Apologies all for the pun. It’s my first time properly contributing to Noonsite and the reason that I’ve felt compelled to do so is in defence of the town of Sorong, Indonesia.

As cruisers we all do our due diligence, researching and compiling as much information as possible on a place before arriving there. However, I must say that the current overall feel of what Sorong is like, accumulated from cruising guides and the almighty internet, made us approach the place with a great deal of trepidation and hesitation. I’m happy to say that I have never before been so glad to be so thoroughly incorrect about a place.

Just to clarify our experiences, Sorong is a Port of Entry in West Papua, Indonesia. We didn’t arrive into the country here, we cleared in at Biak, further East as we were sailing in from PNG. Our time spent in Sorong was during November and December 2017 and, although not clearing in, we did extend our visas here.

Anchorage

Although depths further out in the harbour range from 24-30m, we found several easy spots to anchor in around 15-18m at 0°52.878’S 131°15.084’E. The holding is excellent in mud and we endured several strong squalls here with no problems. You can sometimes lie strangely with the current at springs (we’re a monohull), but nothing uncomfortable. I had been nervous about reports of “impending chaos in bad weather” with the dive Phinisi boats dragging but was pleasantly surprised to not experience anything of this nature. In fact, the only dragging incident we witnessed was another fellow cruiser, a catamaran, who had failed to put out enough scope.

This anchor spot puts you closer to shore which, with children on board, we actually prefer. I’ve read that you might get asked to move but we never were. It is also a very easy night entry. All the Phinisi fleet are lit up at night, looking for all the world like romantic pirate ships, and there are no FADs or other unlit floating obstacles within the harbour. We were here for quite a while and never experienced any petty theft from the deck or any other little crimes. Of course, cruisers should always be vigilant and lock up, but we found Sorong a very safe place.

Dinghy landing at the Usaha Mina dock is straightforward and safe 0°52.6647’S 131°15.1318’E, although we always lock up anyway. There are a few different options to tie up here and you do need to make room for the dive liveaboard tenders. We tended to drop off one adult with our children at the easiest timber dock while the other one then moved the boat round somewhere a bit more out of the way to lock up. You can drop off your rubbish at any of the dumpsters or barrel bins around here too.

Around town

The “bemos” are brilliant. These are little, local run minibuses that cost 5,000 IDR per adult (at 2 and 4 our kids always rode for free) to pretty much anywhere. There are different letters on the front of them, indicating the different routes. We never quite got the hang of exactly which one goes where but people would always helpfully indicate if we needed a different bus.

Markets

The fresh food market in North West of the dinghy dock and you can hop on a bemo to get there. You can get everything here and there is also a great wet market section, with fresh fish. They have some big fish here, huge tunas, sailfish, marlin and these are also available gutted, by the large chunk. It’s not for everyone and, if travelling with kids, be prepared for lots of attention, but it’s a fascinating place.

There’s another fresh food market at “terminal”, where the bemos stop and start. This seems to go on almost indefinitely and sells street food as well as fruits and vegetables. Everything that you could need, bananas, pineapples, coconuts, apples, papayas, greens, tomatoes, sweetcorn, cabbage, avocadoes, eggs, herbs, chillies etc are all plentiful. And, of course, the ubiquitous stinky durian if you fancy trying it.

There is also a fresh fish market not far from the dinghy dock but you need to be up EARLY, from 6 am as all the action is long over by 9 am. Fish here tend to be sold whole and, for some reason, they have smaller ones than at the wet market.

Supermarkets:

There are in fact 3 big supermarkets in Sorong:

Saga is closest to the dinghy dock at Usaha Mina, just a short walk down the main dual carriageway / 2 lane highway road or you can take the quieter, less busy 1 lane one just south of it. It sells pretty much everything you would need, including cruising luxuries like beer, cheese, fresh meat etc as well as having a good bakery section. There is a department store on the first floor and a KFC that’s part of the complex as well. If you’re doing a big re-stock provisioning run rumour has it that the manager will even help drive your bags back down to Usaha Mina, but we never tested this for ourselves.

Ramayana is a bemo ride away. The food part of this supermarket is a bit more low rent than Saga, slightly more dominated by packaged and highly processed goods. The department store part is much more extensive, with some nice clothes, good flip-flops and sunhats etc, really handy if the tropics have eaten away at some of your gear.

Mega (also known as Mega Mall) is another brilliant supermarket but the furthest away, out past the airport. It takes two bemo rides to get there, one to “terminal”, where all the bemos in the known world seem to cluster, and then another going onwards. Again, people will be very helpful to point you to the right one. Mega has a lovely sit down café and bakery, as well as a few others that we never tried. Its stock is not vastly different to that of Saga but it has much wider aisles and is less crammed in so a much more enjoyable provisioning exercise. You can get some harder to find items here, tinned tomatoes, raisins, oats and other imported goods etc. So, it can be worth the longer schlep to get here.

Street food:

The sea wall to the North West of the dinghy dock, just before the main fresh market, comes to life in the evening, full of little stalls and larger sit-down warungs serving fresh grilled fish, prawns, crab and squid or fried chicken and tempeh. All come with rice or noodles and don’t forget to sample the spicy “sambal” sauce. The prices are low and the tastes are great and varied so it makes for a nice introduction to Indonesian food.

