Aug 21-23
Hi All,
Bari: We left Riung fairly early at 6:30am for the 60nm passage……got in around 2:45pm…….avg over 7 kts…..we had from 0.1-0.8 kt favorable current……now we’re talking!!!! And, it was PERFECT TRAWLER weather:)))))) Our sailboat buddies are getting quite tired of the lack of wind and our silly grins so we have just gone quiet on the subject but we are shouting it out in the blog:))))) We are soooooo enjoying this after all the high winds we had last year in the el Nino year. But, we know from reading people’s past blogs it can and will blow here at some point, but we are just soaking in these very calm conditions for now!!!!
I would call this anchorage enthusiastic children central. We had many children paddle out to say “hello”, “hey mister” and “what’s your name”……after that it was basic sign language to communicate. They so reminded us of the children in Fulaga Fiji 2 years ago……so excited, for the most part polite, and soooooo curious!!! We traded pencils with rulers and lollipops for a coconut…..now to remember how to open one!!!!
Once again we had a fabulous sunset……we watched a rather large fishing boat come in laden with coconuts…..they anchored maybe 300 yards away, put out a stern anchor, then proceeded to husk about 200 coconuts, throwing the husks in the water……they just floated away with the tide to wash up some where!!!! This village was very active, several supply ships unloading and fisherman coming/going all the time. The sunset was gorgeous again…..and similar to all the anchorages the sky was full of fruit bats….whoa…..very healthy and the most we have seen in a long time on any island…..obviously, plenty of fruit and insects to eat on Flores for these guys!!
Trash: I have mentioned trash a few times …..but the plastic/paper is everywhere……in the villages and lots of plastic in the water……probably the worse we have seen since the beaches in Panama and Bahamas……not a pretty sight. It sort of reminds me of America in the 1950-1960’s after the invention of plastic. America cleaned up eventually through lots of campaigns and incentives and hopefully Indonesia will eventually learn. We have heard of programs on Java so hopefully they will reach these outer islands soon. The kids yesterday just threw the lollipop paper on the deck…..we said no and they quickly picked the wrappers up and handed them to us so someone has taught them a little but it did take us saying no!!
Gilibado: We left Bari around 8:30am for the very, very long 12 nm passage:)))) But, we needed pretty good light as there were a lot of reefs that we had to avoid. We have been using this program called Oviltalmaps (thanks Stacey for the tip) which displays Google Earth images along your track…..very cool!! Gilibado is a beautiful anchorage……right up there with Krokos as the prettiest yet. But, the task today was to clean the side of the boat. It seems in the last few weeks there has been a rapid growth of this green grass like algae…..in some spots we had 6-8” growth….reminded us when Les and I cleaned Mystic after the 19 day passage from Galapagos to Marquesas except that was 12″+ long…..yuck. But, I used a new putty knife and it came off with a little effort….I think I’ve got a good techniques now…..it was mainly on the port and stern!!!
The evening nature and sunset show was in full force. First a beautiful sunset over a volcano…..then a bird show…..neon green underbody with yellow-brown wings and top body……insect eaters by the way they flew…..a gazillion of them and all chattering……then it was the monkey show on the beach looking for food…..maybe 8-10….mainly males marking their spots on the beach….a few aggressive moves to ward off the females and young and other males…..it was such a treat to see all this for sure!!!
We have decided to go on into Labuan Bajo a day early, on Tuesday, Aug 23. We don’t dive until the 25th but the internet/cell service the last few days has been spotty and we want to have good coverage for family reasons….more on that later, but a good thing!!!
Hope all is well!
John
Mystic Moon
Labuan Bajo Flores Indonesia
GO MYSTIC GO!!!!
PS: Pictures posted in Gallery: http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/North-Flores
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