29th August to 1st September - Pulau Lembeh - Pulau Biaro - Pulau Sangihe

Saturday 29^th August 2015

A tiny boat bobbing about on big waves

01 degrees 40.885N

125 degrees 09.249E

Pulau Lembeh

12.8m depth

The sea was rough, the wind was wild… We decided not to keep on our quest to reach this island or that and we were very happy when we saw two masts against the shore off Lembeh Island.  Yachts at anchor indicated a peaceful place to stop, as indeed it was.  Just beautiful!

SV Wairima

And it was very nice to see Spirit of Africa (Micki and Roland) and to meet Vicki and Alan (NZ) on Wairima.  

Alan and Vicki

We spoke to Micki on the radio but missed an actual face-to face visit, unfortunately.  But we did have a good time meeting Vicki and Alan and sharing information at high speed.

I spent our time at this lovely anchorage productively swimming along the beautiful reef and the steep rock walls dropping off from the island.  It was just lovely, with coral in soft pastel colours and small pretty fish.  Not like Raja Ampat but I must NOT compare! 

Sunday 30^th August 2015

02 degrees 06.516N

125 degrees 21.356E

Pulau Biaro

17m depth

We gaily left Lembeh Island this morning, thinking we would just whizz up to another beautiful island or two.  It didn’t look very windy or wavey…

But oh deary me it soon whipped itself into a minor frenzy.  Fortunately both wind and wave were going in the correct direction so we went with the sea at over 8 knots most of the way.  Had we been battling the other way we would have slunk back to Lembeh…

Farewell to the volcanoes

Bangka Island looked too bleak and miserable, de-forested and wreathed in smoke so we kept on going to Pulau Biaro.  So far I haven’t formed any opinion at all; I am totally exhausted and feel the need to lie on the couch with a cup of tea and an undemanding book…

Monday 31^st August

6am

About to leave, hoping the wind is not so…windy and the waves not so…wavy!

Today’s birthday – Lynne Headlam!

Tuesday 1^st September

03 degrees 36.542N

125 degrees 29.865E

Mooring – Teluk Tahuna, Pulau Sangihe

20 metres depth

It wasn’t too windy or wavey and we have arrived in Sangihe, back full circle from where we started our recent Indonesian adventure.  And all is well!

But now we are away from the equator…it is stinking hot!!  WHY???

28th August - Pulau Lembeh - wind!

Friday 28^th August 2015

Another beautiful volcano

Once again we managed our overnight trip without any disasters, frights, seasickness.  But now I am SO tired I can hardly speak, or type…

01 degrees 27.601N

125 degrees 14.646E

Pulau Lembeh – channel

6 metres depth

Apart from the fact that an overnighter really means no sleep at all, it has been frantically windy today, and that is exhausting in any case.

There is a very big town on this island – Bitung – with a very busy port. 

We managed to find a sheltered little bay, after much poking around and looking for rather more time than we had bargained for.  We arrived here around midday but weren’t really settled in a secure anchorage until 3pm. 

There is a small settlement in the bay, with a lot of rubbish, cheery crowds of people getting on and off small ferryboats, and a very happy little tribe of – pigs!  Pigs are such a rare sight in Indonesia!  I was very taken with these ones.  They are the same dark grey as the beach and they charge around on the sand in a small happy pack.

Three boys braved the water and swam out, a bit tentatively, to visit.  We gave them some honeycomb chocolate, which they ate in awed silence, and then Pete read them The Waterhole, which absolutely enthralled them.

And now I am just about asleep with my face planted on the keyboard…

26th April - Ternate - Indonesia

Wendesday 26^th August

Our sightseeing on Pulau Ternate was a bit hit and miss but, once again, we did enjoy our day.

To start with - a sturdy safe jetty, always a plus!

We were following our Lonely Plane guide and it let us down just a bit…Firstly we walked the streets looking for the tourism office so we could work out the best way to do a trip around the island in a car or shared van or whatever.  This way…that way…asking for advice and directions, going this way…that way…and never actually finding any such thing as a tourism office.

Never mind; I found various items of interest to photograph.  Firstly, a big hole in the footpath, beneath which gushed, quite deep down, a swift-flowing stream of stinky grey water.  I asked Pete to pose elegantly around the edge and this inspired a young chap to cross the road very energetically – he wanted to be photographed with Pete, right now, thank you very much!  No laughing matter!

Faro and Pete, BFFs

I very much enjoyed walking the streets and idly contemplating what I might buy with my rupiyahs.  I could get dentures!

Or I could buy some lovely items of kiddystuff at Silent Furniture.

In the fruit market I could buy durians, glowing and stinking away in the sunlight.

We stopped at a shopping mall and asked if anyone knew where the tourism office was.  Absolutely no idea, was the general consensus.  But the young women in the foyer followed me around looking longingly at my bag.  Finally I understood – they wanted to be photographed!  When I got out my camera they shrieked with joy and applauded loudly – at last I had the right idea!

We gave up on trying to find the office and went to look at Fort Oranje.  I was only mildly interested in this; it is mostly in ruins and is being very energetically reconstructed.  But I did like being able to look at the volcano from the ramparts.

