Nael and her happy crew are in Bali and all is well so far. We arrived on the seventeenth of September. Things are a bit dicey here with officialdom, but we have yet to encounter the problems that some of the other boats are having.
In the last update I mentioned that we picked up an Aussie crewmember who goes by the nickname of Cef. Cef has left us now to do some land trekking and possibly find work on the oil rigs in Jarkata. Basically, the way it worked out was that Cef took us on an adventurous four wheel drive camping trip in the Australian outback and we took him on a sailing adventure. We are very happy with the way it worked out and now have a new good friend who probably will join us in the future for further adventures. Cef covered all of his own expenses and was no burden on us at all -- in fact, quite the opposite. He was a pleasure to have along.
Overall, except for two days, the weather since Darwin has been sunny and warm. There has been very little wind so our engine has been working harder than we like. All the way from Darwin to Roti Island (Indonesia) we motored on a glass calm sea. From Roti we motored to Kupang on Timor to check into the country (that was a bit of a drama but we'll get to that later). Between Timor and Ruse Bay on Flores Island we actually managed to sail for a few hours before the wind dropped to nothing again. From Ruse to Ginngo on Rinja Island we had yet another beautiful motor boat ride and then the same to the famous Komodo Island.
When we left Komodo, we were shocked by 20 knots of southeast wind! It had been so long motoring that we nearly forgot how to sail. Luckily, it came back to us and we made good time to Bali without listening to the motor.
Our first landfall on Roti was pleasantly uneventful in a little unnamed bay on the western side of the northeast end of the island. We spent a couple of days relaxing, swimming, sunning, and snorkelling before heading up to Kupang on Timor to check in. As I am sure most of you know, Timor is a war zone. Most of the other yachts gave it a miss, but not the rogues on Nael. We just had to see for ourselves ... As it turned out, none of us got shot even though there were quite a lot of bullets flying around. We had been in radio contact with several others that had chosen to stop here about a week before us and were assured that, although a bit tense, it was fine to stop here. Our timing was somewhat off as it coincided not only with rioting over a fuel outage, but also the anniversary of the declaration of independence of East Timor.
It seemed as if everybody and his dog had a gun and were having a great time shooting at each other with them. Our agent (Jimmy the Weasel), was able to get us all sorted on the paperwork in only one day, so we did not hang around to see the outcome of the battle, preferring to head off to quieter destinations.
On the west coast of Flores island we met up with "Dunwerkin" in Ruse Bay. In contrast to Timor this lovely little bay had a very small village with very shy unarmed residents. There is a year-round stream here and we enjoyed some fresh water bathing. The wildlife amazed us: deer, buffalo, wild pig, monkeys, and some type of miniature ape. Most all of the wildlife was shy and we had to sneak around the bush quietly to observe all but the water buffalo, who really could care less who saw them. The southeastern end of Indonesia has two very distinct seasons, wet, and dry. We are here during the dry season, which lasts from April through November, with May-October almost never seeing a drop of rain. In contrast, December through March seldom sees a day with less than several inches of rainfall. I mention this to emphasize how very rare it is to find a flowing stream at this time of year.
About a mile inland we found a traditional thatched village, but unfortunately the inhabitants were as shy as most of the wildlife around here and we only saw their backsides as they ran and hid in the bush. After two days of exploring Ruse, we headed over to the island of Rinja (some of the charts spell this Rinka). We tried several anchorages on Rinja, but I was unhappy with the holding or the fetch or the scenery in the first few until we got to Ginngo.
Ginngo was perfect in every way except that there was no fresh water. In spite of that, we enjoyed Ginngo so much that we stayed a week. Uninhabited by humans but absolutely teeming with wildlife, Ginngo made us feel as though we were in an edition of "Wild Kingdom" or a National Geographic article in real-time. Without question, this was the highlight of our cruising wildlife experience. Here we met up close with the famous Komodo dragons (giant monitor lizards). There were troops of monkeys thirty to forty strong that came to the beach to play and eat snails and shellfish. The deer also came to the beach in the afternoon to pick the leaves off a tree that grows along the shore.
Hiking up the valleys is an incredible adventure if one is quiet and moves slowly so as not to scare the animals. The views are unlimited. We got into a routine of going to one beach before sunrise to observe the monkeys and to another just before sunset to visit the dragons. The monkeys are extremely shy and will not come around if they are aware of your presence. The dragons have absolutely no fear (why should they?), but tend to be hard to find in the heat of the day. I read that Komodo Dragons are dangerous and it is easy to see that, if inclined to do so, even a small one (five or six feet) could tear a man to shreds. All the dragons we encountered, however, were thankfully non-aggressive.
After having the place to ouselves for five days, our friends on "Chinook II", "Breakaway" and "Joy" showed up and the party began. It was Bob's 59th birthday. Everyone made potluck and there was still plenty of duty-free booze left over from Australia. Man, what a party! I think even the dragons were dancing into the wee hours.
On September 12, we hauled anchor and headed out for Komodo Island to do the dragon tour. It was kind of a fun trip as all four boats travelled together in a flotilla. We very seldom travel in the company of other boats, preferring to do our own thing, but these were all good friends and we enjoyed it. Upon anchoring in front of the ranger's office at the park, we were mobbed by local craft sellers. They came on little diesel-powered boats and were selling pearls, carvings of all kinds, and various trinkets. I think that everyone bought something as the prices were very cheap. Merlyn got a rather nice set of pink pearls for the equivalent of about four dollars and I bought a dragon pendant carved of shell for about 25 cents.
The Komodo dragon tour was interesting and informative. We learned how these amazing creatures live, hunt, breed and raise their young. The hike was several miles on well-maintained trails and once again there was a tremendous amount of wildlife to observe.
After the tour, we all hauled anchor and made for the east end of the bay for our overnight anchorage. It was getting dark and for some reason Nael led the way to what I thought looked on the chart to be a good spot. Lucky for my reputation, it was. The tide was out and there were dozens of wild pigs rooting in the tidal area. We never really figured out for sure, but it looked as if they were eating crabs and shellfish. "Lucks All" arrived the next morning and they did the tour while Cef climbed the nearest mountain to get some video. On the morning of the fourteenth "Joy" and "Breakaway headed out to Bali, chasing the southern route around Sumbawa and Lombok. In the early afternoon "Lucks all' and "Chinook II" took the northern route and Nael, being the slowest of the lot, took the southern route and planned on an extra night at sea.
I still cannot recommend one route over the other as the difference is large. On the northern route there are more anchorages available, but there is little or no wind. What makes it preferable to some is that the current in the Lombok Strait is favorable. On the southern route there was good wind and the current in the Indian Ocean was favorable, but upon arrival at the Lombok Strait, one has to deal with large overfalls and strong adverse currents. We had a truly great sail for two hundred and fifty miles and arrived an the mouth of the strait at 22:00 on the sixteenth. As we entered the strait, we encountered 20-30 foot breaking waves (overfalls) and a strong current against us. We moved to the western side of the channel and found the current much weaker, but it still took all night to make the remaining 20 miles up to Benoa harbor on Bali. Our timing was good and we negotiated the reefs at seven in the morning with good light and a favorable tide.
Since we have been in Bali, we have been doing a bit of touring and generally having a good time. But now we are getting down to the business of maintenance and preparing for the 1,200-mile journey to Singapore. I still haven't decided whether to stop there or to continue on to Malaysia. That will have to remain a mystery until the next update. There is a lot of concern about piracy in these waters and it does present a worry. All I can say is that so far we have heard of no one who has been attacked by pirates here this year.
