Wandering around Maurole

 

 

The Rokatenda mountain continues to smoke. Sometimes it looks as though it's gone to sleep and then the next, poof, a huge cloud appears. I took a photo from internet (left) to show what it looked like from this anchorage when it first erupted – must have been quite an amazing sight.

We ventured into the village yesterday but it was really far too hot to be wandering around at midday but we managed for about an hour. Paul has feet like leather but found that his bare feet on the hot tar was not a fair challenge and couldn't wait to sink them into the cooler sea. Not that that is all that cool either, it's a bit like swimming in a super huge bathtub.

 

One interesting habit we've noticed in these parts is that homes have tombs right outside their front doors. We first came across this while in Aitutaki in the Cook Islands and thought it a strange custom then but it's also very prolific here. I'm not so sure I'd want to have my great, great grannie as a feature in my front garden; roses seem to be a much better idea in my view. And what happens to grannie if you move house? No thanks, roses for me please.

 

Paul had arranged to fill a few jerry cans with diesel but, as there isn't a petrol station here, we discovered that it's simply bucketed out of a 40-gallon drum. It seemed clean enough but he'll thoroughly filter it just in case. Filling up with diesel in Indonesia has become a bit problematic ever since the Bali bombings so this appears to be the norm. As long as it's clean, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

I took this photo of a peculiar fruit which I bought at the market and would love to know what it is. It looks a bit like a sleeping baby armadillo and has a similar hard scaly shell. Inside, it has two or three segments of firm white substance with a large pip and the closest fruit I can think to compare it to is a lichee but not quite as juicy. Any ideas?

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Satellite dishes were prevalent

The school children rushed out to greet us

A typical house with bamboo walls

The anchorage with Rokatenda behind

Fishing boats in the village

Returning from an all-night fishing trip

 

A Perfect Day (almost)

Instead of going all the way through to Maurole (or Mauseme – not sure which name to use; each and every place has either no name or two different ones) we stopped about three-quarters of the way along at a gorgeous secluded bay which housed only a few fisherman's homes and appeared to have good snorkelling with incredibly clear waters.

There were quite a few other rally boats there which immediately gave us all a great excuse for a get-together on the beach for sundowners enabling us to meet a few other people previously unknown to us.

As usual, we watched the gorgeous sunset but this time, we had the added vista of the Rokatenda volcano, the one that had erupted just two weeks ago on the island of Palue.  It continues to send out billowing clouds of ash so obviously remains quite active.

The following morning, all the boats departed leaving the entire bay to ourselves. Friends had mentioned that they'd had a great dive at the corner so we dug out our long hidden dive equipment, spent an hour or so checking that it was all still in working order and then submerged ourselves in clear, warm waters into an underwater paradise.

What a thrill to be down there again, we've missed it. The fan corals, in particular, were amazing and we dived along a small wall discovering several new fish, corals and sponges. The conditions were ideal. We don't have a compressor on board so just hope now that we'll be able to find someone who can fill our cylinders for next time as we definitely want there to be a next time.

When we surfaced, we noted that the winds had picked up (windy days have been very few and far between since we've been in Indonesia) so we quickly washed all the gear, pulled up the hook and set off for the last 10 miles in near perfect sailing conditions. To make it even better, we had three gorgeous dolphins playing around our bow for a good proportion of the time – it's always such a delight to watch them jump and flip in the bow waves.

Well, all good things have got to come to an end and that they did with a vengence. We struggled for close on two hours to set the anchor once we arrived at the village anchorage. No matter what we did, we dragged every time leaving us too close to the shallows despite dropping in waters that really were far too deep. As it was a lee shore, dragging towards it can be a bit worrying.  However finally, I think it was after the eighth attempt, we found a spot a little shallower, dragged about 20 metres and then stuck with still six metres under us – perfect. By this time, the sun was setting so we cooled off with a drink in the cockpit and watched the volcano puffing away. Phew, we deserved that drink, continually pulling up 70 – 90 metres of chain on our boat is not an easy task!

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Maumere and festivities

We finally got to go to one of the gala dinners. Our outboard issue caused us to miss five of them but we've now caught up and quite happy to join in the festivities. Some of the other cruisers are a bit gala'd out but we were definitely looking forward to this one.

