First Impressions of Indonesia

We really feel like we have entered a different world here. Rob and I have never travelled in Asia so it is all new to us. Travelling the last few miles into Tual harbour, the Asian styled architecture was the first thing we noticed. Being the end of a particularly severe dry season the plants are quite brown so it looks somewhat barren. Indonesians have a habit of just throwing their garbage in the streets and in the sea. The harbour water and shore are strewn with garbage. As we were anchoring the Muslim call to prayer could be heard over a loud speaker system. That happened regularly during the day, including at 3 am. 82% of the population is Muslim.

The trip from Thursday island was 5 days for us, Fri afternoon until 3pm Wed. That is good time for Maggie although the rest of the fleet had arrived by Wed morning. They had more time to get organized before activities started. The exciting part of the trip for us was catching our first Spanish mackeral. It was delicious for lunch that day and still lots went into the freezer. That fish bit the hook right when we called Ottawa on Thanksgiving, unfortunately.

We were lucky that customs could make it to the boat that day for a thorough inspection and lots of paperwork. Then we had an official welcome at the king's residence with dancing , music and dinner. We had several Indonesians, including 2 young women from the tourist dept, with us during our time in Tual. It was a big help to have someone translating for us. They said they appreciated the chance to practise their English. We were the first English speaking group they had helped since starting to work at tourism. Only about 10 boats a year visit and not any resorts that we noticed.

Thursday was spent touring by bus. I thought the clearing in procedures were finished Wed but the first 2 stops in the morning were at customs and then immigration. The bus pickup had been at 9 but it was 11:45 before all was completed. And this was with Luc as our agent from the BPO to expedite things. An Australian boat in the harbour said that it took them 3 days. We had been forewarned that Indonesia is very bureaucratic.

After the paperwork we visited a high school, seeing several classes and a tour of their facilities. We all felt like celebrities with the students cheering, waving, and asking for photos of us with them. It looked like everyone had a cell phone. They also wanted to practise their English. The first words they must learn must be "Hello, Mister. How are you? What is your name?"

From the town of Tual we travelled to a smaller community where we watched the preparation of traditional food and then had the dishes for lunch. The staple item is mbal (sp?) which means a root from Bali. We would call it cassava. It is ground and dried and then cooked into a variety of forms. It looks like flour but needs no other ingredients before baking or frying. In addition to that, we had a seaweed salad and fried fish. The whole western side of the harbour is covered with floating plastic bottles that are used to harvest the seaweed. At another town we watched knives and machetes being forged. Rob purchased one at the market for $7 for working on fish.

The group went for dinner at a local restaurant with a buffet of local delicious dishes. The bill was about $4 each. Now that is about 40,000 rupiah, the local currency. It doesn't take much to be a millionaire here. After dinner one of the tourist girls took us to her family's cafe where there was a band, karaoke and beer. That was a treat in mostly dry Indonesia. The music was super, also.

On Friday we had another full day's outing scheduled to include swimming and snorkelling. Now that the weather is warmer we were all looking forward to getting in the water again. Once again, the logistics gave us too much waiting around. The boat that was picking us up was late getting started, then needed fuel and then got stuck at low tide. the 10 am start became 11:30. We decided to stop at the island where we were having lunch first, but the men were at prayers, so another waiting time. The Muslim village was interesting to see, however, and the lunch good. There have been so many children everywhere we have been. I felt like the Peid Piper wandering the sand streets. By the time I arrived back at the Big Man's house for lunch there were dozens watching us eat. The average age in the country is 26.

After lunch we went for a swim at a beautiful, uninhabited island, a spot we could never get to with our own boats. It was inland surrounded by high rocks. By the time we got to another spot to snorkel, it was starting to get dark and cold. That was a brief dive. We'll have to try again at another island.

Sat morning was market day to stock up on fresh supplies for the next passage. We all left that afternoon. It is another 650 nm to Bau Bau, in Sulawesi. Right now we have finished 150nm in the first 24 hours which is good. During the week the winds are forecast to be coming down gradually. We are going to try leaving the spinnaker up all night tonight. Hope we don't regret that.