Lonely Planet had highly recommended a restaurant around the coast, at Florides.  We went there in a bemo, with great expectations.  We were going to sit on the terrace on a clifftop, exclaiming at the sight of the volcanic islands below us.

Well…most of them were wreathed in cloud…

And the restaurant, which promised “superb” seafood…was under deconstruction.

So we went back to town in another handy bemo.  (Good thing these noisy little vans are so cheap…only about $1 each per trip.)

No problem re food –we could go back to our popeda shack for another little feast of fish and vegetables and another bowl of spicy soup with a big lump of gluey sago in it.  Delicious!  We shared a table with a very nice young local woman, Eda, who teaches literature at one of the local universities (there are three on this island!)  She invited us to come with her on a sightseeing trip tomorrow, with some of her students who would, she said, enjoy practising their English.  This would have been good, but…we are leaving.

Before going home to 2XS we thought we should go and look at another fort.  Into another bemo – doof doof music blasting forth – and off we went.  Our driver was extraordinary – I don’t think he looked at the road at all.  He sent texts, chatted on his phone, swiveled around to do some hand-waving dances for Pete, who was taking video film.

He also instructed me to take a photo of the schoolgirl in the back of the van.  She beamed most obligingly and looks very fetching in her photo, I think.

We were very glad to get out when we reached Bentong Tolucco. 

All very pretty…but just outside the gate there was a small wire cage with a poor pathetic creature chained inside.  I couldn’t bear to look and asked Pete if he could unlock the door and let it out.  Alas…the door was securely padlocked. 

I was much happier to walk past the mall and take photos of the very strange big fiberglass elephants standing guard.

Tomorrow we will leave for the northern tip of Sulawesi.  Another overnighter coming up; I can do it!!  It is actually time for us to leave Kota Ternate, much as we like it.  We are being bitten to death by small invisible creatures, and there are mosquitoes, to add insult to injury.

Today's birthdaygirl - Ann-Marie Nuttall

25th August - a day in Ternate under the volcano

Tuesday 25^th August 2015

Our adventures today were a far cry from the peaceful natural wonders of Raja Ampat.  But…we enjoyed our Ternate Day very much.

We found a nice easy jetty – easy to get on and off, and easy to leave the dinghy without fear of finding it shredded and bashed on our return.  There is a promenade all the way along the waterfront, with lots of big shady trees, a playground and lots of traffic whizzing past.  Ternate is a fairly frantic little town, bustling and thriving in the shadow of the imposing volcano, Gunung Api Gamalama.  This is quite a prosperous island – cloves and gold account for this.

There are dozens of mosques and last night we were astounded by the call to prayer around 5pm – every single mosque sending forth their call, every one of them different.  An extraordinary cacophony!

We went to a big shopping mall and found ground coffee, to our relief – life on 2XS would become just a bit primal if we didn’t have coffee on board and our supplies were nearly gone… It is surprisingly hard to get ordinary ground coffee in Indonesia.  I think it all gets exported.  The locals drink a lot of coffee but it is all made up into various combinations all including sugar, and most of them with milk.  The large supermarket had many such combinations so we were very relieved to find a café where they not only sold coffee beans but also kindly ground them up for us.  WHEW!!

A bit further along we found a most fabulous market.  Overwhelming amounts of gorgeous fresh produce – tomatoes, chillies, shallots, aubergines – all my favourite things!

I bought prawns to make chilli and garlic stir fry for tonight but…Pete had read in the Lonely Planet about a little shack near the market which sells popeda. 

“The full spread includes…fish…vegetables…and that rich sodium-packed slime which is popeda.  Leave your culinary inhibitions, textural food fears, and sanitation hang-ups at the door.  The locals will be thrilled to have you.  And you may even like it.”

Well we did like it, indeed!  The popeda slime-stuff is, I think, sago, in a very delicious salty broth.  The veggies were all wonderful – sour and spicy and tasty – and we both had a nice small piece of fish as well.  It wasn’t in the least dirty or scary, and the locals did indeed welcome us with much friendship and hilarity.

They don't look very hilarious in the is photo but never mind!  taking photo is serious business!  

In fact everywhere we went we were greeted with enormous smiles; Indonesians are very hospitable and welcoming.  And ready with their phonecameras…I tripped and nearly fell when we were coming back to the dinghy jetty and about three men were there, poised with their cameras, saying Hati hati, but looking just a bit disappointed that they didn’t get to film the Balanda falling down…(They call white people Balandas here, as they do in Arnhem Land – a corruption of Hollander.)

Pete needed to find hydraulic oil.  It is always good to have a bit of a mission when in a new town.  People gave us directions hither and thither and laughed heartily as we struggled to understand one another.  On our way up one of the streets we found the footpaths lined with turquoise for sale – how fabulous!  I suppose they must mine it here?? 

All of the men were very keen to be photographed so I snapped away until Pete disappeared at the end of the street and I had to abandon my would-be models and continue the oil shop quest.

I have been swimming around the boat.  It is surprisingly clean here.  We are used to towns in South East Asia being totally filthy, with all of the crapola flung into the sea.  The odd plastic bag does float by, but for the most part the water is clean and clean and welcoming.

This is a wonderful island!  Tomorrow we are going to explore a bit outside the town, maybe go up the slopes of the fabulous volcano.