August 25, 2025
We’re in Japara Bay on Java now, trying to get to Malaysia before September 4th – our visa expiration date. This was an unplanned stop. We were at Karimunjawa Island and couldn’t get cash from the single ATM there to buy fuel (they only take cash). Since we were low on fuel, we tucked our tails between our legs and ran back to Java.
Here’s a map of what we’ll discuss below:
Now, this morning, we started thinking about how to get to Malaysia. We have two choices: Peninsular Malaysia or Borneo Malaysia. We were planning to round the peninsula around Singapore but getting from here to there looks so hard! The Java Sea is challenging to say the least.
The entire area is very shallow. The water us muddy and the currents are strong. There are virtually no protected anchorages along the north coast of Java.
Here’s where too much information comes in.
Naturally there are charts. Look at this mess:
Only when I switch to C-Maps at a lower zoom can I see the problem we’d face getting to Jakarta from here: the Arimbi oil field. Here’s what that looks like:
Finally, zooming to the exact right zoom level gives us a this note:
(With societies great advanced technology, somehow we still can’t make text read correctly on nautical charts!)
Day hops (Nope!)
I was plotting waypoints for day hops from here to Jakarta. Traveling at night near the coast here is foolhardy with all the fishing boats, fishing apparatus, and other hazards. For that I get advice from two sources: Zulu Waterways and No Foreign Land.
It was on Zulu that I found this:
This is an amazing post someone created with links to many sources. More information! Great! Aaargh!
It was here that I found SV Ah Ma‘s brilliant post about their trip from Karimunjawa to Jakarta. This was a turning point for me. Nope. I don’t want to go to Jakarta! This is also where I found mention of the oil field. It took another hour to find out exactly where this was. Right smack dab between us and Jakarta.
Grateful But Would The Simpler Days Have Been Better?
Naturally, I’m grateful for all this available information but after pouring over it for hours this morning, I think maybe I’d have liked the days when you wake up, feel the wind, look at the sky and if those are friendly, you set sail.
We’ll see where we end up. It’ll be fascinating!
-Rich
