Day 114, Year 3: Pink Beach to Gili Lawa Laut
Date: Hari Minggu (Sunday), Bulan Agustus 31, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Windy and Beautiful; Winds SE 15-20
Latitude: 08 degrees 26.856 minutes S
Longitude: 119 degrees 34.115 minutes E
Location: Gili Lawa Laut, Komodo Island, Indonesia

I think we have turned a corner. We are slowly, ever so slowly leaving the Komodos and when we do we will be leaving Eastern Nusa Tengarra behind. The next island is Sumbawa, then Lombok, and then Bali. And we are getting reports that the next island of Sumbawa is very different from where we have been. We know that Sumbawa is a very poor island, but what we didn’t know until this evening is that boats that are ahead of us have actually had their lines cut right off their boats. This means that all of the ropes that hang from our mast and raise and lower our sails (those are the halyards) and the sheets (ropes) that pull our headsail and staysail from side to side, could be cut and we would not be able to sail. Not to mention the cost of replacing those lines. So we are now seriously considering an overnight sail far offshore that will take us from the eastern most port on Sumbawa Island to Lombok. It is less than 200 nautical miles, but if we do that from port to port, it will take
us four days and lots of worries at night about what might be taken from our boat while we are sleeping. We have had no problems like this up to this point in Indonesia and it is really a shame to think that this kind of activity on one island could blemish the reputation for the whole archipelago. There were also reports of theft from boats that took the southern route from Kupang to here. Those were the surfers trying to get the waves that hit the southern coasts of these islands, but evidently they encountered theft from people posing as the Indonesian Coast Guard. As we suspected, it is probably best to come through this country following the rally route. This way we have the protection of numbers as well as the Indonesian representatives. Raymond and Dewi Lesmana are our “front men.” They reach each rally destination just before us and prepare the local people to welcome us. Sometimes that has meant that they have prepared the locals to charge us a little more than the local price for fuel and that infuriates many, but we figure that the increased price is a small price to pay for being welcomed in this beautiful country.

We actually got to sail today from the Pink Beach anchorage on eastern Komodo to this little island on the northeast coast. Gili means island and we are anchored in Gili Lawa Laut (laut means marine). This is the premier dive site in Indonesia, so there are lots of dive boats here, but the snorkeling is just so so. Shirena stopped in the island just south of here, Gili Lawa Darat. Safina went on to Monco Bay to join Scot Free II. We snorkeled here today plan to take a long dinghy ride early in the morning to do a drift snorkel between Lawa Darat and Lawa Laut. Low tide is at 6 am, but unfortunately we are in a new moon phase which means tides and currents are almost impossible to predict here. Two different dive boats in the anchorage today got the timing all wrong and had divers drifting very far afield. Their formula is that the least current is one to two hours after low or high tide. Our experience tells us that in the past couple of days, the least current is closer to 30 minutes
to an hour after high or low. So we are going to go with our “local knowledge” and see what happens. We have other cruisers here in the anchorage that we can call on our portable VHF if we get stuck somewhere, so I think we will be fine. After our early morning drift snorkel between the two islands, we will come back to Windbird and head to Monco Bay. The snorkeling there is supposed to be over what are referred to as the Japanese Gardens. Evidently the coral looks like it has been planted and spaced perfectly. There are not supposed to be the same number of fish that we have been seeing, but it sounds delightful. From there we go to one more island, then on to eastern Sumbawa and on across to Lombok. It sounds like a ‘drift sail’ across many miles to me. And I can’t wait to reach Gili Air in Lombok. I have heard such wonderful reports of this place and of Bali. I’m ready to get there.

