Fitre and Azwar

Boys lighting something at the end of the bamboo sticks and smoke would come out the end, a bamboo cannon.

Boats med moored at the pier in Banda

A couple of young men, Azzur and Fetrie have befriended us. They took on a tour of Banda Neira, then the next day they showed up at the boat and we set off to a beach which was about 30 minutes walk away. They are practising their English on us and we are learning Indonesian, very slowly from them. They came aboard yesterday and waxes and polished the part of the boat I didn't get done in Darwin so she is spic and span now. We may leave for the Wakatobi Islands tomorrow but we really like it hear and do not really want to leave.

The climb up the volcano was pretty brutal. It was pretty much straight up but that wasn’t the whole problem. The footing was absolutely atrocious, it was small broken up bits of lava. On the way up you had to kick your toes into the scree and then dig for purchase before hoisting yourself up the next step. On the way down your feet had a tendency to slip and slide trying to throw you off balance and send you tumbling. I am really glad I wore my hiking boots because they saved my ankles several time. It was definitely worth the climb though, the views were stupendous. Gunang Api as the peak is called last exploded in 1988 and there are huge lava flows down the northern side of the island. We actually went snorkeling later that day just off one of the flows. The water was so clear, we saw beautiful coral, a moray eel and a bunch of different sorts of fish.

The last couple of days have been taken up with exploring other parts of the main island. We were walking along one day and two very nice polite you Bandanese attached themselves to us. They have been practicing their English on us and helping us with our Indonesian. We had them aboard yesterday and they marveled at everything but the only thing they took a picture of was the engine. Last night we were treated to an exhibition of “crazy bamboo”. It involved seven people holding on to a bamboo tree and a fellow with smoking embers running back and forth blowing smoke onto the bamboo. After a while the people holding the bamboo would start to sway and rock back and forth and it seemed no matter how hard they held on they could not stop from moving. Some of the cruisers tried it and one explained that you would loose your balance with the concentrated effort of holding on and then the guy running back and forth with the smoke you would loose your perspective and start staggering around. I hope to post a video of it, keep watch on the links section.
We are not sure when we are leaving it really is wonderful here and we are enjoying socializing with all the other cruisers and the anchorage is so calm and serene. I am even getting used to the 5 daily call to prayers.
More pictures later when the connection is better.

The volcano in Banda which I climbed yesterday, 665 meters!!

Women in thevillage where the stone boats were, dancing and uncovering the feast.

The Dutch fort built in 1670 in Banda

The market in Banda with a big passenger ship in the background.

A boat being constructed in Banda, by hand, made out of almond wood.

The nutmeg and almond orchard.

Nutmegs drying in the sun, with the outer covering called mace on the top corner, it's red.

Dancing at the welcome ceremonies in Saumlaki.The village on the island with the nutmeg trees.
A floating platform, which the villagers fish from, our first site when reaching Indonesia.

A basket I purchased in the market, the woman I am with is the creator of the basket. It cost about $2.00.

We are in the Banda group of islands now, we had a great sail over. It was about 48 hours sailing, and we had wind on the quarter at about 15-20 knots, a sailors dream. We approached the islands at dawn and their outline gradually became visible as the skies brightened. It was gloomy, with rain clouds threatening., the top of the 665m volcano was shrouded in mist. The black scars of the lava flows stood out in contrast to the lush tropical forests that covered the rest of the slope. As we entered the anchorage, we spied the sailboats tied up med style, anchored bow out and then tied from the stern to shore, it should be on a postcard!
These islands used to known as the Spice Islands and islanders have been trading the spices they grow for hundreds of years. They were colonized by the Dutch who wanted a monopoly of the spice trade and the shenanigans they got up to over the years were typical colonial behaviour. Since arriving we have toured an old Dutch fort, had a delicious dinner at a local guest house and today we set off to another island to tour the orchards.
We learned about how nutmeg, cinnamon and almonds are grown. The almond trees are hundreds of years old and very tall, the villagers basically just wait for the birds to eat the outside of the almonds and they fall off the trees and then the bit with the nut in them are collected from the ground. The cinnamon is the bark of the tree, we picked the leaves of the tree and crumbled them and they had such a wonderful aroma. The nutmeg has three parts that are used. The outer shell has a substance they made jelly out of and then there is the mace, a red covering on the nut that is used in cooking, the inner nut then has to be smashed to get at the nutmeg. I bought some nutmeg in the market and am looking forward to having fresh grated nutmeg in some yogurt that I am making.
I am planning on climbing the volcano tomorrow, it is there and since we climbed one in Tonga and one in Vanuatu, how can I not do it hear. Barry’s ankle was acting up today so he is still unsure whether or not he is going to make the trek. There is supposed to be great snorkeling by the lava flow so we may try that the next day. Ramadan started on Aug 1st and lasts the whole month. For people of the Muslin faith this means they do not eat from sun up to sun down. It feels a bit odd to eat in front of them but I don’t feel the need to join them in their fast. This group of islands is predominately Muslim, this morning I was woken by the call to prayers at 0500, it just made me realize what a long way we are from home and how exotic these islands really are.
Sorry the pictures are out of sequence but the internet connection is too slow to fix it up.

