We left Labuha in the dark and planned on multiple day hops. Sad that Indonesia requires the two month check ins. Sad because we would have spent more time in a village or two along the way.
We arrived, anchored, slept and left again the next day. We happened upon another mining island. Unbeknownst to us. With enough fuel we were again motoring. Around the west side of Obi I had spotted a couple of good looking anchorages on the charts. As we headed down that coast a HUGE industrial complex peeked out from the bay. Getting closer several barges came into view. Oh-oh! Not again. After having been at Gebe and in Raja Ampat; two extremes in Indo, this came as a surprise. There was no sign on the charts nor any in Zulu Waterways from other cruisers. There is now a notation, I put one there. We thought one of the bays I identified would be fine.
They weren’t. The first bay had a barge leaning on the shore, a reef extending out to the middle and a local fishing boat anchored. They anchored where we would have liked to be. We went to check out the second spot. It too was filled with commercial craft and several local boats hanging around the S shore. We motored in getting a closer look and found it was way to deep. We turned around and went to check out the third bay. The S shore was lined with barges, the river feeding the bay which usually has a good place to anchor was deep and didn’t feel right. Then there was a wharf for commercial loading too. We’d been motoring back and forth now for about 45 minutes. Time to decide.
We were only staying overnight. We went to the first bay and dropped the hook in 25 m of water. We sat a bit close to the fishing boat. The winds were not expected to change. What wind there was was slight. And I thought the current would be the primary mover. Later that day one of the commercial boats left. That helped. The locals on the fishing boat kept an eye on us and we on them, making sure the boats stayed apart. We survived the day and the evening. The next am we pulled anchor heading south.
Again the motor was on. Fishing lines out. No luck on the fish, none either on the winds. We rounded the point and came into Namlea. We were close enough to Ambon now, one or two days away depending on how hard we wanted to work, that we could spend some time here.
Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long