Banda, Indonesia 1
05 August 2012 | At noon: 04°31.42' S; 129°53.84' E
Pam Lau
Picture: "Shuang Yu" coming into Banda anchorage
Wind: Southeast to 20 knots.
Speed: 5 - 7 knots.
Nautical miles to noon to arrival at Banda: 115
Up-to-date nautical miles from Bundaberg: 2,343
It was crack of dawn when we saw "Island Prism" two nautical miles ahead of us. As we turned into the anchorage area, we looked for the fleet of boats there wasn't any except for "Island Prism" and they were not yet anchored! They came in first and we are second boat in! We couldn't believe that we were ahead of all those catamarans. Jean-David, the French crewmember for Candela (American catamaran) said that they travel at around 9 to 13+ knots! Amazing! Our next boat... a catamaran??
These are the famous "Spice Islands" and the landscape is fantastic and beautiful. The harbor is surrounded by lush, green, volcano-like mountains jutting straight out of the water. The buildings around the harbor have red tiled roofs and the structures are much like ones you would see in Europe except a bit the worse for wear. We have never seen a place like this before. The mooring was European style. We dropped the anchor about 100 feet (about 32 meters) from the harbor and then backed in. The water was quite deep in the anchorage, over 110 feet (about 35 meters). We had to secure two lines from the stern to the trees on the bank. Ted got in the dinghy and took the lines to shore and there were many men there to catch the lines. Jim on board "Island Prism" helped to get the line over because "Shuang Yu" had drifted over to the other side of his boat while Ted was in the dinghy taking the lines to shore. Anyway it was great entertainment for the men on shore. Finally we settled down and Ted rowed to shore while I took a shower and cleaned up. A lady asked if we need laundry done, which we did desperately. I quickly stuffed two bags full of dirty laundry and send it over with Jim as he went by our boat. By the way, we were anchored right in front of the steps up to the harbor. It is like being in a marina. Close to shore and there is very little movement in the boat. Unlike the two previous anchorages where we were constantly in motion and we had a long way to motor to shore. Here we rowed to shore in two minutes. What a pleasant change!
After securing the boat, we went ashore to check out our new location. The entire village is equally intriguing as our first glimpse of the harbor buildings. The streets were narrow (too narrow for cars) but paved with a gutter system that looked functional as well as in good condition. The street to the center of the village was crammed full of the venders selling everything from plastic wares, cinnamon, cookies, vegetable, nutmeg jam to fish. The restaurants were emptied because this is definitely a Muslim village and this is Ramadan, the Muslim period of praying and fasting during daylight hours. I bought some long string beans, tofu and a few small tomatoes, which was enough for soup for lunch.
We took a long nap because we were exhausted for sailing all night. We invited Jim and Andrea over for a sundowner. Jean-David from S/V Candela joined us as well. We had a wonderful time just talking. Afterward, we all went to town and had dinner. The hotel/restaurant place we went to was called Delfina. It was an impressive stone building built around 1830 with columns in the front and a small courtyard inside which was full of various plants and a manmade miniature waterfall. Around the courtyard were doors which were entrances to the different hotel units and other rooms. We had a lovely dinner there. When we came out of the restaurant about ten o'clock in the evening. The street was practically empty except for a few motorcycle taxis, but it was filled with the musical chanting of prayers from the mosque.