On most occasions, after a couple of days in one place we are ready to move on, even if its just a bit further up the coast. We have just left Banda Naira after 3 weeks, which says a lot about the place. A very small group of islands in the middle of the very deep Banda sea they had a lot of similarities with the Galapagos Islands. Anchoring can be a challenge as the water goes from impossibly deep to impossibly shallow very quickly. At Nutmeg dive school it wasn't too bad as there was a buoy to tie the bows to, and we took a couple of stern lines to tie to trees ashore. Towards the end of our stay we did move to a mooring ball which was a much better solution.

As in all places in Indonesia, at some states of the tide the surface of the water is filthy, with all sorts of plastic, cardboard, and who knows what. The rest of the time it is crystal clear. Apparently this is due to the depth of the surrounding sea, which washes through every change of tide to keep the water clean. One of the benefits of this is that the diving is spectacular and we spent many hours with Haseem from the diving school. The quantity and diversity of both fish and coral was unbelievable. Apparently it is one of the best places to see hammerhead sharks, but the water is too warm at this time of year.

The town is very small, but friendly, and consists of a few small lanes lined with market stalls and the inevitable scooters. Only a couple of cars on the whole island, and a lot of mosques, whose very loud call to prayer at 5 o'clock in the morning could get a little wearisome! There were also a few places to eat but nothing to write home about. The food so far in Indonesia had been a little disappointing truth be told. We decided to take a trip to one of the other islands, which involved catching a local ferry and then arriving on the shore in the middle of nowhere! Shortly a group of young lads appeared and we ended up getting on the back of a scooter each for a tour. First of all we went up to an ancient forest with very old nutmeg and cinnamon trees. Nutmeg is apparently indigenous to the Banda islands and was very valuable some centuries ago. They then took us to a local cafe to try nutmeg coffee which was surprisingly good as long as your final mouthful didn't include the dregs at the bottom of the cup.

After a couple of weeks we were looking for a decent weather window to take us to Ambon where it was time to renew our visas once more. Nothing. No wind in any direction let alone the one we wanted, so we ended up staying for another week and doing some more diving. Not really a hardship, but after a week we decided to go, even though it would mean motoring most of the way. At least it stayed dry for the majority of the trip.

On arrival in Ambon we moored up to what must be the strangest "pontoon" yet! Welcome to Jeffrys Floating Fish Restaurant. This is a raft made up of a number of pens about 5 metres square all joined together and with nets in them containing the fish. You choose your fish from the menu and they go and catch one from the relevant net, and barbeque it there and then. It doesn't get fresher than that, and it is delicious. Best food yet by a long way. There is room for around 7 yachts to moor along the edge, and it is all very relaxed. Great place to wait to sort the visa situation out.

After our visit to Sorong, it was back to the anchorage at Friwin where we were to spend the next few days. Went and did another dive which included seeing the manta rays, but the visibility wasn't great and the currents were really strong, which made the whole exercise a bit too much like hard work. The rest of the time we sat around doing not very much, although I did manage to get the bottom of the boat cleaned. Time to leave, and for the first time, the anchor was well and truly stuck. Time to put on my diving gear and go and see if I could sort it out. Turns out that the chain had got wrapped around the only rock that I could see down there, but relatively easy to untangle. A brief stop at Gam, and then on to Penumbra lagoon. Very shallow and slightly nerve-wracking entrance but nice safe anchorage inside. Rather a strange place as the landscape was beautiful but the rest of it was very run down and dilapidated. I think that a lot of these places struggled during covid and have never got back up to speed again, and in this climate you only need to leave places untended for a very short space of time and they revert to jungle.

We then moved on to an anchorage between Nokor and Naffi. A beautiful spot with crystal clear water. Heading south to Kofiau we anchored between Deer Island and the main island. Quite a large development on Deer Island, and although we were invited to come and look around we didn't really fancy it, especially as the guy who came alongside to be our guide seemed a bit dodgy, and we've always tended to trust our instincts. We left early for Misool and found a bay on the south coast which seemed suitable. For the first time we came across pearl farmers who stretch many long lines around the bay, but there was still enough room if we went around the back of them. The whole bay was very deep, but we managed to find a shallow bit and the anchor held well. Lots of wildlife, and in the morning a lot of dolphins, including some pink nosed ones, feeding around the bay. A bit further east to a string of islands which we had been told were beautiful. The bay where we intended to anchor was full of pearl farmers and it was obvious that we weren't going to get to the space we wanted, so we dropped the anchor in the only spot we could find. It was a bit like parking on the edge of an industrial estate. We were soon told, very politely and pleasantly, that we couldn't anchor there and he would show us the correct spot, which was in among numerous little islands. The entrance to the lagoon was the most hair-raising yet with the height of the water dropping to 2metres when we draw 1.5metres. We soon decided that before leaving we would take the dinghy and a weighted line to work out where the deepest channel is. Another beautiful spot and well protected and we stayed for a couple of days before we were told that we couldn't stay unless we paid an anchoring fee of the equivalent of £50! So off we went into the next bay where we had the same situation. This time we gave him a couple of tins of tuna and a couple of old t-shirts which he seemed happy enough with. It all left a bit of a bad taste so we left the next day. I've no objection to paying, but £50 is ridiculous and they are particularly charmless about it.

