Torres Straits Advice

[StuM]

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

Wow! You guys really have an encyclopaedic knowledge of this stuff! OK, maybe not anchor....... we shall see. In other news.......... is anyone willing and able to give us a hand with the Indonesian Yacht Registration thing? Apparently you can have more that one yacht on an account, but of course it would probably involve a few emails and a bit of work on your part in that respect. Any takers for a fellow sea-gypsy? :-)

Check with ADun (he's currently on the end of D finger)


Also give me a "hoy" when you're passing. I'm on A2 (opposite the boat ramp). Will be away most of today, but I'll be around all weekend.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I came across the top from W to E last year and was not accosted by coast watch in the entire 4,000 nm voyage. I also went that way twice, E - W 2012, W - E 2013 and was only accosted once about half way down the peninsular I think a lot of that activity tends to calm down when the illegal immigrant thing is periodically bought under control.

The events of 26 August 2018 (yesterday, as I write), confirm RaymondR and others who have lately seen little action by Coastwatch and Aus Border Protection aircraft and vessels.

On 26 Aug, a Viet Nam flagged fishing boat with 40 crew aboard penetrated Aus territorial waters without challenge, entered the mouth of the Daintree River, and ended up partly submerged in the Daintree River with its crew ashore (without any of the usual: no advance notice of entry, no visa application, no passport check, no quarantine check, no money to pay to dispose of garbage, etc).

About one-third of the crew have been detained to date, although news reports from the area are of poor quality (because of remoteness and low population density) and delayed.

See: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/pol...26-p4zzwm.html

And:

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...-boat-detained


That the Viet Nam flagged vessel could penetrate the border and land its crew speaks volume about the competency (or lack thereof) of the clown who holds the position of Minister of Home Affairs. And his underlings.

If these people were working dogs on a sheep station (for example), you would not bother to feed them.

[Wotname]

Well they have been pretty busy in the past week trying to get themselves a better job...

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Well they have been pretty busy in the past week trying to get themselves a better job...

Yes. Incompetent at that too!

And PD and his mates totally dismissed the costs of their actions to the Aus economy, Aus political system (especially in terms of the legitimacy and authority that the voting population grants to their chosen political representatives), and so on.

[RaymondR]

Not sure I'd be too critical of the brand of government we now have in respect of border control. The previous bunch replaced a working system with one which allowed about 60,000 illegal immigrants to arrive by boat and about 1,200 of them perished at sea.

I'm also not too upset with the change of administration since the ones they replaced were politically inept. We had good government from both brands with Hawk/Keating then Howard/Costelo, then a bunch of baby boomers turned up and things went to hell pretty well everything wise, now they have worked their way through the system and hopefully the interesting times are over.

No ones getting assassinated, no ones getting thrown in jail for political activities, no ones getting tortured or sent to re-education camps, the system is working fine as it always does in Australia.

[theway]

Any resolve on the Indonesian website front, I’ve also not been able to activate my account at http://yachters.beacukai.go.id because the activation email never gets sent after registration.

When we arrived in Australia it was a bit south of our destination due to weather. We proceeded through the great sandy straits and up to Bundaberg and anchored a few time on the way which is understandably the safest way. Upon clearing in they asked if we made any stops and I told them that we did, they didn’t seem to mind that we did but just wanted to know the locations.

[DefinitelyMe]

Originally Posted by theway

Any resolve on the Indonesian website front, I’ve also not been able to activate my account at http://yachters.beacukai.go.id because the activation email never gets sent after registration.

When we arrived in Australia it was a bit south of our destination due to weather. We proceeded through the great sandy straits and up to Bundaberg and anchored a few time on the way which is understandably the safest way. Upon clearing in they asked if we made any stops and I told them that we did, they didn’t seem to mind that we did but just wanted to know the locations.

OK that's good to know. We're setting sail from PNG in about an hour and I'll let everyone know how it went. No luck with the yacht registration. We and everyone else (another three boats here trying to sort this stuff out) are having the same issue as you. One yacht had previously registered (months ago) and were able to access the system but it took them three days of frustration before it would accept their application and deleted a load of the submitted information, including the crew list. We've hired an agent but after a week still don't have our papers. The weather is good so we're leaving anyway and if we don't hear while en-route that the yacht clearance is good then we'll go to East Timor instead where you can apparently just turn up and deal with it there and then. I shall report back once we are somewhere with internet again. In the meantime fair winds to all and thanks again for the invaluable advice. StuM I'm really sorry we never stopped by your boat but it was great meeting you the other day. To be honest I couldn't remember which boat was yours and didn't want to start knocking on random hulls! Cheers!

[theway]

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

OK that's good to know. We're setting sail from PNG in about an hour and I'll let everyone know how it went. No luck with the yacht registration. We and everyone else (another three boats here trying to sort this stuff out) are having the same issue as you. One yacht had previously registered (months ago) and were able to access the system but it took them three days of frustration before it would accept their application and deleted a load of the submitted information, including the crew list. We've hired an agent but after a week still don't have our papers. The weather is good so we're leaving anyway and if we don't hear while en-route that the yacht clearance is good then we'll go to East Timor instead where you can apparently just turn up and deal with it there and then. I shall report back once we are somewhere with internet again. In the meantime fair winds to all and thanks again for the invaluable advice. StuM I'm really sorry we never stopped by your boat but it was great meeting you the other day. To be honest I couldn't remember which boat was yours and didn't want to start knocking on random hulls! Cheers!

