You may remember me commenting back in June on the reinforced trade winds during our long trip up the Queensland Coast. Well, we are now close enough to the Equator as we sail down the north side of the island of Flores in Indonesia to have left the trade wind areas. Day after day we experience mirror calm seas, blue sunny skies and the lightest of sea breezes.

Indonesian freighter

This might sound lovely, and it is after the relentless blasting we received back in Oz, but it is also a bit of a trial as we have a long way to go. Indonesia is a huge archipelago. About the width of the Atlantic but filled with scattered islands and very little wind to make any progress. As part of the rally, we have various stops where the local authorities have arranged events for our entertainment (in the hope that we will spend some money, and spread the word about the advantages of visiting these lovely islands). So we have to keep the pace up. Not only that, but the Indonesian government will only allow us 3 months in the country without negotiating some tricky bureaucracy. So, although we would like to stay a while in these idyllic anchorages, with crystal clear waters and friendly locals, we have to keep going.

On a sailing boat, you can't do much with 2-3 knots of wind and half a knot of contrary current other than put the engine on to make the 30-40 miles between anchorages (a far cry from the 70 mile daylight trips we managed in Queensland). Poor old Polly the Perkins engine has been shaken out of her torpor and never had to work so hard. She has put in a spirited performance so far whilst using the substance the locals sell as 'solar' (Indonesian for diesel fuel). It is undeniably cheap, at around 45 pence a litre, but it is sold by the bucket from tanks outside roadside stalls which would probably not meet first world storage standards. To collect the stuff, the accepted system is that you pick a canoe based hawker who looks trustworthy, hand over your jerry cans and cash and cross your fingers that he will return with something that will not choke your engine.

Local fisherman

We generally try to spend a few days in a one spot for some stocking up so that we can develop a bit of a relationship with a fisherman/hawker. These boat boys can get a little competitive, in one anchorage, we had two canoes hanging off our sides throwing their 'letters of commendation' by previous cruisers into the cockpit before we had even got the anchor down. Should you pass this way, we can particularly recommend 'Memen' at the Sea World Resort off Maumere, he is a nice man, honest and his prices are better than 'Jacobus' who has managed to get ahead in the PR stakes on the cruiser nets, even though his prices are higher.

These local vessels are very different to those of the Pacific Islands. The island freighters are constructed in wood and have elegant upswept bows. The sailing canoes use any available material for their rigs while the ear bendingly noisy motorised ones use a cheap, unsilenced Chinese single cylinder pounders that looks like they were made by a blacksmith on an anvil and rev at about 300 RPM flat out. Once started by the hand crank, these fiendish devices can be heard coming from 5 miles away.

Other than fish or a few carvings they do not often have any stock, so we start small by asking them for some fruit and vegetables. These have to be paid for in advance so that they can go and buy the stuff from the local market. This can be a bit of a lottery as you never know what standard of produce is going to turn up, however if everything is satisfactory, we will ask for some water, which is delivered in 19 litre plastic bottles. Only then do we go for the big buck stuff such a fuel and inland tours. We could spend a couple of days hunting around on shore in the heat of the midday sun looking for the local suppliers and possibly having to pay white folks prices, but using the canoe borne visitors is much easier and helps spread the benefits of tourism.

Lewoleba market

We do occasionally make the effort to visit the local markets ourselves so we can see what is available and pick our own fruit and vegetables. Travel to these markets can be via foot, bemo (the hot, poundingly noisy, dwarf minibuses described by Ruth last month) or - much more fun - motor scooter. The place is alive with these devices and they are used for the transport of everything, fish, vegetable, families - and tourists. If you stand by the road, any passing scooter with a single occupant will stop and offer a lift for a negotiated fee. The fee is normally way higher than the bemo, but they will take you where you want to go, there is no hyped up sound system and the air conditioning is terrific. As the tallest Indonesians are significantly shorter than either of us, we make a comical sight as we tower over our drivers collecting flies in our teeth. It is not quite a dangerous as it sounds as the speeds are low due to the crowded roads and potholes as long as you mind the hot exhaust when dismounting to avoid a nasty burn.

The Islands

Lewoleba Girls

The Indonesian islands are delightful. The country is a long chain of volcanically active islands on the edge of one of the world's major tectonic plates. The magnificent scenery is reminiscent of the Marquesas being mountainous with deeply eroded valleys and crevasses. We have plenty of time to enjoy the scenery as we slowly wander westwards. The land all looks very dry on the north side - pale brown grass dotted with trees - and we have had very little rain. I suspect the original forest is long gone, and there is always smoke rising from areas of controlled burning.

Regrettably, the anchorages are generally not so nice, as the mountainous scenery is replicated below the water with deep, steeply shelving, coral bound anchorages with plenty of boulders to ensnare ones anchor. The light winds are generally onshore during the day reversing to offshore at night to keep you on your toes. It is wise to arrive with plenty of daylight so you can spot the coral and rocks on the way in as the place is barely charted. The paper chart we have been using is based on surveys in the 1890's with updates "From Netherlands Government Surveys in the 1920s". As the area is not very interesting commercially, there is little incentive to update the surveys.