Internet / phone:

Telkomsel SIM cards of varying value are easily available everywhere and each of the supermarkets listed above has phone card stalls either within the same building or just outside. There are also places to get USB computer dongles or other wifi internet devices, there is one in the Mega Mall complex, another just before Saga on the main road from Usaha Mina, and many others dotted around town. If you’re looking for a café with free wifi then Misool Filling Station, opposite the airport is your best bet.

Immigration:

Again, we didn’t clear into the country here so the only bit of officialdom we had to handle was a visa extension here. There was no need for a visit to the Harbourmaster or Quarantine, we were never approached or questioned about any of this. “Kantor Immigrasi” is on the way towards the airport, again just one bemo ride from Usaha Mina. Be respectful, wear long trousers, cover shoulders, wear proper shoes and no caps etc.

If it’s your first extension for the social/cultural 211 visas then you’ll do the whole digital photos and fingerprints bit here, which takes a bit longer. Just bring your boat papers and passports and fill out the long form they give you (they give a bilingual one which is very helpful). If it’s your second extension then you’ll need to make copies of a passport photo, visa and visa stamp page and a copy of the crew list for each person.

Once all the form filling, photo and fingerprint taking etc has been done you’ll be given a payment form that you need to take to the BNI bank. This is located on the main highway, back towards Saga supermarket. Once you make the payment you need to head back to Immigration to give them the payment receipt. It costs 355,000 IDR per person, each time you extend.

We found the Immigration officials here to be friendly, efficient and the whole process to be easy. We filled everything in on one day, made the payment and gave the pink receipt in and were able to pick up our visas the next day. No one suggested we paid any money to make the process faster.

Raja Ampat medallion passes:

Let’s face it, the reason you’re in Sorong is to go and cruise in the gorgeous Raja Ampat. Most people you ask about the passes will look at you blankly as the medallions are part of the package with all the dive liveaboards. So, jump on a bemo towards the airport. Just opposite the airport, there is a run of shops, including the Misool Filling Station (a nice café run by the same folks who run the Misool Eco Resort) and the Raja Ampat Tourist Office. All you need to show are your passports and say that you are on a private yacht (they won’t need boat papers). The passes are 1,000,000 IDR each and are valid for 12 months.

Diesel and Petrol:

If you’re just filling jerry cans/jugs, up to about 300 litres, this is easily done at Pertamina. There are several Pertamina stations across Sorong. Some are happy to fill cans and some are not and this seems to change. Best to visit one before carrying all your jugs over to see if they’re happy to do so. You can do it yourself, you don’t need any intermediaries or helpers. We were charged about 7,000 IDR per litre with a 10,000 “surcharge” per can. It still works out very cheap so it’s really not worth haggling on this. The common warnings about filtering Indonesian fuel are wise to listen to. We’ve been filtering as much as we can and touch wood, we haven’t had any problems with it so far.

LPG and water, and larger amounts of fuel:

If you’re reading this then you’re probably already aware that obtaining LPG in Indonesia is a bit of a headache. Thanks to the excellent advice given by the Hacking family on s/v Ocelot on gravity filling an LPG tank we were prepared to give this a go. And we were able to do so thanks to Warwick (Wick) Alliston of PT Eon engineering.

You’ll have probably come across Wick’s name on Noonsite’s pages on Sorong and I can’t write about the area without including him. He’s originally from Tasmania but has called Indonesia home for the last 25 years. He runs an engineering business that services scuba dive tanks, compressors but can also assist with fibreglass, canvas or welding repairs. Additionally, he helps operate the Emergency Response Fund Sorong (ERFS), a rescue and assistance service for private yachts and dive liveaboards, so is willing to help and advise with any healthcare issue.

Wick also runs the Helena marina, a dock upriver just south of Sorong town, where you can take on larger quantities of fuel and water. You can also tie up safely and leave your boat here, flying in and out, thanks to the new no CAIT vessel declaration system, which could allow for really taking advantage of that 12 month Raja Ampat pass. The dock is a long jetty with room for at least 10 boats. The upriver location is at 0°56.600’S 131°18.870’E, and he will even send out a pilot boat to help guide you in. If that weren’t enough Wick has been building a haul out facility here too which is now near completion.

I’ve got to say that if there is anything that you need for your boat then Wick is your man. I’ve never met a friendlier, more generous shore contact in our 6 and a half years of worldwide cruising. He’s truly an asset to the Indonesian cruising fleet.

His office is near to the Belagri Hotel, so again an easy bemo ride from the dinghy dock. He can be contacted via email: [email protected] or phone +62 811 485 371

Summary:

Yes, Sorong is a bit dirty, and a bit rough around the edges. We are talking about Indonesia here so it’s not going to be like an Australian, US or UK city in terms of cleanliness or infrastructure, although surely we all go out sailing to find something different from what we came from anyway? But, it’s safe, it’s friendly, it’s fun, colourful and full of life. It’s also easy to get hold of anything you need. People are welcoming and helpful, the anchorage is easy and secure and there is nothing to be hesitant about stopping here as part of your Indonesian cruising. In fact, you might just find, that it ends up being one of your highlights.

Jess Lloyd-Mostyn

s/v ADAMASTOR

www.water-log.com

6 and a half years, 36 countries, 2 oceans, 2 babies en route and 25,000 miles so far…

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