A Taste of Indonesia

Sailing through the Flores Sea from anchorage to anchorage, we are sampling the wares of Indonesia’s aromatic amphitheatre. From Komodo Island we back tracked a little to the lively port of Labuan Bajo, on the north-western coast of Flores Island, one of the few islands that has retained its Portuguese name. The sail is bracing with southerly winds of 22-30 knots and strong counter tides, hampering our forward progress.  The port, teeming with beautiful Indonesian boats, is tricky to navigate, especially in the diming sunset light. Fortunately, Rob and Louis make an expert team. We anchor beside our good buddies on Seabird and dine with them ashore. A feast of Indonesian flavours – with casava chips and a spicy dip to start, fish stew, fried rice, juicy pork noodles and sweet and sour cucumber salad to follow – arouses our senses.

Labuan Bajo is a city with all the attendant trappings. Western shops, dive shops, resorts, and tourist paraphernalia line JI Soekarno Hatta, the city’s main street.  The marina is state of the art, with flashing lights, noise, and sleek modern facilities. However, just outside the city limits, evidence of erstwhile traditional village life remains. Joe, a passionate cook, George, under duress, Hedley, happy go lucky, and I hire a driver and interpreter to go to the Waeksambi local market on the outskirts of the city. Fruits, vegetables, grains, and wares are displayed here, there, and everywhere. Stalls with farmers, their wives, children, parents, and cousins peddling, preparing, shelling, and peeling are laid out along the dusty, dirt road as well as in the nooks and crannies of tumble-down sheds and yards. It is a voluptuous, visual, and visceral spectacle! Hens cluck, rice is sieved creating a percussive rhythm, vendors call out in raucous cacophony, feet shuffle along the gritty ground, and sweet smells stimulate the nostrils. Ofan, our interpreter, is fantastic. He negotiates prices for us, describes the taste of various fruits and vegetables that interest us and often explains how they are traditionally eaten or cooked. Joe is in his element, squeezing a piece of fruit, smelling a grain, sampling a tasty morsel. He waxes lyrical as we buy tamarind, cinnamon sticks, pepper corns and coriander seeds. Everything is fresh, hand-picked and caringly displayed or prepared. Our purchases are greeted with ever widening smiles of appreciation and interest. George is the bag carrier, not happily, but very ably! Hedley asks, “Can we go and buy clothes now?â€? We bring the boys to a knock off clothing stall and they merrily choose shirts and sweaters, delighted with their deal! As I write, they are sitting in the cockpit looking very swanky - Hedley in his new dark green “very comfyâ€? t -shirt and George in his very colourful collared shirt featuring palm trees, sunsets, and glorious water!

All day Louis has been researching diving and snorkelling opportunities with the Komodo Dive Centre in Labuan Bajo. The next morning, we dive with them off the coast of Komodo Island and he proclaims it to be one of the best dives ever! We see Manta Rays, and Turtles, exploding schools of reef fish of every hue and design swim across our masks unperturbed by our presence, and healthy coral of all shapes and sizes. Sophia (Swedish) and Tomas (Italian) lead the divers and Michelle (Chilean) takes Joe and Hedley on a snorkeling extravaganza. It turns out that Hedley must be half fish! He free dives constantly exploring the depths below and has vowed to take a diving course when he returns home to Ireland.

Moving on we set sail for the idyllic bay of Giliawa Laut. Setting sail is merely an _expression_, there was absolutely no wind and glassy seas, so we motor sailed the entire way! George and Hedley were sent to the bow to watch for shallow water as Rob gingerly navigated through the Shot Gun Pass – a very narrow, shallow, and bumpy pass. Thankfully, the wind was not an additional factor. We anchored in the small bay of Giliawa Laut at 10:16 and were all in the crystal-clear water with fins and snorkels on within minutes. Adalia II joined us shortly afterwards and came to anchor with mainsail flying. Later we asked them why, they answered that with the focus necessary in the pass they had simply forgotten! We won’t tell anyone! We invited, James Julia and Johnny for lunch in the steaming heat. We dined lavishly. Conscious of the forward motion necessary we lifted the anchor at 15:15 and sallied forth.

The nighttime destination was Banta Island, a small island off the east coast of Sumbawa. We were delighted to learn that Ruth II were already anchored there, so we radioed ahead to invite them for sundowners. We dropped anchor a short while before sunset and welcomed the crew of 3 Irish couples aboard for an hour and a half of great, honest to God Irish craic!

Banta will live on in our memories as one of the most idyllic spots we have witnessed on this rally. Green craggy hills, rocky, sheer cliffs, pristine water, uninhabited, untainted by the plastic pollution we have observed in perfusion elsewhere. Rob said it reminded him of Scotland, but in the heat!

Joe and I were excited to get into the galley to work on dinner! We had all the wonderful vegetables we had bought in the Waeksambi market to explore. Together (mostly Joe!) we created a delicious aubergine/eggplant curry accompanied by a grain mixture of white rice, red rice and cracked corn. The culinary triumph was interrupted, unfortunately, by the anchor alarm! In the pitch black of the night, with a mere sliver of a waning crescent moon, Rob and Louis, reset, and reset the anchor again. Attempt 4 grabbed and we all retired to bed.

Next day, 28^th September, we left the beauty of Banta bound along the north coast of Sumbawa to Gunning Tambora. Tambora is a live volcano and at its summit reaches a height of 2935 meters. The caldera near the top contains a saltwater lake, fed by a deep underground Aquaphor. Many of our OWR friends hiked up and swam in the lake and enjoyed the spectacular views. We elected to keep moving. We anchored close to the Kawienda high security prison, with its high walls and bright lights and left early next morning. All the while there has been little wind and flat seas, so peaceful days are spent aboard, reading, snoozing cooking and cleaning. Joe and I teamed up in the galley again for a rendition of Beef and Taro Rendang – another delicious tour-de-force!