Advice on Monsoon in Indonesia

[emma78]

Hi there

I am trying to research a cruising trip from Langkawi down through Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok and Flores this winter, leaving Langkawi end of Nov/early Dec and taking about three or four months to get to Flores. I've looked at the pilot charts which suggest favourable winds and currents but my skipper thinks it may be a bad time of year to be in south Indo ie wet and messy seas. Can anyone give us advice on this? I've cruised Asia before but as crew, not as someone actively involved in planning where to go and what to do. Thanks.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, emma78.

[Boracay]

I'm also interested in the Indonesian weather as we should be heading that way next year.

What you're planning clearly falls into the monsoon season. Lonely Planet has a webpage that gives an overall coverage.

It does look like it could have a fair bit of rain at that time of year.

I have no knowledge of sea and wind conditions in Indonesia. I dimly recall a report of a cruising yacht foundering a few years ago, possibly due to seas such as you've been warned about.

My own, non Indonesian, experience suggests that if you have current against wind this would give a short, choppy, or messy sea. With many islands it is very probable the a wind against current situation could occur. It may be possible to work this out from the pilot charts or local knowledge could be gold.

From the perspective of an intending cruiser the biggest problems that I would anticipate would be that the weather could be very, very wet, and that a cyclone could develop with little or no warning being received.

There is the Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika (disingkat BMKG) that should give warnings. Unfortunately it is in Bahasa Indonesia, a language in which I am far from proficient. An English version is under construction.

[Wotname]

My very very limited experience (and background knowledge) of Southern Indon weather would suggest that during the southern summer, it most likely to wet but otherwise calm and this area is just slightly too far north for cyclones to be a real threat.

In the southern winter, it would be dry and windy (easterlies).

Of course, this does not factor in climate change!

[MarkJ]

I don't know about that tiime of year and we did Indonesia the other way around in July- September.
What I do remember is virtually a total lack of weather information. As Boracay says its in the wrong lingo and difficult to access.

[Mr B]

October to March is the Cyclone season across the north of Australia, I dont know how far north that goes,

[Boracay]

BOM in Oz considers that the Australian Cyclone season runs from November to April.

Indonesia's Badan Meteorologi Klimatologi dan Geofisika has identified two cyclone season in Indonesia.

The Southern season runs from November to May, with January to march being the peak months, while the Norther season may be considered to run from July to November, but cyclones have been recorded in every month.

Their web page in English is here.

The Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre Jakarta is currently showing one cyclone in their Northern area.