Calypso's Journal: Pulau Bawean and the case of the burning barge

05° 43.917'S

112° 40.133'E

Another great overnight passage with wonderful winds giving us a speed of 6.5 to 7 knots over the ground.

During the dark hours, we had a couple of close encounters of the unwanted kind in the form of unlit fishing vessels coming out of the gloom. I swear they deliberately come right at us to scare the hell out of us. They, more often than not, have no lights other than a tiny flashing LED which is impossible to determine distance and they then only turn on their one white light when almost on top of us. Proper navigation lights? Not a chance. Haha, I'm sure they think it's funny. The same thing happened to Paraic aboard Saol Eile and he literally had to reverse out of the way, not an easy thing to do when you've got all sails up and under sail power only.

We're anchored up in the northern bay

The Island of Bawean appeared to be quite mountainous and we arrived in a large deep bay on the northern side which was nicely protected giving us flat waters to drop anchor but still enough of a breeze to keep us cool.

Inside the bay were several barges with their umbilical cords attached to tugs. One was a barge loaded with coal which had started to smoulder and, by the following morning, was smoking quite well. We watched this throughout the day and by evening, it was obviously quite serious.

Once the sun went down, they moved it farther off shore but we could see a massive red glow with jumping flames. By the next morning, there was no sign of it so they either managed to tow it away or it sank just out there, probably the latter; there was not much hope that the barge could withstand that amount of heat for long. I hope the tug cut himself loose in time.

Our very upmarket restaurant

The nearby village was full of typical island waterside dwellings with the incumbent goats, cows, cats and kids. We spent the better part of an hour trudging along the road to the nearby town then stopped at a 'salubrious' restaurant for a plate of mee goreng where several of the chaps agreed to take us on their motorbikes into the town to the mini market.

As Paraic was on his usual mission to find that elusive beer in a Muslim town, they also took us to what I would describe as a shebeen for a bottle of Guinness; a grungy room hidden in the back of beyond somewhere. I don't know if I've ever mentioned the fact that Paraic was a brewmaster of note with Guinness in Ireland as well as an advisor on all things to do with setting up new breweries in many locations around the world. He lives, eats and sleeps all things beer. Thirst satisfied, the chaps then transported us to the mini market but we found no fruit or vegetables; the town market is apparently only open in the mornings.

Regardless, it was an interesting journey and they returned us to our boats so we could continue watching the burning barge and get on with a few tasks and projects.

PHOTO ALBUM: