August 20, 2013

Indonesia 2013: The Spice Islands

Darwin, Australia to Wakatobi, Indonesia via the Spice Islands

Day 82 – 84 – 27-29 July 2013 – Darwin, AU to Saumlaki, Indonesia
After a wonderful year and a half in Australia, down under in the “Land of Oz”, we finally sail out of Darwin’s Fannie Bay headed for Indonesia and the next chapter of our journey.

We had favorable tides for the first part and anchored off Melville Island just southwest of Cape Don for a few hours (dinner and a nap) before continuing north. The trip was 200 miles and it wasn’t the most comfortable of rides, but it also could have been a lot worse. Roger barely slept at all and although I slept some, I felt a little queasy now and again with the big swell and mixed seas. We were on the Sail Indonesia rally, mostly for assistance with the cruising permit, which is challenging to obtain, and had decided on the “northern route”. Most boats went the southern route (about 85 of the 100 or so boats) as it didn’t involve any over-night passages, and the minority (like we) took the path less traveled up and across the Banda Sea and back down to rejoin the group later.

We arrived in Saumlaki mid-morning and after setting the anchor and having our brekky, we waited for the arrival of the Sail Indonesia folks along with customs, quarantine, and immigration. I should note here, that Saumlaki is not an official port of entry to Indonesia normally. Officials were shipped down from Ambon to process us in. So the folks here have had very little exposure to any westerners or tourists in general.

The officials finally boarded our boat mid-afternoon… , all 8 of them and all 8 wearing black-soled shoes which left marks everywhere. They wanted to look in all the cabinets, but I think it was out of curiosity more than concern. The senior customs guy wanted one of Roger’s jackets that he saw while he had me open all the lockers for him to inspect. But they do say to expect the unexpected here in Indonesia. Roger napped during the afternoon and I was tired but wanted to make sure I slept through the night tonight, so stayed awake. Tuesday, we put Joy (our dinghy) in the water and headed into town for exploring and retrieving our final “partique” travel document for the boat.

Day 85 – 90 – 29 July – 2 August 2013 – Saumlaki

“Bobi” (or Bobby?) a local who is helping the rally folks while we are here in Saumlaki, took us into town to help us get our internet sorted. We walked past the market with limited fresh produce (but the few tomatoes there looked splendid) but lots of fish. The town was busy with heaps of traffic… mostly little colorful vans that are the taxis/buses and motorcycles. Everyone smiled and said hello to us. I tried out the few words of Indonesian I had learned so far, basically hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and you’re welcome. We’ll continue to try some new ones out. We ended the day at a little local hotel with a great patio out back under palms and palapas. Most importantly they had free WiFi, so we enjoyed cold water and juice and downloaded emails.

The local officials have put together quite an agenda of activities for the few days we are scheduled to be here starting with a welcoming ceremony, rowing races, food festival (and I think a cooking lesson), traditional fishing competition, art, dance and finally a gala dinner. The opening ceremony (3 hours!) was awesome… we felt so welcome and honored. There was an opening dance followed by a ceremony to welcome the skippers by the regional leader. Then we all sat under a tent they set up along with military and government officials… I think it was as much for them as for the rally participants. There was another local dance with beautiful singing, a young girl with a magical voice and another singer also with a lovely voice. There was a welcoming speech that was translated for us and then a reception with several local specialty food items including fried bananas coated with cinnamon, pumpkin tarts, cake, and rice with fish wrapped in leaves. All yummy, but a little on the heavy side. We ate out for the first time today, both for lunch and dinner at the local hotels. Noodle and rice dishes with a bit of greens and chicken… so, so, but only about $3 USD and after the prices in Australia who can complain about that? Thursday, we headed out for a tour of the island to see the stone boat carving and a local village.

Internet is a struggle, but between the dongle (only works at night and early morning) and the hotel with internet, we’re getting by, sort of, on the local 2G. Hopefully this will improve as we get to more populated and progressive locations. Saumlaki may be the most remote place we’ll visit, but on the other hand it may not. 🙂

Friday was our last full day in Saumlaki before we leave Saturday morning heading for the Banda Islands… the Spice Islands. Again, it was a pretty full-on day, with much of the morning dedicated to the complex check-out process… more forms, stamps, etc. We then were taken by bus to the art and culture building for a traditional dance festival, which was more of a competition.

Day 91 – 3 August 2013 – Saumlaki to Pulau Selu

We sailed about 45 miles to the outer island of the Tanimbars and anchored in a little fishing camp, which was well protected and had the calmest night we’d experienced in quite some time.

