Feedback from a cruising boat that recently entered Bitung from Kudat, Malaysia:

Bitung clearance

We dropped anchor off this pier https://maps.app.goo.gl/V4wVMRCrNA8yjtid7
We didnt use an agent for clearing into Indonesia. Before arriving you need to do the vds registration online https://vds.beacukai.go.id/YachtOnline/#home.html. As well remember to apply electronically for visa https://evisa.imigrasi.go.id/.
First we did Port Clearance https://maps.app.goo.gl/Up5TRj8GPfQdBaZC7 which was very straight forward, Econ the officer was amazing. Invited us for Indonesian breakfast! Then customs clearance ,https://maps.app.goo.gl/FHRxndGPFYcaFTgQ9, but they wanted to board the boat as well, so we went to Immigration https://maps.app.goo.gl/Z8mRasSEcc72YPjD8 and finished that off before we joined the customs officers to make inspection on the boat (all crew needs to show up at immigration for fingerprint and photo). The customs officers were extremely polite and the inspection of the boat took approx 30 minutes.

We took on fuel, which was a bit of pain as we needed Dexlite fuel. If you use Solas fuel its very easy to get. We had to take it in barrels which took a few hours (5000 ltrs). For water there are blue boats roaming around the harbour and they can pump water on your boat. We were parked next to the fishing pier and we simply went and spoke to the guys on the tuna boats which sorted out water from a truck on the pier. Everybody was extremely helpful and nice.

The only hiccup in Bitung was immigration, as one of the crew had only 4 months left valid on his passport. They created lots of fuss about that and started threatening us that we would need to go back to Malaysia. After arguing the matter back and forth they said they could fix this for 2000 USD…. We refused and argued another half an hour and ended up with 500 USD. If this ever happens to you, make sure you count the money you give them, in front of the immigration officer. I failed on that and shortly after they came back with a 100 USD note that said “copy” on and demanded us to give them another… Absolutely corrupt. Anyway, the port control and customs made up for this as they have outstanding staff that was polite and friendly. No cost whatsoever other than the bribe paid to immigration.