Tuesday
9th July
I spent the morning reading the
information in the package we got yesterday, from the rally organisers. It was very amusing, in parts. Full of dire warnings…
For example – buddy up, people! The
following sobering tale was set out for us:
In
2010 a yacht in Ambon harbor drifted from its anchor point at around 9pm with
nobody on board and although it was in our rally, the owners had kept to
themselves and not made friends with others in the fleet. Sail Indonesia organisers and other participants
did not know where they were at the time or how to contact them. Luckily the yacht was found the next day by a
local fisherman 10 miles out to sea and towed back.
So that’s what happens if you are all
snooty and not inclined to take tea with your fellow yachties…
Indonesian bureaucracy seems to be in a
state, to put it politely, of flux. They
kept quoting, Different field, different
grasshopper – many changes of rules and regulations from island to island.
I particularly liked the paragraph about
the Green Health Book:
If
you are given a Green Health Book, or Buku Kesehatan, d not produce it at any
later port unless you are asked for it, again this book is for vessels over 500
tons. If you offer it, and the officials
don’t know what to do with it, it will cause you delays. Again in most ports or stopovers the
officials will not even want to see this book.
They also advised not to offer any
visiting officials alcoholic hospitality…
It
is not necessary to give officials that come on board your yacht any ‘presents’
and do not invite them to have any alcoholic drinks as this will slow down the
processing of incoming yachts behind you.
Fun to come!
Pete spent the morning juggling balls in
the air…on the phone… He sat thus, phone clutched to his ear, a mountain of
papers in front of him for…hours!
Eventually early afternoon, we set off
for dry land and our bikes, and rode back to Fannie Bay shopping centre (very
small, comprised mainly of expensive beauty parlours, a tiny IGA, an optometrist
and a fancy café. And…PC Solutions 4U,
where Pete spent a not-so-happy hour with his man Marcus, discussing the
future, or otherwise, of his ancient creaky laptop.
On the way back I took a photo of what
our TourTub driver reliably told us is the most expensive house in Fannie Bay -
$4.6million… So funny, tourbus driers always tell you how much the real estate
is; possibly because…people are avidly curious re these matters. Barbara and I went on a short cruise on the
Swan River in Perth in 2002 and just about the whole spiel was about the $$$$s,
especially of Prix d’Amour, erstwhile residence of our infamous Rose (Hancock
Porteous Whatever.) Our funniest moment, mind you, was on the train from
Fremantle, where we met up with a very serious woman who was very scathing
about Prix d’Amour. She had been on a
tour of the mansion and was most disgusted – the fittings were not up to
scratch. Mistral appliances, she hissed, as she alighted from the train.
Yesterday while we were waiting for our
turn to get our rally package, we chatted with Jim and Gina from Tiare Taporo
III (NZ.) No not scary crocodile stories
this time; scary crew stories! There are
lots of notices on the Yacht Club board, with people wanting to crew on yachts,
ie hitchhike to Indonesia. Gina said how
hard it would be, taking on an unknown quantity. It’s hard enough when you know
the people quite well. Friends of theirs
had taken on a crew member who they THOUGHT they knew… He arrived with a duffle
bag full of alcohol and proceeded to drink himself into a very aggressive state
indeed. He got to the point of
threatening them with knives and they had to lock themselves into their cabin
until he had passed out, at which point they chucked the liquor overboard. (This story had a happy ending, in fact,
because once he had sobered up, he was mortified at his behavior and agreed
that they had done the right thing ditching his stash.)
When we were on out little TourTub bus
on our fist day, the driver kept up a running commentary. We went past tunnels on the waterfront – you
can pay $6 to clamber round inside them, if you so wish. They are quite extensive and were, I think,
dug for fuel storage during World War II.
They had no machinery and the whole weary operation was done by hand, by
four men with picks and shovels. They
labored away and completed their task in September, 1945… just a teensy bit
late…
There is a big travel lift at Ludmilla
Creek, which we checked out yesterday. It is big but not big enough to lift
2XS… Just a bit wide in the beam, poor darling.
There was an even bigger catamaran sitting up on the hard when we got
there, with three men busily beautifying it.
I pointed it out to Pete – surely it must have fitted in the travel
lift? But no… Pete went to talk to the
owner who said that no, his boat had had to be lifted out of the water by
crane. BIG strong crane…and it all cost
a bit of $7,000. And it will cost over
$4,000 to put it back in the creek when the work is completed. AAGGHH!!
Pete is very happy that we will be able to put 2XS up on a concrete ramp
to get the rudders fixed…for $45 per day.
As well as this, we can stay on board – almost like being in a
marina! (Minus the
laundry/bathroom/shops…)
We are a bit behind with the news…but I
have just found out that…Andy Murray won Wimbledon! Weehee!!
The UK went wild! Dunblane
residents were ecstatic! What a shame we
can’t get our TV to work out here in Fannie Bay…
We are briefly on board, but soon we will
get back into the dingy to have a drink and maybe dinner at the yacht
club. Our friends from Settlement, Andrew
and Sue, have arrived and are anchored close by.
Also Backchat and Pedoja – the gang’s
all here! Mind you we will have to make some
new friends…buddy up with others…because
they are going on a different route through Indonesia and we need people to watch
out to see 2XS doesn’t drift out to sea…
Nothing specific but I loved this post x
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