Thursday 10th January
Sandakan to P.Tambisan - 67 miles approx
   We have just under 70 miles to do today and the anchorage has a tricky entrance so we leave at 4 a.m. to make sure we get there in daylight. We motored out of Sandakan, across the bar and into the open sea. The wind came in at about 11 a.m. directly from behind. There was a big swell running so we just put up the yankee and ran downwind. With 2 knots of current under us we made pretty good time.
   The anchorage was at the southern end of the channel behind P.Tambisan and the entrance had a shallow bar. We crept very slowly over the bar with a minimum of about 2 metres of water. Once inside the channel the depths increased to about 20 metres. We went past the village near the entrance and anchored a little way up the channel. Theoretically you can go right through the channel and come out at the northern end of the island but there is a bar about halfway through which, according to our chart has only 1.8 metres of water over it so we didn't try it.
 Anchor position:- 05° 26'.8N 119° 08'.3E, 15m, gritty mud

Friday 11th January
P.Tambisan to Felda Oil Jetty - 39 miles approx
   We left about 8 a.m. which happened to be low water. The depth went down to about 3½ metres over the bar but it was nowhere near as frightening as coming out of Dewhurst Bay. There was a gentle swell but no breaking waves. Again we were sailing dead downwind so only put up the yankee. The next anchorage is around a big headland to the N. side of Darvel Bay so for the last few miles we were close-hauled. There are some very strange currents off this headland. They seem to change direction, make large eddies or disappear altogether.
   The anchorage was much better than it had first appeared. There are tall trees on the bank near the jetty giving shelter from the wind and close inshore the swell was barely noticeable.
 Anchor position:- 05° 04'.2N 119° 04'.8E, 7m, sandy mud

Saturday 12th January
Felda Oil Jetty to P. Timbun Mata - 49 miles approx
   The wind switched around completely today and we found ourselves beating directly into it. The anchorage is amongst the islands on the S. side of Darvel Bay. It's a very pretty area full of tree-covered hilly islands interspersed with small coconut palm covered sandy islands and numerous reefs. This area is home to some of the Baja people who live in stilt huts built on the reefs.
    We sailed until about 3 p.m. then decided we'd better motor since we didn't fancy going in when it was dark. The anchorage is in a very protected bay on the south side of Pulau Timbun Mata. There is a fisherman's hut on stilts and lots of fishing nets and fish traps around the edges of the bay but apart from an occasional small local boat it was very peaceful.
 Anchor position:- 04° 35'.4N 118° 32'.9E, 5.5m, mud

Sunday 13th January
Pulau Timbun Mata
   We plan to leave for Sulawesi tomorrow. It's about 400 miles so will take maybe 4 or 5 days. We spent most of today getting the boat ready for an ocean passage. That means checking the safety gear, tidying up maintenance jobs such as cleaning engine filters, cooking a couple of meals in advance, etc.

Monday 14th to Thursday 17th January
P.Timbun Mata (East Malaysia) to Bitung (Sulawesi, Indonesia) - 400 miles approx
   With a gentle breeze from the north we were able to sail out through the reefs. Once into the open sea with a beam wind and current with us we were making about 6 knots. By early afternoon the wind had died so we were motoring. For the next few days as the wind got less we had to motor more and more so it was rather a boring passage. We did spot a whale although it was too far away to identify, there was also a pair of brown boobies fishing around us for an hour or so.
   Thursday morning saw a little bit of wind so we sailed until it died then horror of horrors the engine wouldn't start. Steve spent hours cleaning filters and bleeding the fuel system but still no luck. He decided the problem was probably with the fuel injector pump and that was something he couldn't fix. By this time there were storms all around the horizon and the weather looked pretty ominous but it gave us 15 - 20 knots on the beam so for a while we were making 8 knots. The wind stayed with us all the way to the channel into Bitung. There is an island just offshore here and Bitung lies on the mainland sheltered by the island. It was now about 5 p.m. and we planned to sail far enough into the channel to find a sheltered place to anchor then try to get a tow into the port in the morning where we could find a mechanic to fix the engine. As we entered the channel the wind died and we spent 2 hours catching zephyrs and drifting on the current before finding a spot out of the main channel where it was shallow enough to anchor. The main channel was 70 metres deep so we couldn't have anchored there if we had wanted to. Of course the minute we dropped the anchor the wind started blowing at about 12 knots.
Anchor position:- 01° 27'.6N 125° 13'.8E, 10m, coral (but too close to a tidal rip)

