Notes on Maumere, Flores, Indonesia Anchorage

SY Reboot

August 2017

A few yachts are here in Maumere: Flores. We are spread out in a line in front of the Sea World Resort.

DANGER: To the East of Reboot at about S 08 37.915 E 122 18.643 is a large set of rocks. They are very visible in the daytime but invisible at night. I know this because as usual, I arrived at night. There may be good spots to my East beyond the rocks. We have not yet explored that far.

SURPRISE: The bay is subject to high land breezes. I thought Steve (Chandara) was kidding when he reported 25- 30-knot winds and 1.5 to 2-meter seas. At the time I was about 5 nautical miles behind with flat seas and 3 knots of true wind. Steve came through the pass at S 08 22.872 E 122 21.029. Reboot came through at S 08 22.409 E 122 15.502. In both cases as soon as we turned into the bay we were hammered by wind and waves until very close to shore. There are a couple of buoys in the bay. I missed them. Perhaps the next arrivals can mark their lat/long.

Anchorage: The water shoals in steps. Although the anchorage is sheltered from the wind you will swing and reverse. Most of us have a lot of chains out. That is because one boat has already dragged. Reboot has 88 meters in 20 meters of water. Don’t get too close to your neighbours.

Bring your insect repellent. The place is loaded with flies. So far we have not been contacted by any officials. Although we are in an open roadstead we have not seen many rolls to date.

Town: Starting at the Resort and heading West there is continuous development. Big public market. Very nice grocery/general store. We paid $450,000 rupiah for a car and driver to take four of us to town (three-hour time limit.) There is a dive shop at the resort and they also arrange tours of local attractions.

Consumables: Solar (Diesel), gas, water, laundry, etc. You will probably be visited by a local offering to deliver fuel and get your laundry done. To my knowledge, no one has used them yet. We will pass on our experience.

Air/Water: This is by far the hottest anchorage to date. Daytime temperatures are in the low 90’s Fahrenheit. Water is 83 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is beautifully clear. I swam a couple of times today and did some bottom scraping. We did notice some people swimming the rocks to my East. Maybe some good snorkelling over there.

Radio: To date, SSB 8122 has been unusable due to constant noise. I am researching alternative frequencies for a net but there has been a lot of noise across the board. 12Mhz seems clearest but is more long range. VHF 16 is the local channel and is heavily used most of the day and night.

As the sun sets over beautiful Maumere I wish you all safe passage, good watches, and “fair winds and following seas.”

Roger and XO, Reboot

Indonesia, Maumere – Some Cruising Tips

SY Gryphon 2

August 2011

Maumere is a large dirty dusty town but with a good anchorage – just West of the ship dock in about 10m. It is open to the South but was fine whilst we were there.

There is an Immigration office near the airport for renewing visas.

Maumere has a very helpful Mr Fixit called Aladin, who fixed us up quickly and efficiently with fuel and water (jerry cans) at good prices. He will almost certainly find you if you anchor close to the mosque West of the wharf, but if not you can contact him on (+62) 081353772472 or 082146471981. He claims that he can sort out other problems or find someone who can.

There is an excellent market and a reasonable supermarket, ATMs, flights to Bali etc.

An alternative anchorage is at Seaworld in 10-20m. Holding is suspect but just off the river mouth was good for us. Seaworld will also sort out most things for you, including trips and dives.

Communications: For excellent Wi-Fi buy a Telkomsel dongle which works in the most obscure anchorages.

Chris & Lorraine Marchant

SY Gryphon 2 – with the Indonesia Rally

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