From our anchorage in the Island of API, we would dinghy over to the visit the main island to shop and sightseeing.
The dinghy dock to the town. The catamaran is moored stern to the shore and would need to dinghy ashore the same as us, although the ride would be much shorter.
Nearest the dock were the food stalls. We saw so many smiling faces as we went along.
The pale yellow and green woven packages are parcels of cooked rice called Ketupat. The link provides a wealth of information as ’…in every Ketupat served, there’s a story of faith, family, and festive spirit waiting to be told.’
Next to the ketupat are highly seasoned and grilled fish on a bamboo skewers.
The dry market with sacks of things like rice and spices as well as all those goods you use every day.
Beautifully arranged fresh vegetables and fruit.
Traffic jam! There are some cars on the island but, as most people in SE Asia, scooters are the main mode of travel here.
Some type of fresh tuna by the main dock.
Split fish drying in the sun. The distant shore was were we were initially moored.
This was also near the ferry dock and Tim was disappointed to see as the passengers disembarked, the crew swept the plastic bottles and other rubbish off the deck and into the sea. I’ll explain more about this later as the problem is endemic to SE Asia.
There are many small shops at the front of houses, though not as many as there are cats.
This is where a car or truck would come in handy. These guys are trying to load bags of cement onto a scooter. This is their second try.
Drying in from of a shop we found nuts that looked rather like almonds, but they are not! They are Kenari, a nuts that grows on wild trees and can be used as almonds because of their buttery feel in the mouth. Behind the link, is a really good BBC article about how the kenari nut could help save the rainforests. Try asking for products featuring them at your local health food store. :)
We were served Kenari nut brittle on a restaurant dessert display along with curls of candied nutmeg husk, which you will see more about in Banda Neira Part 3. This one is quite long enough.
Part of why it takes me so darn long to write the blogs, I do the research as I write and I should have done at the time.
An entrance to the fort and a link to another view of the history of the Banda Islands at Histori Bersama.
It is hard get your head around the fact that the people we met are not the ancestors of people who lived here during the Dutch invasion in the 1600s. The indigenous people were killed, sent or escaped to distant islands.
If I remember correctly there was one gentleman currently on the island who purported to be a direct descendant.
Having said that, the people we met were welcoming and treated us very well. On our walk around the town, we were stopped by a man who introduced himself as the teacher in a nearby school. He asked if we’d like to visit and we did.
Indonesia is predominantly Muslim and difference in behaviour between the girls and the boys was quite marked.
We were met by laughing curious girls. They either love having their pictures taken or hide shyly.
The boys were very much more subdued, a little standoffish or maybe just shy.
This pose of the girl covering her mouth is something we see quite often from both girls and women.
A new church being built. Not quite the same scale.
School boys sitting the shade.
Old walls hide modern life.
The cats I have seen, and one of the cats you will see. :)
The Cilu Bintang Estate
Enjoying a Bintang Beer on a balcony in the Estate, which also houses a restaurant, with Philip, Tom, Patricia and Claudia. Bintang is the most common beer in Indonesia.
The Part 3 to come is of a walk we did from where we were anchored with Philip and Claudia on Api, the volcanic island.
From Debut, we night sailed to Banda Neira, which is located in the Maluku Islands or Spice Islands in the Banda Sea.
We had another dusk to dawn guest on the passage.
It sat (and pooped) quietly on the aft deck while Tim stepped over and around it during the night to adjust the mizzen.
The arrival was spectacular as we were greeted with the view of the impressive lava flow created by the 1988 Banda Api eruption.
We arrived a day after most of the rally boats. Most boats were moored stern to toward the shore between 2 mooring balls, one fore and one aft, and there was no room for another. Everyone used their dinghy to go ashore to a little pontoon and ramp.
Philip and Claudia on Bruno’s Girl had arrived late the previous day, and wasn’t room for them either and they were put on a regular swinging mooring. Bruno’s Girl is the yacht nearest us in the photo under the starboard gib sheet. They were of two minds where or not to trust the mooring, but wasn’t a lot of choice as the bay as being part of an ancient caldera formed by a huge volcanic eruption, it was very deep.
On our arrival it was decided that we would have to go on a mooring as well, so the marina staff grabbed a mooring ball, it’s line and weight and towed it from one side of the bay. They positioned it next to Bruno’s girl, which good because once we were tied to it, it was easy to tell that, after not very long a time, we were slowly drifting across the bay towing the mooring ball in front of us and getting further and further from Bruno’s Girl.