Friday 18th January
Bitung
   What a day! Our main task today was to find a mechanic to fix the engine. There was a big liveaboard dive boat moored close by so we decided to ask them if they knew where we could find a mechanic. We struck gold. The dive boat was run by two British guys Niall and Alan. They had a local partner who ran an engine repair shop and they promised to call him to get him to send a mechanic out. Niall then offered to tow us to a nearby mooring since the area we were anchored in was prone to tide rips and could get very uncomfortable. He came over in his launch and we attached a tow line and started to lift the anchor - only to find it was jammed under a rock. He went back to carry on working while we freed the anchor. The idea was to lay a second anchor from the dinghy to hold us while we freed off the first one. It all worked well, Steve dived down and freed up the first anchor and relaid it. We called Niall over to try again and would you believe it jammed again. Steve dived again while Niall hung around in the launch but couldn't free it this time - it had got itself into a tunnel under a rock with no  obvious way of getting out again. We had to drop the whole chain on the bottom with a marker buoy, have Niall tow us to the mooring then go back and retrieve the chain once there was no load on it. After we'd tied up to the mooring Niall offered to lend us a couple of guys and his boat to help us get the chain up. What a star!!
   Steve and one of Niall's guys dived on the chain, unshackled the anchor and brought that up then pulled the rest of the chain from under the rock then up onto the boat. Having got both chain and anchor back onto Carillon the boys went back to the dive boat. About an hour later, 4:30 or so, we saw them heading back to us with the mechanic on board. After an hour or so of tinkering the engine burst into life. The problem turned out to be dirt on the fuel solenoid causing it to stick thereby stopping the fuel feed.
   We were very grateful to Niall and the crew of the N.Sulawesi Agressor for all the help they gave us today. They were fantastic.
Mooring Position:- 01° 27'.4N 125° 13'.8E, 20m

Saturday 19th January
Bitung
   Today we checked in - all day. We took the dinghy the 2 miles to the port - having got ourselves safely on a mooring we were a bit loth to leave it for another uncertain anchorage - and found a dock to tie up to or rather the back of another boat that was already tied up since there wasn't a square inch of space left on the dock. We gave one of the guys sitting on the boat a few rupiah to look after the dinghy in the hope that it would still be there when we got back. Next thing was to find immigration. We asked in a shop and the next thing we knew two motorcycle taxis appeared out of nowhere to take us.
   When we arrived there didn't seem to be anyone around apart from a scruffy looking guy watching television. He took us to an office and told us to wait and after a while an immigration officer turned up, stamped our passports and gave our drivers instructions on how to get to customs which was our next stop.
   Customs was a bit trickier. Again there was no-one around then about half a dozen people appeared all of whom examined our Port Clearance from Malaysia in minute detail. After a while a man in a uniform showed up who also examined our last Port Clearance. They all seemed a bit perturbed that we didn't have an agent but since no-one spoke more than a few words of English and we don't speak Indonesian it was a little difficult to work out what was going on. Eventually we realised that they wanted to come and inspect the boat and without an agent they had no means of getting to us since they apparently don't have their own boats. We couldn't all fit in our dinghy for a 2 mile trip down the harbour so we suggested that perhaps we could check into customs at our next port instead. Suddenly everything started happening, a form was brought for us to complete and next thing we knew we were all done and ready to move on to see the Harbourmaster.
   By this time it was past lunchtime and our drivers were visibly drooping so we told them to find us a restaurant for lunch. Big smiles all round and we were whizzed through a maze of back streets to a very ethnic restaurant. Needless to say lunch was on us. Suitably refreshed we went to find the Harbourmaster. Same scenario as the other offices - lots of empty desks with a few people sitting round not doing very much. There were no telephones, no computers, virtually no visible paperwork and two very, very ancient typewriters. As before people drifted in and out looking at our paperwork and asking questions then the man who knew how to operate the typewriter showed up and started to type out our clearance - progress. We thought we were done but then they were giving more instructions to our drivers and handing us a sheaf of paperwork. It seemed that it all had to be signed by the Harbourmaster himself but he wasn't there. Back onto the bikes and our trusty drivers took us to the Harbourmaster's home where his wife woke him from his afternoon nap so he could sign our papers - he did look a bit bemused. Finally back to the office for everything to be chopped and we were done and not only that contrary to what we'd been told none of the officials had asked for any 'special charges' or indeed any charges.
   Last thing was a quick trip to the supermarket, which was very basic but did yield some chicken and a few fresh vegetables to last us to our next port, then back to the dinghy. Yes it was still there with our friendly fisherman guarding it with his life.
   We extricated ourselves from the mass of lines and got back to Carillon with a sigh of relief.

