Merry Christmas from Gili Air

We moved fairly quickly west from Komodo based on the limited decent anchorages on the North side of West Nusa Tenggara.  We did one overnight passage and all of the shrimp boats, fish traps and unlighted small fishing boats made for busy watches.  We stopped at a fancy resort on the west side of Moyo Island and visited a resort that charges $850 US per night.  The bungalows are all air conditioned and have fabric tent roofs and are very plush inside.  We did enjoy lunch there but it was waaay overpriced and after taking our money, we were relocated to a distant mooring.

We made a few more stops before arriving in the Gili Islands.  One anchorage was near a factory and a horse-drawn cart was shuttling huge piles of hay back and forth along the beach.  He was working fast to beat a rain storm that was coming. 

The 3 Gili Islands just off Lombok give the locals a place to get away from city life.  No motorized vehicles are allowed and all travel is by bicycle or horse-drawn carts.  We enjoyed a Christmas sleigh ride complete with jingle bells all around Gili Air for $10.   

 

There were numerous laid back restaurants and massage places and enough white folks that we blended in for the first time in Indonesia.  Full lunches with appetizers, multiple drinks, and deserts for the three of us were consistently around $30-$40 US.  We ate out every day for lunch and one day we all enjoyed 60 minute massages for less than $10 each.  

 

They had a few unique craft shops and we bought a coconut that was hollowed out and the entire surface was carved by hand in dolphins and swirls.  If it makes it home in one piece, I’ll put a light in the base.

After about a week, we moved two miles over to Lombok and took on 1000 liters of diesel to top up the tanks.  They brought it out in 33 jugs and poured it right into the tanks for about $2.49 per gallon.  We only had about two weeks left on our 60 day visa and wanted to move on to Bali before the new year, so we decided to make the one day trip southwest.  We were told that the Bali marina power was so bad, we decided to go straight to a nearby anchorage behind Serangan Island.  

 

 Follow along, dear reader as we move on.

Tom

There Be Dragons Here!

Once the galley was loaded, we headed first to Loh Buaya which is still inside the Komodo National Park area on Rinca Island, but is not as commercialized as Komodo Island.  It is located inside a deep protected harbor and we anchored right off the ranger station.  We had to buy a 3-day pass, so we waited until 7AM the next day to go ashore.  They hit us with all sorts of fees including the park fees, anchoring, bringing our camera and our tour guide.  I started to feel like I was being fleeced until I calculated that all the fees added up to about $28 US.  We were told that most of the wildlife including the dragons are more active in the morning and we were not disappointed.  We were assigned an English-speaking guide and we proceeded to go on about a 4 hour hike.   

We saw many of the big dragons and much of the food that they eat roaming free.  The dragons’ food include the Timor deer, the main prey of the Komodo dragon, water buffalo, wild boar, and long-tailed macaques.  The water buffalo were lying in the streams keeping cool and were unafraid of us.  We learned that Rinca Island has many more dragons than Komodo Island.

 

The Komodo dragon (Varanus Komodoensis) is a giant lizard that is only encountered at Komodo National Park. The species is the last of its kind and it will be of no surprise that because of this they are protected by law. The Komodo Dragon - or ora as the locals call them - can grow up to 3 to 4 meters in length. Its ancestors roamed the earth up to about half a million years ago. Although these lizards are considered to be harmless, it is advisable to keep them at a distance.  Our guide carried a forked stick to fend off a charging dragon, but we were not threatened by the dragons.  

 

More of a threat to us were the villagers trying to sell us carved wooden dragons, pearls and tee shirts.  We ended up buying some of all three during our two weeks roaming the park islands.  We also had an encounter with a coast guard official on Rinca who insisted that we needed to officially check in with him for another $10 worth of forms, paper and stamps.

 

Next we moved over to the main anchorage of Loh Liang on Komodo Island and did a similar (but shorter) tour of that island.  On this island we saw many more of the Timor deer and they also seemed to be unafraid of man.  From the rangers here, we learned where the public moorings are located.   Using the moorings made our anchorages more secure since most are quite deep and with the reversing tide/currents, we are always worried about dragging.  The winds have been light, but with a 80 foot deep anchorage, I would put out about 320 feet of chain which makes quite a big swinging radius!

We stayed next at pink beach and enjoyed fine pink sand and clear water for snorkeling.  

 

Next we went to what we thought would be a peaceful spot on the west side of Rinca, but the roll was really bad from swell.  The next day we dropped to the very south of Rinca and found a mooring behind Nusa Kode that was delightful.  We saw wild dragons, deer, boars and eagles right from the boat and no rangers or villagers were there.  It was so nice and peaceful here that we decided to spend three nights in this area.   

