Even though we had made the decision to leave Pulau Hoga and head northwest to Wanci, we still tried to top-up and renew our cellphone plan online. The first method that we tried did not work (getting our money to an Indonesian account is not always straightforward) but Randall was persistent. Luckily, the second route (ding.com) did work, which not only took the pressure off finding a Telkomsel outlet as soon as we arrived in Wanci, but also means that we can rely on this method in the future. The downside was that we did not leave the anchorage until 10 am.

It was almost later than that because it looked as though SV Calagorm was sitting right over our anchor and Hella and David had gone to shore. Luckily, our anchor came up while we were just behind Calagorm's stern, so we were able to back away and avoid a collision. Wanting to arrive in good light to get into the channel through the fringing reef at Wanci, we ended up having to motor-sail for almost 6 hours which was a bit frustrating as there would have been enough wind to sail if we had left four hours earlier.

Almost as soon as we were underway, we were called on the VHF radio by Jino from the Wakatobi Information Center (WIC). Anxious to know when we might get to Wanci and how many boats we thought were coming, he called several times. He was keen to "pilot" us through the pass in the reef, giving Randall encouraging directions over the radio, while I watched our path from the bow. The pass through the reef is actually marked very clearly with red and green navigation poles and the route into the lagoon is sufficiently deep and is obvious in sunlight. According to our 2017 edition of the "Cruising Guide to Indonesia" by Andy Scott, the pass into the lagoon should only be made at high tide when the depth is at least 2.1m. Since this is about our draft, this had not sounded very promising, but we were assured by other rally members that it was much deeper now. The cruising guide also recommended anchoring in a deeper hole in the lagoon, not far from the ferry terminal to the south of the pass.



Top - Looking out of the Wanci lagoon across the entrance channel with the colors of the shallow and deep water clearly distinguished: bottom - half of the empty marina with the entrance channel beyond to the right

Since the Cruising Guide was published, the pass and much of the lagoon must have been dredged and a marina has been built. We were invited to take any vacant berth, so we pulled in between SVs Speakeasy and Cailin Lomhara, with several people helpfully taking our docklines. Jino was one of the first people to greet us, asking us to bring our official documents to the WIC when we were ready.



The Wakatobi Information Center at Marina Togo Mowondu

The marina is quite new with six floating fingers on each side of the main walkway. There is no water or power and not quite enough cleats, but there is no marina fee which is remarkable. Since Pulau Wangi Wangi is within the Wakatobi National Park, officials did require marina visitors to pay the same National Park Fees that we had paid at Pulau Hoga. Our receipts from Hoga were acknowledged, covering us to stay in the marina and to snorkel wherever we wanted.

Since this was the first time that we had been in a marina with the rally, it was very pleasant to be able to talk to other crews and to wander ashore without having to launch the dinghy. The gate to the marina was sometimes locked, but usually there were enough police or other officials around to deter the public from wandering onto the docks. As we would learn later, once most of the rally boats had left, the marina was a very popular place for locals to take a late-afternoon stroll.



The rally boats in the marina at Wanci; Tregoning was on the righthand side

Soon after arriving, we took our papers to WIC for Jino to make copies and in return he gave us our official invitation for the Independence Day celebrations the following morning. The bus arrived at 7 am and took us to the town's parade/sports ground where we were shown to seats in the shade of a canopy. Each seat had a small box of snacks on it which caused us to wonder just how long this event was going to last.



Top - Uniformed government workers and military personnel stood in ranks throughout the Independence Day event: bottom - Uniformed high school students (male and female) arrived marching the goose-step

Our tent was next to the official stage so we could not see who was sitting up there, but it meant that we had a very similar view of the parade ground and proceedings. To our left was a 17-piece marching band, complete with white and yellow uniforms and bright pink plumes in their helmets. Across the open area were rows of military personnel and government workers in their uniforms standing to attention, saluting, or at ease as appropriate. To one side of them was a canopy under which sat a large number of children and young adults in very colorful traditional costumes. They vigorously waved small Indonesian flags throughout much of the program and sang several songs at the end.



Children and young adults in traditional Indonesian costumes stand-up to sing after the flag-raising

While most of the rally participants had made a bit of an effort to look reasonably smart, we were rather conspicuously more casually dressed than the participants, and most of the invited audience. But that look was our typical uniform, I suppose.



