Bali and Borneo

We went to the opening of the festival in Lovina beach, Bali. There was lots of traditional dancing and music. Unfortunately, it was so busy that it was very difficult to see very much. Quite a change to previous events we have been to as we were completely crowded out by locals whereas the ceremonies further east we were treated like royalty and always given the prime seats. Still we did get to see lots of the dancing that Bali is famous for.

One of the other events we went to was Bull 'racing'. Its not just about speed, the animals are really dressed up and looked after and they get marks for style. These are splendid looking animals and the event has it's roots in ploughing so it's a bit like an agricultural show in the UK. It was quite an event with a big local crowd.

We organised a 2 day trip to Ubud in the centre of the island with a guy called Widi. Dave and Chris from CD came with us. We left early in the morning and visited a waterfall, coffee plantation and Buddhist temple on the lake. The drive was very scenic with the road going across the mountains and we had a lovely stop at the top with views down over the lake and temple that we then dropped down to visit. We arrived in Ubud which was quite a shock. Its listed as the cultural capital but was just full of tourist tatt and tourists. Our guide found a us accommodation in town which allowed us to have a walk around. After dinner we went to a traditional dance show. It wasn't really what we were expecting and it was difficult to understand but still an experience.

The following day we still had a list of places we wanted to visit including the royal palace, royal temple and an ancient monument called Gunug Kawi. We set off to go to the palace first and at this point, we realised neither our guide nor our diver knew where it was! After passing our hotel about 3 times and asking lots of people we found it. This set the scene for the remainder of the day. The guide and driver would argue about where things were and after numerous stops we would find the right place. Gunug Kawi was an interesting place but the whole route down to the monument was lined with stalls all trying to sell you the same things. It got to the point where you tried not to make eye contact with anyone and you certainly didn't stop!

On the way back we were lost again along dirt roads in lots of fruit growing areas, especially mangos and oranges so we stopped to buy lots. The previous day we had gone though a strawberry growing area so had our first strawberries in years! Our last stop was to see the volcanoes and lakes on the east of the island and then it was back to Lovina.

By this time we had had enough of Bali and crowds so left the following day. We sailed to the western end of the island which is a national park. It was a bit difficult to find an anchorage as the charts are very inaccurate and there was lots of coral. I (Karen) had a good dive with Dave from CD but unfortunately Mike had a cold so could not dive.

We didn't stay more than a day as we were all eager to get to Borneo. We had a day sail to an island called Raas and then an overnight passage to Bawean Island. We are trying to avoid overnight passages because of the amount of ships and fishing boats but had no choice due to the distance.

We spent a few days at Bawean which was a very pretty bay with friendly people. It was then a 2 day sail to Borneo.

We had a good sail and arrived at the river entrance mid morning so continued up the river to Kumai. The trip was quite pretty until we neared the town and then we were met by a power station billowing smoke and lots of grey warehouse looking buildings. The town was ugly and a very busy port. We later found out the grey buildings are built for the swallows to nest in and the nests are then sold to the Chinese for birds nest soup. Its very clever as it means the men do not have to search the caves for the nests. They also play swallow song to attract the birds. Later, we also saw that the artificial caves are built above shops so when you go into the shops you can hear all the birds.

The following morning after our arrival we got up and could not see across the river. The smog was so bad it reminded us of 19^th century England in the movies. The air smelt of smoke and the boat was covered in ash, it was not very pleasant. The smoke is the result of the cutting and burning the forest down to plant palm oil trees. The only part of the forest left is the National park for the Orangutans.

We waited for CD and Charlotte to catch up and the 6 of us organised our trip to see the Orangutans. It was a 3 day 2 night trip on a local boat. The price includes a guard to sleep on your boat to ensure it is OK. We think it is a bit like paying an insurance policy, we are not sure if they do sleep on all the boats but no one seems to touch them!

We had a great guide called Andi. He is one of the most experienced guide and had helped look after some of the animals before they were released. There are wild Orangutans in the park but there are also a lot that have been rescued and released. These still get some support and there are a number of feeding stations where you can go and watch them. They get fed bananas and milk on a platform. Andi was good at spotting wild Orangutans and Proboscis monkeys along the side of the river. We also saw Crocodiles and a number of other species of monkey.

One of the most famous feeding stations is Camp Leakey and this is where Andi knows the Orangutangs. He took us for a walk through the bush and was calling them. A few came down to the path and we got to feed them bananas. It was lovely to get so close to them. Most of the animals we saw were the females and many had babies but at the feeding station we saw the dominant male, Tom. He was so much bigger than all the other animals we saw and he certainly rules the roost. He has apparently been in charge for 10 years now so most of the babies are probably his. In fact he grabbed a female with a baby and dragged her into the bushes while we were there!

