Start as Early as Possible

The four offices to be seen in order are all located in the same general area of Bitung but hiring a car with driver is probably to easiest way to proceed as Customs agents will come to inspect your vessel so you will have to go twice into town from your boat. If you are anchored along the Bitung town side of the straight, you will not need to cross the straight with your dinghy or water-taxi to bring the customs agents to your boat.

Here is the procedure that we experience and the order it has to be followed:

A few days before you plan to check out, you need to fill a short outbound declaration form online on the Indonesian Customs online special website using your login details (Vessel Declaration System – used before entering Indonesia).

On the day you want to check out: (note – start as early as possible!)

Immigration:

Visit the Immigration office to get your exit stamp in your passport(s) – every crew needs to be present. Nice office where you will be attended directly by personnel accustomed to clearing yachts. Free water, coffee and even ice cream while you wait for paperwork to be processed.

Customs:

Visit the Customs office – from here on, only the captain is needed. After verifying you have filled the outbound declaration online, trained Customs officers will come and inspect your boat. If they are not available, take the earliest appointment available to them because you will need the Customs exit papers before going to see the Port Captain. They will come with their own vehicle and meet you where you will pick them up with your own dinghy.

It can be as far as the Solitude Lembeh Resort or anywhere around town like the water-taxi jetty. Once onboard they will take pictures of your AIS and AIS screen as well as your engine serial number. They asked about alcohol, tobacco and other dutiable items we might have had onboard and looked in a few closets. They also checked our boat papers, crew list and entry customs declaration documents. If you ask them in advance, they will give you all your stamped documents at the end of the inspection onboard (otherwise you will have to visit their office again to get these).

Health Department:

Visit the Health Department with your Indonesian “Green Book” (that you should have received on entry) to check the stamps of all the intermediary ports you visited and apply their stamp. In our experience and from a cruiser who checked out the week before us, this was a confusing and time-consuming step. We were asked if we filled all the forms online, but they could not tell us the website address, that, I suspect, is only in Indonesian???

Having been in Indonesia for longer than one year, several of the documents in the Green Book (Medical chest certificate and other certificates had expired. The lady made us come back later because she had to go through the process of renewing these forms just so we could leave the country. For some reason, the Port Captain is a stickler about the Green book and all the stamps.  This step can be done before Customs, if more convenient, as it’s only the Port Captain who needs it.

Port Captain

Finally, after having all the required documents from the first three offices visited, you can now visit the Port Captain office to get your exit clearance papers. They scrutinized all of our paperwork and appeared quite surprised that all our documents were in order and they did not have to send me away to get the missing documents! It took a good half-hour there, after that, for them to fill their documents, get them stamped and have them signed by the chief.
So best to start early as the whole process might take you the whole day!

Anchorages in Lembeh Strait

We used the following two anchorages around Lembeh Strait:

• Daniel’s Lagoon Resort (D’ Lagoon):  01°26.61′ N – 125°14.33′ E – 8m in sand with a stern line ashore and extremely protected. ((note: you have to cross a reef area to get to the anchorage, so best to have half to high water if you have a deep draft). Three resorts with dive centers and restaurant in this bay. You could also med-moor on one of three moorings at Daniel’s: 300,000 Rp/day or free if you spend that much in meals or services each day.  From there it is a long dinghy ride to the port area where leaving your dinghy unattended might not be the best idea. Best to go to town via water-taxi, arranged by any resort nearby. A special water-taxi is 300,000 Rp/ one way but it might be less if you share a water-taxi ferrying their guests across.

• Solitude Resort;  01°28.52′ N – 125°14.11′ E – 13-18m rubbly bottom and on a slope so would not trust this for long stays or during strong wind unless you really set the anchor well. (I dove and helped push it in while Jackie backed down with the engine).  Easy access to friendly Solitude Resort to dive and dine and leave your dinghy at their dock during your check out day. Customs officials will drive to the resort so you can meet them at dock with your dinghy. If you request in advance, they can give you the clearance document without you to go back to their office.

We hired Rose, a local friendly Filipina familiar with clearing in/out, and her driver to drive us around for the day. She can also bring you to Manado for better shopping than in Bitung. Contact: Rose Whatsapp +62 821-8506-0228.

Luc Callebaut
SV Sloepmouche

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About the Authors

Luc with his partner Jackie, have been exploring the warm waters of the world since 1992 on board their 46ft Norman Cross trimaran. They have lived and worked in the Caribbean, Pacific and for the past four years have been cruising in Malaysia and Indonesia.  They are now cruising in the Philippines.

Luc worked as a regional editor for Noonsite for many years and has assisted Jimmy Cornell with a number of his round-the-world rallies. When Jimmy asked him to act as Event Manager for the GLYWO 500, he accepted without hesitation. “I do my best to assist Victor Taburiaux, also an experienced rally event manager, during stop-overs to make the GLYWO 500 rally a success by taking care of all red tape and insuring the participants have a safe and fun event.

Find out more about Luc and Jackie here [https://cornellsailing.com/archives/past-rallies/the-team/#LucJackie]

Videos about their cruising adventures or videos with the Grand Large Yachting World Odyssey 500, can be viewed on their YouTube channel “Tropical Sailing Life” which contains more than 600 original, edited, titled, cruising videos.

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Other Noonsite reports from Luc and Jackie:

• SE Asia:  Cruising Notes on Malaysia and Indonesia.
• Vanuatu:  Cruisers Deliver Aid to Communities
• Indonesia:  Clearance Experiences at Bintam and Batam
• Malaysia:  Update on Sebana Cove Marina
• Pacific Crossing 2022:  Panama and Galapagos Update
• Pacific Crossing 2022:  French Polynesia Update

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

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