We were really torn between spending longer at Hoga and enjoying more snorkels on the reef around the Island or leaving to join the rest of the rally a day-sail north at Wanci, on Pulau Wangi Wangi. Having worked out how to top-up our phone remotely, it was tempting to stay at Hoga but with 17th August being the 77th anniversary of Indonesia’s independence, we finally decided to make the move on the 16th so that we could join in the national celebrations. We reasoned that if the snorkeling was not good at Pulau Wangi Wangi, we might return to Hoga and then go straight from there to BauBau.

We were surprised and pleased to find that the rally boats were docked in a small, free marina in Wanci. Our first marina in Indonesia, it was a pleasure to be able to talk to other rally participants and go ashore without needing the dinghy. The collection of foreign boats was quite an attraction for the locals, many of whom wanted to take selfies with us or our boats.

Independence Day activities started early with a bus collecting us at 7 am and taking us to a parade ground in town where we had reserved seats under a canopy. The whole proceedings were in Indonesian and there were long periods of complicated goose-step marching by white-uniformed high-school students, but we got the general gist of the program which culminated in the raising of a huge Indonesian flag just before a rain cloud passed over.

The Wakatobi Regent had spent some time with rally members the day before and was keen to have some of us included in the official photographs at the end. We took plenty of pictures of the officials and the many uniformed and traditionally dressed participants in the parades and singing. We were also invited to a dinner gathering in the evening which again involved long speeches and singing in Indonesian.

This time, however, the rally participants were put on the stage and were asked to sing a sailing song. It took a while to find one that we all knew and to get the music and words available from cellphones, but we finally managed “Sailing” by Rod Stewart! It was a bit dirge-like, but our efforts seemed to amuse our hosts. Only after half of the rally participants had already been returned to the marina, did the Regent insist that those of us waiting for the second bus, join in some dancing. So, for about 15 minutes, four of us line-danced with the Regent and his wife and a mass of other officials and students. This seemed to satisfy the Regent and we could then go home.

Over the following couple of days, Randall and I went riding around parts of the Island on a rented moped and enjoyed two excellent snorkels on the edge of the reef, just north of Wanci. Pictures and more details of those trips and other aspects of our stay here will follow in due course.