080831 Day 114 Komodos, Indonesia–Pink Beach to Gili Lawa Laut

Day 113, Year 3: A Walk on Komodo Island
Date: Hari Sabtu (Saturday), Bulan Agustus 30, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Rain Overnight, but Beautiful Day
Latitude: 08 degrees 36.352 minutes S
Longitude: 119 degrees 31.479 minutes E
Location: Pantai Merah (Pink Beach), Komodo Island, Indonesia

It is the dry season here and the locals tell us they never have rain this time of year, but we have had rain every day since we arrived in Labuan Bajo. We thought we were not going to have rain yesterday, but during the night we had a nice little down pour. We woke up this morning to low clouds hanging in the mountains surrounding us, but by the time we picked up anchor and headed north, the clouds dissipated and it was another stellar day. We arrived in Telok Slawi on the northeast side of Komodo Island by 9 am and worked our way behind the island of Punja. This anchorage is called Pink Beach or Pantai Merah, but so far we have failed to see the ‘pink’ in Pink Beach. Safina was already here and Shirena came in with us. Shortly after we arrived we got in our dinghies and headed into Soro Lia Bay to the Komodo National Park ranger station at Loh Liang. It was a long dinghy ride but the views of Komodo Island from Soro Lia Bay are striking and our walk on the island more than compensated for the long ride. We were connected with a ranger when we arrived and we set off on the “medium level” hike. We were immediately struck with the difference between Rinca and Komodo. Where we hiked on Rinca the land looked like African savanna. On Komodo, we were immediately in forest land teeming with Timor deer and lots of birds. There are no monkeys on Komodo, so the bird population thrives here. And although dragons are bigger here, there are not as many as on Rinca, so there are more deer.
At the same time, the abundance of ‘food’ is why the dragons are bigger here. As we walked we saw lots of deer and wild boar, but no dragons. Iefan was our main guide and Usman was the guide that followed us. They never let you walk here without one guide in front and one in the back. They carry the big sticks to deal with the dragons should there be a problem. But we had no problems, just a delightful walk with lots of animal sightings.

By the time we returned to Windbird, it was too far into a rising tide to be able to snorkel off Pink Beach. Actually there was quite a rip tide there as we passed in the dinghy, so we are going to try an early morning snorkel here before heading further north. For the next four days, our daily objective will be to find the best snorkeling spots in which to anchor. We read today why the fish life here is so abundant. The Komodo islands lie in the pass between Flores and Sumbawa. The north to south currents are strong here and bring in sea water that is very nutrient rich. Therefore, we are finding abundant sea life. Unfortunately the information about where to find the sea life is not as abundant, so we have to search. Hopefully tomorrow’s search will be successful.

080830 Day 113 Komodos, Indonesia–Komodo National Park Walk

080830 Day 113 Komodos, Indonesia–Lehok Uwada Dasami to Pink Beach, Komodo Island

Day 112, Year 3: Beautiful, Peaceful Southern Rinca Island
Date: Hari Jumat (Friday), Bulan Agustus 29, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Beautiful Day; No More Dark Clouds and Sprinkles
Location: Lehok Uwada Dasami, Rinca Island, Komodos, Indonesia

We spent a very peaceful day here in Lehok Uwada Dasami. We tried to do a high tide snorkel on the bommie where we saw the unbelievable underwater life yesterday, but the current was just too strong. I was the sacrificial lamb that got in to the water, but I could only hold my own. There was no way I could swim forward. So we abandoned that idea and with Robert and Tina of Shirena, we headed to across the bay to the shores of Nusa Kode which is the island that sits in the middle of this bay.

It turned out to be a nice snorkeling area with lots of fish and even turtles. It was nothing like we saw yesterday, but it was good for a starter for today. We then went back to our boats to do daily chores and to prepare for the afternoon return to the bommie where we snorkeled yesterday. We returned there at 3 pm which we determined to be low tide. We simply have to use our observations for exact tide times and there is no “official” guide. Our timing was perfect and we all spent an hour in fantasy land. I have never even imagined swimming with so many fish. Today there were hundreds of fish in any direction we ventured. What an experience. I’m not sure we will ever see anything like this again in this lifetime and it was absolutely killing me that our underwater camera is not working. Tina does have an underwater camera and she did get some pictures today. I can’t wait to take a look at those.

