Bali to Singapore Days 3-4

Continued from yesterday”¦ We neared a couple low, flat islands at 1700 (5:00 pm) on Wednesday. We changed course to get closer to them so we could be in more protected waters. Unfortunately, they were not a suitable place to stop, but at least in the lee of the island it was a little bit calmer. Christi’s nausea instantly went away and she ate a big meal. Eric felt less nauseous and managed to eat some crackers and drink some Pedialyte. We looked on the charts and found a suitable place to anchor off an island called Bawean that was 24 hours away. After an hour of idling, we pressed on, heading for the anchorage. Moving on was hard for Eric. He struggled with going out knowing the sickness would return. But he managed to do it.

Literally, the minute we were out in the big waves, Eric’s sea sickness returned. As the night wore on the wind and seas again got bigger. By Thursday morning the wind was at 34 with gusts up to 40 and the waves were 12 14 feet right on our nose (head seas). Surprisingly, Christi physically felt OK, but emotionally she was starting to fall apart. She was worried about Eric, who hadn’t held down more than a couple mouthfuls of liquid in over 24 hours. She was exhausted from lack of sleep and long watches. She was back to only eating crackers and grouchy from lack of food. She couldn’t take the stuffiness and she was sick of being tossed around by the waves. But most of all, she couldn’t bear staring at the clock and odometer and seeing how painfully slow the miles ticked by. We were doing half our normal speed, and knowing we were in such miserable conditions and not going anywhere was killing her.

It was time for Eric to take tablets of compazine, which is a strong prescription drug for Motion Sickness. It worked amazingly well. He should have taken it sooner. At around 1700 (5:00 pm) on Thursday, Eric drank a liter of water and actually kept it down. This was a huge relief, since he was now up to 36 hours with virtually no liquids. He was still feeling absolutely miserable. Christi had a nervous breakdown around 22:00 (10:00 pm), complete with hysterical screaming and crying. She fell asleep after, and when she woke up four hours later, she was feeling better. We reached our island destination at 03:00 on Friday morning, but as has been the case several times here in Indonesia, the charts were off, and without accurate charts it was too dangerous to enter the bay in the dark. We did circles in the calmer water of the lee of the island until daybreak.

At 06:15, we entered the bay, chose a spot and began to drop the anchor. But the windlass (machine that lifts anchor and chain up and down) wouldn’t move. We peered into the anchor locker (area under the windlass where all the chain is stored) and saw the anchor chain had managed to knot itself up into a ball. While out there dealing with the chain, Eric noticed that part of our anchor support had fallen off. It is a little gadget that keeps the anchor from banging around when we are out at sea. He was able to save most of it, so in a way it is good the chain got stuck. Had we dropped anchor, the whole support would have been lost for good. Fortunately, with a little finessing of the windlass, we managed to get chain unraveled and successfully anchored.

The anchorage is very rolly and uncomfortable, even with the paravanes out. The current is swift and there are whitecaps everywhere. It also provides very little shelter from the wind. Being here is certainly better than the alternative, so we are not complaining.

After we anchored and got Kosmos settled, Eric began assessing the damage. Our kayaks came loose, and had they been small enough to fit through the railing, would have gone overboard. The dinghy was loose and the cover is chaffing. The VHF antenna holder is bent. The clevis pin for a boom line fell out, and caused the boom to swing. There is a small area on the boom where the paint is gone, chaffed off by the paravane chain rubbing against it as a result of the pin. The back locker that has our propane tanks had come open, and water got inside. Now the propane system sensor is not working. There was a small gash in the gel coat from where the locker door had smashed into it. The forward hatch leaked, but since it is over the bathroom, it was easy to clean up with no damage. All in all, not too bad. The damage certainly could have been much worse. We are thankful Kosmos is like an armored tank. Waves were hitting us quite hard. It was a torrent of water on our front windows pretty much the whole time.

We were both feeling like total zombies and simply were not up to dealing with all these issues. Since we couldn’t go to shore, we spent the day watching movies and trying to recuperate. We were both very sad about not being able to get off the rocking boat and enjoy terra firma for a while. We were also sad about not being able to get a big meal in a restaurant, especially since neither of us was up for cooking anything. And boy, could we have used a big meal!

7 thoughts on “Bali to Singapore Days 3-4

  1. So sorry for your very rough journey. I traveled from Pago Pago to Hawaii on a 40′ Nordhavn. I lost 24 pounds in 21 days. I was reliving that experience by reading your post. Hope things smooth out in the coming days.

  2. What a trip. Thanks for sharing. I read your story/blog entry with great interest. Glad to hear you both are feeling better. What a relief. Best, JFM

  3. There is “no sickness like seasickness”. It is the only guaranteed “weight loss program” that always works. Be careful, there are many more ways to be hurt than just drowning and we are all a part of you now —– so we would hurt also.

    You are smart not to trust the charts. Nearly every weekend we used to take the public ferry at Poto Tano, Sumbawa to Labuhan Lombok on Lombok Island for shopping. Even with and running to the south of the harbor mouth at Labuhan Lombok Port was a coral reef that could be seen under the water on clear days but was shown farther south on some charts. The ferries needed to come to the harbor from the north and then turn south to enter the harbor safely. Several of the Captains used to be in a hurry, lazy or arrogant and would always come in too far south for comfort. Local fishermen also rode these ferries and several times they had been heard warning the ferry Captains. One week we returned to Poto Tano. On the return voyage the Captain cut a course too far south and hit the reef. All on board were lost.

    Dawn — I lived many years in Ramona and still own a house there.

  4. Good grief, that has to be the worst passage yet. I got queasy just reading the post. Keep on truckin’!

  5. There are two stages to really severe sea-sickness: 1. You are so very very ill, that you are genuinely worried that you may die. 2. You are so very very very ill that you actually become worried that may NOT die!

    I have been to stage 2 on a Royal Navy minesweeper which drew about 4ft and weighed about 150tons I think.

    Stage 2 is an utterly dreadful place to be, and I hope you never get there! It sounds as if you were well into stage 1 though!

    Take care out there, all the best, Colin

  6. As I’m still selling the Nordhavn around the world idea to my girlfriend I’m forced to redact these last two posts. I must confess there’s not much left for her to read after I print them out…hope you two are doing better and you have some calm seas ahead of you. I’ve never done well with seasickness and believe me, I feel your pain. Hang in there!

  7. Oh my gosh—- when I was with you I remember what I thought was bad and you said it was nothing. I cannot comprehend what you went through; for you to say it was bad and write is such detail, horrific is probably only scratching the surface. God is protecting you for sure. “Lord please bless Eric and Christi with calmer seas and continued safe travels”.

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