There’s a website for sailors called “Noonsite” which is an invaluable resource for folks like us. It forms a huge part of our researching any country, harbour or anchorage and is contributed to continually by cruisers and sailors worldwide.
But, much like Wikipedia, what’s written on the site most recently is the accepted truth which can result in some places getting a possibly undeserved negative reputation.
The port town of Sorong, Indonesia is one such example. It was a necessary stop for us that we were so tentative about having to make largely due to some unfavourable reports of other boats’ experiences there. And they were, of course, entirely accurate.
However, things can change. This is thanks in part to the introduction of the Vessel Declaration scheme replacing the former bureaucratic nightmare that was the CAIT system (cruising permit). Also, perhaps it helped that we’d had such low expectations of this city, because we have nothing but positive things to say about the place.
To that end I wrote about this on Noonsite, to help tip the balance a bit. If you’re interested in reading about it you can find the piece here: “What’s so right about Sorong”.