Sailing to Anambas Islands Team Trip 2022 - Part 1
HI FOLKS!!
We are so excited to share with you about our 7D6N sailing holiday to Anambas Islands, Indonesia on 19 - 25 September 2022!
The Anambas Islands is a secluded archipelago of 255 pristine islands located 180 nautical miles northeast from Singapore in the middle of South China Sea. It is what we like to call paradise, with their panoramic view of the open sea in fifty shades of blue with many lush green islands as the backdrop and colourful coral reefs and marine life underwater.
As many of you would know, it has been SUCH A LONG TIME (ALMOST 3 YEARS!) since the whole team has sailed together overseas (no thanks to the pandemic), so this trip was very much anticipated by every single one of us! This was a part-retreat, part-recce for us, as we were not sure how things have changed during the covid years, so we had to ensure all was in smooth order before bringing our guests in the future.
We started planning for the trip since months ago, and we’re elated that it has finally come to fruit! In this blog, we will share all about how the pre-trip work and our sailing journey!
PREPARATION
the most important part of our trip
When it comes to our sailing holidays, what we’re really proud of is mostly in the PREPARATION PHASE, which is often overlooked by most people, whether it’s the general public or even some boaters! Many don’t realize the amount of work it takes to prepare for a sailing trip, until they experience it for themselves. In fact, the success of a sailing holiday is more contingent on how much work was done during the preparation stage, than what was done during the trip itself. If this stage was not done systematically and sufficiently, the trip will fail miserably (e.g. equipment break down, supplies run out, etc).
For sailors who embark on long overseas trips like this, we always say it is critical to over-prepare and over-prepare, because if something happens out at sea, you have nowhere to turn to, no one to call, and only yourself to rely on.
Once the trip dates were decided, everyone took up a role and made a list of tasks for themselves. In the weeks leading up to the trip, amidst all of our daily charters, we worked on our tasks, from the administrative matters of preparing our documents and liaising with authorities, to the logistics of servicing all the equipment and purchasing the spare parts, to the operational work of passage planning and menu planning. CAN WE JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO GIVE CREDIT TO EVERYONE IN THE TEAM FOR ALL THE PREP WORK?
team work makes the dream work - our roles!
From bottom left, anticlockwise:
Darren - Master & Chef
Also known as the most important person on board, Darren is responsible for all our bellies! He is also the Master of our vessel, which means he has the final say (and yes, he can override our captain!). Truth be told, it takes a lot of creativity to be a yacht chef! Many factors have to be considered: 1) Being a small boat with limited space, how can we store the food safely to keep them fresh? What kinds of provisions can last longer? How do I use less condiments so I can bring less on board? 2) How do we adhere to everyone’s dietary restrictions while still ensuring a holistic menu? 3) What kinds of meals can I prepare quickly and efficiently on board in case weather conditions don’t allow for a smooth journey? In the weeks prior to the trip, he spent day and night either at the grocery store or in his kitchen prepping our meals. Never underestimate the thought & hard work that goes into our nutrition on board!
Faris - Captain
Another important person on board, Faris is responsible for leading the trip and planning the passage. This includes researching on the many islands, calculating and plotting the waypoints on the chart, checking the tide tables and weather forecasts, identifying potential areas of danger or hazards along the route, and planning contingencies. Many decisions have to be considered carefully to ensure safe navigation for the yacht and the team. His understanding of the Bahasa language also helped to break down the communication barrier when enquiring with the various customs, immigration and port authorities in Anambas on the entry process and all the documents we need to ready for clearance.
Victor - Chief Engineer
You can’t go on a sailing trip without a handy engineer - the one with the magical hands and can fix anything! In the weeks prior to the trip, we counted on Victor to give a full servicing for all the equipment on board (engines, watermaker, water pumps, generator, dive compressor… there’s so much more), to purchase all the supplies and spare parts we need, and to repair and reinforce our sails, lines, deck net & canopies. (P.S. We bring Victor on all our long sailing trips, for obvious reasons!)