 

We did see a couple of live-aboard dive boats and Emily and I did a SCUBA dive one afternoon with them.  It cost me one pack of cigarettes to get our two air bottles refilled.  This is where cruising on your own boat is really nice.  These dive boats have to cram in 6 dives per day and then they leave at 5AM to the next spot.  We can linger where we like and leave when nothing holds our interest.

Next we crossed over to the very south of Komodo where we hoped to see large manta rays again.  Because we did not know exactly where they were and it was rolly there, we quickly moved around a protected point and found a quiet mooring for the night.

 

We stopped one night on Padar Island and found a delightful white sand beach and fair coral.  We took the machete ashore and had a couple of drinking coconuts while Emily built elaborate sand mazes for the hermit crabs.   

We have shared most of the anchorages with Indonesian fishing boats and have bought lobster and fish from them and even given drinking water when asked.  They typically come in about 4PM and leave at about 6AM for more fishing.  They rarely come by our boat, but always wave excitedly when we shout hallo.

We tried to visit Sebayur Island, but by the time we arrived, the wind had shifted and the anchorage looked rough and undesirable.  The captain immediately headed west and we found a better mooring on the south side of Lawadarat that had good snorkeling and another nice beach.  That mooring was a little rolly at night, so after a morning snorkel, we moved ½ mile south and grabbed another mooring.  The next morning we were joined by another dive boat so Emily and I did a nice dive with them.  Saw a turtle, 9 scorpion fish and plenty of life while the captain of the dive boat circled above us in my dingy.

As our time in Indonesia is limited and the rain storms are becoming more numerous (but quick), we decided to re-provision once more in Labuan Bajo and start heading further west towards Bali.

 

Tom

Underwater Indonesia...so far

Here is a sampling of what we have seen under those calm Indonesian seas so far.  We are now in Labuan Bajo filling the galley so we can explore the Rincon and Komodo Islands for a couple of weeks.  We were told that we will see the best diving there.

We shall see...

Tom

Indonesia (East Nusa Tenggara)

Spread across a chain of thousands of islands between Asia and Australia, Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population.

Ethnically it is highly diverse, with more than 300 local languages. The people range from rural hunter-gatherers to a modern urban elite.

Indonesia has seen great turmoil in recent years, having faced the Asian financial crisis, the fall of President Suharto after 32 years in office, the first free elections since the 1960s, the loss of East Timor, independence demands from restive provinces, bloody ethnic and religious conflict and a devastating tsunami.

Sophisticated kingdoms existed before the arrival of the Dutch, who consolidated their hold over two centuries, eventually uniting the archipelago in around 1900.
After Japan's wartime occupation ended, independence was proclaimed in 1945 by Sukarno, the independence movement's leader. The Dutch transferred sovereignty in 1949 after an armed struggle.

Post-Suharto Indonesia has made the transition to democracy. Power has been devolved away from the central government and the first direct presidential elections were held in 2004.

Lying near the intersection of shifting tectonic plates, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A powerful undersea quake in late 2004 sent massive waves crashing into coastal areas of Sumatra, and into coastal communities across south and east Asia. The disaster left more than 220,000 Indonesians dead or missing.

Our entry point into Indonesia was Kupang.  This large city is in Timor which is part of Indonesia.  Our original CAIT or cruising permit was sent here and we were forced to battle the corrupt officials and greedy ship agents and both did not disappoint.  With much smiling through gritted teeth, we managed to get all the correct forms and stamps and left as soon as possible.  The harbor was filthy and Kim and Emily had no desire to go ashore.

We left there for an overnight trip to a more remote area on the southwest tip of Kuwala Island known for whaling.  Here we were alone and swam in clear water and strolled the beach.  We wound our way counterclockwise around Andura Island using the tides to push us at 10 knots and stopped wherever we saw an interesting spot.  We anchored directly offshore of a Catholic Friary and figured that was as safe as we were going to find.

The next morning we pushed around the northeast tip of Flores and anchored in Teluk Hading.  It was pretty there, but the wind shifted and we decided to move along after a bumpy night’s sleep.  Most days there has been little wind (less than 5 knots) and the seas are so flat that the stabilizers have been turned off even during passages.

Flores is an exceptional scenic island, located east of Sumbawa and Komodo and west of Lembata and Alor. To the southeast is Timor. To the south, across the Sumba strait, lies the island of Sumba and to the north, beyond the Flores Sea, is the island of Sulawesi.