Seram was a bit far for one day, and we didn't fancy an overnighter as there are loads of islands around the area, and the charts are very innacurate with some even quite largish islands not appearing at all, so we decided to stop at Gelu, which looked like it might have somewhere shallow enough. It didn't, but we thought we could just about make do, when it all went to hell in a handcart! Kate went down below for something and shouted that there was water everywhere. It was sloshing all over the floorboards and the engine compartment was filling up at an alarming rate. It was also at this moment that we were hit by a squall and torrential rain. First thing was to find out where the water was coming in, and after checking all the through hull fittings it turned out to be the propshaft seal had come away leaving water free to enter the boat. Luckily quite an easy fix, by which time the weather had settled down and as we had drifted some way south, managing to miss both the land and other boats, we decided to carry on overnight to Seram.

The anchorage just off Kufar was where we stopped, and we ended up anchoring miles offshore as the mud seemed to go on forever. Bit of a strange one but we were just glad to have a rest and recover from the trauma of the previous day! Then it was on to the Banda islands. We anchored in around 12 metres of water and it was a lovely place, until the next day when the harbourmaster arrived and told us we had anchored in the conservation area and it would cost us £100 per day. Needless to say, the anchor was up about 30 seconds later and we moved around the island to the other side where it was free, but a lot deeper. After a lot of messing around we got tied up stern to, to Nutmeg dive school who were more than happy for us to do so.

First up was a small anchorage off the island of Ayem, which turned out to be a bit deeper than anticipated but was ok for the night, then it was up to Friwin where we anchored between 2 islands for some snorkeling. There is quite a strong current between the islands, so you go to the place where you want to start, get out of the dinghy and just take it with you as you drift along. Lots of fish and coral.
After a couple of days it was on to an island off Gam for an overnight before moving on to the privately owned island of Pef. The resort here was owned by a Swiss /German and all the guests were Swiss/German which made the whole experience a little surreal but we did have the benefit of some of the best diving yet.

After an overnight stop at Batangpele, it was on to Wayag. Good sailing all the way, and a beautiful anchorage at the end. It really is hard to believe that the sea is actually the colour that you see in books and on the television, and crystal clear. Absolutely stunning. We took the dinghy for a spin round some of the islands as its too shallow for anything else, and found beautiful deserted beaches. One morning we decided to take a hike to the top of one of the hills, and the view from the top was breathtaking. Getting to the top was quite a challenge as the final 30 metres were steep! It was proper rock climbing, which I wasn't expecting as I was only wearing flip flops, which had a coating of very fine sand from the beach and a lot of sweat! Worth it for the view.

We then did a reverse journey to Sorong where we had to apply for extensions to our visas, and buy some more fresh vegetables! No wind so had to motor all the way which can be a little tedious.

Until recently Sorong had a very bad reputation as a place to check in, but it must have changed a lot because our experience was completely positive. All smiles and friendliness. Naturally it took all day, but the marina manager arranged a taxi for us as we had to visit 4 different offices which were scattered around town. A visit to the local telecoms to pickup a sim card and we were good to go.

We left the boat in Helena marina which was basically a pontoon up the river, and returned to the UK for a visit. Upon our return we found the boat in a somewhat dilapidated state. The tropical climate had done us no favours, and it took a couple of long days cleaning to get things back on track. We had a few other boat jobs to do, the main one of which was to get new batteries which couldn't be put off any longer. Unfortunately these had to be shipped in from Jakarta which was going to take 3 weeks. 4We were by now tied up in Tampa Garam marina where we were to spend the next 4 weeks.

Sorong is a very typical, busy Indonesian town where scooters outnumber other forms of transport by around 20:1. This means that all the traffic travels at scooter speed as you can never get past them. This, combined with the fact that they stop everywhere, ride on the wrong side of the road, u-turn all over the place, makes for an interesting experience. There never seem to be any accidents though, even though most riders don't wear crash helmets and we once saw 5 people on one scooter. There were also a couple of sets of traffic lights in town. I still have absolutely no idea what their purpose was.

