Terempa

The capital.

We did the rounds of Harbour Master ,Customs and Quarantine. Very confusing!

When we had checked in to Indonesia at Nongsa Point I had been asked what my next port was?

Mistake number , Ive lost count, in this learning experience of cruising.

What I should have said ,was the most distant port in Indonesia that I could possibly have thought of.

I however ,had said the Anambas, which was literally my next port. So I had been issued with a port clearance to the Anambas. Now I had to convince them in the Anambas that looking at my papers and them saying “no need”, when I asked for a stamp and clearance, was possibly not going to cut the mustard in 1600miles when I tried to check out of Indonesia.

Proof of having been there?? Hope so
I'm even dressed in my 'officialdom'  visiting gear.

Round one went to the Harbour Masters office, who was adamant that I needed nothing. So to prove we had been there in lieu of an official stamp, a photo outside the office. 

Next it was off to customs, who photocopied the papers I proffered and assured me that I had no need to see Customs again until my last port in Indonesia when I check out.

A Customs officer then wandered with us down the street to Quarantine , who also seemed puzzled by my quest for a stamp, or anything to officially prove I had been to visit them in the Anambas.

After our departure from Malaysia, I was feeling a tad uncomfortable with the non application of any official stamp to any of my paperwork.

Although we had obtained sim cards in Nongsa, it appeared that email technology etc was still yet to arrive in the Anambas via Telkomsel.

I had engaged an agent to provide me with both the sponsor letter to enable the issue of the original visa and in case we needed any “local” assistance for the duration.

Via texts we commuiated and I expressed my concern at the lack of interest by officialdom. I was advised to return in the morning to the Harbour Master and insist on a port clearance being issued.

This I did, and having asked for it, it was eventually provided, just as soon as the “officer in charge of issuing such things” was summoned. He arrived eventually and then from there, with a completed set of papers, as luckily Im getting a bit more savvy about these things, and I had photograped, using the marvels of technology and mobile phones ,all 6 pages which I had handed over, and was able to show them the missing page which had not returned to me,and which was eventually located on the desk he had been typing at. Then clutching a new clearance to the farthest port I could name in Eastern Indonesia, it was back to Quarantine, who obligingly now issued me with a new Quarantine clearance.

 K'Gari anchored 40m off the wall

Terempa itself, the town of , was a busy port. We anchored in the SE corner of the bay about 40 m off the wall that turned out to be a thoroughfare, full of motorbikes and mini trucks, not much bigger than golf buggies, in about 12m on a sandy bottom.

The shipping was small coastal stuff and fishing boats, but it was fairly constant and fun to watch the manouvres, no tugs and manual anchor recovering!

The town

The main wharves

Just so we know we are!

The people were so friendly, a young woman on a motor scooter , stopped as we wandered down the main street and asked if we would like to come to her house and have a meal. A chap on a bicycle stopped to say hello, shake hands and welcome us to his home town. The kids were great- they can all say hello- as its exactly that in Indonesian apparently, then they just started laughing and giggling to themselves and following us. Two separate young lads on bicycles stopped to ask where we from and practise their English. The people could not have been more friendly or welcoming.

https://youtu.be/_DcWgteOURE

The morning that I was to spend pursuing officialdom for a clearance, we were about to set off , when we decided to stay onboard as there was an obvious front moving towards us. As it hit, we started the engines to ensure that we didn't drag the anchor as we only had 40 meters between us and the wall at the end of the harbour. We stayed put!
 Then it was back ashore via the somewhat dodgy wooden ladder which came down from the breakwater onto the floating pontoon we were tying the dinghy up to. We did notice that literally overnight, where the ladder was leaning on the concrete wall. the side bar of the ladder had worn away by at least half its width. The rungs of the ladder appeared to be made from boards from an old orange box and not entirely afixed to the side arms in a couple of places.

With years of training of assessing dodgy ladders, we decided it would suffice, just- especially as there was no alternative!

Banks were available and small shops selling hardware, small groceries, a bakery, a couple of places to eat , a coffee shop, the mosque seemed to make up the main street. The fish market was located neaer to the wharves and we did wander past a laundry. No apparently obvious larger stores.

Terempa Harbour

A tiny Indonesian town , 150 miles east off the main coast of the the Malaysian Peninsula, and 150miles NE of Batam which is the first part of Indonesia opposite Singapore, and a delightful place to visit.