We had a great time which was marred a little as when we got to the end and were getting our money together to pay the balance to our agent we discovered that the equivalent of £80 had been taken from my purse. Fortunately, our agent said he would sort it out and we deducted the amount stolen from what we paid him so that we were not out of pocket. We had thought the crew were very friendly so just goes to show.

Once we got back to our boats, which were all fine, we got ready to leave. There is nothing else to stay for in Kumai and the air is certainly not good for you. We had a 2 day passage to the island of Belitung. There was very little wind after the first 12 hours so we had to motor a lot of the way. Our first night we paralleled a whole fleet of fishing boats. They were so close together and they all had a huge bank of flood lights. The moon was not visible because of all the smoke but the fishing boats lit up the sky so it was practically like daylight. After we left the fishing boats behind we had to cross quite a busy shipping lane. It wasn't too bad but the ships alter course as little as possible and really do not give yachts very much room. Sometimes you feel as if they are aiming straight for you!

Belitung is a much more prosperous island than most and its main trade is tourism. We anchored off a beach with a resort and there is nothing here other than restaurants. It is very pretty but we get a strong on shore breeze every afternoon which makes it very bumpy. It is also very obvious that the rainy season is starting, the weather is very hot and humid, we have had squalls blow through and a number of thunder storms. The weather really is telling us it's time to head north.

The town is across the other side of the island so a group of us hired 2 cars for the day and went on a shopping expedition. We all got everything but it was a long day trying to fit in all the places we all wanted to go. Mike had a bad stomach so stayed on the boat. We had attended a farewell meal for Sail Indonesia the previous night where we got to see some traditional dancing. The food was nice but cold so it probably wasn't a good idea to eat it. We have been eating out a lot in Indonesia, it is cheap and tasty but all our stomachs have been bad at various times, none of us have escaped!

We were invited to a local wedding a few days ago. We were worried it would go on all day but turned out to be quite short. We got to see the groom arrive at the brides house, he arrived on foot with a procession of relatives. He was dressed in a bright red costume which matched the brides. When he arrived at the house he had to go through 2 lots of financial “negotiations” before he could finally enter the room where the bride was. This was a canopied room within the house and once he entered the bride and groom then came out of the house. They sat in chairs of state underneath a canopy and were greeted by all the male guests who gave them a money gift. We then went in line and greeted them and that was it. The family and locals all went inside for a party and we left.

We have cleared out of Indonesia thanks to the help of a local agent called Jonny. We will leave tomorrow (24/10) to start the 400 mile trip to Malaysia. We will be splitting it into day sails as much as possible due to the volume of shipping around Singapore. We have enjoyed Indonesia but are now ready to leave and start our next adventure.

Lots of Diving and Dragons!

As intended, we split from the other yachts in the group and headed south to Hoga Island. After a lot of tacking against the wind, we arrived and had quite a job to find an anchorage as it's all very deep. We anchored near the jetty in 30 metres but the following morning the dive resort told us we could move to their mooring ball so that our anchor did not get stuck in the reef. Along the reef there were mooring balls marking the dive sites so we were able to secure our dinghy and dive very easily. The reef was lovely and we saw lots of Crayfish and Rays as well as lots of small reef fish and some lovely coral. There were some lovely Nemo's and we also saw some amazing purple shrimp sharing an anemone with one set! However, there are very few reef fish of any size as the fishermen catch them all.

We were the only boat there so became the local attraction. This was OK except that one of the fishermen ( a boy around 10 -12) took my bikini bottoms. I left the top hanging up but he never came back for it! It was a shame as after that we had to ensure everything was locked up or taken below, especially our snorkels and goggles which they were very interested in. Still, we had a good time there.

Our next stop was Takebone Rate Atoll where we anchored behind a small island called Tinabo. It was a lovely sandy beach with palm trees and only a rangers hut on land. There were lots of baby sharks in the shallows and they did not seem afraid of our dinghy or our feet! We had a lovely walk around the island and picked up a lot of lovely and unusual shells. It is a national park but this does not stop the locals from fishing and there are lots of them out every day and night. Another boat saw them still dynamiting reef which is amazing for a supposed national park. The other depressing thing is that the whole island was covered in plastic rubbish which is washed ashore and no one bothers to clean up. We went out diving with the ranger to a reef on the western side of the atoll behind Latondo Island. We did some lovely dives on the reef which was amazing and probably the best we have seen in Indonesia as we saw sharks, turtles, rays, lobster, eels and stunning coral.