Sunday 20th January
Bitung
   We have to wait for the laundry so we can't leave until tomorrow. There is a dive resort close by and although the resort couldn't do the laundry one of the staff offered to do it privately. Should be ready this afternoon. After the excitement of the last couple of days we'll spend today pottering about the boat and doing some of the never-ending maintenance jobs.

Monday 21st to Tuesday 22nd January
Bitung to Ternate - 135 miles approx
   Next destination is Ternate which is a small island on the west coast of Halmahera. It'll take a day and a half to get there so it's an overnight sail. After leaving Bitung we are making about 5 knots in the right direction. There is a gentle long swell from the north, the sun is shining, we caught 3 tuna this morning for lunch and dinner and all's right with the world.
   We managed to sail until almost midnight when the wind went very light and headed us. We had clear skies overnight and no sneaky rain squalls. We motored for a few hours then the wind came back and we were able to sail for a few more hours when again the wind headed us and the current swung against us. We passed some fishing platforms, some with a couple of guys on, in the middle of the ocean, anchored in about a 1000 metres of water. We motored the last few hours and arrived at Ternate soon after lunchtime. The island is or was a volcano and although it has grass and tree covered slopes are chart tells us it is still active. The waters around it are mostly very deep and there are only a few places where it's possible to anchor. We anchored in about 6 metres of water in sand and rock just off the main town. About 4 p.m. we had a visit from the Navy to check our papers were in order. Everything was ok but they told us their commanding officer would like to come aboard tomorrow.
Anchor position:- 00° 46'.9N 127° 23'.4E, 6m, sand and rock

Wednesday 23rd January
Ternate
   Ternate is a large and noisy town. The anchorage is sand and coral and right in front of the town so we have a constant audience just sitting on the seawall. We went ashore to check in with the Harbourmaster and do some shopping. At the Harbourmaster's office it seemed we were missing a stamped copy of our crew list that should have been issued at Bitung so we had to go to immigration at the other end of town to get another one. This should be very simple but the immigration officer made a great show of how much of a problem it was and why didn't we have this bit of paper, why hadn't it been issued at Bitung. Eventually he said we would have to check in with the police. We then quietly mentioned that we had already seen the Navy and they were quite happy with our documents. A sudden silence then 'I'll just check' from the immigration officer who disappeared out of the door for 10 seconds or so then reappeared calling for his minions to come and unlock the chops from their secret place and stamp our crew list - 6 copies of it. Having finally got the paperwork we returned to the Harbourmaster who completed our clearances.
   After that we went looking for an internet cafe and the market. The connection at the internet cafe was mind-numbingly slow so we didn't even attempt to update the web page. It took over an hour just to read our few emails. The market was at the far end of town and although there were plenty of stalls the choice of fruit and veg was quite limited. We bought what we could along with a couple of small fish then went looking for a supermarket/minimart. We wanted to buy fruit juice, UHT milk, coffee and tea but could only find tea. Most of the shelves seemed to be stocked with biscuits and washing powder. For a town this size availability of goods was quite limited.
   When we returned to Carillon the wind was blowing onshore and the stern had swung in to within a few metres of the seawall. We were touching the bottom in the waves so had to motor off and reset the anchor at the other end of town where it was shallow enough a little further out. The islands are volcanic so they seem to go straight down to the seabed for hundreds of metres. Places where it is shallow enough to anchor are few and far between.
 Anchor position:- 00° 46'.9N 127° 23'.4E, 6m, sand and rock

Thursday 24th January
Ternate to Tatalika - 13 miles approx
   We thankfully left Ternate for a bay on the main island of Halmahera. The bay has reefs a little way offshore but it's possible to tuck in behind them. There is a tiny village in the corner of the bay but otherwise it's mangroves and coconut palms. It poured with rain in the afternoon so we were able to collect plenty to do laundry.
Anchor position:- 00° 57'.6N 127° 30'.6E, 15m, gritty mud

Friday 25th January
Tatalika
   We stayed here today to do laundry and clean up the boat a bit. Had a visit from a couple of the villagers but they didn't speak English and we don't speak Indonesian so conversation was a bit limited. In the afternoon the local schoolteacher came out and he did speak English. He invited us to visit his village and we spent about an hour or so  with him and an audience of local children who simply stood and stared. The village was very well kept with many attractive plants. Most of the trees were fruit trees such as lime, banana, mango,papaya or cassava (tapioca). The cassava root is ground into a powder and mixed with water to make a sort of soup base. This forms part of the staple diet along with fish. By the time we left the whole village came down to the shore to see us off. They seemed a very friendly and hospitable group of people.
Anchor position:- 00° 57'.6N 127° 30'.6E, 15m, gritty mud