We dropped the mooring and were then lead to the top of the bay to tie stern to the shore. To accomplish this, you approach the shore stern first. While still underway, we dropped our anchor, and continue reversing, feeding out chain until that we were positioned several metres from shore.
Lines from the stern are take ashore by the nimble Marina staff who clamber through the undergrowth to find a branch or rock big to tie our lines to. We then pull up some chain so that we are suspended between the anchor and the lines ashore.
We came to understand that while we were anchored next to the volcano island, Banda Api, most of the other yachts were moored off the most populated island of Banda Neira. See map at top of page.
The area is tidal and twice a day, the tide would run north then south through the channel between the islands. One stern line or the other would tightened depending on the direction of the tide. This also shifted the stern of the boat, a little to the left and later a little to the right.
Our rudder isn’t hung from the back of the boat; it’s actually over a metre further forward and quite a lot of our stern is above the water. The bit of stern above the water is called the ‘counter’. It might look like we are very very very close to coral head behind us, but we aren’t really. The water is so clear that things appear much closer than they actually are, so we were actually only very very close. ;D
Nearby was this lovely little house very likely used for tourism. We were sad/disappointed to see all the plastic garbage festooning the branches at low water.
The plastic problem is terrible in Indonesia and much of South East Asia. It varies from place to place, but the people often seem oblivious to the problems it creates from damaging their tourist market to micro-particles in the food chain. When a ferry arrived at the island and all the passages had disembarked, Tim witnessed the crew sweeping all the plastic water bottles and bags left onboard into the water.
Despite all the effort that went into to getting us tied to shore, we weren’t comfortable leaving the boat for long periods, so we got our lines back onboard, hauled up the anchor and ended up….
… here. We were I was giddy with delight.
We anchored on the eastern end of the bay, facing the black lava flow that we had passed when we arrived.
We were the only boat there until Bruno’s Girl joined us a few days later.
Bruno’s Girl, the lava flow on the left, taken on one of my many snorkels along the shore.
I’m a simple soul when it comes to snorkelling. I like to meander along slowly and see what there is to see. From the beach to the point, there were nice rocky reefs with patches of sand between.
The water could be a little murky, but after several days I knew…
… which rocks to look between to find the moray eel that lived there….
… I noticed the sea cucumbers that put out a fancy black and white ruffle from their mouth to clean the algae off the rocks for breakfast, lunch and dinner…
… and the Lion fishes that came to the same patch of sand to hunt everyday. Lion fish are native to these waters and have predators that will keep them in check.
The Spice Islands have a long interesting history and today’s Banda Neira is too good to rush so, Part 2 of this blog will be coming soon.
We are cruising Indonesia on the Sail 2 Indonesia Rally. A rally is a great way to experience somewhere like Indonesia, which is our first experience in the Far East.
The rally organisers have provided an introduction to and information on travelling and cruising in Indonesia. Raymond, a native Indonesian, helps with clearing in and out of the country, and arranging and renewing visas. There is a lot of bureaucracy and requirements can change so it’s great to have someone that knows the ropes and is looking out for us.
The main religions in Indonesia are Muslim and Christian. They sometimes live in the same villages, in their own areas in Debut, but it seems to vary from place to place. There are villages or towns that are all one or the other and everyone seems happy. We are careful to show respect to the local inhabitants through our actions and dress.
Having said that, halfway into the rally, it seems that no matter how we try to blend in, we are strange and exotic to them. They do not meet many Caucasians or English speakers and they are hungry for photos with us and a chance to practice their English.
The rally brings in some money through tours and lavish dinners, but more importantly to the communities, the hope of attracting more tourism. Many of the places we have and will visit are off the normal tourist routes.
Everywhere we’ve been has welcomed us with open arms and great pride is taken in showing us their culture and their country. We are very fortunate to have this experience.
Our itinerary.
Wonderful Indonesia is a site with gorgeous photos and shows many of the best places and things to see, though not necessarily by boat!
Our first stop in Indonesia was the town of Debut, in the province of Maluku. Tual is the normal point of entry for yachts entering Indonesia but the rally arranged for Customs and Immigration to come to us in Debut.
Once cleared in we were invited ashore for the Opening Ceremony.
The dock and central meeting place of the village, dwarfed by the church at the top of the road.
