Passage to Sumbawa (Selat Sape or Strait/Channel Sape) and Anchorage at entrance to bay at Teluk Bima (Monday, August 26 to Tuesday, August 27)

Our plan was to awake at the crack of dawn to sail to Teluk (city) Bima, located at the very end of a large deep bay.  We had about 45 miles to sail to this destination and should have reached it by late afternoon if it wasn’t for the wicked currents of Selat Sape!  Crossing this channel proved to be one of our toughest crossings in all of years of cruising.  Tides/currents as strong as 11 knots pushed our boat backwards as we can only motor sail at 6 knots – YIKES 5 knots going against us!  So we ended up going with the flow and sailing south towards Teluk Sape until the tides changed in our favor.  Once underway in the correct direction, we finally made it to the entrance of Bima bay where we found at small patch of shallow water about 25 feet to anchor in for the night.  It proved to be a very roily anchorage on this exposed coastline but we survived and enjoyed watching the nearby village laden with goats and cows as the sunset.

Next morning we headed nine miles on down to Teluk Bima with a strong headwind of 18 knots and once again unfavorable tides.  After two and half hours, we set the anchor at Bima.