Some of the rally participants at the Independence Day proceedings

The Regent of Wakatobi arrived in a fleet of shiny SUVs with a sizable entourage of officials in uniforms or suits, and they walked to their seats of honor on the stage. Once settled, there was much shouting of orders from a sergeant-major (or so I guess) who marched back and forth a few times, then about 100 white-uniformed cadets marched into the parade ground. We wondered if they were in the military but later were told that they were students from several local high schools. All Indonesian citizens are obliged to defend the nation, but the armed forces have been able to maintain required numbers without having to make military service mandatory. The aspect of the marching that felt slightly uncomfortable to us, was the use of the straight-legged goose-step, something that many of us associate with Nazi Germany.



The flag-bearers marching from the stage to the flagpole

By now, we had all been asked to stand so we were thankful that we were in the shade. Once the students were all on the field, there followed long periods of rearranging their formations. Eventually, a small team of the students approached the stage, and one young woman climbed the steps to receive the official flag from the Regent. She then with great care, descended the steps backwards, before their formation turned to approach the flagpole. Between the goose-stepping and high-knee-steps as they were turning, the marching looked particularly challenging for the young women in their below-the-knee skirts.

After yet more (seemingly pointless) maneuvering of the ranks of students, the honor guard finally attached the flag to the halyard on the flagpole. With dark rain clouds approaching, we were impressed as we watched the huge red and white flag being snapped out in one quick motion, from being folded to its full spread, while a student carefully ensured that none of it touched the ground.



The Indonesian flag was suddenly snapped from its folded formation to full spread

Carefully and rhythmically raised up the tall pole, the flag was soon flapping in the sudden breeze that preceded a short rain shower. There was much saluting, the band played, and people sang the national anthem, and the Regent made a short speech.

This was being celebrated as the 77th anniversary of Independence for Indonesia, which was declared by Sukarno, the leader of the Indonesian National Party, in Jakarta on 17th August 1945, just two days after Japan announced its surrender at the end of World War II. A government was formed with Sukarno as President but as the British and Australian forces arrived to disarm the Japanese, they were expected to also hold the Indonesian Nationalists until Dutch troops arrived in 1946. Many executions and battles, both between the Dutch and Indonesians and between the different Indonesian militias, ensued resulting in the deaths of at least 70,000 (possibly as high as 200,000) Indonesians and 700 Dutch and British soldiers (plus many Japanese troops and civilians of other nationalities). Realizing that the guerrilla struggle was becoming unwinnable and global opinion was turning against the Dutch, sovereignty was finally passed from the Netherlands to the Indonesian Republic on 27th December 1949.

After the flag-raising and speech, the costumed children stood to sing various songs and then, quite suddenly, everyone was dismissed, and the ranks of government employees and students melted into clusters of people taking photographs of each other. This included a mob of photographers taking pictures of the Regent and other officials on the stage.



The Regent (the left person in white on the front row) and other officials pose for photographs

After the formal pictures were taken, the rally participants were invited to stand at the front to be included in the pictures with the Regent. He had met some of the cruisers the day before and seemed to be particularly keen to have this international group involved in the Independence Day events.



Ladies on the official stage dressed in Indonesian-flag colors

Everyone milled around taking pictures for quite a while. The cruisers were almost as popular as picture subjects as the officials and costumed youths. It would have been interesting to have had someone explain to us who the various officials were and where the different costumes were from, but it is unlikely that we would have been able to keep track as there were so many official-looking and costumed people.



Male officials who were seated on the stage in local traditional dress - I especially liked the older man looking cool in his reflective aviator sunglasses

We were particularly amazed by the intricacy of some of the traditional costumes. Some of them must have been incredibly hot and heavy, especially the tall headdresses. In addition to the clothes, the girls were covered in very stylized facial make-up (see introductory photograph). They must have spent hours getting ready.



Young adults in traditional costumes from various parts of Indonesia

Once we had had enough photography, we decided to walk back to the marina. We told our bus organizers, and a woman insisted that two teenage students guide us and practice their English. Thus, we met Ais (14) and Dian (16) who both spoke reasonably good English. I was keen to find a BNI Bank ATM machine and, not knowing that there was one just across beyond the parade ground, we wandered quite a way west down the main road before finding another. We also found a small store selling fruit, which was much appreciated.