We are still in Saumlaki, Indonesia. We are having a wonderful time. It is great being part of a rally. We have had a welcome ceremony with dancing and singing and then an Indonesian snack afterwards. Then yesterday they took us on a tour. We went on a smallish bus, smaller than a regular Canadian school bus and we drove 54 km to a village where there was a stone boat. The drive took 2 hours, the roads were very windy and narrow and they deteriorated from good pavement to pavement with potholes to dirt roads. We were in a motorcade, in front was a police truck with the siren going, then there were 2 buses the size we were in then 2 more smaller vehicles, slightly bigger than a mini van and there were a few motorcycles as well. We would wave out the window to the villagers we passed, we felt like super stars. When we had to stand to have our pictures taken one sailor asked us, if we had split up with our boyfriend and whether or not we had kicked our drug habit!!!
At the stone boat village we were welcomed with singing and dancing and then led off to a feast. The food was cooked in a pit in the ground and was delicious, casava wrapped in banana leaves, taro, chicken and some kind of bean sprouts cooked with tumeric. Then we trooped off to the stone boat and another ceremony took place. I bought a piece of hand woven cloth that I am going to have a skirt made from. We have been exploring around town, Barry and I both had our hair cut $3.00 each, we had both had a meal for lunch for about $5.00, so we think we may have a chance to make ends meet while we are in Indonesia. We are headed to Banda tomorrow, the co-ordinates will be on the sail Indonesia site. Banda was known as one of the Spice Islands so I am quite excited about visiting there. The Spice Islands, it sounds so exotic.

Arrived safe and sound in Indonesia about noon today. We fought the tide at the beginning of the trip and then the tide changed and it had a slingshot effect. We did over nine knots for almost an hour, I was in my glory. After we cleared the Australian land mass, the wind picked up and we did over 7 knots crossing the Arafu Sea (the body of water between Aus. and Indonesia). The winds were on the beam at 15 to 20 knots most of the time and it made for a rocky, rolly trip. I was actually a bit nauseous with the swell and wave action, but I ingested some candied ginger and my stomach settled down. We got lucky when we arrived and they came and cleared us before lots of other boats that had arrived ahead of us. There were 11 boats in the anchorage when we arrived, with 29 on this leg of the trip, that puts us almost in the top third, for sure in the top third of the monohulls, because there were about 6 cats here when we arrived, so we did good. We went ashore and explored a bit. I got a haircut, which I have been wanting for a few weeks but delayed because it would be cheaper here, I am happy (not ecstatic) with the results. My impressions were that we were back in Mexico, the vendors with non-first world goods, the shops all crowded together, the lack of road rules(scooters driving on the side walk), the hustle and bustle. Everyone seemed happy to see us and we were definitely an oddity on the street, everyone calling out to us. More later when I figure out internet access.

Darwin Happenings

We are ready to leave tomorrow morning, we have spent the last week visiting spots in and around Darwin, interspersed with that are boat chores and social evenings. We became millionaires when we visited the bank and got out some Indonesian cash. This 100,000 bill is worth about $12.00 Canadian, so we have over 4,000,000 on the boat at the moment, I am sure I will have to do a lot of mental math once we get there. We also visited the Indonesian Embassy the other night and we sampled the food they had and watched the entertainment. They had some great dancers and some singers that had lovely voices. We learned a few Indonesian phrases and got some great handout about where we should go and what is offered there. We have been told that patience is required and things are done on Indonesian time and you can expect plans to change at any time. I will have to get used to "island time" again.