Day 92 – 93 – 4 – 5 August 2013 – Pulau Selu to the Banda Islands, across the Banda Sea
From Pulau Selu to the Banda Islands was about 200 miles. The trip was fine, but very rolly… which I think is going to be the norm with afore-mentioned big round pregnant-guppy boat belly. That’s okay… we just want her to keep us safe and sound, which I know she will. We had the most magnificent bioluminescence along the way! It was as if we were riding on a stream of starlight. We arrived in the early afternoon. The islands are gorgeous! The island with the main town of Bandaneira is much smaller (as is the town) than I anticipated from looking at the charts. Everything is closer and the town is just a few streets. I love the feel here. We had to drop the anchor and then stern tie up in front of one of the little hotels. It took a bit to get situated, but one of the other boats helped us and then Roger helped new boats as they came in.

Day 94 – 97 – 6 – 9 August 2013 – Bandaneira, Banda Island
We went into town on Tuesday to try to get internet sorted and for Roger to pick up some piping for our ingenious little rat prevention device (for being tied to shore). Our friends on an Amel named it the “Rat Fucket” due to the original idea, which was to cut a hole in the bottom of a bucket which would then spin when the rat climbed on it and dump him unceremoniously into the water. Rats can swim, so it’s a humane solution. We did not have any rats aboard, but there may have been a few that had to swim back to shore. The town is very small but with a lovely feel. It is Muslim and so multiple times a day we heard the chanting and singing over the loudspeaker, which was very, VERY close to where the boats were tied up. We were able to get some internet at the guesthouse of Abba, the local contact.

On Wednesday, we took a tour to the bigger island on the south where they have the nutmeg plantation. The walking tour was lovely as was the little boat ride that took us across. Lots of little kids were eager to say hello and wanted us to take their photos, which made for a delightful walk around. One little boy had a small bird tied to a string. At first, I was horrified, but he took good care of it and we have lots of pets we put on leashes, right?… or we clip the wings of birds so they don’t fly away.

On Thursday we climbed Gulung Api (Mountain of Fire), which is the volcano on the neighboring island. Wow… that was challenging. Straight up hill for 2 hours (600 meters), sometimes, or often, climbing on hands and knees. Coming down was equally difficult, slipping and sliding all the way. But the views from up top were magnificent and the exercise was good for the body. Living on the boat doesn’t give you ample opportunity for aerobic exercise, though my core muscles and arms are getting stronger. Still, I was a pretty weary one on the way back down.

On Friday we took the city tour and viewed the colonial buildings, the Bandaneira museum, and the old forts. This is a lovely little place and although there weren’t any officially planned activities for Sail Indonesia, we found plenty of wonderful things to see and do. The brutal history of Banda and the fight to monopolize the spice trades by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English, was highlighted in this oil painting at the museum.

Day 98 – 100 – 10 – 12 August 2013 – Banda to Wakatobi, Sulawesi
We felt that we were leaving Banda too soon… rushing through the various activities and would have preferred staying and resting to absorbed more of this lovely place. But we needed to press on as activities were scheduled in Wakatobi, the next stop on our itinerary. The passage was 3 days and 3 nights, the longest we’ve done on this journey to date. The weather and seas were mellow for most of the way, though we got a good soaking in a squall or two. We arrived at Wakatobi at 4:30AM with the help of Gino and his team guiding us through the impossibly narrow entrance to the lagoon. Honestly, we would not have made it through (or even tried) at night without their assistance.

Day 101 – 104 – 13 – 16 August, 2013 – Wakatobi, Wangi-Wangi, Sulawesi After a much-needed shower and a few hours of sleep, we put Joy in the water and dinghied over to the receiving area to be whisked away to a welcome ceremony and a local ceremony to release evil spirits. The contrast of beautiful and colorful costumes on the dancers with the rubble surrounding the site provided interesting contrast. They offered us some “treasures of the sea” to taste… fresh sea urchin, seaweed that looked (and tasted) sort of noodle-like, and fish sashimi. The lunch they provided was more of the same along with a multi-colored rice (special for the occasion) and cassava chunks that tasted and looked like ultra-dense sponges.

As part of the ceremony, a local celebrity actress/singer from Jakarta interviewed people. Everyone was taking photos of everyone else… Cruisers of the locals and ceremonies, locals of the cruisers and celebrities, film crews from TV Wakatobi (really? TV Wakatobi?) of everyone and everything! They asked for a couple to board the boat and dance with the locals and when no one volunteered, I dragged Roger (somewhat reluctantly) out there.

We enjoyed a lovely welcome dinner that same evening at the Patuno resort on the island… the perfect little tropical getaway location. They served local specialties and also had grilled lobster, squid and fish, along with the cassava, rice, ceviche and chicken with coconut milk. Beautiful dancers entertained us and we would have enjoyed it even more had we not been exhausted and sleep deprived.

We declared Wednesday a day off. We missed the tour of the fortress and the dances and other festivities, but we simply couldn’t do it. We needed rest and we needed to get some internet stuff done. Whew!… this rally cruising is wonderful but exhausting.

On Thursday I went early to swim at the water caves. They are fresh water and a lovely little spot not far from the anchorage. Then, while the others went on to more festivities, our guide Anna and I walked to her school (she teaches English there). The kids were very cute and everyone wanted to take pictures!