16-8-08 After having finally got our Impounding sticker removed on Monday 5th August we spent the next day having a look around Kupang and seeing what it had to offer. On our walk back to the harbour we were approached by a young Indonesian guy who wanted to practice his English with us as we walked back. Cornelius was a really nice young guy who helped Janine and I bargain with a local for the purchase of an Ikat each and he managed to get the price down considerably. As we were having Janine and Garth for dinner we invited him for dinner as well. The anchorage was particularly rough and we had to wait for an hour or more to be able to get back to the boat. Poor Cornelius was only on the boat half an hour and felt sea sick so Dave ended up having to take him back to shore.

Wednesday (7/8/08) we up anchored at 7am and headed off to the Island of Alor - a distance of 130 miles. We had a good sail to the point and then the wind died. From then on it was a battle, with at times, both the wind and tide against us. We had hoped to make the Gala dinner on the Thursday night at Alor but by 7.30pm that night we made the decision to change course and head to the next destination, Lembata, as we were not going to make Alor until Friday and by then there was no point in going. All the yachts that were around us also so changed course and one yacht had to go back to Kupang because their propeller had dropped off and they were drifting towards the rocks so another yacht towed them out to where they would not be in danger. Fortunately they had two spare propellers on board.

We arrived at a little sheltered bay at 10.30am on the Friday at the southern end of Lembata Island (previously called Lomblen or Kawula). It was lovely to be able to anchor in a nice calm sheltered bay. As we had had virtually no sleep the previous night we ended up having a sleep in the afternoon and basically blobbed out. Next morning we headed up to Leba Leba Bay where the next lot of festivities were being held. Once again we are anchored in a nice sheltered bay. Looking out to the bay there are two volcanoes, one of which at the northern end of this island is continually smoking.

Lembata Island is predominantly Roman Catholic with a small proportion being Protestant and Muslim. There is a Mosque in the village and every morning at 4.30am I seem to be woken up by the Muslim ritual in the Mosque which goes for about half an hour. The rural people still follow their old ways by living in traditional villages and placing food offerings on megalithic stone to appease their ancestors

Saturday morning we went ashore and went for a long walk through the town and were amazed at the little fish, millions of them, lying out in racks obviously being dried. Can't say I liked the smell much. Poverty was everywhere but the people are lovely and smiley and so happy. We came back and stoped at a restaurant for a cool Bintan and ended up having lunch there and were joined by a few other yachties as well. We had fun and games ordering, we thought we had ordered 2 x fried rice and a plate of French fries between us arrived. We duly ate them and then decided that we needed something more so thought we had ordered Mei goreng and we ended up with the fried rice!! However it all tasted good and cost us a mere $A7, including the couple of cans of Bintan!

Janine and Garth on Catala arrived Sunday lunchtime from Kupang as they had waited for their daughter Becky in Rotorua to have her baby which she had on Thursday, a second daughter. We had them for lunch and then had a celebration wine and dinner on their boat Sunday night.

Monday morning, Janine, Garth and us headed to the market which is about 3km from the bay. Our mode of transport had to be either a bemo or on the back of a motor bike. As there were no bemos handy we ended up going up on the back of motor bikes. All very safe as the local guys drove carefully and avoided all the pot holes. The market was an interesting place with all manner of things. Even cobra snakes which were boiled up and then the liquid put into small bottles and sold. It was only men doing the buying so we suspect it was an aphrodisiac!! It was interesting to see the local mens reaction when a snake got away. One guy had a piece of rubber thrown around his neck and he really jumped which caused a lot of mirth among the locals. We were bought back by motor bike by the same guys but as they waited an hour for us ended up paying more than we needed to, still pretty cheap though. There are virtually no cars here, an occasional ute and a few bemos, everyone rides a motor bike and they all look pretty new. Quite common to see Mum, Dad and two kids on the one bike. OSH would have a field day here. There is obviously one place in town which has cheap petrol and the queue is huge with apparently a 2 hour wait!

