25th August 2008

So much for me saying that I would update the Blog every day! Somehow I don't seem to get around to it, especially when we are busy sight seeing and events on and also have to try and do it when we have plenty of power etc. All in all more difficult than I thought.

We motor sailed the 20 odd miles to Maumere last Tuesday, (19th) and what a lovely spot it was with a nice clean beach and the resort nestled among trees and gardens and the burees for guests looked nice as well - island style of course. Was also nice to find a flushing toilet ashore as well!! The toilets are something else. They have a bowl which can be either at normal height or low down, no cistern but beside them is a built in concrete tub or a large bucket, which is filled with water and a long handled plastic or metal pot thing which after going to the toilet one then buckets the water into the toilet. As you can imagine there is water everywhere on the floor!! One avoids going unless absolutely desperate! That night we went ashore for dinner at Sea World and had a really nice meal and the usual local dancing etc. was put on to entertain the guests.

Wednesday, at 5pm was the official welcome and Gala dinner. At each venue a country is picked to do the Sail Indonesia part of thanking the hosts etc. At Maumere it was New Zealand's turn and the 15 of us that were in Maumere got together in the morning and organized what we were doing, then went back to our boats to make grass skirts out of coconut palm leaves and at 3pm went ashore to have a practice!! We appointed Peter, from Musketelle to do the speech part etc. and he did an outstanding job and then we were called up to do our NZ bit during the Indonesian cultural bit (dancing). Rob on Moon Mist did a powhere and the Regent was presented with a spear and then the men did a haka and we finished off with singing Poukarekare Ana. It was hilarious and everybody, including all the yachties loved it and it was a bit different. I got a fellow yachtie to take a video of it all for me and it is hilarious, the men were all out of time etc. Certainly would not want a Maori to have seen it!! However, it all went down well and was very different to our forerunners who just made speeches!! The locals put on a wonderful meal for us and had a couple of guest singers who were excellent and was a change from so much cultural singing etc.

Thursday morning Catala and us were up at 4am and ashore at 5am to go in a hired car with driver for a trip up to the Kelimutu Lakes which is 125 km from Maumere up the top of a volcano and takes 3.5hrs to get there, 1600m above sea level. We were met by a local driver and hopped in a nice 4 wheel drive vehicle and 2 miles down the road he pulled a piece of paper out and he was supposed to be taking a group from another yacht. So back we went and shortly afterwards our driver, Arnold, turned up - he had slept in. It turned out to our advantage as he spoke some English (the other didn't) and he pointed out and took us to see many attractions which other drivers didn't do. We stopped at a little village and were taken into a shop where they sold and exported organic cashew nuts. Catala and us bought a 5kg pack between us for $A36. He also had a cashew nut butter and other little tit bits. On the way back we were taken and shown the whole process used for the cashew nuts. Unfortunately for us the top of the volcano was covered in low cloud so did not see the three coloured lakes which are dark blue, turquoise and dark green, even after waiting half an hour although some others did, having waited much longer but it was only fleetingly. On the way up we had the first rain we have seen for about 8 months!! All the way up the volcano there are rice paddies and it was fascinating to see how they have been set up, reportedly the best in Indonesia. On the way back we watched locals picking the rice and then seeing them sort out the empty grains from the full ones. They are poured from a bowl at head height and the empty ones blow away in the breeze and so you end up with only the grains in a pile on the ground. It is amazing the activities that just happen on the side of the road. The volcano was very lush and green compared to the rest of Indonesia where it is just brown, bare and very dry with no vegetation as like Queensland and NT they are continually burning. Had a nice lunch at a little side of the road establishment which cost all of $2 each!! Also visited the Portuguese village of Sikka where we had a look at the 108 year old Catholic Church, the interior is formed exactly like an upside down Portuguese boat. Amazing but it is a pity they do not keep up with the maintenance as there were some broken windows etc. As soon as we arrived there the women were out in droves trying to sell their ikats and there were hundreds we could have chosen from, we just had to say tidak (no) but you felt guilty and some of the older ones put on a very sad and desperate look. Everywhere we go we are greeted by hoards of children. Finally arrived back at Sea World at 5.45pm after a great, but tiring day. We were in bed pretty early that night as by the time we got back I had a migraine headache - too much heat and probably not enough liquid.

Maumere is about 15km from Sea World so on Friday Dave went with Catala and a few others in to Maumere by bemo, I stayed behind and had a quiet day on the boat recovering from the migraine. Dave managed to get some ball bearings to put in the genoa furler which were all lost when it came down after leaving Darwin. Maumere is quite a large town and one can get most things if you can find it as most shops sell anything from food, to clothes to tyres, bikes, generators etc.

By later in the day I felt much better and we went ashore for dinner at Sea World and had a lovely three course smorgasbord meal for $12 each.

We up anchored on Saturday morning and after motor sailing for a couple of hours we then had a lovely sail to Batu Boga East where we spent the night. As there were 6 yachts in the more sheltered part of the anchorage we were a bit further out and ended up having a rather roly night from 1.30am onwards. Catala were fine as they were anchored in a bit closer to shore. Catala had dinner with us and we played train dominoes - a new game for us and one we enjoyed.

Yesterday morning before we left Garth, Dave and I put the ball bearings in the furler and it appears that it may have done the trick so will see when we use it today. After doing that job we then motored four miles around the point to Batu Boga where we had a relaxing afternoon and did some snorkeling and then joined the other 3 boats here ashore for drinks just after 5pm. We had dinner on Catala and they taught us to play speed scrabble.

Two guys in the fleet have had malaria and an English women in the fleet was taken by ambulance in Ende yesterday to hospital with a high fever and we suspect that she has malaria too. We decided in Lembata to take our malaria prevention tablets (doxycycline). We also have the tablets on board to take if we suspect we have malaria - got them when we were back in NZ. We have become more particular at covering ourselves with insect repellant when going ashore.

Today we are moving on another 16 - 20 miles and giving the goings on which started yesterday at Ende a miss. We will join in the next lot of activities at Labuan Bajo which are due to start on 2nd September. We are wanting to visit Rinca where they have the Komodo dragons so are gradually working our way along the north coast of Flores.