Sept 1-4
Hi All,
We left Gili Darat around 4:30pm on Thursday, Sept 1. It was another sad departure as we had very much bonded with Gili Darat…..a beautiful anchorage, very busy at night with a few liveaboards full of interesting young people having fun, a good dive, snorkel and hike……just lovely. We did go through Shotgun Alley……we thought slack was 5pm…..hmmm, not yet, we had a 3 knot current against us but no problem for Mystic. In fact we had that counter current for about half of the 123 nm passage. The channel between Komodo Island and Sumbawa is part of the IWF……the south setting Indonesia Water Flow……and currents can be quite large in these channels…..we had -0.5-2.0 kt adverse current for half the passage, then neutral and the last few hours actually had a 0.1-0.3 kt favorable current. Needless to say we did not make great time…..took us 16.5 hours, 7.5 knot avg speed….we were shooting for 8.0 kt speed…..lousy fuel usage too!! But the good news, we did not see any fish traps….although we did see 6 boats, 2 of which we had to change course to avoid…..we stayed about 9 nm offshore!!!
We came to Satonde, a National Park, about 2 miles across the channel from Kenanga……another very beautiful anchorage…..and the only huge mooring was available so we took it in 90+’ of water!!!! The Park ranger came out to greet us and told us today there is a special, usually it is IR100,000pp to enter but today it is 2 for 1……oh got to luv it……we think the special is for Fridays which is the Muslim religious day and this seems to be a primarily Muslim region!!
So, it was mooring set and passage BM’s poured all by 9:30amish:))))) We both took naps….yep, even Kathy, then we went to explore the island…..there is salt water lake in the crater……not sure how it is salt water but many people come to swim in it…..we gave it a pass…..went back to the small cafe and had a Bintang and cassava chips, had a little conversation as the Ranger spoke a little English and then this teenage cat came to give Kathy love for quite a long time……of course, feeding it cassava chips helped:))))
We did have another gorgeous sunset…….still a reddish glow from a lot of smoke and humidity. Not much of a nature show but we had a fisherman show. About 5pm I counted 10 boats all came out. Two came within 200 yards of Mystic…..each was a wooden motorized outrigger…..2-4 people……they anchored in 100-200’……all hand lining using small pieces of fish as bait…..they were catching small palm sized fish but one caught something around 2’….maybe a Trevally……there was a lot of hoopla over that one…..they were very friendly and all waved and said hello!!!! I don’t know how long they stay out….catching dinner tonight or food for tomorrow or fish to sell in the market????? But something is paying for the gasoline!!!!
One of the reasons we stopped here was to have a view of the Mt Tambora volcano: “the most destructive explosion on earth in the past 10,000 years was the eruption of an obscure volcano in Indonesia called MountTambora. More than 13,000 feet high, Tambora blew up in 1815 and blasted 12 cubic miles of gases, dust and rock into the atmosphere and onto the island of Sumbawa and the surrounding area. Rivers of incandescent ash poured down the mountain’s flanks and burned grasslands and forests. The ground shook, sending tsunamis racing across the JavaSea. An estimated 10,000 of the island’s inhabitants died instantly. (I have seen estimates of up to 50-80k people died from famine and dust that resulted in many of the neighboring islands)
It’s the eruption’s far-flung consequences, however, that have most intrigued scholars and scientists. They have studied how debris from the volcano shrouded and chilled parts of the planet for many months, contributing to crop failure and famine in North America and epidemics in Europe. Climate experts believe that Tambora was partly responsible for the unseasonable chill that afflicted much of the Northern Hemisphere in 1816, known as the “year without a summer.” Tamboran gloom may have even played a part in the creation of one of the 19th century’s most enduring fictional characters, Dr. Frankenstein’s monster. The eruption of Tambora was ten times more powerful than that of Krakatau, which is 900 miles away. But Krakatau is more widely known, partly because it erupted in 1883, after the invention of the telegraph, which spread the news quickly. Word of Tambora traveled no faster than a sailing ship, limiting its notoriety.”
Wow, wow, wow…..who knew 200 years ago……we passed it early on Friday before reaching Satonde…..it looked rather tame and indeed like the whole top half of the mountain had blown off. There were several steam vents going off but we never saw the red lava glow like in Vanuatu!!!