Beaked Coral Fish

We have had some close calls with unmarked areas of coral, and on one occasion would have grounded with a resounding clang should another vessel not done us a favour by doing so just a couple of hundred metres ahead of us. The deep anchorages are a bit of an issue as our anchor windlass is human powered and lugging 75m of chain and anchor up from 27 metres is no fun. See the comments below in "What Broke".

The water can be astonishingly clear, we assume because of the dry climate and lack of silt and mud from river runoff. We have seen the anchor in 20 metres of water and the coral is the most diverse range of the healthiest polyps we have seen in a long time. We have commenced snorkelling again after prolonged break in Australia due to the crocodiles. Sadly there are not so many decent fish. These are populated islands and there is not much flat land for farming so the fishing is intense and merciless. Even the whales are not safe, we have seen many pilot whales, but they are hunted by some of the villagers.

The Land

Inland Flores

Not only are the coastlines spectacular, but also the inland areas. The island of Flores is fascinating, mountainous with a volcanic topography. A chain of cones stretches the length of this island provoking complicated relief of Y shaped valleys and knife edged ridges. Ruth, with her enthusiasm for things to do with volcanism was keen to visit the famous multi-hued crater lakes of the Kelimutu volcano.

We arranged a tour to the lakes through the Sea World resort at Maumere with our new found friends Peter and Misty from the yacht 'Tamoure'. As the clouds move into the mountains later in the day, we had to set off at 5am with Rudi, our driver. The roads are narrow, the drop-offs are high, the rules of the road are very different so we were not going to attempt to drive ourselves. The journey through the country at that time of the morning was worth the early hour and for me the best part of the trip. As the sun rose with dawn, it lit the mist lifting off the crests, ridges and ravines with an orange and pink hue. The villages were coming to life as the market stalls opened for business and the water buffaloes (the local tractors) were walked to the paddy fields to start the days toil. An aspect which was striking was the verdancy of the lush jungle and forest on the south side of the island compared with the arid, scrubby north side. A feature of the prevailing south easterly winds at this time of year. I suspect the north side gets its fair share of rain during the monsoon judging by the size of the dried out river beds.

Two of the three lakes at the Kelimutu volcano

We arrived at the crater lakes in good time with blue skies, cool temperatures and good visibility (others have not been so lucky). The moonscape around the summit gives the area an ethereal atmosphere especially when the odd cloud brushes across the peaks in the cool breeze and the sun's shafts add luminescent pinpoints to the lakes. The three crater lakes periodically change hues depending on the whims of the underlying geological processes. During our visit, two of the lakes were an iridescent turquoise whilst the third was a chocolate brown. It is thought that the lake's colours are in constant flux due the changing content of the dissolved minerals. We understand that a few years ago, the lakes were blue, maroon and black and back in the 1960s were blue, red and brown. A fascinating area and day out.

The People

The people of this area are quiet, friendly and a mix of Roman Catholics and Muslims. One is reminded of this when the many mosques start their quadrophonic calls to prayer at 4am every morning. As it has been Ramadan during August, the chanting has been particularly enthusiastic. Whenever we drop the anchor, we will often be visited by a number of the locals in canoes who want to sell fish, trade and fetch 'solar', water, fruit or vegetables for us.

Lingeh visitors. Note Ruth having a language lesson on the stern platform

As in all the islands we have visited in the last few years, they are quiet, friendly, hospitable and would love to chat. Unlike most of the islands we have visited before where we have normally had a language in common (English, French or Spanish), we have very little Indonesian other than a few pleasantries and the locals have little English there being few tourists in these parts. So things can be a bit stilted, but we get by with plenty of smiles, patience and a dictionary.

In one village (Lingeh if you should pass this way), the kids love visitors and race out in their canoes to welcome the arrivals. Some yachties don't much care for this (the canoes can be a bit unsympathetic on hull paint and the large number of visitors can be intimidating), but we had a lovely afternoon with eight canoes hung off our stern as we swapped pencils, language lessons, fruit and good times.

Life with the Rally

The welcome at a Rally event

The 'Sail Indonesia Rally', which we joined as a method of negotiating the Indonesian customs and immigration regulations, continues to provide a mixed bag of rewards and consequences. The organisation of the Rally leaves much to be desired. Information on Rally events is from time to time patchy and inaccurate and some of the representatives are rather unhelpful. Having had these minor whinges, we have enjoyed the Indonesian organised Rally events. They are laid on by the Town Councils as an opportunity to show a little of the local culture, raise the profile of the area and bring in some much needed tourism. The events tend to follow similar lines of up to an hour and a half of welcoming speeches in Indonesian. There is always a bit of tension amongst the cruisers during the speeches as a cruiser will be picked asked to get up in front of the assembled masses and reply on behalf of the visitors with an ad hoc speech. The speeches are followed by demonstrations of music, dancing and singing by local groups and a free Gala dinner with Indonesian cuisine. Weavings and carvings are also on sale from stands in the area. The music and dancing a completely different from the Pacific Islands that we have visited over the last couple of years.