I’ll stay tuned to see how you did. An update would be much appreciated. Hopefully I’ll be able to check in when I get to Thursday Island.

[DefinitelyMe]

Originally Posted by theway

I’ll stay tuned to see how you did. An update would be much appreciated. Hopefully I’ll be able to check in when I get to Thursday Island.

Hey mate. I think you should be OK if our experience is anything to go by.

No problems. There was a navy ship waiting at the entrance to the Straits and they asked us a few questions. We had no problems with anchoring. The navy was very friendly. We heard nothing more until we were well through the Straits and nearly in Indonesia. Border Force aircraft flew over then and asked some more questions. Another boat was buzzed by a helicopter and quizzed but again no problems with anchoring. Neither of us was transmitting AIS. So, it appears they are keeping a good watch but not being unreasonably unreasonable to innocent, non-threatening sailors! Good luck.

Now in Saumlaki and loving it. Clearance was fairly easy, great officials and no bribes necessary.

[theway]

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

Hey mate. I think you should be OK if our experience is anything to go by.

No problems. There was a navy ship waiting at the entrance to the Straits and they asked us a few questions. We had no problems with anchoring. The navy was very friendly. We heard nothing more until we were well through the Straits and nearly in Indonesia. Border Force aircraft flew over then and asked some more questions. Another boat was buzzed by a helicopter and quizzed but again no problems with anchoring. Neither of us was transmitting AIS. So, it appears they are keeping a good watch but not being unreasonably unreasonable to innocent, non-threatening sailors! Good luck.

Now in Saumlaki and loving it. Clearance was fairly easy, great officials and no bribes necessary.

Hello hello, we just got to Thursday Island...

Sounds great, it’s always nice to hear that it worked out and is even more wonderful when things are a bit whimsical.

My main question is did you get the 30 day extendable visa (60day total) or is it only 30 day non-extendable? Thanks.

austin

[DefinitelyMe]

Oh.... I don’t know. We only need 30 days anyway so I didn’t ask. How do I find out?

[theway]

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

Oh.... I don’t know. We only need 30 days anyway so I didn’t ask. How do I find out?

Oh ok.

From my many readings, the general conversations/information about visas in Indonesia is that there are 3 types. #1: 30day on arrival #2: 30day + 30day on arrival renewal for a fee #3: 60day plus renewal every month for total 6 months (this visa has to be done before arrival). It seems that some ports are only giving 30days on arrival and not offering the renewable one. If you are still in Saumlaki, perhaps the immigration office or local immigration officers or authorities could provide insight. Did you visit an immigration office?... any info you could extract locally would be appreciated. We are planning to continue to Singapore so the 30+30days on arrival is pretty key for us some we aren’t planning to go to a consulate before hand to get the 6month one. But if we have to we might go to Dili first.

Thanks a bunch,
austin

[RaymondR]

Our coast watching officialdom are probably a bit stirred up at the moment. A boat load of Vietnamese made it all the way down to just north of Port Douglass a couple of weeks ago and of course questions were asked as to how they got so far south without being sighted by the authorities.

[DefinitelyMe]

Austin, I’m afraid we left Saumlaki about a week ago so I don’t know who I could ask about that. You could try contacting an agent about it. We wanted to do the pre-clearance ourselves but ended up having to hire an agent because of the system being down. An agent should be able to tell you what the deal is in Saumlaki. I say ‘should’ because the first two that I contacted told me I couldn’t clear in at Saumlaki at all, which is abviously false.

The only thing I can tell you is that we have the 30-day, non-renewable visas and were not offered anything else. Two boats who cleared in in Tual a few weeks ago did the 60-day ‘sponsored’ thing. The agent organised the sponsor letter and they had to make a couple of trips to the Indonesian Embassy in Port Moresby.

Hope this is of some limited use to you!

[theway]

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

Austin, I’m afraid we left Saumlaki about a week ago so I don’t know who I could ask about that. You could try contacting an agent about it. We wanted to do the pre-clearance ourselves but ended up having to hire an agent because of the system being down. An agent should be able to tell you what the deal is in Saumlaki. I say ‘should’ because the first two that I contacted told me I couldn’t clear in at Saumlaki at all, which is abviously false.

The only thing I can tell you is that we have the 30-day, non-renewable visas and were not offered anything else. Two boats who cleared in in Tual a few weeks ago did the 60-day ‘sponsored’ thing. The agent organised the sponsor letter and they had to make a couple of trips to the Indonesian Embassy in Port Moresby.

Hope this is of some limited use to you!

Thank you much, we have been hearing more of the same 30days non renewable is all that can be achieved on arrival and these smaller ports, so we have changed destinations to Dili and will visit the Indonesia embassy there to hopefully suffice our desire for more than 30days. Definitely helpful/useful. Maybe we’ll see you soon if your headed towards Bali and Singapore. We are departing Thursday Island in the morning.

As for the YachtERS website (should anyone else come across this thread) it has been currently fixed and we have been able to create an account, get activation email, login and create personal and boat profiles. We have downloaded the required PDFs now, but not sure if it’s still needed after going through the embassy.