Saturday 26th January
Tatalika to Dodinga - 20 miles approx
    The next anchorage was a about 20 miles down the coast near the village of Dodinga. The wind was most uncooperative changing strength and direction at frequent intervals. It eventually settled down to 12 - 15 knots from the direction in which we wanted to go. On reaching the bay we did a bit of searching around and found a small bay with no village, about 12 - 14 metres depth and sheltered from the NE.
Anchor position:- 00° 50'N 127° 38'.2E, 13m, mud 

Sunday 27th to Monday 28th January
Dodinga
   Sunday it rained all day but Monday we took the dinghy into the main bay expecting to find a large village but apart from a solid concrete jetty and a couple of shaky huts there was nothing there. We walked a mile or so along the road and there was the village - definitely not a fishing village. There were one or two tiny food stores and small hardware stores. The isthmus is very narrow here so we planned to walk across to the village on the other side, Bobaneigu about a mile and a half further on. We'd walked about two thirds of the way when a motorbike stopped a little way in front of us and a girl who'd been riding pillion jumped off to talk to us. She was quite charming and very keen to practice her English. She invited us to her home and sent her brother/boyfriend off to find another friend with a motorbike to get us all there. With the aid of a dictionary we discovered that she was 17 and had 3 sisters working as maids overseas and that she normally lived with her father on Java with his other wife. A pleasantly spent hour.
   To get back to Carillon we found a motorcycle taxi to take us from Bobaneigu to Dodinga.
Anchor position:- 00° 50'N 127° 38'.2E, 13m, mud 

Tuesday 29th January
Dodinga to Joji - 17 miles approx
   No wind again today so motored all the way. We'd found a small islet about 20 miles down the coast of Halmahera which the chart told us had about 12 metres of water round it. Anchoring in this whole area is difficult because in most places the water is very deep, far too deep for us to anchor in so what we do is look for somewhere which shows a 20 metre contour line then hope that it gets shallow enough inside it to anchor before we get too close to the shore. Sure enough, after a bit of searching around we found a patch between 2 reefs with 12 - 14 metres of water. The bottom is mud so once the anchor is down there's no problem with the holding. Once the sea breeze had died away the water was flat calm. there was a spectacular sunset and a night full of stars.
Anchor position:- 00° 21'.3N 127° 38'.2E, 14m, mud

Wednesday 30th January
Joji to Bacan Island - 50 miles approx 
   No wind again so motored for the first few hours. Just north of the equator there were hundreds of dolphins all around. They were busy fishing so didn't come and play but we've never seen so many together before. We crossed the equator at 10:10 a.m.
   There was a potential anchorage on the SW tip of Laluin. The chart showed a sand spit with 7 metres. When we got there it was a small patch of sand and rock at about 10 metres about 2 boat lengths across and a 30 metre drop-off all the way round. There was also a swell working around the W coast of the island so we decided not to try to stop. We sailed on another 10 - 12 miles to Bacan Island. There is a very sheltered channel between Bacan Island and Kasiruta Island. We found a spot where the 20 metre contour was marked and found a spot in 14 metres. There are very few villages this end of Bacan Island and the bay we were anchored off was deserted. As with everywhere else the shoreline was mangroves and coconut palms.
Anchor position:- 00° 21'.7S 127° 20'E, 14m, mud

Thursday 31st January
N. Bacan Island to Labuha - 25 miles approx
   The main town on Pulau Bacan is Labuha. We hope to buy diesel and stock up on foodstuffs. The passage takes us through the middle of this group of islands. They are hilly and covered with coconut palms, mangroves and jungle. Here and there we can see evidence of logging. As we get closer to Labuha the villages become more frequent and more fishing platforms are evident. The town of Labuha is situated in a large bay at the southern end of P. Bacan facing the open sea and in the shadow of the mountain which is some 1000m high. It was windy and raining when we arrived so we didn't go ashore.
Anchor position:- 00° 37'.8S 127° 28'.5E, 15m, sticky mud 

