Adventures in Indonesia

In the end, I was unfortunately mostly relieved to leave Darwin but our departing was happily made much nicer by Jenny and Steve Besnard (late of Guernsey, now of Sydney) who waited patiently on the quayside to wave and take photos as we motored by. We were once again the last to leave….2 days behind the rest, this time because of the wonderful newfangled piece of electronic spy in the sky type of wizardry that all the other boats seem to have and poor “old” Moonshiner didn’t…..yet! Dick was persuaded to buy this thing (an AIS system…look it up….) when we were back inside the Barrier Reef with a largish ship bearing down on us that was refusing to answer the radio. Another Rally yacht, Angel, nearby called the ship up by name (that is just one of the things this system can do) and she was answered immediately…..so could this mean the difference between being mown down or not? Hmmm… The Singapore Strait is very very busy!!

Dick was offered a good deal for a package so decided to go ahead and that’s when the problems started because installing the blessed thing became a nightmare for all sorts of reasons personal and technical. Of course, as you are reading this, the problem has been solved and we have left Darwin though that may mean it was thrown overboard in the end and we are still sailing blindly and incognito into the great unknown!

I was sorry to say goodbye though to Jenny and Steve who had flown up to Darwin for a holiday to coincide with us being there which was more than kind of them because October is most certainly not the best time of year to be in the Northern Territory! We had some excellent days out and I saw a lot more than I would otherwise because Jenny and Steve had done their homework and found out where best to visit. Many, many thanks you two…..I have promised to come back and do the South end off this huge Island before too long…..!

We had a fairly uneventful 4 day sail/motor across the Arafura and Timor seas to the first truly “foreign” place (as I reckon it) on the Rally so far. This was Indonesia, actually Kupang, West Timor where Captain Bligh famously pitched up after his epic 3600 mile sail from Tonga in the mid Pacific. Indonesia has different language, religion, customs as well as komodo dragons and orang utans making it a truly “exotic” place to visit in my opinion. I was therefore really looking forward to our visit. Hmph!! If you are reading this, then it means that I and the rest of the Rallyists are not languishing in a third world prison! We just love these dramatic situations…….

Well, it went something like this…….Several weeks before our visit, we filled in umpteen forms which were sent off to Jakarta and, once in Darwin, we obtained visas from the Indonesian Embassy there. So far so good. Richard, our Rally coordinator had assured us that all would be well once we arrived in Kupang subject to the usual quarantine, immigration etc as he was sorting it all out for us. He somehow(Oops) didn’t do a very good job of it and we were all told that we were in the country illegally and if we didn’t leave by 7am the next morning, all the boats would be impounded and we might possibly end up being arrested. Eek!! Mass Exodus then at around 6am the next morning and with some secrecy about our destination, we headed towards the next suitable anchorage about 250 miles away. The secrecy was necessary because the powers that be had all our details in Jakarta and might be watching us. We had been told that we could anchor in suitable places overnight but could not go ashore apart from emergencies. Big potential problems then.

The sail from Kupang to Rinca Island with Moonshiner in company for the first time with all the other boats turned out to be one of the best so far. Mostly clear weather and perfect sailing conditions, many boats with extra colourful sails on show. We were also on the map for the first time with the AIS system switched on. The islands we have seen so far from the seaward side look very impressive, lots of old volcanic activity, classic stratocone volcanoes with immense towering cumulus clouds rising over them and always lightning somewhere too.

Most of the Rally boats anchored for the night in the various bays of Rinca where there are supposed to be komodo dragons. So we waited patiently to see one having been told by the locals that they liked to sun themselves on the beach in the afternoon. Of course, there was no sun, just torrential rains and thunderstorms. Don’t be silly!! We waited in vain until the final morning, early on and just as we were about to up anchor; there it was strolling along the beach almost as promised……probably over two metres long and a strange sort of tan colour. I always thought they were grey? My camera wasn’t handy so no photos unless I can borrow one from another boat. Anyway, that meant that our mission was complete and we could leave Rinca!

We sailed in company again through terrifying nighttime thunderstorms and between hugely impressive and recently active volcanic islands to our next stop which turned out to be one of those magical places and which now rates in my top ten. This was Gili Air, a tiny holiday island about 50 miles from Bali. Look it up on Google Earth. Delightful. Must visit, especially if you enjoy diving. I could have stayed there for a long time but the Rally had orders to be in Bali by the 28th Oct so that we could clear customs and become legal again so we had to leave after just one night. Big shame that.

The sail to Bali was quite eventful for us as “something else” went wrong with the engine and we rendevoused mid channel with another Rally boat, Moonshadow so that ace engineer, David from Nebraska could come aboard to help sort it out. It’s not nice having to sort out the engine when it’s hot, hot, hot!! I was hand steering and dishing out cold water as fast as the fridge could chill it and I think poor David and Dick sweated enough to set the bilge pumps going! Anyway, a temporary repair was done and we made it to Bali marina where we now sit awaiting an engineer tomorrow, Friday. It’s not a big problem (a misaligned fan belt) thankfully and we won’t be left behind this time. Our next stop will be Kalimantan and the orang utans. Can’t wait to "commune" with them. The one I saw at Jersey zoo many years ago had the most horrendous BO so I'm almost curious how the wild ones will smell!