I just cleared in Maumere, Flores and I wanted to share some information.

I am delivering a friend’s boat from Fiji to Thailand, we (crew of two) are doing that delivery on a budget so I was really trying to avoid having to pay those notorious Indonesian fees and bribes.

I chose Maumere as a port of entry after reading good things on Noonsite and after it was recommended by Richard Lofthouse from an agency in Bali; We chose to do the 30 days extendable visa on arrival priced at 25usd, and not to bother with the visa from the Indonesian embassy in Darwin.

We, unfortunately, arrived in Maumere at noon on a Friday, I already knew that no officials were going to come to my boat this afternoon (Muslim weekend), so I planned on doing the Clearance on Saturday morning as government offices are supposedly open on Saturday mornings.

Anchoring: Dropping anchor in Maumere: the anchorage in front of the town, left of the commercial Port is really deep; be prepared to drop anchor in 40 meters of depth. As we are a 50 ft sloop with underpowered windlass, I had to find depths under 20 meters. When arriving in the anchorage, having the commercial Port on your right-hand side, you will see a very narrow beach, stuck between two concrete walls/docks, on the left side of that beach is the Pertamina fuel station(only for locals as diesel (solar) is priced at 5500rp/litre, diesel for foreign vessels is apparently priced at 12 000rp/litre,). You can drop anchor at mid/high tide, 20 meters from the centre of that small beach, into 4 meters of depth (it is an elevated sandbank that runs for 15 meters before dropping in 15/20 m depth). Drop 25 meters of chain and make sure you throw a stern anchor in case the wind swing at night (your stern anchor will be resting in 15/20 m depths) if you don’t put a stern anchor, you could potentially swing onto the concrete walls. It seems safe to leave your dinghy tied up to the concrete dock by the Pertamina station, the locals keep an eye on it. When planning your departure remember to leave at mid/high tide. (at low tide, your anchor might be in 2,5/3 m depths). We are a 50 ft sloop with 7 ft draft. From that spot, you can pick up the wifi signal from Evolution cyber, inexpensive vouchers to be purchased in a computer shop close by the Port on Main street (not from the Evolution cyber/warned on Jalan El Tari).

Clearance: As no officials came on Saturday morning, I went to the Port to look for them; Harbourmaster, Customs and Quarantine are in the street going to the main dock; Customs office is a yellow house with blue/grey roof on your right hand, Harbourmaster office is two houses before the Customs and Quarantine is the second house after the Customs house. You start with Quarantine, if she is not there, she might be on the main dock(ask for her at the gate where you purchase the ferry tickets). She will need copies of Australian clearance ( or Zarpe from the previous port), cait, crew list and boat papers, make sure you have at least five copies of each as every office seems to want them all. She asked for a 100 000 RP(10 USD) admin fee but did not insist on it when I told her my agent in Jakarta said it was free.

Customs was closed on that morning and one of the Coastguard at the Harbourmaster office called the Customs officer on his cell, in the meantime he offered to drive me to the Immigration office as he saw that I did not know my way there. (It is very very useful to speak 10/20 words of Bahasa Indonesia, or to have an Indonesian phrasebook, and to smile a lot as a smile goes a long way here). The immigration office is located on Jalan Angkasa (big building on the right-hand side that says Imigrassie), 10 mins from the Port and close by the Airport, it is 10 000rp(1usd) to go on the back of a motorcycle taxi but expects to pay 20 000rp(2usd) as a tourist. If the office seems closed, do not hesitate to go around the back as the Immigration officers live behind the office.

I made a major mistake by not checking the local/national/Muslim bank holiday dates for that month, and every government office was to be closed for the next 10 days on Flores. I forgot that I could not pay for the visas on arrival directly at the Immigration office (you first have to go to a bank, purchase the 25usd stamp and of course bank was closed on that morning). I offered to pay the 50 USD for the two visas but the officer refused and called his superior. I thought at that point that the situation was going to end up in tears and I was very lucky when his superior said they would take the two visa fees in cash plus a little help. We settled at 600 000rp(60usd) plus 100 000(10usd) for the extra work on Saturday, it means the ‘little help’ was only of 20usd.

The Coastguard officer that drove me back and forth had been so helpful in this matter that I gave him 100 000rp (he didn’t want to take it and I had to insist).

He then came with me to the Customs office now open (thanks to his call), Customs do not ask for bribes as it is written everywhere in the office not to give any). I went back to the Immigration office to pick up the passports at 4 pm in the afternoon and then straight to the Harbourmaster office to finish the paperwork. Harbourmaster office was closed at 5 pm on Saturday but they agreed to come back to finish my papers after I called one of them (Harbourmaster Alfredo Tel: 081246242047). We finished the papers at 6 pm and they did not ask for extra money.

The officials I met along the way have all been extremely helpful and welcoming. I do not think that you need to use an agent to do your clearance, and I am pretty sure that I would have paid 100/200 USD more if an agent got involved; although here is the phone number of local yacht agent Alladin, if needed.  Tel: 081353772472.

Internet: Appart from the Evolution WiFi voucher, you can purchase a Telkomsel USB modem dongle (brand is called Flash one) for laptops from the Telkomsel office in town for 250 000rp(25usd), (located Grapari bldg behind the field, 5000rp on a motorbike taxi), you then buy 12gb/30 days credit for 50 000rp, it is supposed to work all around Indonesia.

Fuel: I found it easier to get diesel at the fishermen’s dock in Lab’bajo, and I was charged 8000rp/litre for good quality fuel; Do not ask at the office, ask the guys at the pump. Or call this number tel: 085237649959, apparently she delivers the fuel by car.

I wish you all a great cruising in Indonesia and hope this will help.

Anonymous