By the time we walked back to Tregoning, we invited Ais and Dian aboard to eat some grapes. They had plenty of questions and were probably keen to spend all afternoon talking with us. We had an evening function to attend at the Regent's house, however, so we had to explain that we needed to take naps and promised to see the girls another day.



Ais (left) and Dian aboard Tregoning

Two runs of the minibus took us all from the marina to the Regent's Wanci residence around 6 pm. The formal seating for the Regent and other officials was outside the front door, we were seated under a canopy alongside, and we all faced a stage in front of which was a table bristling with perhaps 45 trophies. Our hearts sank a little as we thought about having to sit through the presentation of all these awards, especially if we could not understand what they were for.



The Regent and other officials in front of the Regent's house, with the rally participants on the right, all facing the stage with the table of trophies at left

After quite a long wait, during which time we had noticed that there were not enough dining tables to accommodate all of us, we were suddenly invited to get our dinner from a buffet line. We were then to return to our seats and eat from the plates on our laps. Given this arrangement, it seemed prudent to skip the awkward-to-balance bowl of soup, but this did not matter as the rest of the food was easily sufficient and tasty.

After another long pause, the Regent and officials appeared. Once they were seated, the white-uniformed high school students from the morning's proceedings, took seats on the far side of the stage from us. Soon afterwards the program began with some spirited dancing by beautifully dressed women with small baskets and men with wooden spears and swords. The dancing was accompanied by a group playing drums, gong chimes, and singing. Again, it would have been interesting if the symbolism and origins of the dance could have been explained to us.



Dancers with mock weapons and baskets

After the dancers left, three elaborately dressed women sang a couple of poignant-sounding songs, apparently traditional stories from these islands. Then, somewhat to our surprise, the cruisers were all invited onto the stage with the expectation that we would sing a song about sailing that none of us knew. We did our best to mumble along with the chorus while the emcee sang loudly into a microphone, but it was not quite the triumphant success that had been hoped. Luckily, Pearl (SV Rambler) suggested a song that we would all know, "Sailing" by Rod Stewart. There followed a scramble for people to get the words and music on their phones, one of which was then hooked up to the sound system. It was a bit unfortunate that the version that played was at a rather dirge-like pace and tone but since we were all familiar with it and had the words on phones in front of us, we did sing quite lustily and that seemed to make the Regent and others happy. I made a mental note that we should look for a more upbeat familiar sailing song that might be more suitable for such occasions, or at least a faster version of Rod's song.

Having exhausted our communal singing talents, we were then each rewarded by receiving small scarves with "Wakatobi" embroidered on them from the Regent. It was a very kind gesture and a suitably small gift for us boaters.



Other cruisers and Randall receiving their Wakatobi scarves from the Regent

Once we regained our seats, the Regent made a rather long speech. He did include a few sentences in English to welcome the rally participants, but the rest was a mystery to us. We tried to look politely interested despite having no idea what was being said whereas the back row of people seated behind the officials were more focused on their cellphones. Some things are apparently the same the world over!



The regent giving a speech while the inevitable phone-checking occurred in the back row of the official guests

Once the Regent was finished, the stage was given to a man with many pages of paper who then read long lists of names and placements (first, second, etc.) We gathered from Dian and some of her English student friends who were sitting behind us, that these were awards to the high school students for the quality of their marching during the flag-raising ceremony. Although the lists were long and meaningless to us, it was fun to hear groups cheering as their placements were announced, and we were thankful that we did not have to wait while all the trophies were individually presented.

During this list-reading, some of the cruisers were told that the first run of the bus was ready to take them back to the marina, and off they went. We were not invited to leave until after the list-reading had finally finished and a break was announced. But as we headed towards the bus, the Regent came over and gestured that he wanted us to join the dancing. So, four of us were incorporated into the two facing lines of officials and students and were invited to dance. The singers had returned, and the relatively simple dance steps were undertaken with great gusto by the Regent and others. Just as it sounded as though the song was about to end, the Regent signaled for the singers to continue and so we kept dancing for about 15 minutes (or more). It was fun but I cannot say that I was sorry when it finally ended, and we were ushered to our bus. The music was being cranked-up for a longer party after we left but it seemed as though we had made the Regent happy with our singing and dancing. We were glad that he was satisfied with our participation, and we certainly felt that we had been treated to a very special celebration of Indonesian Independence Day.