We had Tina and Robert over for dinner and spent a lovely evening with them. One of the greatest things about cruising is meeting other cruisers and sharing these special parts of the world together. Jean-Pierre and Colette on Safina left early this morning but we will catch up with them tomorrow. This has been one of our favorite anchorages this cruising season, putting it right up there with Lizard Island. This one was even more special, however, as we had it all to ourselves. There was one live-aboard dive boat in the next little nook, but nothing else other than monkeys and dragons to distract us. Tomorrow we will move seventeen nautical miles to Komodo Island to an anchorage known as Pink Beach. We talked to Safina on the radio tonight and they reported that they arrived there today and find it a beautiful anchorage as well. Maybe it really does get better than this.

080830 Day 112 Komodos, Indonesia–Underwater at Lehok Uwada Dasami, S Rinca

Day 111, Year 3: WOW!
Date: Hari Kamis (Thursday), Bulan Agustus 28, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Beautiful Morning/Afternoon; Dark Clouds and Sprinkles Late
Latitude: 08 degrees 46.529 minutes S
Longitude: 119 degrees 39.231 minutes E
Location: Lehok Uwada Dasami, Rinca Island, Komodos, Indonesia

We keep thinking that things can’t get any better. We have seen such beauty, but today we saw even more spectacular beauty than we have experienced in our voyage to date. Wow! Our early morning walk on Rinca Island was not as good as our shorter walk yesterday afternoon. But we did see mating Komodos and another very large male and a smaller female. We also saw Timor deer, but we didn’t see any water buffalo this morning. But even though we didn’t see everything, the walk was wonderful. You get a real feel for the life here as you walk across the island.

Once we returned to Windbird, we pulled up anchor and headed for the south side of Rinca Island. Safina and Shirena came with us but we left Scot Free behind. They are going to make a bee line for a beautiful anchorage in northern Komodo and stay there for a week. They should have really good snorkeling there and we will be there in three or four days, but will only stay two days in that area. Our course led us south and the scenery was stark and beautiful. This area reminds us of the Galapagos with a little Greece thrown in. Once we reached our bay on the south side of Rinca we searched for a place to anchor. There were no other sailboats here, but there were two live-aboard dive boats on the two moorings that are here. These boats are just like the one we traveled on for five days in the Galapagos-another similarity. Once we anchored we headed to a bommie in the middle of the bay to snorkel. The water is cooler here, so we were prepared for a short snorkel. Just as we were getting in the water, a diver from California surfaced close to us and told us that we were in for a treat. He explained that the water has been a little green here the past couple of days, but that there is plenty of life to view. We got in the water and were immediately transported to a fantasy world. There were sooooooooooo many fish and the coral was just spectacular. There were more anemone fish than I have ever seen and they were so big. And there was coral that looks like an amenone but it has bright white tips. The parrot fish were huge and there were Moorish Idols, and pink fish, and orange fish, and blue fish. A new fish first observed today was the blue tang or palette surgeonfish. This dark blue fish has a bright neon blue design that looks like an artist’s palette and then a bright yellow tail. It is stunning. And the different types of corals and sponges and feather stars were just overwhelming. We saw very small lionfish, huge parrotfish, and the most beautiful and varied coral of any place we have ever snorkeled. So needless to say, we are staying another day and doing an early morning and late afternoon snorkel.

When we returned from snorkeling, we attempted to take pieces of apple to the beach to attract the monkeys. But the tide was too low and there was just too much coral. But our little side trip gave us another beautiful view of the coral just under the dinghy. We can’t snorkel here close to the island as there might be Komodo dragons in the water, so we will just have to enjoy it from the dinghy. Once back on the boat, we saw monkeys on the beach, a Timor deer, and one dragon. We had hoped for more wildlife on the beach, but we can’t complain. All in all, it was one fantastic day.

Safina is moving on tomorrow, so it will be just Shirena and Windbird will be left here to enjoy the beauty. And that we will.