 

It turned out to be a wonderful evening with great food and some really good local dancing and singing. The local authorities combined the arrival of the rally with their annual arts and culture festival in which they'd put a terrific amount of effort. It was thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. One improvement might have been a few less speeches; boy, do they love their speeches. One after the other, various dignitaries stood up to talk but, as it was all in Indonesian, it didn't mean much to any of us.

The following day we were meant to visit the refugee camp where the families evacuated from the devastating volcano on the nearby island of Pulau Raja are being housed. But confusion reigned as to the time and the bus left before we got there at the prescribed time. I'd dug out a bag of clothes to donate but, sadly, have now no means of getting them there.

Instead, we went into town to the market. Local markets always prove to be interesting sights and this one was quite good, despite the fact that it was built on mud with torn and shredded canopies for shade and protection from the elements. Fresh veggies and fish for the larder.

Next was lunch at one of the local establishments – an incredible bargain. I had mia goreng ayam (fried noodles with vegetables and chicken) for just $2 including a coke and possibly the best dish I've tasted to date. I couldn't have bought just the coke for twice that price in Australia!

Next stop, Mausambe, about 30nm away.

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And, oh yes, another sunset photo

The Tri-Coloured Lakes of Kelimutu

About a third of the way along the northern shores of Flores going westwards, is the town of Maumere and just outside that is an anchorage at Sea World Resort where the next festivities were to be held.

The anchorage, a bit like the last couple we've tried, was not an easy one. Again, it was incredibly deep until it gets too shallow right at the shoreline. By the time we arrived, the front row was taken up with all the cats and we attempted to drop anchor behind them but it was either too deep or the holding was impossible. After four attempts, we finally held in 30 metres in a very crowded anchorage but we seem to be lying OK.

The first thing we heard was that Laurie Gray, a British / South African couple, were looking for someone to share their car for a tour of the tri-colour lakes of Kelimutu. A golden opportunity as the advertised tours were just far too pricey – we grabbed the offer which was for the following morning.

The volcanic mountain of Kelimutu is a major tourist destination with its three crater lakes of varying colours. The amazing thing is that, despite the fact that they are at the crest of the same volcano, the colours of these lakes are all different and change periodically. No definitive reason has been given for these changes other than volcanic gases. The two together that are separated by a shared wall, are typically green/blue or red. These are named Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (Lake of Young Men and Maidens) and Tiwu Ata Polo (Bewitched or Enchanted Lake). When we visited, the first was a beautiful deep turquoise while the adjacent was a pale, milky turquoise. The third, named Tiwi Ata Mbupu (Lake of Old People) separated by a short distance, was dark green, almost black.

For the local people, these lakes are mystical and sacred and its not difficult to understand why.

The trip up was three and a half hours through some gorgeous mountain scenery where we passed magnificent terraced rice paddies. We also saw coffee plantations, cocoa trees, clove trees, bananas, coconut palms, fields of chillies, macadamias and some things we just didn't understand. Fortunately, the car came with a driver, without which, I doubt any of us would have dared to get behind the wheel to navigate between a gazillion scooters, chickens, goats, cows, pedestrians, dog and hundreds of other very wayward drivers. We took turns sitting up front; the 'suicide seat'. However, our driver was excellent, no dramas.

On the return trip, we stopped for some lunch/dinner which our driver had wisely advised that we order on the way up to ensure that we'd get it that day so, upon arrival, we had only a short wait before it was served.

A great day, thoroughly enjoyable and definitely worth the long trip there and back again.

PHOTO ALBUM:

(thanks to Kerstin for a couple of the photos)

Cocoa Trees

Traditional Indonesian Houses

Our tour guide?

Notice the smoking volcano in the distance

Taken from internet to show differing colours

Two "no name" anchorages

Once we had left the beautiful island of Kroko, we travelled westward along the north coast of Flores Island passing more volcanic mountains, some obviously dormant but others showing definite signs of recent activity.

It seemed to get greener and greener the farther along we ventured and we finally stopped with Lop To at an anchorage which was purported to have excellent snorkelling but they were unable to happily secure their anchor so chose to give up and sail overnight to Maumere instead. 