We visited a few sites around Darwin this week. We visited oil tunnels that were built to store the oil for the forces in WW II. They were built in the huge rock cliffs on Darwin Harbour. It was a real feat of engineering. They had photos of the bombing or Darwin posted on the sides of the oil tanks. I guess they kept the severity of the bombing in Darwin secret from the rest of Australia in order to keep up the country's morale. On our way back to the boat we stopped off at an old WW II hanger. It now houses the antique car club in town. The hanger is located right in the middle of a residential district, right beside it is a 4 story apt. block. The old runway is now a major street. Barry thought it was very unique that they have kept the hanger and let the neighbourhood grow up around it. I know that Graeme and his Dad would have appreciated these old cars. Yesterday we walked up the hill and visited the Fannie Bay Gaol. It was opened in 1883 and the last prisoner was transfered out of the jail in 1979. We were a bit surprised to read that when the war broke out and they evacuated Darwin and they needed the jail to house the troops, they just let all the prisoners go and told them they had to fend for themselves, I sure hope they didn't have very many violent offenders in there at that time.



I was going to get Barry to shut the door and shoot the bolt but I realized that I couldn't reach around and open it, so I decided I shouldn't chance because he may just have thought it might have been fun to leave me in there for awhile!!!! It was a pretty grim place with big thick walls where they kept the more dangerous criminals.

Barry went and visited the Air Museum and I guess they had a B52 Bomber in there. Barry was surprised at how small the cockpit was, he said it was quite cramped inside.The museum also housed the famous Spitfires with the painted sharks on them .

We were also very lucky to receive two packages from Canada this week. My family has come through in spades and helped beautify the boat . My Mom, bless her soul, has made another table cloth for the boat to match our new upholstery. She also, with her wonderful colour sense, choose some material to match the upholstery, both the items I received from her will enhance our living space considerably.The second package I received was from my sister-in -law Barb Shanks. She very generously made new covers for our cockpit cushions. The set we my buddy Helen made 4 years ago were wearing out, the sun and the salt had just about done them in. Our cockpit is now suitable for guests at all times. Before I received this new set of covers when I was expecting company I would take the old covers off because of the hole in one and the stains of the others. I have been enjoying sitting on the new ones all week. They shipped them to us at considerable expence to make sure we received them before we left and we really appreciate the fact they did this. THANKS VERY MUCH TO BOTH SEAMSTRESSES!!

I am not sure what the internet connections will be like in Indonesia, so although I will send in blogs to my brother to post you may not get many pictures for awhile. I have a few chores to complete on the 2 1/2 day trip to Indonesia, I need to sew a flag, this one is dead easy, red on the top and white on the bottom and I have some material left over for when I make the Tongan flag. I also bought new bug netting for the hatch opening and have a little sewing left on that before it is finished. We are going in for breakfast in the morning then the mass start of over 100 boats at 11:00 A.M. That should be an interesting exercise. I hope there is enough wind to sailing in and we don't have to loll around trying to stay out of each others way. We'll take pictures.

KAKADU NATIONAL PARK

Barry and I went on a trip up to Kakadu National Park this week. The park is about 250 km from Darwin. We decided that we probably were not going to be in this part of the world again and we should take some time to visit the rock art that the park is famous for. I felt humble to think that people had been painting on these rocks perhaps over 20,000 years ago and their efforts are still there for us to view.

In this picture the paintings are on the rock face as well as on the roof of the overhanging cliff. The topography of the area was stunning. There are rock escarpments that seem to jut out of nowhere. We climbed up to the top of the first one we came to and the 360 degree view was just stunning. The rocks edge was very pronounced and the land fell away to become a flat river valley that floods in the wet season and although the ocean in 100 km away there is a still a tidal influence that far upstream. the view alone was worth the price of the rental car and the hotel room. We drove up one day, stayed overnight and drove back to Darwin by a different route the next day.

We got up early after luxuriating in the double sized bed, (oh, the room to strech out and have space for your arms at your sides). We headed off to hear a park ranger talk about how the aborigines used the plants, for food and to make baskets. We walked to an area where there an abundance of birds and saw this sulphur crested cockatoo trying to make a meal of this fruit of the pandanus tree.

One our way to the next rock art site there were these trees that had the gorgeous yellow blossoms , notice there are no leaves though. It was about 1.5 km out to this site and it was about 30 degrees so we made sure we were drinking a lot of water. About that stage, Barry's ankle had had enough and he did not climb up to the next lookout site. The view was not quite as spectacular as the first spot we went but suddeness of the escarpment was very evident.






Among the places you could visit were listed a number of billabongs. I wanted to experience a realy Aussie billabong so we went to one and it just looked like a big prairie slew, but at another there was moving water with areas where the land would flatten out and there would be a big pond. It was much nicer than the first spot. I think billabong just means a water hole.

