Darwin to Bitung Part 2

Ambon didn't seem as bad as all the things we had read about it. The harbour was very deep with lots of plastic rubbish but we were still greeted enthusiastically by a pod of dolphins as we sailed up the harbour. The surprise we had was that much to our relief we didn't have to anchor in 20 to 30 metres. The officials had removed the fishing boats from their wharf so we could all back in and anchor med style. All their shore facilities had been made into an information centre, restaurant and tourist market for our use. 65 yachts backed into the wall, including the 115ft super yacht Obsession II, created a lot of interest amongst the locals. There were army officers and police to guard our boats, provide escorts for bus tours and help us up and down the ladders at low tide. All done, with a smile and enthusiasm in uniforms that must test their stamina in the 30 to 35 deg heat.

We were not sure where all the fishing boats had gone but there were several anchored out in the harbour, each one decorated with flags and colourful bunting. We hoped the decorations were for us as much as the visit from their Minister of Fisheries.

The town of Ambon was very much like any other large Indonesian town we had been too. A little smelly and grubby with rubbish littering the water ways and friendly, welcoming people, pushy microlet (mini bus) drivers and street vendors savvy enough to double their prices when a 'boule" came near. Ambon has a huge sprawling market with a labyrinth of streets and narrow alleyways. The fruit and veg section alone covered a huge area with everything from avocados to snake fruit.

The one change we see in Indonesia since 2007 is then everyone had mobile phones, those phones are now camera phones so no matter where we went or what we were doing some one was taking a photo of us. At Banda the villagers sat on the roof of their small boats, camera phones clicking away as they chugged past in boats designed a century or two ago. This many westerners in town all at once had never been seen before. Small children were thrust at us to have photos taken with us or by us. The poor child usually started to cry at being so close to these strange white people.

Sail Bunaken organizers had us down to race from Ambon to Bitung on the 7th August so that gave us 3 days in Ambon , not long enough to see too much plus get fueled and watered. Nevertheless we did manage to untie ourselves from the wall and cross the start line, a little late, Freddy had set off the start gun and disappeared by the time we untied and extracted our anchor from among other anchors. Along with many others we weren't taking this racing seriously, after all we were allowed to motor! We decided to stop at an anchorage about 20 miles out of Ambon to gather our thoughts and relax after the hectic Ambon stop. The anchorage was a little rolly and I managed to fall in the cockpit and hit my head on our biggest winch. So not as relaxing a time as we hoped. Luckily I wasn't knocked out, although stunned enough to want to sit in one place for and hour or two and not want to move. The small cut I had was seen to by Sarah and Mary an NZ nurse from Tequila. We had walked past a hospital in Ambon, not a place you would wish to go too so it was quite a relief not to need to return to Ambon.

We left for Bitung on North Sulawesi early the next morning we sailed in company with 4 other yachts. Reporting to each other sightings of schools of tuna, whales surfacing too close for comfort, fish traps, cargo ships, fishing boats coming close for a look as well as strange 2m long torpedo shaped bouys which seemed to have a small motor on the back . These torpedo things occurred about every 5 miles or so we figured out they had to be something to do with fishing nets or long lines. The ones we saw were running parallel to our course and against the current which was in our favour. Fortunately we didn't hear of any yacht hitting one. Our little group of four eventually arrived in Bitung on the 10th August having crossed the equator in the middle of the night. A good excuse for an equator party.

The 2009 Indonesian rally had been hijacked by the politicians changing the usual route west along the Flores group adding this "little" jaunt up to North Sulawesi to enhance the marine celebration called Sail Bunaken. The route was exactly where we wanted to go on our way to north Borneo but is quite out of the way for most boats heading west to Singapore and beyond. Approximately 40 boats arrived in Bitung to anchor in the "pristine harbour". Only we found when we got there the anchorage was deep with very few shallow parts, a diesel film covered the water most days and it was quite windy. Sarah was interviewed by a local reporter, who asked her what we thought of their "pristine harbour" He didn't really want to know when she mentioned that although it was pretty there was rubbish and diesel in the harbour.

Our designated anchorage was beside a dockyard and a repair yard, so we had fishing boats big and small, some being towed maneuvering around and between anchored yachts. But the welcome was enthusiastic although a little disorganized. The specially built Rally centre was decked out with large flags, most managed to survive the breeze until the last day or two. The newly built mash style showers were right beside the guard house. A first for most yachties was having a shower guarded by AK47s!!

Bitung harbour is a very busy port, fishing and cargo. Sail Bunaken also meant that it was buzzing with naval vessels, customs and police craft. On the 12th the first day of the 8 day Sail Bunaken programme a police helicopter circled the anchorage, "Welcome to Sail Bunaken" came over their loud speaker, I am sure Freddy Numberi was in there, he was popping up every where. This do was his baby after all.

Bitung town was a nice place wide streets and clean, rubbish bins on the street not a regular sight in Indonesia. Bitung won an award in 2007 as one of the cleanest towns in Indonesia and they were keeping the reputation going. Bitung is the port, about 150000 people and Manado an hours drive away is the big city of the area with about 500000 people. Manado was where most of the Sail Bunaken programme was. The aim of Sail Bunaken was to bring attention to the Marine environment of Indonesia, naval and civilian. Many of the yachties participated in a world record attempt of diving. 2800 approx divers sat under the water for about an hour. Alan was down to join in but was unwell with an upset stomach much to his regret he didn't have the energy to join in. The big event of the week, apart from show casing Freddy Numberi the Minister of Marine, was the Fleet review in front of the President along the water front of Manado. The big draw card was the USS George Washington an aircraft carrier. 60 Million Rupiah (about 10million $NZ) had been reputedly spent preparing for and the 8 days of Sail Bunaken. It was rumored that the President wasn't coming after all because of bomb threats. North Sulawesi population is 80% Christian, the rumor was that bombing the President in a Christian area would serve many purposes. But everything went off with out a hitch and as we didn't hear these rumors until after the fleet review we had a great time watching it along with thousands and thousands of enthusiastic, patriotic Indonesians.

More about the USS George Washington and the fleet review in Part 3.