080828 Day 111 Komodos, Indonesia–Lehok Buaya, Rinca Island Walk

080829 Day 111 Komodos, Indonesia–Lehok Buaya to Lehok Uwada Dasami, S Rinca Island

Day 110, Year 3: Fantastic Snorkeling, Komodo Dragons, Water Buffalo, and Monkeys
Date: Hari Rabu (Wednesday), Bulan Agustus 27, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Beautiful Morning; Cloudy Afternoon; Rainy Evening
Latitude: 08 degrees 39.132 minutes S
Longitude: 119 degrees 42.817 minutes E
Location: Lehok Buaya, Rinca Island, Komodos, Indonesia

What a fantastic day! Windbird decided to make a stop at Kelor Island on our way to Rinca. I had read that a couple of years ago there were really nice coral gardens there just teeming with fish and I just had to see for myself. There was a caution in the recommendation saying that the fishermen were winning the battle against those trying to protect the reefs, and when we arrived the first thing we saw were fish traps. So I guess the fishermen are winning. But even with fish traps there was
still some great snorkeling. I saw a few things today that I have never seen before. There were anemones with bright neon green and bright, bright blue bases. They were so bright that they looked unreal. And we saw a small white fish with a bright yellow top and turquoise pectoral fins. I can’t find this fish anywhere in the books, but I will keep looking. We saw Mustache Triggerfish which are just fascinating to watch as their fins flutter as they move through the water. I didn’t know what
they were until I got back and identified them and I am really glad the ones I was following were not mating or guarding a nest. Evidently these guys can bit through metal and can inflict a wound needing many stitches if you get too close to them at the wrong time. Good information to know. And the most outstanding fish of the day was a juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips. These beautiful fish look a bit like a clownfish except that they are brown with white splotches outlined in black. Klinton, Donna
and Gerry’s son on Scot Free, literally jumped ship and came snorkeling with us. We anchored Windbird and then circumnavigated Kelor Island pulling the dinghy behind us in case there were currents and we couldn’t make it around. We snorkeled for almost two hours and then headed to Rinca with Klinton.

Once we got anchored in Lehok Buaya on the north side of Rinca Island, we went ashore to check in with the National Park Service. Scot Free, Safina, and Shirena were all waiting for us on the dock. There was a good sized Komodo dragon lazing on the rocks by the dock to greet us and a family of long-tailed Macaques. These little monkeys are fascinating to watch and they look at you and study what you are doing with great intensity. Once we pulled ourselves away from the dock, we walked to the
park office. Indonesians have learned the value of their resources and are now charging the equivalent of about $38 US for an eight-day pass. Figuring this out was a bit of a hassle, but then we were taken on a two kilometer walk as our first introduction to the island. Raymond and Mister Monco were our guides and both men were actually born here on Rinca. We walked by the housing for Park personnel as well as the cabins for tourists and observed three good-sized Komodos who evidently live right
under the houses that are on posts that are about four feet off the ground. I guess this keeps the wildlife out. We then started climbing a hill that gave us a great view of the housing area and the anchorage. Rinca is a very dry, hilly island. This being the dry season, the hills are a golden brown and the green mangroves around the edges make it quite picturesque. We climbed up and then down to a dry river bed where we saw our first water buffalo. These guys have huge horns and are very substantial
creatures. We walked on and spotted our first dragons in the wild. We actually came upon a pair that was mating. July and August are the mating months, and the pair that we spotted allowed us to walk around them to take pictures and video. The guides carry a long stick with a fork at the end and are always ready to hold the head down of any dragon that becomes aggressive. Actually Mark, Jean-Pierre, and Robert also carried walking sticks today as well as the guides, so we were well protected.
As we walked we saw orange-footed scrubfowl like the ones we first saw in Australia, more dragons and monkeys, but no Timor horses or wild boar.

All in all, today was just great. I feel like I visited Disneyland and Epcot all in one day. We get up early tomorrow to go on the 6:30 am five kilometer walk around the island. It should take us two to three hours. The dragons are much more active in the morning, so hopefully we will see more of them as well as other wildlife. But even if we see none, we feel like we had quite a show today. When we get back to Windbird, we will pull up anchor and head for the Lehok Uwadi Dasami. This is the
southern bay on this island where we have read that we can sit on our boats and watch the dragons, water buffalo, and monkeys all foraging on the beach. It’s a wonderful life out here.

