Aug 18-21
Hi All,
Mausembi: We left the Maumere anchorage around 9am…..wow, what a treat……sleep in, do some internet, upload pictures to the blog, post a blog, leisurely breakfast, FRESH WATER SHOWERS……LIG!!!! It was another trawler like day…..<5kts wind and calm seas….we made the 37nm passage in about 5 hours…….that pesky adverse current is slackening……our books say it will soon turn around and be a favorable current for most of the way to Singapore. We were the only boat in the anchorage and it was a little rolly (most of the anchorages are roadsteads so it gets a bit rolly from the afternoon onshore seabreeze) so out went the flopper. We were right by a fairly large town but it was well hidden amongst the trees. No one came out in their canoes so we had a very enjoyable time on the flybridge watching all the fisherman do their thing and many, many children playing on the beach. BBQ pork chops and a movie and early to bed……I did get in two naps also!!!
Money: I have not written about the exchange rate but it is 1 Indonesia Rupiah to USD0.000076……yep, do that in your head:)))) The denominations go $1000 IR (7.5 cent) 2000 IR (15cents), 5000, 10,000 ($0.75), 20,000, 50,000, and 100,000 ($7.5). 1,000,000 IR=$75!!!! When we paid for the 330 gallons of fuel in Kalabahi we paid close to 13 million IR!!!! It’s taken a while to get used to the lingo….they call 100,000 a ten and 50,000 a five……..most beers cost about 40,000 or about USD3!!!
Rally: Well……this too fast of pace Rally has left us behind…..we are definitely one of the last boats now. Many boats, including our friends on Bella Vita, have done overnights to Labuan Bajo which is next to the Komodo Park and the dragons. It’s a bit risky due to all the fish traps et al so the strategy is to go 7-10 miles offshore in 5000’+ water to avoid the obstacles…..so far no reports of any issues!!! Stacey is going to take an open water scuba class so we are very much looking forward to having her as a dive buddy. We will get to LBJ in about 5 days and have scheduled 3 days of diving and a couple of days to see the dragons. By that time we will be almost a week behind the Rally. The other S2I Rally is starting to catch up and we’ve met/seen a few of their faster pace boats. I’m sure in a few days we will be meeting more boats from that Rally. There are probably now 80+ boats spread out over the north coast of Flores.
In a previous post I reported the other Rally had 19 cases of malaria…..well, that was wrong….it turns out that about 3 people did get malaria and were very sick, while the others tested “positive” but were never sick. A lot of conspiracy theories on what really happened but I doubt we will ever know…..too many rumors. But, it did heighten our awareness and we are now very vigilant about mosquito protection!!!
Religion: I’m not having much success getting to understand the different religions. The language continues to be a barrier for most conversations. Portuguese traders and missionaries came to Flores in the 1500’s and the region continues to be influenced by the Catholic and Protestant religions. However, there was a program in Indonesia to relocate people from the overcrowded islands like Java and thus many Muslims are now living on Flores. The people all seem to get along amazingly well……hmmm!!
OFFICIAL, OFFICiAL, OFFICIAL……. we have now traveled half way around the world……the furthest east in the Caribbean was St Anne Martinique at 121 West longitude and we are now at 121 East….whoa…..not bad for a girl from Nebraska and this boy from Kansas:))))) We were in Martinique on 4/4/2012 so about 4 + years ago…..since then we have traveled over 21,000nm, for a grand total of almost 42,000nm……yikes!!!!
Riung: We were off around 7:30am from Mausembi and arrived in Riung around 2:30pmish…..a run of 51nm…..we did have at times a favorable current!!! We first went to an island called Rutong which is supposedly a nice snorkel/dive area and a good day anchorage and supposedly a good overnight anchorage in calm conditions….well, it was blowing 10-15G18……like where did that come from….so it was not so settled and we decided to come in close to the town of Riung.
We really liked Ruing and soooooo glad we have slowed the pace way down. We went into town…..wow, were the people very friendly, especially the kids. There was a long pier and even a dinghy dock…..whoa…..it was a bit rickety but still, the first one yet!!!! The first thing you notice when you go in are many houses built on stilts on the beach. It was low tide when we came in and the ground was dry but when we came back 4 hours later the tide was in and the houses were over water……Kathy felt a good deal more poverty than we had seen before. There are several shops, even a bank and many restaurants as this is a popular tourist attraction for the National Park. We went to the market and had some more fun with Google translate……found out avocados are not in season but when we asked when is the season Gigi translated back panama city every time……hmmmm!!!
A friend had told us to go to the Del Mar restaurant and hotel…..oh, what a gem and we had a fabulous late lunch. We had fried rice, fried noodles, vegetables (mainly eggplant) and BBQ chicken…..we thought about BBQ fish as they showed us part of a trevally and then a 6-8 lb yellow fin tuna, all chilled on ice….but they wanted to sell the whole fish, which was way too big for us. It was the best food yet in Indo…..and 4 beers….all for about USD15. But the best was the conversation with the owner, Al Itchan, and the manager Anton. They both luv Bob Marley…..Anton sporting a full set of dreadlocks…..and many of the colors in the restaurant/hotel were yellow, red, and green…..there was even a picture of Bob smoking. Anton told us Reggae music is very, very popular here in Indonesia.,…..who knew!!! What a delightful time, and to see two enterprising young men develop a very clean (no trash), elaborately landscaped and well run lodge and restaurant was wonderful! We enjoyed our time very much with them!!!
We were able to sit up on the FB and watch the sunsets……very beautiful in the anchorage. At dusk we saw many jumping big fish……about 3′ long……a long silver fish….maybe a member of the mackerel family or a drummer…..one even jumped over our bow at eye level. He jumped 15′ high and covered 20′ of distance….whoa….can you imagine that fish brain when it saw Mystic…….holy crapola, much jump higher and longer:))))) We were also treated to watching the fisherman come out at night. About 30 mins after sunset maybe 20+ boats, some motorized some in canoes, would light some kind of light….we saw flames then a bright glow….so maybe oil or gas. We think fishing for squid or just night fishing using the lights to attract the fish, as it is indeed so much cooler at night!!!!
OK……I will stop the blog here as it is getting a bit long!!! To be continued…..
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO!!!!