Finally the batteries arrived and after sweating buckets fitting them, we were ready to go. Just needed to check out with the harbourmaster. And out of nowhere we were hit with a charge which nobody else had heard of. Spent the whole morning arguing with them but they weren't shifting. We had to pay it to get our papers but it left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. Corruption in Indonesia is still alive and kicking! We'd wasted so much time that it was too late to leave that day, but the next morning we left for Raja Ampat, and had the most fantastic sail. The sun was shining the wind was blowing and it was good to be on the move again. We even got to see some whales which is always a bonus.

Next port of call was Luf Island just to the west of Manus. Approaching from the east, we decided to enter through the south east passage, as the only alternative was the west passage which would have taken hours longer and meant that we would arrive after dark which is never a good idea. The passage through was a little hairier than I anticipated, although despite the rain, the water was clear enough to see the bottom. We motored through numerous reefs and found an anchorage for the night. The next morning we moved to the other side of the island, as the wind was forecast to change direction and we thought (correctly) that it would be more comfortable.

Over the next few days we had numerous visitors exchanging vegetables for mainly fishing gear always very good humoured. We had some schoolboys stopped by on their way back to the village who asked for some fresh water and who were so excited when we gave them a bottle out of the fridge. Cold water is obviously a treat. The other thing we were often asked for was a weather forecast. The nearest place for supplies was Manus, which was at least 8 hours in one of their boats, and bearing in mind this could be a dangerous trip in a small open boat, they were keen to choose the best weather. One boat and all its occupants had been lost recently so people were a little nervous.

After a few days it was on to the Ninigo atoll. These are basically a smattering of very low lying islands in the middle of the ocean. Once again we had the experience of the depth of ocean going from 1000metres down to 10metres in under a minute. The sea floor just rises like a sheer cliff, which can be very disconcerting! Motored for an hour to the anchorage just off Mal island. Very friendly people from the island and a lot more bartering. By this stage I had virtually no t-shirts left, but we'd had plenty of fresh vegetables and some delicious coconut crabs. A few lazy days here then it was a couple of overnights to Vanimo to check out.

When I had been in Vanimo previously in the mid 80s, it had been a sleepy little town with not much going on. It was now unrecognisable from this. We were only intending to stock up with supplies and fuel and move on before nightfall, which we managed to do successfully, and the customs and immigration guys were really helpful, which was a relief because when we checked in to the country, the customs official hadn't told us that we needed to check out of every place before moving on. Not very helpful, but he was a fairly unpleasant guy from the start, and I think he realised he wasn't going to get a bribe from us! Still, by 4pm we raised anchor and were off to Indonesia.

The sail up the coast of Irian Jaya for the next 24 hours was great, with nice wind and a good current helping us along. Then it all went against us and we were struggling to make any headway at all. In fact as we approached Biak we stopped dead in the water despite having around 20 knots of wind and at one point I decided to start the engine and we still made no progress. I'm still not sure quite what happened as this lasted for over an hour, during which time it also hammered down with rain. Maybe we got caught
in a fishing net but after a while and with the help of the engine, we got going again. It was a very strange experience. Another couple of days and we were approaching Sorong where we were due to check in.

We had arranged our visas when we were in the Solomon Islands so check in went reasonably smoothly. We anchored near Rabaul yacht club under the guidance of the local liveaboard who came to visit and give us the lowdown once formalities had been completed. Prophet of doom doesn't cover it! After an hour or so we felt that we would be lucky to make it through the night without being murdered. However, PNG has certainly changed since we were here in the 80's. Rabaul used to be a thriving town, but after a couple of large volcanic eruptions near by, the whole town was moved further along the coast, leaving not very much really. We were strongly advised not to take public transport if we could avoid it, and in the yacht club we met up with Alex who, having nothing to do the following day, said she would drive us around to where we wanted to go. A very kind offer which we took her up on. Kate had a friend who she wanted to catch up with, so we were in Rabaul for the best part of a week. Overall opinion was that its a bit of a dump, with an air of menace about the place. Even the locals seemed a bit on edge. You certainly didn't hear much laughter on the streets like you would before. But, to be fair, there were also a lot of people who were very friendly and helpful, and who we enjoyed chatting in pidgin with.

Next it was on overnight trip to Kavieng and the by now familiar battle with the elements. Wind was behind us all the way, but during the night there was a massive storm with really strong (unforecasted) wind, which had us flying along at 7-8 knots for a period. Unheard of speed for us. About 30 minutes later I had to put the engine on as there was no wind at all! Arrived at the beautiful Nusa resort where we hoped to find a little of the PNG that we remembered. Had a walk through the village on the island - very friendly and clean. Went for fuel and provisions to Kavieng and there was definitely a more relaxed attitude about the place, although people were still very concerned on our behalf, but a much more pleasant experience. Heading out to some of the more remote islands in a few days, so will see how that goes