Friday 1st February
Labuha
   Went to find somewhere to get ashore and found a diesel dock. They were happy enough for us to leave the dinghy there to go to the market and we told them we'd come back later  for diesel. The market was 10 - 15 minutes walk and consisted of a fair sized fish market selling mainly tuna and some small vegetable stalls. We couldn't find chicken or meat anywhere. We bought tuna and a selection of vegetables and explored a little before returning to Carillon. Steve took some jerry cans ashore for diesel but it turned out that they didn't actually have any just then but promised some for about 12 noon. By the time we'd collected the other jerry cans and taken them ashore the diesel had arrived. It came in 25 litre jerry cans and was transferred to our jerry cans through a large funnel. Everything was covered in diesel by the time they'd finished and it was all a bit of a mess.
   Had the usual rain storms in the afternoon and the usual audience of small boys in canoes in the early evening.
 Anchor position:- 00° 37'.8S 127° 28'.5E, 15m, sticky mud

Saturday 2nd February
Labuha to Laiwuni - 45 miles approx
   We're now heading for the Obi Islands about 45 miles south of the Bacan Islands. No wind again in the morning but about 10 knots from the west by midday. There were more dolphins fishing. They came and swam around us for a minute or two but we weren't really going fast enough for them.
   The next anchorage is on the NW coast of Obi Major behind P. Bisa. The only place to anchor was right in front of the village of Laiwuni and rather closer to the shore than we would have liked. It felt a bit exposed and a strong onshore wind would probably have put us aground. The usual crowd of small boys came paddling out to stare. The village seemed to have 3 canoes and two paddles so one lot had to paddle with their flip-flops. After a while the boys were gracious enough to allow a group of girls to use one of the canoes so they could also come and have a look.
 Anchor position:- 01° 20'S 127° 38'.1E, 14m, black sand

Sunday 3rd February
Laiwuni to Tawa - 26 miles approx
   Motored most of the way again. We'll be glad to get a bit further south where there should be some wind. We had a look at what would be a very protected anchorage at Tanjung Woka only it was about 25 metres deep. The anchorage we were heading for is behind an island and some reefs. The chart shows 11 to 14 metres. There is a long reef running outside the islands which was clearly visible and we could see the passage through to the island. It was a very pretty spot and the depths were as shown on the chart.
Anchor position:- 01° 33'S 128° 03'.3E, 13m, sand

Monday 4th February
Tawa
   Stayed here today to relax and use last night's rainwater to give the dinghy a thorough clean to get rid of the diesel. Steve bottled the beer he'd set going a few days beforehand and we were all set for a relaxing day. Late morning and most of the afternoon we were hit by winds of 20 - 25 knots from the only direction exposed to the open sea. The reef sheltered us from most of the swell but it was pretty blowy for some hours. Had an anxious hour or so when the anchor chain seemed to be caught on a rock and was snubbing badly but then it freed itself and things were much more comfortable.

Tuesday 5th to Thursday 7th February
Tawa to Gomumu to Buru - 158 miles approx
   The plan today was to make for the small island of Gomumu just south of Obi Mayor. The distance was about 70 miles so even leaving at dawn we would have to motor all the way to get there before dark. According to the pilot book there is a lagoon on the south side of the island with an entrance through the reefs. We were going to try to find our way into it. There was no wind until we got to Gomumu then it blew at 20 knots from the west.  It was too dangerous to try to find an unknown channel through the reef so we headed for the town where we could see some boats apparently at anchor. When we got there we found the boats we could see were anchored fore and aft in small gaps in the reef. We couldn't find anywhere we felt comfortable with so the only option was to go on to Buru which was another 80 miles. Sailing overnight we would expect to arrive the following morning. The wind had settled down to a fairly steady 15 knots on the beam so at least we would be able to sail. The only  incident we had was a squall about 2 a.m. which seemed to form directly in front of us, hit us with up to 28 knots of wind then dissipate immediately behind us - must have had our name on it.
   We arrived at  Buru about 9 a.m. and headed for the south side of Teluk Kayeli where our cruising notes told us it was shallow enough to anchor. Sure enough we found a spot in about 10 metres which was fine unless the wind was blowing us directly onshore when it became a little shallower than we'd have liked but was still ok.
   Teluk Kayeli is a large bay on the east side of Buru. The port is at the northern end of the bay but the chart shows it's too deep for us to anchor there. On the shore close to where we were anchored was a new building complex where there happened to be some kind of ceremony going on. Soon after we had anchored a boat came out from the ceremony to insist that we went ashore with our paperwork since various officials were at the ceremony. As it turned out the local mayor was very friendly towards us and overruled a minor official who was trying to insist that we anchored off the port.
Anchor position:- 03° 22'.8S 127° 07'.6E, 10m, black sand

