Sea has created a bit of a monsoon surge. A revolving storm of Shanghai is helping.

An ITCZ artefact at 10N.

Good sailing wind over the Maritime Continent.

[Alan Mighty]

One week later. wx20040918.

ITCZ artefacts scattered at 10N. Some unstable atmosphere over S Sulawesi at 5S (also an ITCZ artefact - those things can sometimes turn into a cyclone).

In Nusa Tenggara, you might think this is a good time to enter Indonesia.

[Alan Mighty]

One week later. wx20040925. Three days after the Equinox.

Note the ITCZ artefacts at 8N. That's unstable atmosphere there.

Everything in the S part of the Maritime Continent looks fine. Winds up to 20 knots. If I were there, I'd be using that wind to move W into the Strait of Malacca as fast as possible.

[Alan Mighty]

One week later. wx20041002. That's 2 October.

Warm ocean-atmosphere coupling the N hemisphere has kept the ITCZ in the N
hemisphere, with artefacts in the S China Sea at 8N and 10 N.

NE winds pouring down the coast of China. Possible cyclogenesis off the E edge of the chart. The winds over the Maritime Continent are largely S.

[Alan Mighty]

One week later. wx20041009.

The streamlines are distorted by a tropical revolving storm, a typhoon, off the chart to the E. ITCZ artefacts are only over the continent and Sumatera.

[Alan Mighty]

One week later. wx20041016.

Typhoon now established E of Luzon.

Winds over the Maritime Continent largely N.

NE winds pouring down the China coast.

[Alan Mighty]

One week later. wx20041023.

The typhoon has moved on.

A massive ITCZ artefact at 5S, S and W of Sumatera, is pulling E winds across the Maritime Continent.

NE winds have penetrated the S China Sea to Singapore.