Karimata Island and Strait
06 November 2019 | South China Sea
Ginni
6/11/19. 1730 Position 01 52'S, 109 00'E . We are sailing through the very pretty Karimata Strait. It is on the Archipelago Lane System and our present position puts us just at the beginning of the dogleg The light is fading and there are many fishing boats out and busy.
One patch of them we have just passed through contained more than 25 fishing vessels all at anchor and some of them in lines along the edges of underwater shallow banks. The nearby islands of Karimata and Pulau Serutu are declared a Marine Park. There must be
severe penalties for fishing inside there as we noticed that none of the many fishing vessels were near it. Karimata and Pulau Serutu rise as high islands straight out of the sea. Karimata rises over 1000 meters, and is heavily wooded and steep to. Looking through
binoculars we could see no evidence of settlements but guess they must be on the other side of the island. There are a number of small islands here with lots of coral reefs, shallow banks and hazardous rocks. Also shown on the charts are many wrecks. We are sailing on
the edge of the shipping lanes to be sure of safe passage. Two frigate birds, or what look just like them have just made a brief appearance. They are the sea bird pirates killing other sea birds and their babies and stealing their food, often right out of their mouths while in
flight. These two were on their own and catching their own food. Perhaps they were not frigates.
Our going is steady. We've had a great days sailing today, not that fast but making steady progress and rarely going below 4 knots which is good for equator sailing. This morning we experienced and couple of windy, dry squalls but the rest of the day has been kind. So far
the evening is clear. We may be in for a kind night. That's it for now. John and Ginni