Friday 8th February
Buru to Ambon - 75 miles approx
   Ambon is the main town in this area in fact pretty much the only town. We need to extend our visas and cruising permit and this is the only place for hundreds of miles where there are immigration officials and an internet.
   We would have to leave Buru just before dawn and motor all the way to Ambon to make it before dark. The alternative was to leave at dusk and make it an overnight sail but we knew there were unlit fishing platforms in the seas around Buru and Ambon so thought it safer to do the trip in daylight. There was an extensive tide rip just off the coast of Buru which made things very uncomfortable for a few hours then another as we approached bay leading up to Ambon. Anchorages off Ambon are dreadful. The Darwin-Ambon race anchors off a hotel in the village of Amanhusa just before you reach Ambon. In good conditions the anchorage is pretty iffy and we had an onshore wind and a significant swell so that was out. The only place we could find with a shallow enough depth that wasn't right on shore was a bay at the southern end of the town off the oil depot. We anchored in 12 metres but in a boat length one way we were in 20 metres and a boat length the other we were in 5 metres. It was also in the middle of a squatter area and the local children would cluster on one of the stilt houses and shout 'Hey Mister, Mister, Mister' at us for what seemed like hours on end.
   Almost as soon as we had anchored a boat came out with one two guys one of whom was in an official looking uniform. He told us he was the coastguard so we let him onboard but he then proceeded to offer us various boat services such as supplying diesel, getting us fruit and veg, security guard etc. so we were not entirely convinced he was a genuine coastguard. He did actually turn out to be quite useful, he got diesel for us and organised laundry and also boat sat for a couple of days while we went into town. It just didn't feel very secure in the middle of the squatter village.
Anchor position:- 03° 42'.1S 128° 10'.1E, 12m, mud (swinging depth 2m-20m)

Saturday 9th to Monday 11th February
Ambon
   We'd made a mistake arriving on a Friday since we couldn't deal with the paperwork until Monday so over the weekend we stocked up with food. There's a very large but very scruffy and dirty market in Ambon so we were able to buy some fruit and vegetables although the choice was rather limited. The supermarket was also very limited so we just bought what basics we could find and look forward to arriving in Darwin to buy such luxuries as tinned tomatoes and tinned sweetcorn. 
   We also tried to organise an Australian visa over the internet. The web site that deals with this wouldn't accept any of our credit cards so we thought Steve might have to fly to Bali to go to the Australian Consulate in person. On Monday Steve went ashore to deal with all the boat paperwork while Lyn stayed onboard. About mid-morning strong winds blew Carillon onshore where she briefly went aground and Lyn had to spend the next couple of hours keeping her offshore with the engine. In the conditions we were anchored in re-setting the anchor singlehanded wasn't an option. As soon as Steve returned we lifted the anchor and headed way up to the very top end of the bay about 3 miles north of Ambon where we found a nice big flat mud shelf at about 10 metres well away from any villages. On the way we passed a fleet of small boats with large sails ferrying people from one side of the bay to the other.
Anchor position:- 03° 38'.2S 128° 14'.5E, 12m, soft mud

Tuesday 12th to Wednesday 13th February
Ambon
   This anchorage is not far from the mangroves at the NE end of the bay and Tuesday morning a 30knot squall came through and once again we found ourselves on a lee shore a little closer than we liked. We upped anchor yet again and found another nice big flat mud area in about 10 metres on the N side of the bay where the prevailing westerly winds should blow us away from the shore. I think we're happy with this. To get into town you just have to take the dinghy across to the S side of the bay. The road runs along the shore and there is a succession of bemos (small mini-buses) going back and forth along the road. We also think we've solved the visa problem. We managed to get a phone number for the Australian Consulate in Bali and spoke to a very helpful lady who said all we had to do was fax our passport details and she could issue us with a visa.
    We're still waiting for the extension to our cruising permit which should be here next Monday so we have a few days to spare. We've decided to have a look at bay on the east side of Ambon Island. It's about a mile by land but we have to sail about 30 miles by sea to get there.
Anchor position:- 03° 38'S 128° 13'.7E, 10m, soft mud

Thursday 14th to Monday 18th February
Halong Village to Teluk Baguala, Ambon - 32 miles 
     We motored out of the bay to the SW tip of Ambon Island and were then surprised to find a good sailing wind straight off the land to take us almost to Teluk Baguala on the E side of Ambon Island. There are a few reefs at the entrance but inside is a large area of mainly sand at about 8 metres. We anchored well offshore away from inquisitive and noisy children. The water is reasonably clear and clean so we are able to swim. We'll stay here until Tuesday assuming we can finalise the Cruising Permit extension, the Australian Visas and checkout on Monday.
   We went ashore to check out the local villages but they were very scruffy and dirty and we were subjected to the usual barrage of 'Hello Misters' so it was a relief to get back to the boat. A 30 knot squall came through every couple of days but the anchor was well bedded in and didn't move at all.
Anchor position:- 03° 37'.5S 128° 16'.7E, 8m, sand

