After two and a half years, we finally said, “Goodbye Indonesia, we’re gonna miss ya”! What an unforgettable ride it’s been.
Granite boulders
The Bangka Belitung islands are situated off the south-eastern coast of Sumatra, and the name Belitung is derived from the Dutch word billitonite (black meteorite). Aside from untouched white beaches and coral reefs, one of the main attractions here is the unusual granite rock formations.
The entire northern coast of Belitung is wrapped in long sandy beach after long sandy beach, interrupted by shallow bays and outcrops of large granite boulders.
Occasionally, warangs and coffee shops by the shore offer exclusive access to these desolate idylls. Here’s one we visited on a scooter tour round the island, well away from the local hotspots. With beautiful gardens and a full menu, we made the most of being the only visitors.
Post-COVID, Belitung has been suffering from a lack of international tourism, a situation compounded by problems with local air carriers. There’s only one ferry a week, and flights to the island have been cancelled.
Our local friend and agent, Ervan, explained that fewer yachts are visiting the island, too, which has devastated the income of local people.
The granite views are not something you find often in Indonesia. For sailors, an outcrop on the northwestern tip divides two possible anchorages, so we opted for the one we anchored in previously to the east, which provides easy access to the shore and local services.
Moving Anchorage
We saw out a tough squall at anchor, which had us spinning in circles in a complete white-out. Despite this, the seas remained flat until the following day when the wind resumed its usual SE direction of wrapping around the NE corner of Belitung. This created quite a bit of chop in the afternoons, so we moved Esper back around the corner, behind those big granite boulders, and dropped the hook in a flatter patch.
There were a few boat maintenance tasks to complete before setting off to Malaysia, so we took advantage of the flat anchorage for Liz to go up the mast and secure the auxiliary VHF cable. We both love going up the mast, where the views are often spectacular. On this occasion, Liz was treated to a birds-eye view of a turtle cruising past Esper‘s bow. You wouldn’t have thought that just a few days ago we were clinging onto Esper in entirely different circumstances!
Checking Out
Checking out of Indonesia is one of those subjects cruisers love to argue about. This is because the rules change regularly, usually making it easier, but often involving more expense. If you’re thinking of going to Indonesia, make sure you get the latest information direct from Indonesia.
In Belitung the whole procedure takes a couple of days, but the process is easy, especially when you employ the services of Ervan.
Best Coffee Shop on Belitung?
During our trip into town, while we waited for officials to process the paperwork, he took us to his favourite coffee shop.
After loading up on caffeine Ervan went to pick up our paperwork while dropping us off at the market to do some provisioning.
If you think the adventure ends here, wait till you see what we have in store for you on the first night of the next leg… Keep checking in to find out.
In the meantime, here we hope you enjoy the video to accompany this blog post.
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