First person report:

Sorong, the regional capital of the Raja Ampat on the north coast of New Guinea, has a bad reputation, well deserved.

I was boarded by thieves at 0200 hours on 21 December 2023, while anchored out in the harbor. They approached in a panga off the motor. Fortunately, I was awake and heard one of them creeping down the companionway steps. I charged at him and yelled and he turned and jumped into a panga and they sped off. They stole the dinghy gas tank and a coil of line, but not the dinghy, which was cable-locked to the boat.

That was the third unauthorized boarding since arrival in Indonesia five weeks ago, the other two during daylight hours, one by three men and the other by a young boy.

If you must anchor in Sorong harbor, do so in a small shoal area (10-15 meters) 100 meters SW of the fishing vessel pier at the “marina” (Marina Star restaurant), which has a lot of annoying vessel traffic and, often, police patrol boats tied at the T-head, both of which deter boardings.

The incident during daylight with the three men, occurred while at anchor on the west side of Kasiui Island, southeast of Misool Island on 15 November. They roared up to the boat in a large panga, tied up and were climbing over the life lines as I came up from below. I indicated I wanted them off the boat, but they ignored me and just stood looking at me. They didn’t speak English. They were not friendly and indicated they wanted cigarettes and alcohol, which I denied having. They seemed to be making other demands as well, which I could not understand. For half an hour we just sat looking at each other as I tried to make pleasantries, which were ignored. At one point I went below to get a shirt and one of them tried to follow me down, but I was quick to go back on deck and he turned around. Eventually they got in their panga and left. The whole thing was very odd, and I’m pretty sure they came on board contemplating robbery, but then decided against it. I think my not getting angry or making demands may have helped the situation. (Other cruisers later told me this has been a significant problem at Misool Island this cruising season.)

Douglas McLean
SV Gillean