080827 Day 110 Komodos, Indonesia – Kelor Island and Lehok Buaya, Rinca

080827 Day 110 Komodos, Indonesia–Labuan Bajo to Lehok Buaya, Rinca Island

Day 109, Year 3: A Day in the Life
Date: Hari Selasa (Tuesday), Bulan Agustus 26, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Beautiful Day with Dark Clouds and Rain Sprinkles in the Evening
Location: Labuan Bajo Eco-Village, Flores Island, Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia

It has been ages since we have had any rain. In fact, I’m not sure we have had rain since leaving Bundaberg and heading up the coast of Australia. What we are having this evening is just a few sprinkles, but it is a reminder that the rainy season sets in here in October and those perfectly blue skies might have to start sharing the space with a few rain clouds. Of course, by the first of October, we will be heading north to Borneo and I’m not sure what the weather there will be like.

We didn’t move on today. We decided to stay put and go back to Labuan Bajo to do a little fresh food shopping , to go to the internet, and most importantly to get some more money at the bank. Our little cadre of Scot Free, Safina, and Shirena (Tina only today) hopped on one of the local putt-putt boats and chugged away to town. These boats are wooden canoes with one cylinder diesel engines. They hand crank to start the motor and they use a bamboo pole to steer once they turn off the engine.
We got money, found fruits and vegetables to buy, and tried the internet. But is was sooooooooooo slow that it was really impossible to accomplish anything. Long ago we gave up trying to upload photos to the website, but now we can’t even check our land-based g-mail email account. Maybe Bali will be better, and if not, I’m hoping Singapore will have first-class internet. I’m not sure what it will be like in Malaysia and Thailand, so Singapore might be it until we either get to the Mediterranean
or to South Africa.

When you are sailing as we are, the other cruisers become your community. We don’t see each other often, but we do keep up with each other through the radio net each day. This morning we heard that Margaret of Aqua Magic has returned to her boat from a trip to either a doctor or the hospital. The net was not coming through very clearly today, so we are not sure what is wrong with her. But most certainly, she and Patrick have had a tough go of it in the past couple of months. First they landed
on a reef and then Patrick got his hand caught in his wind generator and broke a couple of fingers. Then they ran into another boat while anchoring. Then we heard that he had been sick and just a week ago, he got stung by a Portuguese Man of War. And now Margaret is sick. All I can do is be thankful that Mark and I have been relatively free of major health problems. Donna and Gerry on Scot Free II had a very bad, no good, horrible day today. They had diesel delivered to their boat early this
morning and somehow a five-gallon jug of diesel spilled on their deck and landed on their main cabin settee cushions by pouring in through an open port. Then this evening a Pepsi can exploded in Donna’s hand in the main cabin and spewed everywhere. And then to top it off, Gerry was cleaning the deck and salt water spilled on to the main cabin settee cushions through one of their mushroom vents. I think I would have lost my sense of humor much earlier in the day, but when we delivered some trip
planning information after dark tonight, everyone on Scot Free seemed to have settled into their day of bad luck.

Tomorrow morning we are all heading to Rinca Island. Rinca and Komodo are the two large islands in the Komodo group. Rinca (pronounced ‘rincha’) actually has more wildlife than Komodo, so we are going there first. We will first go to an anchorage where there is a Ranger Station and go on guided walks with a ranger to see the komodos. We will then move around to the south side of the island to an anchorage where we will reportedly see wildlife foraging on the beach. There will be komodo dragons,
wild boar, water buffalo, long-tailed Macaques, wild horses, Timor deer, and brahminy kite eagles soaring overhead. There are also some great snorkeling opportunities and we will make a stop at one small island on our way to Rinca tomorrow morning to see the underwater coral gardens. I think we are the only boat doing this, but we have become addicted to the beauty underwater.