I did the hike up the hill….it was about a 2 mile roundtrip but it was uphill to about 600′ at the beginning…..pretty steep, very hot, and very dusty……but a good little training hike for me. There were some pretty good views of the crater lake and Tambora although the top was all covered in clouds!!
Boat Stuff:
Watermaker: If anyone knows of a good watermaker exorcism please let me know…..we desperately need to get this gremlin off Mystic. The product divert valve periodically sticks so every time we turn the unit on I go into the Laz and check it out….if it sticks you just push the manual button and all is good. Well, today, it stuck, I pushed the brown button and got a huge water shower…..WTH……I thought maybe we had blown a membrane endcap but it turned out to be the fresh water connection coming out of the 2nd membrane had blown off…..we have plenty of these so made a swap and good to go……but still made me empty that side of the Laz and do some hot yoga…..arghhhhhh!!!
Boat Paddle: Our paddle has stopped working so no boat speed readout or a correct wind speed readout (makes you add/subtract in your head depending if the wind is fore or aft…..a real PITA). I cleaned the boat paddle…..you can take it out from the inside and it was full of small barnacles and coral growth…..but it still did not work. So today I put on the scuba gear and went to check it out under Mystic….there were some crud around the paddle but I don’t think too bad…..indeed on the next passage it did not work….ugh!!!! I also cleaned some barnacles off the bottom, the port stabilizer fin and along the bottom of the keel. I then discovered one of our 3 rudder shoe bolts was dangling…..yikes, not want you want to see….and, how did that happen…..they did have to take the shoe off in Bobbin Head…..did the tech not get the bolts/nuts tight???? Well, it took me a few attempts to get the right socket…..the Admiral was doing tool fetch duties….1 1/8″……but eventually got it tight….will have to keep an eye on this one….ugh!!!! BTW, the other 2 bolts were tight!!!
We left Satonde about 5:30pmish on Saturday, Sept 3rd for our 108nm overnight run to Medana Bay…..once again excellent trawler like weather!!! We arrived around 8:15am……about one hour earlier than planned, avg 7.4 kts, planned for 7.0 kts…..had a 0.5-2 kt favorable current all the way……kept slowing down the rpms……perfect!!!!! We hear on the VHF…..Mystic Moon, Mystic Moon, this is Peter from Medana Bay……do you have the coordinates to come into marina as you are heading for a reef…..yes, we do, making the turn now…..oh, good….are you early, we didn’t expect you for a few days…..no, the 4th is our scheduled date to arrive….oh, ok, why don’t you anchor for a bit while we sort it out…..so, we set the anchor and Peter calls…ok, got it sorted, but it will be tight….I’ll pick you up in our dinghy and you can take a look….ok, I go in and yes, it is very doable but a tight squeeze between some boats and right up against the shore…..but the Captain and Mystic do great……as in smart boat goes sideways….TG for thrusters!!!
They call this a marina but it really isn’t much…..but the very friendly and helpful people make up for all that…..we can’t use the power as it is only 6 amps….that barely gets Mystic in the game……water, well, good for washing the boat, but not for drinking….Mystic is going to be sooooo happy……and well, the docks are all beat up and in really bad shape. It’s a good thing Kathy will be here while I’m climbing The weather is supposed to be calm and hot while we are here so hopefully no issues…..fingers crossed. There were some very high winds a week ago and several boats dragged and hit so people are extra vigilant now!!!
We spent the first few hours catching up with a few of the Rally boats…..most are leaving in the next few days but there are few around to keep Kathy company for the next few days. We then submitted our paperwork for the Visa extension……the owners then got us organized…..ok, John is climbing on Mon, Tues, & Wed and Kathy is on her own…..why did she have a twinkle in her eye when she said that……hmmmm. So, let’s have you fuel on Thursday…..they bring in a truck for our 2000 liters…..then on Friday you can go to Mataram to do the Immigration thing!!! Cool!!!
So that’s it for now…….may the force, my legs and lungs be with me the next few days climbing Mt Rinjani!!!!
Hope all is well!!!
John
Mystic Moon
resting on a dock in Medana Bay Lombok
PS: Pictures on a gallery: http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Sumbawa
