Sliding into Semarang head first

We’ve made it through our 3^rd and final day of passage. A haze hung over the water most of the day making visibility a bit short, but open waters and high winds made for easy sailing. The winds took us all the way up to 8 KTs at times, which is pushing the Tropicbird’s top speed.

We operated under watch by committee for the bulk of the day, which made room for lots of reading and card playing.

The action really started after night fall when the fishing boats were out. We found ourselves tiptoeing through a minefield of small Indonesian fishing boats who don’t operate their navigation light under international standards. A lot of times they don’t bother with lights at all until another boat gets close and then they shine a spot light to let you know they are there. To combat this Captain stood watch on the bow and called out instructions for our evasive maneuvers.

It all reminded me of the classic Asteroids arcade game. The Tropicbird the trusty spaceship in the middle trying to avoid the asteroids flying in from all different angles. If only we had a laser cannon.

Despite the high stress low sleep night we've arrived this morning unscathed and within a stone’s throw of Semarang. We should be in port in less than two hours

(Written 9/29 at 9:00am from Lat: 06⁰ 47.082S, Long: 110⁰ 28.055E)