There was one gentleman who helped with the disembarking and tying up of the dinghies. He was always there at whatever time we arrived or departed for the whole of our visit. He’d also indicate to us which direction to head going back to the boats. When the tide was high, we could go straight over rock reef between our anchorage and the village. When the tide was low, he’d describe the direction for us to with emphatic gestures to ensure we’d miss the reef.
Once we were all ashore, we waited behind the coconut frond ‘ribbon’.
There was some milling around as we waited for all the dingies to arrive.
It began with the trumpeting of a conch shell.
The conch sounded, the ribbon was cut and we were officially welcomed.
Each person on the rally was presented with a scarf.
These are our scarves. You’ll see the design in the blue scarf repeated a little later.
The Welcome Dance.
The band.
A welcome song in Indonesian.
A sneak shot of two of the previous singers and a happy moment when tradition and present day embrace.
This young lady was one of six dancers. She was the one the others looked to check what came next. All the movements were graceful and precise.
We adjourned to the shade for refreshments.
Next was a walk through the village to the sightseeing part of the ceremonies. The road from the dock went straight up to the church. On each side of the road were streets of houses with, we were told, Muslim on the right and Christian on the left.
At the church we turned right. More about turning left later.
This was fascinating. The cassava/embal flatbreads are a staple of the Kei/Kai islands. A mould is used for the shape and pattern. I have learned since that they are cooked as well and maybe this drying is the final step for longevity.
Remember the design on the blue scarf? Embal is food and art in the Kei Islands.
Across the road, bags of embal for sale. I expect there would be all sorts of things for sale on the table if it wasn’t for the day’s celebration.
Ayu, our guide and friend, has a lovely blog she has created to help promote the Kei Ilsands. There is lots about the local food including embal - Kei Island Guided Tour by Ayu.
This is a fascinating article on Cassava found while I was trying to find the name for this type of bread. Eat more cassava!
We walked down the hill, across the river and ….
… on to the waiting yellow buses for an island tour.
We visited fresh water filled caves. There were two caves. One for drinking and one for swimming. The most impressive was the bathing pool.
We were warmly welcomed to Letvuan…
… with traditional music,…
… beautiful dancers and much enthusiasm from all.
Our tour continued with a visit to a bomb shelter. It was part of an air field built by the Japanese during their occupation of Indonesia in World War 2, March 1942 to September 1945.
Our next stop was to a coffee plantation and we were encouraged to participate.
The trees produce two types of coffee bean on the same tree. Sadly, all I could remember of the information was that a pod had either 2 or 3 berries and each was a different type one being Arabica ( for sure) and the other ‘possibly’ Robusta.
My coffee tree, which was labelled with my name so I could check on it on future visits. You can see I’m a little frazzled. It is hot and humid!
The last event of the day was a gala dinner on the waterfront over looking the river and seaweed beds.
All this was setup for us! All around the seated area were the people of Letvuan, some with food to sell or the local coffee, which is rich and sweet.
I bought a tray of little fried parcels filled with vegetables and fish and something bright pink and sweet in a bag. The fried parcels definitely won.
No Indonesian event is complete without a sound system and enthusiastic DJs.
There were many dances showcasing daily activities and industry, like sugar cane.
The Coffee Dance enacting is the land clearing, planting, care and harvesting of the coffee bean. Very good advertising.
After the performances, we had a wonderful buffet dinner before becoming part of the performance ourselves.
We were led a winding path between and around the tables by the performers.
Some time later, it all got wild.
Lots of people love karaoke, and Indonesians definitely do. During dinner we were aware of people singing along but it wasn’t until we heard someone singing a Celina Dion song followed by a Whitney Houston song, both surprisingly well sung, that we looked to see who it was. It was Ayu! She is a great guide but she is a great singer too.
I hardly need to say that a good time was had by all.
The next morning with Philip and Claudia, a driver and Ayu we set for to shop and see some of the local sights.
Our first stop was a fresh food market. It was the first day of rain we’d seen in a very long time.
The market was very good.
What was different from anything I’d seen before were the meal-sized piles of prepared vegetables. Noodles (mei) or rice (nasi) and sautéed vegetables, seasoning, and crispy fried shallots topped with a fried egg is called Mei or Nasi Goreng. I suspect it’s one of Indonesia’s best know meals.
FYI, onions as we know them are very expensive. They are probably imported and a cheaper local option is shallots.
Claudia and Philip getting their shopping too.
