Bawean Island….Trevor’s 46th Birthday

We left Lovina, Bali for a 225 mile passage to the little island of Bawean north of Java and south of Borneo (aka Kalimantan). We had 2 buddy boats: SV Kenobi (Stephen and Donna) and SV Cintana (Sean and crew, Mar Cea). The Java Sea is a large shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf and is 320,000 km². It was formed as sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age and the average depth is about 150 feet deep…. and because of its long history of wars and commerce, it continues to be one of the most important water ways of the world….perfect for wrecks, lots of fishing traffic and commercial ships.

We had decent wind but it would come in “waves”….early morning and late in the afternoon were best but noon and midnight the wind seemed to die down. The challenge was the fishing nets and FAD’s with the exception of the huge refueling station/oil rig we passed in the middle of the night…we could see the platform light 16 miles away! At one point Slow Flight traveled across a 3 mile long string of green flashing lights (looked like a run way)….of course it was my night shift….I thought to myself: “Self… if we go over this thing…we could be transported through time and space….or disintegrate….” I think I have been out here too long!

Arriving at north Bawean, we were greeted by lots of active tugs and barges. These vessels do have AIS…but the tugs do have a few lights at the top of their vessel at night. The issue is not knowing if they are pulling a barge behind them so after we can identify them, we give them a large berth of a 1/2 mile so we don’t hit the barge or the line in between them. Thankfully these guys don’t move at high speeds so there is a little grace there.

We planned on just a few days here of rest after the 3 day/2 night passage. We went ashore to see what was around…not much….but found a great little cafe and a few small stores (no fresh foods). This bay was not an official rally stop but we heard many rally boats stopped here. We arrived much later by almost a week or more, so there were only a few boats in the anchorage. I felt the people there were not happy to see us….rumor has it the rally use to stop here officially but something must of happened…..maybe there are still bad feelings in the air.

Passage planning lunch at the little cafe… lunch was less than $3 usd…just amazing!
View from shore
Not sure why there is a pink and green chick….but sometimes it’s best not to ask if you don’t want to know the answer.
Town was small…little stores had a few items but nothing fresh. We bought soft drinks and a few onions….

The highlight of Bawean was Trevor’s 46th birthday on Slow Flight. We invited the anchorage to join us for dinner and cocktails…we had 17 guests aboard (5 of them were kids but I think they ate more than the adults LOL)! Let’s just say things got a bit crazy…Slow Flight style! Thank you SV Kenobi, SV Cintana, SV Kiwi Summers, SV Philocat, and SV Sea Monkey for celebrating with us….

I decorated the boat with balloons and sign….and we brought out the good stuff for this special occasion!
I also made Trevor “dress up” for his big day…I didn’t get too much of an argument : )

SV Philocat and SV Kiwi Summers kiddos
Yes…We have Legos on board just for these type of occasions : )
BBQ ribs, BBQ chicken, hot dogs, coleslaw, pasta salad, corn on the cob…I think they liked it!
My assistant….. aka bartender in the making….he posed for this photo all on his own…I had nothing to do with it ; )