Date: 13 March 2011 | Time Start: 0000 Finish: 14 March 2011 1200 | From: West Coast Sipora To: Bengkulu, Sumatra| Eng Hrs Start: 2060.5 Finish: 2091.0 | Avg RPMs: 2500 | Weather/Seas: 1m+ swell, rainy, some squalls
A squall or two and some decent swell (1-2m) all the way down the Mentawis. Engine stayed cool most of the way, right at 150 deg F. One time, when coolant overflowed and we did not manually return coolant to header tank, we restarted her after a refuel and temp quickly went to just below 180 deg F. Shut her down, refilled coolant, then no problems. So the engine is staying cool but coolant is not returning to the header tank after expanding.
Also, oil leaks are slowly getting worse, but still manageable. Come into Bengkulu and decide to just anchor at the point near the fort and dinghy ashore rather than go 15 nm south to the port. Anchor in some decent swell just behind the breakers and load up jerry cans. Shore is protected by breakers all the way north until you finally can slip in where you see the fishing boats anchored just east of the point. Exciting dinghy landing on small bit of sand. Go in and try to fill cans at Pertamina, but they cannot sell in quantity. National law. Get some daging at a nice Padang-style restaurant, check out the old British fort, then find some guy with a stall who agrees to get our diesel for us for 5,500 rupiah (1,000 more than at pump). Runs off on two motorbikes and comes back quickly with over 100L of diesel. Local boys help us push back our dinghy and we get soaked going back. Someone had stolen our sunscreen but not outboard motor. Ha!