 

We, on the other hand, chose to stay. The water was incredibly clear but it certainly wasn't a good place for anchoring. There was a very narrow strip where it was about the right depth but a few metres either side, it was either far too deep or far too shallow. After a couple of attempts, we held. We then settled down to our sundowners and to dinner but Paul wasn't very happy when the wind shifted to an onshore breeze taking us closer to the shore with it's hidden coral 'bommies'. In the end, he stayed up all night on anchor watch – not fun. There was a beautiful full moon which made it easy enough to see how close we were getting to the shore but it's no fun worrying all night long as to whether we'd have to pick up the hook and move off or not.

Fortunately, it all worked out and, apart from a very tired husband, it was quite a pretty spot. Despite this, we weren't prepared to suffer another night so decided we'd move on to another spot about 20nm further westwards.

There was no nearby village at that anchorage but as we were preparing to lift the anchor, we were visited by a very old chap paddling a tiny dugout who looked as though he was the poorest of the poor. He was hoping we could give him a mask and snorkel but we had none to spare so gave him a t-shirt instead. His eyes lit up and he produced an enormous toothless grin – I guess he really appreciated it.

The next anchorage, too, proved to be somewhat problematical. It was so deep that the depth sounder wasn't registering as we entered the bay and then suddenly it was only a couple of metres. We managed to drop anchor in amongst some huge old coral masses but it disappeared into a hole so the question was, are we going to be able to pull it up in the morning?

Snorkelling wasn't brilliant; most of the coral was quite dead. This part of the world suffers from cyclones at certain times of the year and with those and a few tsunamis over the past couple of decades, the corals have been severely damaged. Then, too, with the local population dynamiting for fish, it doesn't have much of a chance.

Although we dropped anchor is 30m, this is how shallow it was behind us

Our concerns about retrieving the anchor came to naught, it lifted easily and we were off to our next destination, Maumere.

Moving Along

Our outboard motor was delivered back to us purring like the proverbial kitten. What a thrill. Its first task was to scour the coastline for our dinghy wheel which we'd lost the night before when trying to launch in fairly rough conditions. Once we'd realised it was missing that night, we searched back on our path but could find no trace of it. The tyre would cause it to float so we felt confident that we'd soon see it but the currents were quite strong. The following morning, we again spent an hour or so but no luck. Now we no have no easy means of dragging our dinghy ashore, damn. There's always something.

We gave up and Kupang was finally left behind.

On the brighter side, getting our outboard back meant we could try to catch up so we weighed anchor around noon heading northwards towards Lembata where there should still be some festivities going on. We thought we'd get there within 24 hours but the winds were far too light so, no, we'd miss that gala dinner as well so there seemed little point. Instead, we decided to move on around to a little group of islands we'd heard were lovely. One of our unwritten rules is to never to enter a strange port at night but we had friends at this anchorage who gave us waypoints and assistance and there was a good moon, all enabling us to make our way around and drop anchor about 10:30 that night.

What a gorgeous spot! Crystal clear, warm waters, a beautiful sand spit where we could have our evening sundowners and reasonable snorkelling. And, to top it off, there were at least three active volcanoes within sight, far enough away to be of no concern but amazing to see so much volcanic activity in one small region.

To add to that, we met up with our German friends aboard Lop To who we last saw in Fiji last year. They were the couple who so kindly lent us their camper van to tour New Zealand's South Island. They aren't even on the rally so we were so surprised to hear that they would be in Indonesia at the same time. Meeting them meant playing pitanque (French bowls) on the beach which we last played on the tiny little sand spit at Minerva Reef. Here was a much larger sand spit but the sand was a bit soft so the balls just sunk. No matter, it was great to have a go at it again.

I joined Lop To for a visit to the nearby village, a very poor and dusty little community where there appeared to be no visible signs of much food cultivation. They are primarily fishermen and, sadly, use dynamite to achieve this. One hesitates to think what will be left for future generations and seeing the number of children in the village compared to adults..... hmmm. Indonesia already has a population of around 250 million spread over 17,500 small islands, a lot of them dry and mountainous.  We discovered other regions to be quite fertile but for those in this village, life seems very harsh.

The nearby coral wasn't exciting and, while snorkelling, we saw very few fish but it was great to get into some lovely clear and warm water, the first in a very long time.

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