29th April, Jakarta

We are at anchor in Jakarta Bay, 6 miles from the harbour.  We arrived here yesterday afternoon and joined 60+ other vessels at anchor.

The last time I wrote, we were making our way from Port Klang, Malaysia, steaming at a stately 15 knots towards our destination.  Strangely enough, it is the first time we have steamed through the busiest shipping lane in the world, the Malacca Straits, in daylight.  We have always been rushing to Singapore, or leaving Singapore during the hours of darkness; for me it offered the opportunity for some photography, an added bonus.

A radar picture, Singapore Island at 12 o’clock, Batam at 3 o’clock.  The yellow dots are ships

We are approaching the trickiest turn in the traffic lane, a 90 degree turn, with shipping around us. We adjust speed to make the turn without interfering with the other vessels, as they also turn

How it looks out of the window. The black object at 9 o’clock is a wreck, someone got it wrong…….

We pass a drill-ship

We pass Singapore…if only…

Past Batam’s east side and we make our turn to the south, making for Jakarta, thus leaving the busy sea-lane for less congested waters.

The 28th and someone’s birthday, moi! 🙂   Wonderful videos from my daughters and grandchildren are on my phone,  cards on my WhatsApp from all of them.  This one is from Emily, my ship is on its way to ‘Amirica’, my cabin entrance is decorated and a cake at coffee, on the Bridge.

I am surprised after lunch………………..Unfortunately I can’t rotate it through 90° for some reason…….

Then to the anchorage, weaving our way to our designated spot, through numerous other vessels.

There are 2 other cruise ships here with us and both have to complete their disembarkation of Indonesian crew before we do.  Optimistically ours will be on May 1st, however, as I have learned from experience, I’ll believe it when I see it.

More later and stay safe!