Hansen - Dive Lead
As the diver of our team, Hansen is responsible for all things diving. This includes checking and servicing all our dive tanks, equipment and gears (sadly some are no longer useable after 2 long years of not using them!), renting sufficient equipment for the whole team, and also planning and leading our dives. (P.S. Fun fact! Did you know Darren, Hansen and Anthony got to know one another through diving? They spent a good number of their teenage years leading dive trips and working together in a dive school!)
Hezekiah - Newbie Crew
It’s Hezekiah’s first overseas sailing experience! Although he had no idea what he was in for, he took up the essential role of housekeeping, such as cleaning the boat in & out, clearing up after the mess created by Chief Engineer’s servicing work (just joking!), and preparing the cabins and heads according to his bosses’ idea of a 5-star hotel standard. Being the lobang king of the team, he also sourced for the best deals for our 25 cartons of beer among other drinks and snacks.
Vanessa - Junior Crew
Vanessa has sailed with us to Anambas when she first joined us in 2019 (you can read all about her experience here)! For this trip, she is responsible more for the post-trip work, such as consolidating all the photos and videos, and putting them together into these blogposts and social media content, so we can immortalize our memories and share our experience with more people!
Minqi - Senior Crew
As senior crew, along with her many experiences in sailing overseas, Minqi is responsible for liaising with external parties, such as our local agent for customs, immigration, quarantine and port (CIQP) clearance matters, preparing all the required documents and insurance for all passengers on board, and also consulting various forums, blogs and pilot books that offer advice and suggestions on which islands to visit, who we can contact when we arrive, what we need to do in compliance with the regulations over at Anambas.
Anthony - Guest
We invited our dear friend Anthony, who is tasked with enjoyment and entertainment. His role is to relax and enjoy as much as he can during this trip! >.< Jokes aside, being an engineer himself, he brings with him a wealth of technical knowledge about sailing, diving, and yacht equipment, which he often shares with us and we treasure a lot.
The land support team that is often overlooked by many.
Back at home (not pictured):
Evelyn - Customer Support
Evelyn is responsible for taking over our daily enquiries, which is why you can still reach us even though majority of the team is out sailing! Thanks to Evelyn, the rest of us could put our minds to ease and enjoy the trip fully, knowing that our customers and guests are not left hanging.
Shawn - Emergency Support
Shawn is our designated point of contact on land. This is a critical role; he has a copy of our passage and all our emergency contacts, and we send our coordinates via a satellite phone to him to report our position every day! He is thus responsible for checking our position against our planned passage, and checking in with our boat every few hours a day to make sure that we are on course. Should we deviate too much, it may mean that we are met with an emergency and he will be responsible for contacting the relevant agencies to send help our way. This is a practice we never compromise on for every sailing holiday.
MENU
IT CAN MAKE OR BREAK THE MOOD.
If you’ve been on board and listened to Captain Faris’ stories of his time in commercial shipping, he would tell you that the most important person on board in all seafarers’ hearts is the Chef, as the Chef sets the tone of the entire ship with his food. The menu served can either hype the spirits of these sailors who are away from home for months, or make the work feel super miserable.
Another part we’re super proud of is our menu, with thanks to our own “Masterchef” Darren! For all our sailing holidays, we always believe in curating a wholesome and nutritious menu from a variety of cuisines for our guests, so that everyone can feel like it’s home despite being away from home. After considering the many factors as mentioned earlier, Darren prepared a total of 24 DIFFERENT MEALS - all home-cooked, hearty, and made with love. Needless to say, everyone felt so pampered and warm and fuzzy in our hearts (and tummies) during this trip! 😋 Every meal begins with “what are you cooking today, it smells amazing!!”, to emptied bowls, full tummies and happy smiles.