Another thing this area is famous for is the crocs. There were numerous tours you could take where you experience the crocs up close and personal. We were lucky and managed to see two just on our own, well I guess I mean not on a tour, other people had to point them out to us. They are very hard to spot and you really have to know what you are looking for to see one. On the far side of the pond below you can see spiky parts of his back and his head is facing away from the picture. We were glad that we had seen crocodiles in the wild.

We have arrived in Darwin safe and sound, 2000 from our starting point in Yamba, whopee. Here we are after visiting Customs to start the process for our departure from Australia. We are sporting our free Customs toques, the preferred head gear for sailors in the dead of the Australian winter. We heard the weater report yesterday and it was a chilly +30 degrees celcius in Darwin, go figure, why wouldn't they hand out lovely lightweight sun hats????

Check out the shell Barry is holding. He found it on a beach near a resort we stopped at just around the corner of Cape Don. It had been on the beach a long time and is pretty bleached out but it is huge, quite the find.

Barry took this shot as we were sailing along in 10 knots of breeze. The currents were huge as we rounded Cape Don and passed through the Van Diemen Gulf just north of Darwin. We did manage to get these tides right so had it with us, we were not so fortunate going through Hole in the Wall. The last blog I wrote was all about getting to Hole in the Wall at the correct time so we would have the tide with us. Well guess what, after the flood tide flowing west to east in Thursday Island, around Cape York and all across the Gulf of Carpentaria, it actually flows east to west through Hole in the Wall. So we got there and the tide was running about 4-6 knots against us. We had taken down the sails and were making about 2 knots through the gap, when we hit a narrow spot and

we were down to 0.3 knots of forward motion. The engine was howling at max revs and we were making no headway, sails to the rescue. I unraveled the genoa and soon we were making 1 knot over the ground and we slowly made out way through, WHEW! So much for going the scenic way!! Notice the current in the picture, the rock was very layers and worn into intersting shapes.

Hole in the Wall as seen on our electronic charts

Barry finally caught a fish in Australian Water. This is after trailing a line for over 500 nm, at the minimum. This is a spanish makeral, we had him for dinner shortly after this shot. We visited a fishing store in Cooktown and the fellow there recommended a simply silver hook and said the makeral really go for them. He was right, we should have consulted an expert 500 miles ago!

We arrived in Darwin in the dark about 9:00 P.M. We usually do not come into port in the dark but the entrance was pretty straight forward and we droppped anchor at the back of the fleet. The next morning we went ashore, caught the bus downtown and charged around doing what was required. We went to Customs, we headed to the Indonesian Embassy to apply for our Visa's, I made a doctor's appointment to renew my prescriptions and Barry and I both had our eyes tested and ordered new glasses. We managed a bit of shopping and then headed back on the bus. We were very pleased with the amount we had done, now for more of the mundane chores such as laundry and boat chores, waxing the fibreglass and more coats of varnish. The tropical sun is just deadly. We only broke one thing on the way up, a block on the main sheet, at the moment Barry is sawing the bolt that sheared on it so it can be replaced. We are contemplating buying an AIS ( Automatic Identification System) which sends and receive electronic signals from other boats, (required on all tankers). I am not convinced it is necessary but it would be another safety system, it tells you where boat are and at what direction and speed they are travelling. It also identifies them by name so you can call up those big tankers by name and they are more likely to respond. Someone said it was a requirement in Singapore Harbour. Our radar is getting pretty old and rather than replace it I guess AIS is the way to go.

I have the 9:00 P.M. to 1:00 A.M. watch tonight. We are crossing the Gulf of Carpenteria, the large body of water to the west of Cape York, it will take about 2 1/2 days to cross. At the end of the crossing we are going to go through a spot called Hole in the Wall. Great Slave Lake has one and I am pretty sure either Fiji or Vanuatu had one, but the name evokes visions of narrow openings surrounded by rocks. This particular Hole in the Wall is a fifty meter wide opening about a mile long, between two islands. It has up to a nine knot current running through it, so timing is vital. There are usually 2 high tides and 2 low tides per day, we want to pass through in day light hours on a flood tide, going from low tide to high tide in other words so we have to arrive between 1:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. tomorrow, June 29. At the moment we have to maintain 6 knots in order to get there on time. Glancing at the boat speed indicator we are doing well at 7.05 knots, that should make up for some 5.5 knot speeds earlier. If we don't think we are going to make it we have come up with an alternate anchorage at a nearby island,about 16 miles from the pass. Sailing to make a deadline like this is not particularly peaceful, you need optimize your sail set and get every last ounce of speed out of the boat. Barry has put the boat on automatic pilot instead of the wind vane in hopes that it will keep a straighter line and we will travel less distance. I was thinking earlier about poling out the staysail to add speed, but it is not practical at night.
When I came up on deck the stars were out in all their glory, I could see the Big Dipper and the Southern Cross in a turn of the head. I watched them slowly march their way across the sky over the course of the four hours. The boat is sailing itself, we are in the trade winds which means that the winds blow from a consistent direction although the speed does vary. This means that you set your sails and they remain in that configuration for days. The person on watch just has to monitor the instruments, the conditions and check for any boats that may pass in the night. To check, I stand up in the cockpit so that the lights from the instruments do not affect my vision and I scan the horizon. I do a slow 360 degree stare, making sure I peer around parts of the boat which may interfere so I see all the way around. I may see a freighter steaming toward us or the small winking light of another sailboat headed in the same direction or occasionally a cruise ship, lit up like a Christmas tree gliding past. Mostly all I see is the white of the waves as they careen of the boat and the sparkle of the phosphorescence the waves generate. Barry is on duty is a few minutes so I will get ready to put my head down for four hours and then get up to watch the wonder of another dawn, the first glimmers of light, the radiating colour of the promised sun, and the bright orange rising ball, the end of another night at sea.

