2023 Sail Indonesia News June Report

As I sit here overlooking Chalong Bay Thailand where I left in 2009 to sail back to Gili Gede Lombok Indonesia to build Marina Del Ray I reflect on the past 13 years owning and running the largest Marina of three here.

The recent webinar held by my good friend and colleague John Hembrow of Sail down under was an enlightening experience for me. Some 2000 yachties were on the line at the time.

Our message was straight to the point.

It is easy to sail here but the correct information is hard to find and often confused by rally operators.

I am finding that sailors planning to come are better informed if they can send me a message on WhatsApp +628123632266 and I am only too happy to help them.

Basically, the system is designed to allow boats to apply for their Tourism visa online, the process takes less than a week, when they arrive at Kupang or any other licensed port of entry such as Marina Del Ray, the captain and crew will show the visa that is sent the captain on their email.

Immigration will stamp your passport; Customs will inspect your boat and charge you a very small rate based on the tonnage of your ship because it is being temporally imported for 3 years as goods.

Once paid, they will give you your vessels customs declaration that you are not to allowed to sell your yacht in Indonesia or use it for commercial purposes. After that the Harbor Master gives you your green light to sail anywhere around the 17500 islands freely.

When your 3 years is up, you need to export your yacht at the last customs approved port prior to your departure.

There are 21 of these ports here in Indonesia and can be found online.

All this information can be found on www.marinadelray.co

We do not recommend the need for rallies however by all means sail in a group for safety and fun reasons, you DO NOT NEED to be part of an official rally to enjoy Wonderful Indonesia.

Other news is I am pretty confident we will proceed to develop a 1000 Ton Fuel Terminal by 2024. This will make our port and essential piece of infrastructure that supports the growth of Yachting Indonesia and still remains a focus of the sitting President and the new coming one next year.

We are happy to see that a younger president has been chosen and is likely to become Indonesia's leader for the next five years. Indonesia is set by the end of 2030 to be one of the top five largest economies in the world and we see our future prosperous as we learn as a team how to provide a 5-star Marina service very comparatively and with smiles all round.

Fair Winds to all,

Captain Raymond La Fontaine

CEO/FOUNDER