Leaving Timor, we sailed north past the island of Alor into the Flores Sea with a current so strong that Forever was moving mainly east although we were pointing north! There was a lot of rain, thunder and lightning around. Once through the gap, we headed westwards past a string of islands, including those that are home to the famous Komodo Dragon; Flores and it’s smaller neighbours, Komodo, Rinca and Gili Motang. We thought of stopping to see the dragons, but decided against it. The islands of Indonesia are incredibly beautiful, the vegetation is green and lush, backed by towering volcanoes.
The Flores Sea was busy with many fishing boats of indigenous charm, though, sadly, there was often a lot of litter and debris in the water.
This abandoned raft intrigued us
This leg was slow, hot and windless. By then, we were late in the season and there was very little useful wind around. Slow, tedious stuff, but we ‘went to the beach’ frequently. Lois and I played Scrabble every day and in spite of the fact that English is not his first language, he frequently beat me! Mike fished diligently but never caught anything. We played chess, read books, and snoozed, tweaking the sails desperately every time the wind shifted slightly.
Finding a bit of shade
Towards the end we were running out of diesel and so we just had to drift along, waiting for the occasional fierce thunderstorm, bringing strong winds and torrential rain, followed usually by a decent wind for a few hours that shifted us up a little further before dying off again. Often the sea was so flat and glassy it was difficult to tell where the water ended and the sky began.
In desperation, but very reluctantly, we were obliged to do quite a bit of motoring, and though we had not planned to stop in Bali we finally opted to do so to get supplies, water and fuel.
It took us 10 days to travel that 645 miles – a very poor average of 64 miles per day! Arrival at Benoa Harbour was stressful and confusing followed by an unhappy visit to the authorities (in this instance we had to see the Navy) where we were charged for the privilege of stopping on our so called emergency. A full cruising permit for all Indonesian islands would have cost $150 which we could ill afford. Our emergency stop cost US$50, no receipt was issued and we were convinced the Navy man put that $50 straight into his back pocket. This was supposedly for one day but we ignored that and stayed for four. The shops were a long way off and we had to take a taxi into town, but the the shopping itself was reasonable and we were able to re-stock our provisions. Bali had a rather deserted air; they were still battling with the lack of tourists after the horrible bomb attack earlier that month, killing 26.
Bali Marina
Lois decided that he wanted some time in a marina, so he insisted on paying for a few days. It was such a pleasure to be in a marina for a change – no worries of the anchor dragging, no rowing to shore, electricity on board, proper showers, etc. I do like my creature comforts and was most grateful, though Mike, of course, scorned such things. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a fuel station, and once again water had to be purchased, both drinkable and non drinkable! Their internet connection was very expensive, but beers and food were cheap.
Inside the yacht club
As Indonesia produces oil one would expect fuel to be cheap, but prices had recently rocketed and they were expecting another increase in January, so hoarding had become a problem. Purchasing in jerry cans was prohibited and without transport getting fuel proved very difficult for us. We ended up only getting 30 litres, which a kind South African chap running a cruise ship called the Bali Hai gave Mike, free of charge.
3 November 2005
Distressingly low on diesel and water, we left Benoa Harbour for Singapore, sailing north up the east coast of Bali with a fabulous current. Once we passed the northern tip of Bali, the current turned around and ran against us but we had wind for a while and sailed pleasantly. Not for long. This miserable 990 mile passage took us 14 and a half days – an average 68 per day. There were many briefly violent thunderstorms around yielding a good bit of rain which we’d frantically collect, and strong winds, not always useful and all too short-lived. These storms produced some amazing sunsets. Sometimes we moved so slowly that Mike and Lois could swim right round Forever on their trips to the beach.
Every morning I would spend some considerable time designing and erecting a sun shade from our various bits of canvas, which then had to be moved every few hours to follow the passage of the sun. This amused the men who were not nearly so bothered by the sun, but I found it debilitating. My abiding memory of that trip, along with the heat and Scrabble, was egg mayonnaise. We’d bought loads of eggs in Bali and, Lois and I being both mad about freshly made mayonnaise, we ate egg mayonnaise every day for lunch.
No comments:
Post a Comment