Cape York

We were very pleased to round Cape York. It is the northern tip of continental Australia and has been our goal for the last month so it was very gratifying to go around it. To the right as we are approaching it you can see the low cape in the background with York Island towering over the Cape to right. Most of our friends chose to sail right past and go across the top and down to a small community of the west side of the Cape. There was no way we weren't going to explore the Cape and take some photographic evidence of our passing this landmark. We were very happy to have our dinghy wheels when we got ashore. It was about a 150 meters of mucky sand bottom that we had to pull the dinghy over. It would not have been fun to have to haul it along the ground with the engine on. When we returned the tide had come in and we had about 50 meter less to traverse. We pulled it up that far in order to tie to to a tree onshore. That way we were assured it would still be there when we returned.

We hiked over to the tip, picking up rocks and adding them to cairns that other travellers had begun. On the way back we came across this huge termite mound. I thought if I held up my arms it would give you more of an idea how tall it was. Apparently the mud and they way they were oriented to the sun controls the temperature inside, one fellow said that they could maintain a 68 degrees keeping it nice and cool. York Island was calling our name though so we dinghied across and hiked up. It was a more rugged climb not having a path worn by thousand of hikers as there was to the tip. It was a fantastic view from the top, to the right of the picture below you can see the beach where we landed the dinghy. The boat is anchored further to the right in the lee of the cape.

There were more rock cairns all over the top of the island and I had to build a small inukshuk to commemorate our passing. If you click on the pictures they will enlarge for you and you can examine them more closely if you wish.

THURSDAY ISLAND

About 20nm across the Torres Strait at the Torres Strait Islands. I wanted to visit here so we headed across the strait. As we sailed through the group of islands we went past Tuesday, Wednesday and then we stopped close to Thursday Island which is the administrative center of the group. We are actually anchored in the Lee of Horn Island which is about 2 nm from Thursday and we have taken a ferry over to tour around. We went up to the top of Green Hill and got to visit the museum that was built to commerate the fort that was constructed here in 1893 when there was a threat of war with Russia. There was a great 360 view from the top. Below is a view over the town of Thursday Island and Horn Island where we are anchored is in the distance. Islands surround us so we have a lovely calm secure anchorage at the moment.

An example of the Torres Island art. We enjoyed our visit to the cultural centre.





Historically the Torres Island were known for the pearling industry that took place here. From the turn of the century until the 1950's and the event of plastics, oyster shells were collected for the making of mother of pearl objects, mainly buttons. I think pearls were a bonus, the shells being what was used. Pearling luggers as the boats were called would go out and divers would descend to collect the shells. At first men would just free dive as there was an abundance at depth that was accesible. As they had to go deeper to find commercial quantities the diving helmut and suit came into use. Onboard the ship the diver would have 2 people to tend his lines, one would have the air hose and one would have the line that attached the diver to the boat. There were stories in the museum of divers getting taken by the current while they were under the corral their lines would become entangled in the corral and they would be unable to free their lines. Many divers perished in this manner.
The industry attracted many races including Malasians and Japanese as well as the traditional Island peoples. The faces and statures of the people that live here now reflect this mixture of races and it has resutled in some very lovely looking folks. We are waiting here for the winds to drop until we cross the Gulf of Capenteria. It is a three day crossing and it is not the winds that are a problem but the waves they generate as they howl across the open gulf. We hope to leave on Sunday, I must make sure to ensure I get lots of rest before we leave.