080826 Day 109 Flores, Indonesia–Another Trip to Labuan Bajo

Day 108, Year 3: Arrival in Labuan Bajo

Date: Hari Senin (Monday), Bulan Agustus 25, Pada Tahan 2008

Weather: Mostly No Wind with More Clouds Than Usual

Latitude: 08 degrees 31.019 minutes S

Longitude: 120 degrees 52.124 minutes E

Location: Labuan Bajo Eco-Village, Flores Island, Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia

We arrived in an anchorage about two kilometers from the town center of Labuan Bajo this afternoon. The ‘boat boys” were waiting for us when we arrived wanting to sell us solar (diesel), benzene (evidently this is unleaded petrol), pearls, komodo dragon carvings, and just about anything else you can think of. It is nice in one way to have people who will go get the things we need, but on the other hand it is a little wearing to always be descended upon as soon as you reach a destination. We ended

up hiring one of the boats to take us to the town of Labuan Bajo. It was late in the day, but we got to see the town and had dinner at the Hotel Gardena. Mark and I ordered the snapper hot plate and it was very, very good at a cost of $2 US. Not bad. Labuan Bajo is a crowded, dirty town. Lots of tourists come through here as this is a base for visiting the Komodo islands, but it is a shame that they only see this little segment of Flores. We found it so unremarkable that we have decided to

pull up anchor tomorrow and move on. We discovered tonight when we got back to the boat and paid for the diesel we ordered, plus the beer and Coke we had delivered, that we need more money. These millions of Rupiah just seem to slide right through our fingers.

We’ll talk to our traveling companions in the morning and inform them of our decision to move on. Not sure any of them will be with us tomorrow, but I’m sure they will be following in a couple of days. Within the next day or so, we should see our first Komodo dragons. Can’t wait.

080825 Day 108 Flores, Indonesia–Inca Village to Labuan Bajo

080825 Day 108 Flores, Indonesia–Trip to Labuan Bajo

Day 107, Year 3: Moving Westward @ Forty Miles Per Day
Date: Hari Minggu (Sunday), Bulan Agustus 24, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: ESE to ENE Winds 10-15 Knots; Temps in the 80′s
Latitude: 08 degrees 16.696 minutes S
Longitude: 120 Degrees 24.579 minutes E
Location: Inca Village, Flores Island, Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia

Little by little, we are making our way to the west. We seem to average about 40 miles per day. We could actually go a little further each day, but the anchorage possibilities are just not there. So we inch westward. Today was a fantastic sailing day. We only had 10-15 knots of wind and it was behind us, so we first sailed wing and wing, and then we put out our asymmetrical spinnaker. Conditions were just perfect and we sailed faster than most other boats heading our way today. Now that in
itself is unusual. We couldn’t keep up with Shirena, and their Batavia 40 weighs less than half of Windbird’s weight. But we were right behind them even passing Safina which is a Jeanneau.40. So the captain is feeling pretty good tonight.

Tonight’s anchorage is just a stopping place, so we didn’t venture into town. We had read that Inca (prounouced ‘incha’) Village is half Muslim and half Catholic and that is obvious from the location of the mosque and the church. We had one visitor come out in a wooden canoe to practice his English and he was able to have a good conversation with Mark. Tomorrow we are heading to Eco Lodge resort near Labuan Bajo. We will be able to do our final provisioning in town and might even arrange a ‘pre’
trip to see the Komodo dragons. We talked to Tim on Rendezvous Cay today via our cell phone. He is now in Bali, and he recommended taking the resort’s trip to Rinca Island to see the Komodos. We will still sail down to Rinca, but we won’t have to stop in the anchorage where the Park Rangers are located if we do the ‘pre’ trip. Besides, this little trip stops at one of the most pristine marine park islands in the Komodos for an afternoon snorkel and that sounds fantastic. The little island is
far out of the way that we will be traveling, so this will be our chance to snorkel there. So onward another 45 miles tomorrow.

