Lembata Island 7 to 17 August
We intended to sail to Alor but a combination of leaving a day late from Kupang, no wind and a 4 knot current against us made us change course at midnight and sail directly to Lembata Island, the third destination on the Rally Program. Arriving at 7 am we spent the first day just anchoring around the first headland in a beautiful bay were we found a sandy patch between coral. The next day we sailed the 13 miles slowly (but we sailed) to Lebolewa the capital of Lembata and were the fifth yacht to arrive and snatched one of the best spots close to the jetty. Later we discovered that it was also the closest to the mosque and we were woken at 4 in the morning to the call for prayer. Lewoleba is a relaxed town with view of the smoking volcano Ili Api.
For the welcoming ceremonies they drove the entire fleet in open trucks and motorbikes trough the town with police escorts and musik. Everyone was outside their homes and cheered. I have never waved so much in my life and this is how the Queen E II must feel like. For three days we enjoyed traditional dance performances and were asked to join the people on stage. We all did to the amusement of the locals. On the second day local government organized a tour to a small fishing village called Lewolein a 2 hour bad road bus trip away. The people were really friendly with welcome ceremony , dances and a nice lunch. I don’t know what I ate but it tasted yummy. Mostly vegetarian stuff and salsa and fish. We witnessed traditional Ikat weaving( Cotton picking, spinning, colouring and weaving) a very long process. I also bought my first Ikat in beautiful traditional burgundy colours. We were shown tradional food preparations including making cornflakes from a simple corncob. Later we were to witness a traditional fishing ceremony so we gathered at the beach under shady coconut trees and waited. Two fishermen appeared , grabbed a net and went into the water. They put the 50 meter long net in a half circle
from beach to beach and then it happened. 200 locals young and old ran from the village screaming into the water fully clothed, head in and grabbed the fishes with their bare hands and put them inside their clothing. We were asked to join them and most of us went knee deep in and tried our luck. After 7 minutes I managed to grab one little fish about 5 cm long. I looked at it and let it go. In the meantime the locals caught dozens and hundreds of fish. They got out of the water dropped the fishes and started cleaning just with a shell they found .Later we swam and snorkelled with goggles and our traditional swimsuits and attraction of the day for the Indonesians. All up we had a great time again.
For the following day a tour to the whaling village Lamalera (where the locals hunt 15 to 25 sperm whales each year with small wooden boats and spears) was planned. But the bus trip was supposed to be 3,5 hours one way on a bad road with a bus which has seen better days so we gave it a miss and sailed out of Lebolewa early to make our way west towards Maumere. We had a great sail across the bay for 2 hours and then of course the wind died and the ISUZU sail came out. By afternoon we found a nice, well protected anchorage called Tanjung Gedong on the north east coast of Flores. Next day we walked up to the village and were shown around by some friendly locals who invited us into their homes for coffee. The village has no bikes or cars. We shared our anchorage with some other rally boats and in the afternoon 7 people went by dinghy to the next village to see the local high school. The teacher and children were so excited to see us and we had a tour of the school and village. They were very grateful about the exercise book and pens we had as gifts. I had never seen any children so happy about receiving a pen. In the afternoon we snorkelled and witnessed two catamarans who dragged while rafted up. Re-anchored while still rafted up. Well done guys.
Our next stop was supposed to be a day sail (motor) away at Babi Island 20 miles on the charts but for a reason it was not part of any previous rally notes or the 101 Anchorage Book. The reason was obvious. A very deep drop-off and suddenly 2 meters over coral. Let’s go somewhere else. Suddenly the wind increased to 20m knots from the south (our direction ).Wind and tide wrong we sailed back 8 miles to Anchorage 15 from Book called Waimalung and found 4 other yachts here. One more arrived shortly after us and provided good entertainment during anchoring procedure for us. We decided to stay two nights and enjoyed good snorkelling and beautiful sunset rating 9.5 and 1 hour later a full moon rise with similar rating. Its a hard life!