Of course we took many photos of our meals - here are some for you to droll over:
JOURNEY
It’s not the destination that matters, but the company on the journey.
First order of business - kicking off with a birthday celebration for our birthday boys, Darren and Hansen!
Singapore > ANAMBAS: 40 hours
After clearing CIQP at ONE°15 Marina, we kicked off our 40-hour journey towards paradise! I still can’t find the words to describe how we all felt at that moment. Despite our excitement preparing for the trip, I think we all still felt quite unreal up until our yacht exited from the marina. As soon as we exited the marina, the reality that we can now truly enjoy our holiday finally sets in. Unlike flying or road trips, sailing happens at a much much slower pace; with 40 hours to spare, we took our time to soak in the word ‘relax’.
So that’s exactly what we did - we let all our anxiety and tensed muscles disappear with the sound of opening a can of beer, of our sails being hoisted, and of our laughter and cheers. We took our time to set up trawling lines, lie around on our own favourite corners for a nap, enjoy the vast scenery with many photos, volunteer to helm the boat, participate in our own little hobbies like reading a book, painting, playing card games. Without any digital disturbance, we spent time catching up with one another and having conversations about everything and anything.
When you have the right company, it doesn’t matter where you’re sailing to, or how long it will take, because the journey will be meaningful.
fishing!
We’re not much of fishermen (compared to our many skilful friends and neighbours in the marina); we have been in several sailing convoys where yachts around us would have caught a haul but we would have not caught a single fish, so we did not have high expectations. But during this trip, we managed to break the curse with 2 catch!
About halfway through our journey, we got our first catch - a small, decent-sized mackerel fish, which already made us super excited. We stir fried it with some garlic and soy sauce, and it honestly tasted like chicken.
After the excitement died down from consuming our catch, we went back to our own activities. However, in the midst of our mahjong game, we heard a really loud WRRRRRRRRR from our rods, and it sounded like it was going to be a big one. This took us so long to tackle and our line was almost all released!
When we finally reeled it in, we were stoked to see a TUNA!! Some say it’s a bluefin tuna, but some have doubts because bluefin tunas are known to be found primarily in oceanic waters (Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean), so we’re not sure if we caught one that happened to be migrating across oceans? If you have a clue, please enlighten us if this is indeed a bluefin tuna or another fish in the comments section below!
Did you know that bluefin tunas are one of the most expensive tunas in the world? Known for its flavour, texture, and even marbling, these tunas are the ones that you see up for auction in Japanese markets! Most of the tuna caught globally are also sent to Japan for valuation and processing. Here’s a quick read to understand why they are so highly valued! Unfortunately, the bluefin tuna population is being threatened by overfishing and illegal fishing, and on a fast decline.
And yes, of course we had to sashimi this!
Keeping watch.
As you know by now, we like to be systematic and structured in all that we do, this includes assigning a watch shift (i.e. assigning crew to take over the helm and keep a lookout during a specific time period) to ensure everyone could have sufficient rest during our 40-hour sailing journey (yes, this means sailing through the night). We adopted a simple watch system split into 3 shifts:
8 - 12 (AM/PM): Hansen & Anthony
12 - 4 (AM/PM): Minqi & Vanessa
4 - 8 (AM/PM): Faris & Hezekiah
24/7 on Standby: Victor (our Chief Engineer is activated when something needs to be fixed)
Meal times: Darren (NEVER EVER disturb the Chef)
Sailing through the night can be quite a meditative experience - while there may be the occasional light/noise/something weird that you need to alert yourself to, the bulk of your time will be spent in peace and serenity, darkness except moonlight, and the sound of waves as your boat makes way. You can also see that we are all wrapped up in our waterproof suits as it can get really cold!
If you’ve read all the way here, thank you for FOLLOWING OUR ADVENTURES, STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!
You can join us on our next adventure via our upcoming open sailing holidays:
Or you can also book your own adventure anytime you like:
Sailing Holidays - Overseas
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