We left Darwin with the fleet of 135 yachts on Saturday 18th July. On board the team has expanded by one, joining us is Lydia, one of the key organisers of the rally at the Darwin end. She happens to have a degree in Indonesian politics and speaks fluent Indonesian so no prizes for guessing why we asked her to join us!!! There were two route options and we were with the small minority who headed east. The ten hours battling negative currents paid off with a good wind angle for the remainder of the journey and a relatively smooth trip.
They love to have their photo taken... Saumlaki town.
Daryl at the markets.
We were soooo…. excited to anchor up in Saumlaki, Indonesia. We regarded ourselves luck to getting all the official paperwork done within a day and with little stress. We gather that the whole of Indonesia runs on ‘rubber’ time. The rally organizers advised us to throw away our clocks and trust that what you need will eventually happen. The theory has worked so far!!
In short we found the local people really friendly and best of all they love having their photo taken. So I am in my element. David and I spent hours the first day wandering the streets getting a feel for daily life in Saumlaki. The people were keen to interact but didn’t hassle you like they are inclined to do in Bali.
Dave showing the chn the photo... Local tailors.
Chn in the village
They all liked a photo taken.
We managed to organize a local guide who took a group of us on a day trip to a couple of outlying villages. Home we came with the inevitable wood carvings that we probably overpaid for!!! Never mind, Daryl jokes about me needing to do the interior decorating to ensure we have the right cultural theme going inside the boat now we are in a new country. So away with the tapa cloths from Fiji and Tonga and down comes the aboriginal drawings.
The tour took us to a village who demonstrated how they make a local alcohol. You can see by Daryl's response that it was pretty strong!!! The stone structure in the photo is said to be 'prehistoric' Anyway, it's origins, along with the steep stone steps leading up to it from the sea, are a mystery.
Stone steps
Mysterious stone boat
Sopi tasting
It wasn’t too long until we were heading out to sea once more on a quest for cleaner/clearer waters. We had a pleasant visit to the outlying village of Sawa. They seldom got yachts stopping and I think they were quite overawed to see us. Lydia made a great interpreter and we asked questions about their industry. They were fishing for small anchovy typed fish which they then dried on racks. Next the fish got crushed and bagged. When they had filled 100 of these wool bail sized bags the big boat came and collected them. At the end of all that they were getting $1.50 a kilo for them. The fish were apparently used to make some sort of clothing from what we could gather?? Weird, I know. Sadly, as we came away we saw a turtle head in the water, the local casually telling us that turtle are very tasty.
Small fish being spread out to dry.
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