Merauke, Indonesia

[jimthom]

Thanks Beau for the information.

It sure is diificult even with the internet to find accurate information about Indonesia except thru other cruiser's personal experiences. Most websites don't have Merauke at a port of entry. But all of that may now have changed with the new decree for visiting yachts. Apparently one of the changes is that 18 ports have been nominated as entry/exit ports and foriegn yachts must use those ports. I would also imagine that individual port authorities might not know whether they are on the list of 18, but the agent who prepares the CAIT would know.

The 18 ports are listed on the sailtoindonesia website under News:

SailToIndonesia.com.

So I guess Sorong is my best option, and with a bit of luck T.I to Sorong will be less than 2 weeks.

Cheers, Jim

[beau]

Sorong is better than Merauke being further north.
I agree that the authorities in Merauke did not know what to do with us. They kept treating us as a cargo vessel.
We met a fellow cruiser in Fak fak who had been through the area many times. He told us you do not need a CAIT, he didn't have one, and when the local port police came on board his boat all they wanted to see was his visa. He told them he was in TRANSIT and everything was Ok.
Nobody ever asked to see our Cait, just the visa.
We found the indonesian authorities very very helpful in all ports and someone will speak English. Do Not try and bribe them but they may ask for a small fee for processing $5 eg. Do not let your Visa run out.