Rally Vessels.

One of the many styles of Indonesian Dancers

The other Rally participants on the hundred odd other yachts are a fun and sociable bunch. But having so many other Rally vessels can make for some tricky times in the anchorages, particularly as some of the crews are not very experienced and many of the anchorages are difficult being deep, shelving, of limited size and coral bound. There have been a number of incidents of boats coming together. We cancelled a village tour and banged out of Lembata early after an unpleasant few hours trying to prevent two vessels from destroying each other in their owners absences (who were shopping at the market). During the day, the wind got up against a strong current and all the boats in the anchorage started sailing around their anchors. The two yachts concerned managed to do a fair amount of superficial damage to each other before we and a couple of other cruisers got there and tried to do something. Tricky as the anchor chain windlass on the boat we adopted was disabled, there was no key in the ignition and we could not find any fenders. Fortunately someone had the mobile phone numbers of the owners called them and invited them to return ASAP. We felt that there were four boats anchored too close to us and although we had arrived first, we chose to leave rather than ask them all to move. Subsequently, we understand that one of the yachts ended up ashore on its side.

Indonesian multi-mode transport

In another incident, we elected to anchor on the outside of the pack in anticipation of the action that was to come. And boy, what fun! A boat which shall be nameless (but they are very embarrassed about the whole thing) arrived and decided to anchor in the middle of the pack. They backed up to dig in the anchor. When the individual on the wheel thought the boat had stopped, he/she put the throttle into neutral and went for a wee. Sadly, the vessel was still in reverse gear and continued to trundle backwards, running over their dinghy line, getting a prop wrap and stopping their engine. They had by now dragged onto another boat (whose owner was having lunch with us at the resort ashore) which also started dragging onto a third vessel. The owner dashed out to his vessel, started his engine to regain control only to have his engine stall due a fuel blockage caused by dirty fuel from Kupang. The arrival of a number of dinghies from surrounding concerned owners managed to sort out the mess while we continued with our lunch on shore.

What Broke

We who were 'oh, so smug' last month as we had little to report got our comeuppance this month.

Lebolewa fish market

The Crew. Those of you who follow our travels may be familiar with our regular ailments. Some of the old favourites have come back to haunt us. Ruth has managed put her shoulders out and is confined to light duties such as steering, lifting cups of coffee and sail hoisting. I have managed to put my back out again, fortunately not in a major way but in such a way that I can operate the manual anchor chain windlass, Ruth's normal role, when hoisting the anchor from the considerable depths around these parts.

The Depth Gauge. Our depth gauge finally wrapped in its hand after playing up for the last few months. We had purchased a new transducer back in Oz with considerable difficulty as no Ozzie chandlers seemed to be able to provide one, and we had been given a major runaround by Marine Megastore back in the UK. Here is some advice, do not buy anything online from Marine Megastore, they will gladly accept the order and take your money even if they will not have the item in stock for months. You will then have to chase them several times for the refund. We eventually had to ask our favourite chandlers, Caters (in Opua, NZ) to oblige which they did as efficiently as ever. We had not been able to fit the new transducer in Australia because of time constraints, currents, murky waters and the crocodile risk. The new transducer is now fitted and working like a champ.

A Flores tractor

AIS. In the nautical world, there is a new wonder system called the "Automatic Identification System" (AIS). Using this AIS, vessels (it is compulsory of ships greater than 300 tonnes and voluntary below) can transmit their position speed and heading to other vessels with a suitable receiver. It is much easier to use and interpret than radar and can automatically prioritise possible collision threats to the boat. We always try to do a significant improvement to the boat every year in addition to the routine maintenance, and as we will be sailing through the dreaded Straits of Malacca later this year (through which a large portion of the World's shipping regularly transits), we thought we would install an AIS receiver. We fitted a highly recommended and popular unit back in Darwin which initially worked well but, sadly, a few weeks later it has started playing up. The Indonesian Customs system does not understand the concept of repaired/replacement units and would charge us 40% tax on a replacement. The New Zealand manufacturers have been helpful and are sending me revised firmware to install on the receiver to keep it going. With luck, we should be able to download the firmware when we upload this page.

Oil Filters. Out in the wilds, yachts have to be self-sufficient and carry enough spares to get themselves out of trouble. Plenty of spare oil filters are one of the essentials. Having witnessed some Rally yachts get themselves into difficulties by only having one spare filter, I was feeling quite smug with my seven spares for Polly the Perkins. As we have been motoring a lot lately, we were due an oil and filter change and I was disturbed to find that five of my spares were the wrong size. We had been supplied with the incorrect ones by a New Zealand company. I am now a bit nervous as all the local shops look at me blankly when asked if they have any suitable replacements.

Culinary Delights.

The culinary delights of the month would have to be the Indonesian food. Delicious (a great improvement on the lap-lap in Vanuatu last year) and cheap.

Next Month

We will continue to move west along the Flores and Java Seas to Lombok and the famed Bali, tourist Mecca (we are in a Muslim area) of South East Asia.