It was very relaxing and peaceful at Tinabo but unfortunately time was pressing on and we had to leave. We sailed south to Labuan Bajo which is on the western end of Flores. Here we met up with friends Chris and Dave on CD. We had decided to extend our visas while in Labuan Bajo so we set off to the immigration office with our sponsor letter and passports.

We were anchored outside of the town so this involved a boat ride to shore and then a taxi through the town. When we got there the immigration officer would not accept our sponsorship letter because it did not have our sponsors stamp on it. So we were sent away to get the correct letter plus copies of lots of documents and to buy a pink folder each to put it all in! The following day we went back and waited over 1 hour just to get a receipt to say they had our documents and to be told to come back on Monday at 9am to be fingerprinted and photographed. We went back on Monday to be told our passports had not been stamped and to come back at 2.30pm. We refused to leave and said we would wait. With this, our photos and fingerprints were taken and our passports arrived duly stamped 2 hours later. We then had to walk to the photocopy shop and get a copy of the stamp they had just given us and then take it back to them for the pink folder! Its very bizarre that they have sophisticated electronic finger printing equipment but cannot afford a photocopier.

While we were waiting for our visas (this has been just as frustrating at every place where cruisers have decided to go through the process!) we organised a dive trip in the Komodo National park. There are big currents so it is unwise to dive without boat cover and a leader who knows where to take you. Our first dive was like swimming in an aquarium there were so many fish, and we saw some big ones too. The second dive was a drift dive and we were being carried along at about 3 knots hoping to see Manta rays. We saw one manta briefly. We had been told to get down low and hold onto the bottom to stop when a manta was spotted. Unfortunately, the current was so strong that you ended up still moving but taking the bottom with you!

As soon as we got back to the boat with our completed visas we went to Rinca to see the Komodo dragons. We anchored close to the rangers station overnight and were ashore before 7am the following morning for a 2 hour guided walk around the island spotting Dragons. Before we had left the dock we had monkeys in our dinghy and as soon as we rounded the corner we saw our first Dragon sunning himself by the entrance. The guides stay on the island and lots of the Dragons hang around the kitchens waiting for scraps. So at the start of our walk we saw lots of dragons, wild pigs and deer. On the walk we saw a few water buffalo and then we saw one that had been bitten by a dragon and was being guarded by it. They bite their prey and will then guard it for weeks until it dies. They are not poisonous but their saliva is full of very nasty germs so bites are always fatal (eventually). Friends who went a few days later saw the remains of the Buffalo so it must have died not very long after our visit.

The next few weeks we spent sailing from Komodo to Lombok along the north coast of Sumbawa. One of our anchorages was in a very deep bay on Banta Island where the anchorage is a narrow shelf. We found a nice spot and were fine even though it was windy. Unfortunately, overnight the wind changed and we had to leave at 1am. The up side of this was seeing a lovely sunrise behind the volcano just off the coast of Sumbawa. The anchorages on Sumbawa were also very deep and you ended up anchoring very close to the beach to find water shallow enough to drop the anchor. Needless to say we didn't spend very long in any anchorage as wind shifts make them all a little too exciting!

Our first stop on Lombok was on the NE corner behind 2 off lying islands. The coast was full of fishing villages and at night the whole channel was full of big fishing boats. There lights were so close together they looked like street lights and we wondered how a fish ever made it through the channel alive. Great flat anchorage and no worries about wind shifts.

Our next stop was Medana Bay 'marina' on the NW side of Lombok where we anchored initially but then switched to a mooring when one became free. Here we met up with Sue and Stefan from Charlotte and later CD. It was a little rolly sometimes but had a nice restaurant, laundry services and a very helpful English owner/manager. We stayed a few days and the 6 of us (Charlottte and CD) organised a tour of the island. We visited 2 temples which were a little disappointing, fed the monkeys (fun but they would snatch!) and visited a traditional weaving village. We asked to have lunch somewhere where the locals would eat rather than a touristy place. It was very nice but a few of our stomachs thought differently the next day!

We left Lombok and did an overnight sail to Bali which is where we are now. It was quite a bumpy crossing with 25 knots gusting 40 knots of wind and we couldn't relax at all as we had to dodge all the fishing boats. Most of the boats do not have proper navigation lights. If you are lucky they have a flashing red, green and white light so you haven't got a clue where they are going! We have met up with all the Sail Indonesia rally boats in Bali and there are about 35 boats in the anchorage. Over the next 3 days there is a festival for the rally with lots of traditional dancing which we will be going along to. Then we have a trip in land organised to see something of the island. We are just hoping it is not too touristy.