Thursday 20th August 2015
00 degrees 33.747S
130 degrees 31.090E
Pulau Arborek
Depth 21.4m
I will never
forget Raja Ampat.
Extreme beauty…
Peace and quiet…
delightful
children
Last night we
arrived at the Kabui Channel and were poised ready to fill up with water from
the ever-running pipe at high tide this morning. Full tanks mean many showers, much washing –
no worries! Tidak
apa spa!
Next stop Waisai,
to buy fuel for the outboard, a few extra potatoes and chillies. And a visit to “my” hairdressing salon, Randy
Salon and Bridal for a very good $5 haircut.
So nice to find a hairdresser who speaks not a word of English but
understands the concept NOT TOO SHORT!!
So now we are at
Pulau Arborek, poised ready to make our way towards Sulawesi and then further
north to the Philippines.
Not sure when next
there will be internet but this area is amazing to me - the amount of perfectly
surprising accesses to wifi!
BirthdayBoy:
Marcel Zajusch! (Fabulous cooker of
quiche…)
Saturday 22nd August
7am
0 degrees 58.465S
128 degrees 21.741E
Southern tip of Pulau Halmahera
10m depth, sheltered
We did a very
peaceful overnighter from Arborek to Halmahera.
No drama…Pete did 6pm till midnight; I did midnight till 6am. It was extremely dark, no stars in sight. And – glory be – I was not sick at all. This makes overnighters SO much more
pleasant…
We are only
staying here for a few hours, to eat some breakfast, have a rest, possibly a
swim in the clear azure water, and then we have another 30-40 nautical miles to
what we hope will be a good overnight anchorage.
10.15am
So much for our
peaceful few hours…Pete managed to stretch out on the couch, peacefully
emitting zzzes, while I sat happily at my computer, proofreading Jeff’s PhD
Methodology document. This is
interesting but it requires a lot of concentration. I was a bit hyper, with not sleeping all
night, followed by two strong cups of coffee, so I was INTO it.
 |
| A face at the door |
And suddenly there
at the door – many huge teeth smiling at me, somewhat gappily! Mr and Mrs Nearby-Kampong, followed by a
procession of friends and relations in canoes, all wanting to chat and to
stare.
 |
| A photo with Captain Pete is a serious occasion! |
My first reaction
was to utter a short sharp shriek, which woke poor weary Pete. These people are very poor…dressed in dirty
rags, desperately in need of a dentist.
So…I took some photos, including Captain Pete to make them happy but
avoiding any mention of Ibu (Mrs.) joining in the PhotoFun (Ibu is VERY tired
and not very photogenic today!!) and printed them off a copy each, and gave Mrs
Nearby Kampong a That’s Life
magazine, and the Good Weekend from
last week’s Age. And a nice black
supermarket carrybag to put it all in.
She was thrilled to bits and did not want to walk the plank and leave
2XS… I don’t THINK she has stowed away…
Ah no, there she
is, in her canoe! Selamat tinggal! We upped and anchor and we are away away with
rum by gum! Several canoes full of
hopeful villagers are left in our wake…
Sunday 23rd August
7am
Another peaceful
anchorage, once we had gone through a maze of pearl farm buoys.
0 degrees 46.720S
127 degrees 52.900E
Depth 13m
Pulau Bacac, Teluk Bilulu
I think Bilulu is
a nifty name for a sheltered bay, all things considered. It was nearly five by the time we anchored,
after much testing of the holding up and down the mangroves. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go for a
swim but…in I went. And a very good
thing too! I had been feeling very sluggish
and dopey; 26 laps around 2XS (=1 kilometre, give or take) made me feel a whole
lot improved.
John Miedecke has
come up trumps, yet again. Most of my
luggage on the way back from Tasmania was filled with items from John. All of them very gratefully received. Especially the stinger suit! Pete looks a
treat! It covers him completely from
head to foot. The only bits not covered
are his face and his toes. He should be
completely protected from all of the bitey stingy things in the sea which make
his life such a misery after a swim.
5pm
0 degrees 04.937S
127 degrees 26.536E
Pulau Laluin
6 metres depth
Such a peaceful
trip from Point A to Point B today…It was overcast, with very low misty cloud,
and smooth flat sea. Hardly a breath of
wind. We arrived at yet another peaceful
pleasant anchorage off a small island, not far from Sulawesi, just in time for
a G&T. Life is…not too bad!
Monday 24th August
6am
0 degrees 03.220S
127 degrees 27.439E
Wailoro-kecil
11m depth
Just as the light
disappeared from the sky, we noticed that our anchorage was not safe – too many
waves, getting bigger, threatening to push s up onto the reef. At the time we had four boatloads of
visitors. Well Pete did…I stayed down in
the cabin sorting photos on my computer.
They were all men, didn’t speak any English at all, and what they wanted
and needed, I thought, was some undiluted time with Pete. (So kind of me!)
All of the men
reached some sort of consensus – time for 2XS to move! We sped across the channel – about two miles
– and dropped anchor in the dark.
Anchoring in the dark is something we NEVER want to do, and normally we manage
to avoid getting into any situation where it is necessary.. Very risky, very stressful. I helpfully looked into the water with a
strong torch which showed…nothing. So
down went the anchor, and we had a very easy night, no waves or wind.
But when we got up
this morning – oh my goodness…the boat was floating gently inches above a
shallow reef… The anchor was holding strongly out in the deeper water but we
were literally only a few metres from being very much stuck on a large reef. Serenditpity!
Only yesterday
Pete remarked that we hadn’t seen any volcanoes this time around Indonesia. He had been reading about the
Ring of Fire, and the plethora of volcanoes, active and inactive. So where are they?? Well today there they were, lined up along our
route…a beautiful selection of majestic volcanoes!
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