Komodo...The Land of Dragons!

Wednesday 27th August.

After leaving Kupang in Western Timor we headed north to Kawula and the main chain of Indonesian Islands that run in a straight line from East to West. We passed pods of Dolphins and Whales and sailed up in between the high volcanic islands dropping anchor off the town of Lembata. These Eastern islands are really dry and parched compared to the lusher Bali and Lombok but they’re still extremely beautiful. With huge volcanic mountains towering above the anchorages and small wooden hut villages fringed with white sandy beaches the scenery is breathtaking. We restocked with fruit and veg from the local market in Lembata and headed west to avoid the rally crowds which by now we were happy to escape and try to stay ahead!

On the north side of the larger island of Flores we stopped at some great little anchorages, most of which were only big enough for three or four boats as they’re really deep all the way to the beach. The diving is supposed to be good around this area but we'd heard from some locals that the tsunami ruined a lot of the reef so we decided to wait until Bali...especially as we found out one of Jimmy's tanks had a whole in it and had to leave it on the dock.

We hit civilisation again in Labuan Bajo which is a largish town on the North West point of Flores and the tourist gateway to the Komodo Islands. It was a huge shock for us to see white faces again but it was also nice not to be the center of attention all the time. Anchored right off town we re-stocked the boat with water and fuel, had some great meals out for a couple of dollars and went a little crazy buying wooden carvings of Komodo dragons! Two days later we upped anchor and headed for the ranger station on Rinca island, you can find the dragons both here and on Komodo island but we'd heard Rinca was has much more variety of wildlife and the prettier of the two.

Monitor lizards are known the world out as Komodo Dragons, they're the largest species of lizard and actually quite aggressive when they're on the look for food. They hunt alone biting their prey once and then waiting for the animal to die from blood poisoning caused by the bacteria in the Komodo's saliva. Their usual pray ranges from monkeys, deer, wild boar, water buffalo...and of course the occasional Japanese tourist!!

Arriving at the ranger station a little too late to get the guided tour we were lucky to see up close, four huge Dragons, attracted by the smells from the kitchen. One of the guides grabbed a six foot forked stick and stood between us 'just in case', I have to admit seeing them lounging around on their belly's didn't really give me the sense that these are dangerous creatures, however, sitting in the bar listening to the rangers tell stories of how they'd all been attacked at various times gave us a much greater appreciation! Later we got the chance to go Dragon hunting on our own in a bay further south with the help of a Komodo Island fisherman and I have to say seeing the worried look on his face when we did find them was pretty scary!

Landfall in western Timor, Indonesia

3rd August 2008

Well we've made it to Indonesia and all is well. It took 4 nights to Reach the city of Kupang in Western Timor from Darwin - the wind died off the very first evening and never came back until the last... We had to motor almost the entire way.... I spent many hours with the calculator trying to determine if we were going to make it...Happy to say we found a little wind and it all worked out in the end. In an emergency Gunner and Ingvil on S/v Helen Kate were planning to drop us a couple of cans of fuel!

It was an ok trip all in all as the autopilot did its job and steered us on course so we were comfortable... Unfortunately we were one of the slowest boats so that sucked to say the least. We just couldn't figure out why... I ended up jumping over mid ocean to clear the prop and was successful in stripping off some heavy seaweed... It seemed to improve our speed but it was mostly a mental fix, without enough wind old Blue Moon is too heavy to make way efficiently - the concerning part was that friends on s/v Antares caught a 2 meter shark a little later just behind their boat about a mile from us... Yikes!

Kupang has been great- it's like India meets South America, Lots of noise and craziness. We spent most of the time trying to get cleared/checked in... It started out smooth but as always became tangled in typical third world bureaucracy. Lucky for us we had several over 60 cruisers maintaining a round the clock watch and kept the pressure on the rally staff and local government rep's... In the end everyone was able to get cleared - but not until they impounded all the vessels in the fleet - not physically but by writ - and everyone had a very large seizure sticker affixed to the hull... This again was resolved by a little extra money and more forms and stamps to be collected...

Things here are much cheaper than OZ - Fuel is under a dollar a liter but dirty... Worst fuel I have taken since I departed Florida -or Ever! I had to dump and clean out the baha fuel filter three times - what a mess but at least we're topped with fuel and bottled water now..

We took a tour of the island as part of the rally - they provided 11 buses, a police captain with land cruiser to lead us and an ambulance to follow not to mention several military and civilian escorts... It was quite a sight...Visited a few mountain villages including 'Soe' and 'Boti'- traditional & very isolated - really interesting but the bus ride - Wow ! My kidneys are still sore - they used an old WWII Japanese built road to get us out into the highlands - we took off at 7 am and got back at 10 pm... Long day but worth every minute and all free with the rally.