That night we ate out at the same restaurant where we had lunch but we had a limited choice as they did not have certain things, mainly beef and crabs. I think I took my life in my hands when I ordered fish but it was okay and I haven't been sick. Others who joined us had an hour and a half wait for their meal!!

Tuesday morning we were all ashore at 8am for the official welcome which was very interesting with not too long a speeches, some dancing and a traditional robe etc. put on one of the men. All the men were presented with a handmade cigarette, the tobacco being wrapped in flax! We were all given a flax head dress to put on. We then had a procession of the town and we were all either on the back of a motor bike or standing on the back of a ute or small truck. We were on the latter and the procession went everywhere through the village and outlying town and lasted two hours. You would have thought we were royalty with all the hoards of people on the side of the roads waving and cheering. We had the afternoon to ourselves and then ashore that evening for the Welcome dinner by the Government of Lembata Regency and the opening ceremony for the Lembata Art & Cultural Festival which was held at the restaurant where we had been before. There was lots of traditional dancing and they involve the children as well which is lovely. However dinner was not served until well after 9pm and by then everybody was starving. Dinner consisted of rice, which there was plenty of, tiny pieces of what we think was chicken in a thin soup and a noodle dish which one was lucky if you managed to get a small spoonful of, and most didn't, plus fish which was very bony and chose not to have. Some of the yachties left early and went home to cook themselves a meal.

On Wednesday four bus loads of us went on a tour to Lewolein Village which is a traditional village and took 2 hours to get there. We had a great day and tasted some of their traditional food and saw how they made it, saw the whole process of how the make the Ikats starting from the spinning of the cotton, the dying from plants etc, to the weaving and then the finished product. Also saw how they turned palm oil into a drink like whisky. They provided us with lunch from their local foods and it certainly left the previous nights meal for dead. They did some of their local dances, had a tug of war and then had one against the yachties which caused much laughter. After all that there was a traditional ceremony for catching fish and it was the most amazing sight. When the tide was right and a net placed around the area and a signal from one of the men, about 100 people, men women & children, from the village ran into the sea, fully clothed and catch these small fish. They stuff them down their clothes, one woman even had them in her mouth and some of the children thread them onto a flax stick. We watched a women afterwards skinning and gutting the fish with a pipi shell!!

After all that quite a few of us went for a swim and a snorkel over the coral reef which we enjoyed as it was very refreshing. There were quite a few types of coral which we had never seen before.

Finally arrived back in the Bay just after 6pm. Had dinner ashore at another little restaurant and enjoyed the Bintan after a long hot day. After our meal thought we had better go and see the Cultural Festival which they had on for us so ended up not getting back to the boat until 11pm.

We were up just after Thursday morning as Dave and 13 others were leaving at 4am to go up to the volcano, which apart from being an hour and a half drive was a 5 hour walk up and 4 hours down. I had a quiet morning on the boat and after lunch Janine and I went into ashore with the mission of getting our hair cut. Found a salon with an Indonesian girl who had one and a half legs and spoke no English. Janine actually does not look as though she has had a hair cut - it was all done with thinning scissors. However, I got the message through that I wanted my hair cut and has turned out to be quite a good cut. She also did scalp massaging which was different from the usual but felt good. She used a crutch to support herself all the while she stood doing the cutting.

Dave arrived back just after 5pm absolutely exhausted and filthy, said it was awesome but the hardest thing he has ever done in his life, even harder than running a marathon!! Two did not make it to the top. He is going to write a piece about it and some of his observations of Indonesia so watch this space! After he had a shower and refreshment we went ashore for dinner and then we were expected to go to the final night of the Cultural & Art festival for our final farewell. By the end of it we were danced out and us yachties were going to do our little bit but by 11.45pm Dave could not hack it any longer so we went back to the boat. Was well after midnight before it was all wound up. The speeches went on and on and with all being in Indonesian was rather boring to say the least. They did have us participating in their dancing and activities which caused a lot of laughter from the locals.

From now on may try to update this Blog every day which will not be such a mission so when checking emails it might pay to go into our Blog for the regular update of our activities. The last week has been nearly impossible to get emails in or out through the SSB