Sailing Southeast Asia

[undercutter]

Hello Everyone,

We are from Canada and have a CT 56 in Brunei on the Isle of Borneo. We are planning to cruise to Singapore and into the Indian Ocean from Jan to end of March. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Due to the troubles to cruise in Indonesia and the lack of entry ports on any route to Singapore from Borneo it looks like we will have to sail through without making any landfall. We thought about just anchoring off some of the isle in the South China Sea to break up the trip but did not want to have any troubles with the local Indonesian authourities. Has any sailed this area regularily. It would be nice to break up the 300nm voyage to Singapore from the western tip of Sarawak Province.

Thanks everyone,
Undercutter
Atoll II

[Boracay]

Have you had a look at Noonsite?

Interesting pages here and here.

There may be some information of interest here.

[donweiss]

Check out Tim Forderer's blog - Tim Forderer's Photo Journal

Don

[undercutter]

Originally Posted by Boracay

Have you had a look at Noonsite?

Interesting pages here and here.

There may be some information of interest here.

Have looked at Noonsite previously and again since your suggestion. Same problem, there is no where to check into Indonesia until you reach Batam from Brunei. Aport on the NorthEast coast of Kalimantan would be perfect!!

Anyone know?

Thanks.

[donweiss]

Another nice blog about SE Asia cruising - Home: Grey Pearl Welcome to the Home Page of... - their latest entry covers their time in Singapore and the Malacca Straits.

[bewitched]

The only way to break it up is to stop on an Indonesian Island. To do this legally you will need a CAIT.

And the hassles of getting a CAIT and entering Indonesia in general are for most just not worth it.

And the Anambas Islands have a bit of a poor reputation... Not very nice people.

Not many stop. It's only 300miles...2days....and you'll be on a lovely reach at that time of the year.

Enjoy the sail and don't spoil the trip with the officious ******** and pilfering that is a given in that part of Indonesia.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Welcome Aboard Cruisers Forum

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here.
kind regards,

[undercutter]

Anyone visited Pontianak on the West coast of Kalimantan? We were thinking of cruising this way, then via Karimata, Belitu and Bangka and then N into the Lingga chain before departing Indonesia at Batam. Think we have all the procedures nailed down, applied for CAIT and a route to a visa from the Indonesian embassy in Ottawa. Unfortunately, they will not issue a tourist 60 day visa, even with a CAIT as documentation for proof of your itinerary leaving no choice but to buy return airline tickets from Sarawak to Pontianak.

It doesn't make sense that you can fly into Pontianak from Malaysia but that they cannot issue a VOA at this port? Does anyone know otherwise?
Their embassy in Ottawa says no as well.

Undercutter

[undercutter]

Doesn't seem to be a lot of activity in this part of the world with everyone reccomending that it is not worth the hassle to deal with the bureaucracy in Indonesia. Unfortunately it seems we will have to deal with it all so I figured maybe we would record our experiences so maybe the next adventurous boat had less trouble.

Who knows, maybe we will never make it in but sailors as a group are pretty tenacious so we will hope for the best and plan on success.

Some good information from the members on pilots for the area so far. Thanks everyone.

We are very interested to hear from anyone who has sailed this area recently and can report on local conditions, especially any trouble areas. We are looking at the piracy reports and will take everyones suggestion to steer clear of the Anambas Islands on the way back from Singapore.