Day 106, Year 3: A Day in Riung
Date: Hari Sabtu (Saturday), Bulan Agustus 23, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: More Flores Sunshine
Location: Riung, Flores Island, Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia

The Portuguese named this island Cabo das Flores or ‘Cape of Flowers’ for its beautiful underwater coral gardens that looked to them like flowers. Today we went out to the offshore islands to see some of those gardens. We couldn’t get a guide because all were taken with a large group of Italian tourists, but we did find a nice patch of coral and enjoyed our snorkeling adventure. There are more than twenty-one little islands offshore but the government calls this the “Seventeen Islands Marine Park”
to tie in with the August 17 Independence Day. Whether seventeen or twenty-one, the little islands are beautiful. Safina, Shirena, and Windbird left the snorkeling island and stopped by another island with a beautiful white sand beach and some little thatch-roofed huts to have lunch in the shade. Scot Free continued snorkeling and then headed back to the anchorage. Donna’s underwater camera bit the dust today. Her camera is the same Olympus that we “had” but that bit the dust underwater at Kroko
Atoll. Unfortunately, this is Donna’s only camera and she is quite depressed. Her son, Klinton, who is sailing with them right now, does have a good camera and she still has a video camcorder, but like me, she loves taking her own pictures of wildlife. And since we are headed to the Komodos it is particularly upsetting not to have an underwater camera. The snorkeling there is supposed to be wonderful. Shirena has the same Olympus, so it looks like we are going to have to “hire” them to take
the underwater photos and share them with us.

Earlier in the day, before our snorkeling adventure, we took a walk through the Muslim Bugis stilt-house community to get some pictures and we were on our way into town to go an internet caf� and to the market. Klinton went ahead to scout things out and then called back on the portable VHF to let us know that everything in town was closed. Things here are open on Sunday, but not on Saturday. So we turned around and went back to the dock.

After returning from the snorkeling adventure, Donna and Gerry of Scot Free came over to talk about future travel plans. We all have to be checked out of Indonesia by the end of October because that is as long as the government will allow us to stay. There are so many wonderful things to see here but no way to see them all, so we constantly have to plan ahead and make those hard decisions about what is in and what is out. Mark spent the remainder of the afternoon fixing the pump that drains our
shower water and I did laundry. Riung has been a nice stop with a very calm anchorage, but we must move on tomorrow. We will go as far as we can make it toward the northwest tip of Flores and then in the next day or so, make our way down to Rinca Island in the Komodos.

080824 Day 106 Flores, Indonesia–Riung to Inca Village

Day 105, Year 3: Mausambi Bay to Riung
Date: Hari Jumat (Friday), Bulan Agustus 22, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: More Flores Sunshine; Absolutely No Wind for Sailing
Latitude: 08 degrees 24.623 minutes S
Longitude: 121 degrees 01.692 minutes E
Location: Riung, Flores Island, Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia

There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to when the winds blow or from where they blow as we make our way west across the Indonesian Archipelago. Today there was very little wind, but what wind there was clocked around coming first from the south and then clocking around to the north and then back to the south. Regardless, we made it to our destination of Riung. As soon as we arrived, Mark went ashore with Robert of Shirena and Jean-Pierre of Safina to see if they could find “the Pastor.” We had
read an account that said this Polish man has lived here for 40 years and will cook dinner for you in his little restaurant in a hotel. We didn’t know what hotel, but when the guys walked into town, they realized that the word “hotel” was a bit of an exaggeration. This is a tiny little town compared to others we have visited and rough backpacker home stays are as good as it gets here. But they did find the right place. Unfortunately “the Pastor” was not there and with the language differences,
it was impossible to find out when he would return. Robert is from Poland and it would have been neat for him to meet this guy, but that wasn’t in the cards for today. Maybe tomorrow.

We are going to stay here for a day and see if we can find a guide to take us snorkeling tomorrow. We know there is wonderful snorkeling here in the out islands, but we don’t know which ones. So going with a guide would be a good thing.

We walked into town with Scott Free, Safina, and Shirena and got a glimpse of the homes near the harbor that stand on stilts to avoid the water at high tide. There are many interesting things here, so we will do a little more exploring tomorrow.