Take care
R&M
We intended to sail to Alor but a combination of leaving a day late from Kupang, no wind and a 4 knot current against us made us change course at midnight and sail directly to Lembata Island, the third destination on the Rally Program. Arriving at 7 am we spent the first day just anchoring around the first headland in a beautiful bay were we found a sandy patch between coral. The next day we sailed the 13 miles slowly (but we sailed) to Lebolewa the capital of Lembata and were the fifth yacht to arrive and snatched one of the best spots close to the jetty. Later we discovered that it was also the closest to the mosque and we were woken at 4 in the morning to the call for prayer. Lewoleba is a relaxed town with view of the smoking volcano Ili Api.
For the welcoming ceremonies they drove the entire fleet in open trucks and motorbikes trough the town with police escorts and musik. Everyone was outside their homes and cheered. I have never waved so much in my life and this is how the Queen E II must feel like. For three days we enjoyed traditional dance performances and were asked to join the people on stage. We all did to the amusement of the locals. On the second day local government organized a tour to a small fishing village called Lewolein a 2 hour bad road bus trip away. The people were really friendly with welcome ceremony , dances and a nice lunch. I don’t know what I ate but it tasted yummy. Mostly vegetarian stuff and salsa and fish. We witnessed traditional Ikat weaving( Cotton picking, spinning, colouring and weaving) a very long process. I also bought my first Ikat in beautiful traditional burgundy colours. We were shown tradional food preparations including making cornflakes from a simple corncob. Later we were to witness a traditional fishing ceremony so we gathered at the beach under shady coconut trees and waited. Two fishermen appeared , grabbed a net and went into the water. They put the 50 meter long net in a half circle
from beach to beach and then it happened. 200 locals young and old ran from the village screaming into the water fully clothed, head in and grabbed the fishes with their bare hands and put them inside their clothing. We were asked to join them and most of us went knee deep in and tried our luck. After 7 minutes I managed to grab one little fish about 5 cm long. I looked at it and let it go. In the meantime the locals caught dozens and hundreds of fish. They got out of the water dropped the fishes and started cleaning just with a shell they found .Later we swam and snorkelled with goggles and our traditional swimsuits and attraction of the day for the Indonesians. All up we had a great time again.For the following day a tour to the whaling village Lamalera (where the locals hunt 15 to 25 sperm whales each year with small wooden boats and spears) was planned. But the bus trip was supposed to be 3,5 hours one way on a bad road with a bus which has seen better days so we gave it a miss and sailed out of Lebolewa early to make our way west towards Maumere. We had a great sail across the bay for 2 hours and then of course the wind died and the ISUZU sail came out. By afternoon we found a nice, well protected anchorage called Tanjung Gedong on the north east coast of Flores. Next day we walked up to the village and were shown around by some friendly locals who invited us into their homes for coffee. The village has no bikes or cars. We shared our anchorage with some other rally boats and in the afternoon 7 people went by dinghy to the next village to see the local high school. The teacher and children were so excited to see us and we had a tour of the school and village. They were very grateful about the exercise book and pens we had as gifts. I had never seen any children so happy about receiving a pen. In the afternoon we snorkelled and witnessed two catamarans who dragged while rafted up. Re-anchored while still rafted up. Well done guys.
Our next stop was supposed to be a day sail (motor) away at Babi Island 20 miles on the charts but for a reason it was not part of any previous rally notes or the 101 Anchorage Book. The reason was obvious. A very deep drop-off and suddenly 2 meters over coral. Let’s go somewhere else. Suddenly the wind increased to 20m knots from the south (our direction ).Wind and tide wrong we sailed back 8 miles to Anchorage 15 from Book called Waimalung and found 4 other yachts here. One more arrived shortly after us and provided good entertainment during anchoring procedure for us. We decided to stay two nights and enjoyed good snorkelling and beautiful sunset rating 9.5 and 1 hour later a full moon rise with similar rating. Its a hard life!
Take care
R&M
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