To Batam

After leaving Borneo we had hopes of making some nice landfalls at the islands of Belitung, Bangka, Lingga, and the Riau chain. Instead, the smoke essentially chased us all the way to Singapore. Normally we look for anchorages on the downwind side of an island. This is where, unfortunately, the most smoke and blowing ashes are found. Instead we did the opposite and anchored upwind which gave us an uncomfortable rolling but saved our lungs somewhat. We left Belitung a day early because the smoke was unbearable. 
 

Sunset pushing into the smoke

We bypassed Bangka completely since the anchorage was downwind of two forest fires, and made a quick stop to sleep on the upwind side of Lingga. The Riaus were better and we sailed during the day and stopped every night. At this point, we had made the decision to hurry to Malaysia and fly back home for a month for house projects. Also we hoped the air would clear by the time we got back.





We crossed the equator northbound in the Riaus. That also happened to be 180 degrees of longitude from home. We are now on the other side of the world. This also coincided with the Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse and the Autumnal Equinox.

Crossed the equator. (Latitude in the lower right hand corner)

Life is good. We pushed through morning smog to arrive at the Nongsa Point Marina to be processed out of Indonesia. This took 2 days. Nongsa was by far the most expensive place we visited in Indonesia, and the marina really had nothing special to speak of.