In 2012 a number of yachts left SE Asia for South Africa. Some opted to beat down Indonesia to Sunda Strait, then head for Cocos Keeling, making the crossing of the South Indian Ocean. We cleared into Indonesia with a CAIT, obtaining Visas on Arrival, at Nongsa Point Marina, then cleared out at Belitung before heading to Sunda Strait.

Mr Harun Cahyadi was our Belitung host. We found his contact info on Noonsite. He can be reached harun_cahyadi@me.com or harun.cahyadi@gmail.com and can accept SMS messages at +62 811 717 8895.

Harun has sand barging business and his entrepreneurial family has a hardware store, a machine shop, and is developing a beach property. Though he’s a busy man, he generously spent much of the week with us, arranging delivery of diesel, petrol and beer, helping us fill propane tanks, a scuba tank, arranged laundry service, provided a rental van to go to town to get groceries, ATM, market and cell top-up cards. He facilitated our arrival and departure clearances, which involved a bit of trailblazing, as outside the Sail Indonesia rally, officials are not used to processing yachts and are still trying to figure out what to charge us. Hopefully, the clearance fees will remain reasonable so as not to become an obstacle to visiting Belitung.

Harun is interested in developing an array of services for visiting yachts, with a possibility of providing moorings, or a marina inside an island he owns. Given the near total lack of marina facilities in Indonesia, this would be a most welcome oasis for visiting yachts, on both the Sail Indonesia rally path and the South Africa path. We were honoured by a luncheon meeting with the Regency of West Belitung and the Head of the Belitung Department of Tourism, so they could hear directly from us what services and facilities would benefit cruising yachts, and also the local economy.

We can’t say enough good things about Harun. He made our visit to Belitung a delight, and we wish him every success. He will develop a fee structure for his services, and we warmly recommend that you contact him for all your needs. We also recommend you plan to linger at pretty and friendly Belitung.

Jan Eckmann and Dave Pryde

SV BARAKA

presently at Mauritius

September 2012

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