From Piet Boorsma and Esther Klaver of SY Acalephe:

“A couple of years ago in December 2018 to be precise, we met Mr Warwick Alliston in Sorong / New Guinea, the gateway to the Raja Ampat. He is an Australian man already living many years in the place dedicated to marine nature conservation, while building a career in the diving and yachting industry. In a place pretty much off the beaten track, he is in the process of developing a marina up the river, called Helena Marina. It is our experience – and for sure not ours only – that he is willing to go to great lengths to help yachties out.

“In Sorong harbor we were at anchor and got stuck – literally – because of a mechanical defect in our anchor winch. It just so happened we had already contacted Warwick – through Noonsite – to have some sail repairs arranged. He now quickly arranged some strong men to help pull the anchor by hand and also got us to a safe spot up river at what is now Helena Marina.

“The following days he offered his hospitality and allowed us to use his workshop to disassemble the winch. He also participated in the process. Subsequently he drove us – and our anchor winch – around town to find a suitable machine shop. He assisted in ordering/explaining and negotiating a decent repair. All at no charge. It gave him pleasure to bring business to local suppliers and help us out.

“The level of his assistance goes far beyond what you might expect of a business approach.”

Family History

Born in Tasmania, Australia in 1951, Warwick (“Wick”) grew up on Three Hummock Island off the northwest tip of the island state. The story of the Alliston family adventure on this wild, but pristine, Bass Strait island is told in the book Escape to an Island by Eleanor Alliston (Heineman, 1966).

Boats, boating and the way of the sea was a large part of life from the time of his first memories. “Learning the ropes” was kindly but firmly instilled in Wick by his British Navy father, whose biography is told in the book Destroyer Man by John Alliston (Greenhouse Publications, 1985).

Mineral Exploration in Remote Areas

After the island became part of the Tasmanian State Nature Reserve system in the mid 1970s, the younger members of Wick’s family took up other careers in the wider world. Wick became involved with mineral exploration and was assigned to mineral research projects in Australia, Solomon Islands and New Guinea and in the mid-1980’s came to Indonesia.

Exploration in “the Spice Islands” for the most part meant access to remote areas by boat, helicopter or on foot – or often a combination of all three!

The islands of Papua are the most far-flung and least-visited areas of Indonesia, but are blessed with great natural beauty, extremes of topography (including an alpine glacier on the Karstens Ranges) and incredible biodiversity. The famous Birds of Paradise are still relatively common in the islands.

Gateway to Papua

Sorong is the “gateway to Papua” and in the early 1990’s was chosen as the base for the work Wick was doing for Anglo American and the Australian company BHP World Minerals. With his work in mineral exploration, he had the great experience of working in Thailand, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, far north Queensland in Australia and in many of the provinces and remote areas of Indonesia.

After several decades of assignments with mineral exploration companies throughout Indonesia, Wick took the easy decision to settle in Sorong, Papua Barat, within a few miles of the now well-known Raja Ampat archipelago. 

He commissioned a small ketch-rigged vessel Helena to be built of local timber and became one of the first liveaboard vessels exploring the islands, mainly on assignment with several international conservation groups.

He searched for and found a home base for Helena on the Wamon river, which has now become the Helena Marina.

Helena Marina (from 2013) and Wick’s other facility called Tampa Garam Boat Harbor (2016), are now becoming well-known to the yachting community as the only suitable safe havens and haul out for yachts between New Caledonia and the island of Lombok (Medana Bay Marina) in central Indonesia, some 1000NM to the west.

Welcoming Outpost

Wick says that first and foremost he wants to provide a welcoming outpost for the yachting community with two marina sites, a haul out facility, as well as helping with clearance formalities.

“We are also able to assist with most repairs and maintenance issues including mechanical, electrical, navionics, sail and cover repairs. We also hydro test dive tanks and re-certify dive equipment.

“The most common issues are without doubt anchor winch problems, perhaps because the anchorages in the Raja Ampat Archipelago are all quite deep – 30 to 40m is common. This inevitably finds any weakness in the winching arrangements.  The spares list for this area should always include extra winch parts!”

Wick says that up until the COVID crisis the number of visiting yachts was on a steep upward trajectory.

“Now, in the post COVID period, the yachts are moving again and enquiries for the marina are increasing. We feel priviliged to be here and to be able to offer a helping hand and a welcome as the sailing community find their feet in this amazing country and cruising ground.

“The process to arrange the approvals for infrastructure developments is always an interesting and lengthy  task! We own the land at Helena Marina ( 2.5 hectares) but lease the Tampa Garam Boat harbor. The local authorities have been very receptive to the development of facilities for yachts.”

Memorable Moments and Memorable Visitors

Wick says he has had many memorable moments in Sorong  – 99.9% of his experience with the yachting community has been positive and a pleasure.

“The very rare exceptions only serve to underline how lucky we are in the overall sense,” he says.  “One very memorable experience was with a small and minimally maintained steel yacht from Australia. The crew – wonderfully decorated with extensive and ingenious tattoos on all available provinces of the body – were  intent on adventure with what appeared to be very limited experience and sea-time to share between them.

“Somehow, they became caught up in a local politically motivated demonstration– enjoying the festival-like atmosphere, chanting, singing along with the locals and dancing in the street. The tattoo artwork was a fascinating for the locals and worthy of jolly and intimate inspection! This caught the attention of the police and immigration officials and from there it was a swift and most probably, unfair, but legal process leading to deportation!  What was supposed to be innocent fun and festivities became a costly and lengthy journey – being banned from returning for six months.  The lesson learned for the seafarer when ashore – observe, but do not participate when local politics are the issue!”

Plans for the future? 

Wick says he plans to keep expanding and improving the facilities at both marinas.

“We are finding that our best model is to expand slowly from current revenue. Slow but steady does the job!”

Advice for cruisers to Indonesia

“Enjoy and appreciate, but do not criticise or make much of the inevitable differences to be found in any new country or port of call,” Wick says.  “Patience is a great commodity to stock up on, along with the above-mentioned anchor winch spares!”

Tell us who you think should be recognised for their services to cruisers and we’ll feature them in our “Cruising Legends” series [email editor@noonsite.com].

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Related Links:

Cruising Legends:  Wade Alarie and the Red Sea Passage

Cruising Legends: Karsten Staffeldt – Panama and Pacific

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.