Tuesday 19th to Wednesday 20th February
Teluk Baguala to Saparua Island - 35 miles
   At last we can leave Ambon. All the paperwork is in order although we had to check out of the country with the immigration office since on the route we're taking there are no more immigration offices between here and Darwin. We're going to have a look at the Lease Islands just to the east of Ambon Island. There are 3 islands and our cruising notes tell us there are anchorages at all 3.
   The first island, Haruku, has anchorages on the north coast. They seemed to be mainly rock and sand off a fringing reef and just about feasible for anchoring but we decided to move on to the next island which is called Saparua. This island has deep bays on both the north and the south sides and since the north side was by far the more sheltered we went there. As with everywhere else it was mostly very deep. We found a couple of spots where the water was about 15 metres but when we tried to anchor found the bottom was rock and the anchor wouldn't hold. There were numerous fishing platforms and quite a few empty buoys belonging to platforms that were ashore for maintenance so we picked up one of those. There was no mooring line attached to the buoy for us to pick up so we had to make a noose in the end of one of our lines and drop it over the buoy. It worked well. We had the usual visitors and had decided to go ashore to visit the village on Wednesday but yet another fierce squall blew through and we were not happy to leave the boat.
Mooring position:- 03° 32'.2S 128° 40'.7E, 34m

Thursday 21st to Friday 22nd February
Saparua Island to Banda Islands - 108 miles
   The intention was to go to the bay on the south side of Saparua Island to have a look at some places of interest in the main town however as we approached the south side the swell was about 2 metres and obviously working straight into the bay. The other option was a small bay on the north side of the third island, Nusa Laut but even here the swell was working into the bay. There must have been some strong winds further west to build up the seas since we only had about 10 knots. The only option then was to go on to the Banda Islands 100 miles to the SE which meant another unexpected overnight sail. It was pretty uncomfortable, the winds were from behind and the big seas were rolling us around knocking the wind out of the sails so everything was slamming backwards and forwards. By nightfall the wind had died so we were motoring.
    We arrived at the Banda Islands early in the morning and made our way to the anchorage just off the Laguna Hotel at the north end of town. Another difficult anchorage, we had to drop the anchor in deep water about 3 boatlengths from the shore then take lines ashore from the stern and tie them to trees. This is not something we've ever done before. As we approached the hotel a local boat came out with someone giving us instructions on the best place to anchor and also giving us help with the stern lines.  He turned out to be a very helpful person, friendly without the intrusiveness we'd encountered before. His name was Abba and he ran the Mutiara Guesthouse in the town and offered us laundry services, dinner at his restaurant and help with tours.
   Our next visitor was the harbourmaster who seemed more interested in supplying us with diesel than seeing our paperwork. He and an indeterminate number of helpers brought fuel in jerry cans to the boat so that was one thing less to worry about. We had dinner in Abba's restaurant and met the other 7 tourists on Banda at the time.
Anchor position:- 04° 31'.4S 129° 53'.9E, anchor 30m, bow 10m, stern 3m, shale

