currently in Indonesia

[beau]

Be aware that in Indonesia, every immigration office intrepretes their rules and regulations differently. Some offices are friendly to foreigners some are not.
Bitung/Menado, in Sulawesi and Merauke in West Papua are NOT friendly.

Nobody speaks any English in West Papua or Sulawesi.
The Indonesian police are very helpful.
The west Papuans hate the Indonesians, and all your paperwork is Indonesian.
I do not know why, but Fuel (diesel or petrol) is difficult to buy by foreigners.
You cannot fill Australian propane bottles you have to buy an Indonesian Gas bottle
Meat is very difficult to buy.
Shops selling western food DO NOT EXIST in the north.
All the locals in Indonesia are very friendly to foreigners, but it does help to supply an occasional bottle of alcohol (vodka) or cigarettes.
Any further questions, feel free to ask.

[bvimatelot]

Good info, Beau!! I'm currently in Labuan, proceeding to Brisbane. Any recommendations for replenishment stops gratefully received!! Proposing to hug the Malaysian side over the top of Borneo then a dirty dash down to "somewhere" as far as I can get in the direction of Solomons/Louisiades Major problem of course is that we don't have Indo CAIT or even visas!! Tony

[beau]

I am not sure you really need a Cait, just say your "In Transit".
I think a visa is needed to avoid problems.
A visa can be purchased on arrival in most large ports in Indonesia for $25.00. it lasts 30 days.
I would get an Indonesian visa in Malaysia before entering Indonesia.

The Indonesian's authorities will generally try and help,
Don't try bribes, you will end up in Jail.
Just smile and be friendly, don't be arrogant and be patient, nothing happens here very fast.
Tell them you are leaving as soon as possible and they might forget you are even there.
Don't expect good winds, most of the time it will be dead calm expect for squalls. We have not experiened any N/W winds during our whole trip, mainly N/E up north at this time of the year, and only in the afternoon. Further south , around Jakarta /Bali you might get some N/W winds, maybe. This is not the place for a sailing boat which is why we motor, and most sail boats we have met motor as well.
If you enter ports stay away from the main harbour nobody will notice you for at least a couple of days (keep a low profile) and leave as soon as you can. Say you are "in Transit"
The Chinese shopkeepers speak some English but they are not much help. We have developed many good Indonesian friends along the way, who speak English, let me know if you run into problems.