We had to employ some careful anti-collision tactics to avoid sailing into them. We had checked out of Indonesia, but there was still a long way to go before leaving Indonesian waters. From experience, we knew the authorities were quite relaxed about giving small sailing yachts plenty of time to leave.

We estimated it would take about a week to Malaysia if we took day sails and anchored overnight in the lee of places you won’t find in any cruising or pilot guides.

We began on a sunny day in 12-15 knots of south-easterly wind, giving us a consistent 5 knots of speed. The first stop was just 38 miles north-west of Belitung, a small rock named Gelasa.

An hour away from the island a storm blew up, but once safely inside the cove we shared just enough shelter from the swell with local fishing boats.

After a decent night’s sleep, we weighed anchor at 6am the following morning ready to make our way towards more desolate anchorages in this desolate area.

To stay on top of the weather, we use an Iridium Go with Predictwind. This gives us a good overall picture of wind direction and speed and has helped us plot anchor points in these remote areas.