Saturday 23rd February to Wednesday 5th March
Banda Islands
   The Banda Islands were the first place in the world to produce high quality nutmeg. In the 15th century they were trading with Arab, Chinese, Javanese and Bugis merchants for food, cloth and other items. When the Portuguese and then the Dutch arrived demanding a trade monopoly but with nothing useful with which to trade things started to go wrong. The Bandanese continued to trade with their other partners and eventually in 1621 under the leadership of Jan Pieterszoon Coen the Dutch wiped out virtually the whole Bandanese population in retaliation. Just a few hundred survivors escaped to the Kei Islands. The Dutch East India Company then encouraged Dutch entrepreneurs to settle in the Banda Islands and continue to produce nutmeg using slaves to run the plantations.  The Dutch entrepreneurs were called perkeniers and continued to work on Banda for the next 200 years. The last perkenier was killed during the sectarian violence which flared up at the end of the 20th century. The islands are now mainly Moslem with the last Christians resettling themselves on Seram.
   Nutmeg is still a major cash crop for the islands but since it is now grown in many other places it is no longer the major contributor of wealth that it once was.
   The Banda Islands are by far the most pleasant place we've been in Indonesia so far. The people are friendly without the intrusiveness we've met elsewhere and there are no children shouting 'Hey Mister' from the bank. We were approached by a local schoolteacher who asked if we would come to his house so that his students could practice their English on us. We went along and the children asked us a series of previously rehearsed questions and gave us little speeches on the history of the Banda Islands. We felt very much that it was rote learning and most of them didn't actually understand what they were saying and were not particularly interested in our answers to their questions. The point of the exercise seemed to be the production of a video so that the schoolteacher could prove how well he was teaching the children and a request for a donation from us to help him run his school.
    The snorkelling in the outer islands is excellent, amazingly clear water and a good variety of fish and coral. There is apparently a dive operation somewhere here but their prices are way out of line so no-one we met was planning on diving with them. We took a local boat with Abba's other guests and spent a day snorkelling at Hatta Island.
   A few days after we arrived we moved to the other side of the harbour to a relatively quiet little bay off Gunung Api. The reason was that the prevailing winds were blowing us onshore and we felt that in a strong wind we would be blown against the harbour wall. In our new anchorage the anchor was in about 30 metres, the boat was in about 16 metres and we were lying about 50 metres from the shore with a stern line tied to a tree. This felt much safer and to reassure ourselves even further we laid a second anchor at a 60 deg angle to the first.
   The days drifted by, we did a bit more snorkelling and spent time looking at one or two of the remaining Dutch colonial houses. We spent a morning exploring Lonthor on the larger island of Bandar Besar. Lonthor is an attractive well kept village with the inevitable nutmeg plantations and the remains of a Dutch fort.
Anchor position:- 04° 31'.2S 129° 53'.5E, anchor 30m, bow 16m, stern 50m from shore, shale 

Thursday 6th March to Saturday 8th March
Banda Islands to Kei Islands - 224 miles
   The plan for this trip was to sail overnight then anchor off one of three small islands about 100 miles away. The winds were very light and right from behind so we were motoring much of the time. The first island, Pulau Tior, had a possible anchorage although we felt that the swell would make it a little uncomfortable. We arrived there early in the morning and decided to go on to look at the other 2 islands since we had a good wind by then and plenty of time. The next island, P. Tengah, was beautiful. It was actually 3 separate islands with reefs and sand banks between. Unfortunately with the wind and swell from the west there was no safe anchorage. The next island P. Kur was the same. The water was either far too deep or far too shallow so we settled down to a second night at sea. The problem we had now was that the Kei Islands were only 40 miles away which meant that if we went straight there we'd arrive in the middle of the night. We had poor charts, we'd never been to the islands before and we knew there were reefs all over the place so going in at night wasn't an option. What we decided to do was to sail off in a safe direction until we had plenty of sea room then heave to for a few hours before heading back to arrive in daylight. The first part of the plan went well, we spent until about 4 a.m. hove to then set sail. We were then hit by a 40 knot squall which drove us at 8 knots under headsail only for half an hour or so before we managed to wind in some of the headsail and get Carillon under control. I think Steve's hands were glued to the wheel to stop us from broaching.
   Eventually the wind died away to nothing and we ended up motoring the last 12 miles. We found a perfect sheltered spot to anchor in about 10 metres of mainly sand sheltered from any swell either by islands or reefs and far enough from the villages to have a little peace and quiet.
Anchor position:- 05° 35'.9S 132° 40'.7E, 10m, sand and rock

Sunday 9th March to Tuesday 25th March
Kei Islands
   We spent a day or two just relaxing. The first day local boats came out to ask for cigarettes and whiskey and to poke at the boat - we had to stop one guy from curiously pulling out the caulking between the teak deck planks - then they seemed to get bored with us and left us alone. 
   Going ashore to explore one of the beaches we met up with a couple of Dutch guys we'd last seen on Banda pulling their hair out because the ferry they were supposed to be getting to the Kei Islands had broken down and there wouldn't be another one for a week. With 'gifts' in the right places they'd managed to get themselves on the fully booked weekly flight from Banda to Seram and then managed to get another flight to the Kei Islands.
   On Tuesday 11th we motored around to Tual, the main town of the islands. It's tucked into the channel between the main islands of P. Dullah and P. Kei Kecil and we found a good anchorage in 12 metres of sand on the west side of the channel north of the town again tucked in behind a reef.  We had a visit from a representative from the nearest village asking for fuel, money or cigarettes but no-one else really came near. We needed to go to the town and according to the guide book there were a couple of resorts on the waterfront. We hoped to be able to leave the dinghy at one of them wher