Caroline & Eli were asked to visit a school - middle and high school combo - they were the first white people many of the kids had ever met... They had seen some on TV or in a mag but never in person! Interesting ... The Indonesian's are really nice people - funny, warm and always love to try to communicate. Kupang is a mix of Muslim and Christian; most people are quick to tell us that they have a problem with the radical Muslim element as well... We were able to get a sim card for Caroline's phone for 5 bucks so we have a mobile phone again!

The Kupang anchorage was very windy and dirty with all sorts Of garbage - mainly plastic and junk floating around... Several boats broke free and went drifting on the second day as the wind picked up... It took ten of us with dinghy's four hours to rope then all in and re anchor the boats as the owners were off on tours... This inspired everyone to get a cell phone working. We had an incident as well; someone slipped down and hit Bluemoon... Lucky for us not hard and no visual damage - he was onboard at the time and apparently the radio was ablaze with everyone yelling to get people over to help and he was able to start his engine and get away in time... What a pain especially since I had already asked him twice to move and he wouldn't - needless to say he has been hard to find since...

We've now moved on from Kupang to the smaller island of Roti 20nm south with s/v Helen Kate, Antares and Silene. There are about 6 other boats here- mostly the younger cruisers. The remainder of the fleet has gone north to Alor; I needed a break from the crowds. So many people and 'Pushy'... Some are really unaware of themselves, at one of the villages the King handed out hand woven 'Ikat' scarves to each person. With a 100 or so people around some started to shove their way in front of each other to get theirs first...I was pushed out of the line several times.... It was all to do for me to not yank them back by the collar... This selfish "me first" attitude highlighted itself later that day when I was in line for lunch...Lets just say that I was glad they only handed out spoons with our food! The Indonesians are so calm and generous at times it was embarrassing to be associated with such rude white people.

However, we're enjoying being back in another culture and one that is a heck of a lot more affordable... Everyone in the rally have been very helpful and the locals are great - many of them understand English which makes it a little easier although it's like learning Spanish again - start with the numbers and thank you then work your way up.

Do you think they eat in Indonesia?!!

Tuesday 22nd July

It's a natural instinct to be prepared and to want have as much food as possible around for those 'just in case' situations. With cruisers, however, it's addictive and even though we promised our selves we wouldn't do Panama all over again....we have. It starts with a rumour that toilet paper and peanut butter cannot be found and then we decide that everything we like, we have to get here......and we like a lot!!

We've already made over eight trips on the bus with huge backpacks filled box milk, cereal, pasta, canned vegies and a whole lot more. People are amazed that we have room on the boat for so much and quite honestly so are we. The fun starts when we have to mark all the tops of tins with whats inside just incase labels get torn off and try and make packages smaller by removing boxes and putting in zip lock bags. It's a long and expensive process but how will do we know if in a couple of months time we're going to feel like eating baked beans on toast instead of fried rice?!

DARWIN!

Monday 21st July

Darwin is the Northern territory's only city and arriving here as our last stop in Australia has been a great experience. We've been here over two weeks now and even though there's been a constant stream of work on the boat we've still had time to explore and enjoy the endless perfect sunny days. With Backpacker bars and cafes everywhere it's been possible to get cheap meals out and Jimmy's favourite $10 pitchers of beer!

The anchorage here in Fannie Bay is huge but with 20ft tides we have to anchor a LONG way from shore. Heading to the beach in our dingy is a voyage of its own and if you time the tides wrong it's an even bigger task to drag the dingy up the beach to the high tide mark. Luckily the yacht club provides dinghy trolly's we can use which have given us a great source of entertainment when heading home in the dark after a few drinks and trying to find the water with dinghy in tow!!

Joining the Rally from Darwin to Kupang in Eastern Timor is probably one of the best decisions we've made. Even though we were pretty skeptical about travelling with over 100 other boats the organisation has made things really easy. On arriving we had to start the check out process with customs and apply for our Indonesian visa ourselves but all else is done for us and these were really easy to do. We've already had our welcome BBQ with free food and drinks and live Indonesian music which gave us a chance to get to know some of the other cruisers.

Every Thursday and Sunday night there's a huge market on mindil beach which is a short walk from the yacht club. It's a great place to buy food and crafts from all over the world and sit and watch the famous sunset while listening to the live music. July and August are the busiest times in Darwin and it's a hive of tourists and young travellers looking to have a fun time. Unfortunately we still have to finish our varnishing, cleaning, stocking etc but I'm sure we'll have time to squeeze in a few more fun things before we leave on the 26th.