The name Flores is Portuguese and means 'flower' as the Portuguese were the first Europeans to colonize East Nusa Tenggara. They eventually sold it to the Dutch.

Flores measures 17,164 square kilometer, is heavily treed with forests and is mountainous, rising to 2,399 m. above sea level. The island is divided by strings of volcanic mountains into several regions with distinctive languages and traditions. The largest town is Maumere.

The western part of the island is mainly of Malayan origin whereas the eastern part is mainly inhabited by people of Papuan origin.

We spent two nights at Palu Besar and had our first interactions with rural Indonesians.  We found two villages and gave one headman a USA hat and another headman received 3 pairs of reading glasses.  Both gifts were well received and the kids were given a brand new soccer ball and could not have been happier.  We got coconuts, bananas and mangos in return and really felt welcomed into Indonesia.  We did some snorkeling and the water was clear and too warm for wetsuits.

We were running low on fresh vegetables, so we moved further west on Flores near the large city of Moumere.  We anchored off a small hotel and decided to make the trip to town to buy some fresh vegetables.  The town was about 20 miles away, but quite an adventure. 

We walked about 10 minutes in the 95 degree heat to the main road to catch a "Bemo".  They are like minivans but people cram into them.  Since this is the off-season here, us white folks stand out like aliens.  This morning it helped us at first, because a Bemo saw us coming and waited for us to walk the last 300 feet to the road.  Although most speak no English, we managed to convey our destination and climbed on board.  Kim counted 17 people mostly in the van.  About 3 or 4 boys were hanging out the open door as we sped along.  30 minutes later, we stopped at a bus terminal still 4 miles out of town.  There we were fought over by many Bemo drivers who all wanted us on their Bemo .  We were rushed into the “winning” Bemo and proceed to sit in the heat for another 20 minutes while the driver waited for it to fill up.  Finally, I looked up the Indonesian words for "let's go" and after several requests we pulled out. Unfortunately, he did not understand where we wanted to go because we drove around in circles for another 20 minutes and he tried to leave us in the middle of nowhere a couple of times before we landed in the right place.  Those bus rides cost us about $2.25 total so I should not complain too much!

The town is absolutely filthy with garbage lining the streets.  No one even considers using a trash can here.  You can imagine the smells as we walked through the fish mongers.  Kim will soak EVERYTHING we get in a weak bleach solution to kill any vermin before it goes into the galley.  We are bug-free and have discovered that is unusual among cruising boats.

We started walking through a maze of small booths selling all kinds of jewelry and trinkets and wound our way to the food area.  We were soon met by a local 20 year old boy who introduced himself and simply wanted to practice his English.  He came with us and helped us both identify the local foods and get the right prices.  We found most everything we needed and filled up 5 canvas bags for about $20.

We ate at a local restaurant recommended to us and had chicken, rice and local fare that was marginal.  The girls thought it was too spicy.  We each had two bottled cold drinks each and the total bill was $5.20 US.

We also found a shop selling the locally woven cloth made here called Ikat and bought two for about $20 each.  The hotel where we are anchored was selling similar ones for about $60.

Our ride back was less eventful and we came back in record time.  We rewarded ourselves by having two (quart-size) Bintang beers, a frozen pineapple drink and three mango ice creams at the restaurant by the boat.

This morning a local man brought out some diesel to the boat by dugout canoe.  I don't really need it now but wanted to see how it all goes. He came on time and used his own five, 5-gallon containers.   I poured it into my tanks thorough a special filter that removes dirt and water.  This hundred gallons cost me about $2.52 per gallon US delivered and was very clean.  

Another man came by canoe at 10AM with an octopus for us to eat that we had ordered.  We have eaten octopus before and it was good.  We were wondering how he could promise an octopus since we rarely see them diving.  Sure enough, he showed up and it was fresh and enormous.  We had him clean it for us on our swim platform because that is the hard part.  Kim made Nasi Gooring with it using a recipe we got from good friends on Sail Away.

We met a third man here who came out to the boat with the entire bottom of the boat covered in exotic sea shells.  He wanted a swimming mask and Emily had pulled one from a dumpster in New Zealand being thrown out by another cruiser.  He was thrilled and we received 10 shells that we would have never found on our own.  He has since come by just to talk and told us that he would trade all of his other shells for another mask.  Unfortunately, we only had one to spare.

 

Tomorrow we head only 4 hours west for a quiet anchorage and maybe some diving.  Come along with us for the trip…

Tom