YF1AR yankee foxtrot one alpha romeo: Rondo Island OC-245 IDO-369

YB6ABO/P, YC1BIQ/6, YD0AVE/6, YE1AR/6

OC-245, Rondo Island , NEW Island
IDO-369 Rondo LightHouse, NEW LH

January 20 - 27, 2022

6° 4' 24.2646' S, 95° 7' 4.764" E, Grid NJ76nb CQ28 ITU54

Pulau Rondo

Date unknown. Active; focal plane 193 m (633 ft); three white flashes every 20 s. 40 m (131 ft) skeletal tower with lantern and gallery, painted white. Four red-roofed coast guard buildings. A photo is at right, Trabas has a distant view by Capt. Theo Hinrichs, and Bing has a satellite view of the station. Pulau Rondo is the northwesternmost island of Indonesia, about 25 km (15 mi) northwest of Pulau Weh. The island is uninhabited but is sometimes visited by scuba divers. There is also a small Indonesian military outpost on the island. Accessible only boat. Site status unknown. ARLHS IDO-369; Admiralty F1300; NGA 22232..

Rondo Island (Indonesian: Pulau Rondo or Acehnese: Pulo Rondo), is the Indonesia's northernmost territory,[1] located in Andaman Sea with 0.650 km2 in area and elevation of 35 m above sea level. The island is one of outlying island of Indonesia in Aceh province of Sumatra region.[2] It is administratively part of Ujung Bau village in Sukakarya District of Sabang City, which administration center is located on Weh Island south of Rondo.[2] Rondo is 50 km offshore from Indonesia's Sumatra mainland.[2] This otherwise uninhabited island, accessible only by boat, has an Indonesian military outpost with a heliport and blue-roofed barracks, an adjacent lighthouse complex with a red-roofed lighthouse keeper's house and a white skeletal lighthouse topped with a viewing gallery and lantern.[2][3][4]

India's southernmost territory (Indira Point) on Great Nicobar Island of the Nicobar Islands is approximately 84 miles or 135 km to the north from the Indonesia's northernmost territory on Rondo Island.[5][2] Centered 21 km or 13 mile northwest of Rondo, between Indonesia and India, there is a submerged sandy and rocky coral shoal with a least depth of 51 m.[3][4] Island is surrounded by a mile (1.7 km) wide reef which has steep marine slope on its edges.[3][4] On the southern edge of island's reef there are small rocky islets,[3][4] 14 in total lying at a distance between 0.9 to 1.7 km. Between these islets and Weh Island there is 16-20 km or 3-3.5 leagues wide safe navigable channel.[5] Before the advent of modern shipping, the shipping between Rondo and Weh Islands was considered safer due to calmer seas.[6]

Rondo island, nicknamed as "Guardian of Indonesia",[7] bordering exclusive economic zones of India and Thailand, lies on the strategically important shipping route where commercial shipping vessels from and to Indian Ocean pass north of Rondo.[2][3][4] India and Indonesia are upgrading the Sabang deepsea port under their strategic economic and military partnership to enhance the regional connectivity, safety, security, and to protect the Andaman Sea and Strait of Malacca channel between Great Nicobar Island and Rondo Island (c. 2019).[8] Area around Rondo Island is known for the threat of piracy.[9]