In the front row from bottom to top, candlenuts (which are cashew nuts like but not as rich), potatoes and galangal (like a mild ginger) or maybe fresh turmeric (though I think I see the yellow of turmeric on the upper shelf), a big bowl of ginger root, garlic with two white onions (I think, perched on top), little red shallots and finally lemongrass.
What I am sad not to have photos of is the fresh tempeh and fresh tofu in beautiful displays. I will try to do better next time. :)
We had lunch at Forganza, a very beautiful restaurant perched on the shore of a bay. It is famous locally for special events like wedding receptions.
We had a lovely lunch with various seafood, stir fried vegetables and rice.
The deck adjacent to the restaurant where, I’m sure, many wedding, birthday and anniversary photos have been taken. Poor Tim on his own in the middle. :)
A functional photo! This will seem very strange to those from North America, Europe and the UK, but all or at least many toilets, in homes and public areas have not a bathtub, but a reservoir for water used to flush the toilet. At dry times of year, water can be scarce. Having a large dedicated tub of water to tide you over a dry spell is really good planning.
Me, Ayu and Claudia next to the bridge to Tual where we turned around and headed back to Debut.
Back onboard, I put into action what I learned at the market.
Mei Goreng was on the menu with our newly bought vegetables. We often have this with tofu or tempeh as a change from fried egg.
Tempeh is fermented soy beans and as the least processed soy product is supposed to be the best nutritionally. This is tempeh that I thinly sliced and marinated in oil, soy sauce and a bbq dry rub from The Bin Inn in Whangarei. After a few hours I fry it till it’s dry and we use it like you would meat in a sandwich. Yum.
I will talk more about tempeh later. I am on a huge learning curve.
At the start of the blog, I mentioned, ‘turning right at the church’ on first day out in Debut. Two days later, we turned left and found a local industry.
Probably up to 15 people work here making fishing floats out of coconuts.
The assembly line.
The finished product.
The cleaned coconut shells have a loop of rope attached and are sealed with a latex glue. Useful, better for the environment and a sustainable source of income. They are not short of coconuts.
Further along to the left we found the local shop.
Behind the eggs, from left to right, is black rice, white rice, mung beans and a big bag of raw peanuts; in the pink bags are shallots and garlic; the bags against the wall are different types of rice. With some greens from the garden, you could make a variety of meals before heading to the supermarket.
The currency here, the rupiah, has been interesting to get used to. The smallest note is 1,000 rupiah and the largest 100,000. Today 100,000 rupiah is $6.58 US.
The rupiah (symbol: Rp; currency code: IDR) is the official currency of Indonesia, issued and controlled by Bank Indonesia. Its name is derived from the Sanskrit word for silver, rupyakam (रूप्यकम्).
Our last night in Debut was the closing ceremony. Village officials closed the event and we had last meal of tasty and interesting local food.
We were sad to leave Ayu and now I wear with pleasure a handbag (made of tree bark though you’d think it was leather) from Papua where she studies.
We left the next morning in search of clear water where Tim could clean the hull.
The place we found had a beautiful white beach. It wasn’t until a day later that I realised it was the beach that we had been to before with Ayu on our shopping day.
It looks quite different if you arrive by sea rather than land.
The blue and white sand is very lovely.
The sand is so soft and white that it seems almost impossible.
I was interested to see this guy decanting pre-mixed petrol and oil into old water bottles. Scooters and motorcycles are the most common mode of transport and one can buy this ‘pre-mix’ at many places along the side of the road. It seems like anyone at all can sell it.
While I was taking photos, Tim and Philip disappeared into the distance.
We had a couple of memorable moments in our time there.
The first was this. Between where the boats anchor and the beach is a long rocky reef. The tide rose and fell between one and two metres. At low water the white sandy beach had a rocky ledge and the reef further out was only half a metre (maybe) under the water.
We learned much of this when friends went ashore for dinner (high water). After dinner when they got back to the beach, they had to haul their dinghy down over the rocky ledge, discovered the off shore reef when they came to a sudden stop on it, and had to wade over to hunting for patches deep enough for the dinghy to get over. It took awhile but they got back safely. We were glad we were there to watch it, if only for moral support
The second was that we had a meal ashore for lunch that did not agree with Tim. He felt pretty awful and this kept us in the anchorage an extra day. It also made him empathise strongly with Claudia who has bouts of seasickness when the conditions are wrong.
We did leave eventually and our next stop was an over nighter to Bandaneira.
