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| Wilkinson-Foster Bima-Komodo-Bali 14th-21st August 2008 |
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13 Oct 2008 (692 days ago)
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14th August- Families Wilkinson and Foster flew into Bima-Sumbawa from Bali. This was to be the first time that the Fosters had seen Tiger Blue since the start of the project, and obviously our first time together on her with Wouter. We hoped to relax, enjoy her and get to know the crew together. We hopped into a couple of vans and headed to the harbour where the tender was waiting to whizz us along to Tiger Blue anchored in the bay. We were welcomed with cold fresh limes and the friendly crew. Great to see them again. Wouter mentioned that while fueling they had a crew member guarding each rope with a stick. Bima is well known for its rat problem and apparently they are as big as cats. Luckily we did not pick up any stowaways here!
We had a lunch - Dedhe's fabulously beautiful and delicious nasi kuning and we then headed out to the mouth of the harbour where we anchored. The kids spent the rest of the afternoon leaping off the bow-spit and wake-boarding with the setting sun as backdrop.
We set sail for Komodo after dinner and fell asleep in the cabins very comfortable!
15th August- We woke up to the anchor being dropped in Komodo- a beautiful bay with long white beach in front of us. Those of us awake went straight to the beach for a walk and a swim while we waited for the others to wake.
The day was spent very lazily on the beach, snorkeling in beautiful clear water with lots of coral and fish. We did a little walking on the slopes but mostly enjoyed the great views right from the beach. David, Nigel and Walter with Edward and Arthur went for a dive and came back excited to be back in dive gear.
As the day went on we were quite surprised at the amount of boats that came into harbour. All liveaboards, anchoring, guests going off diving and then moving on. Wouter mentioned that he had never seen so many liveaboards in one place, in this harbour, ever before. By late afternoon we were alone again except for a little yacht manned by a couple which anchored nearby for the night.
The boys ended the day with more wake-boarding against a stunning sunset and the hazy hint of volcanoes in the distance.
16th August- Tiger Blue pulled anchor early and we set off to a nearby island, just outside the Komodo National park. A dramatic little island with steep slopes, dark rocks at the water edge and grass and stunted trees on the slopes. We also had the very dreamy shadows of the volcanoes on Sumbawa in the distance. They loomed in the distance and at sunset looked especially spiritual.
As we came in to anchor we noticed lots of what we thought were plastic tops- like those on top of Starbucks cups-floating on the water. as we investigated we found that these were jelly fish. Blue iridescent bubbles floating on top of the water and blue purple tendrils below. We caught one for a closer look and although absolutely beautiful we felt that they were also extremely dangerous and no one went swimming. The whole area was full of them and they floated and gathered towards shore but by afternoon all were gone. We figured that the tide had brought them in and so had taken them out again.
Edward spent his 18th birthday here snorkeling, diving with his brother and climbing the hills in front of us with his dad. Rory and Max were given an introduction to scuba diving by Wouter just off one of the beaches. David climbed the hill again while Tessa and I walked the beach and took in the scenery. The vegetation was interesting. Lots of stocky clumps of grass, very dry but soft and wavy in the breeze. Lots of cricket sounds and plenty of birds darting about. they were unafraid so you could get quite close to them. The trees were great-lots of stunted perfect trees and many miniature sized ones on the beach near the rocks. They had no leaves, these having dropped in the dry weather but the ends of their branches were sprouting white heavily scented flowers and their seed pods. These are very similar to the 'snake-bean' trees in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India and must be related. The leaves and beans are edible but are used a lot in Ayurvedic medicine, the leaves in particular are an excellent way to repel worms in the gut! The bean pods(when still green) make a tasty, if slightly fibrous, ingredient as part of a vegetable curry. The colours of this landscape are gorgeous, lots of yellows, ochres, faded reds, khakis and when the evening sun catches the hills they truly glow.
We ended the day with chocolate cake to celebrate Ed's birthday!
17th August- Indonesia's Independence day!
We set sail for the island of Satonda and managed to get the sails up while we had breakfast. This is always exciting to watch the crew yanking on ropes and fabric unfurling. Unfortunately the breeze died on us and by the time the teenagers had emerged from their dark cold cabins, the sails had been packed away again.
We anchored in front of a very long beach against a hill on Satonda. Again these lovely leafless trees broke up the grass slopes. The sand was coloured, not white and sparkly in the bright sun.
The first thing we did was do a little expedition to the caldera lake on the island. This sounded very dramatic and we expected a hike of at least 40 minutes to the lake. The hike turned out to be a 5 minute walk up a little slope and there was the lake, very low and not that big, surrounded by scrubby tees, very green. Spotted in amongst the scrubby vegetation was the occasional impressive fig tree with huge dangling roots.
The lake, although small was slightly sinister in atmosphere- dark and rippling with the breeze. It was very quiet and this atmosphere was heightened by the all the talismans and tokens visiting people had hung in the trees. Most of the trees immediately off the path were full of dangling bits of coral, cans. wood, slippers, broken toys all hung up with bits of string. These bits jangled and banged in the wind and we wondered what they would conjure. We all deduced maybe 'fertility' but none of us were interested in that so we hung up some bits and pieces and wished for general good health!
The kids were not that impressed at first by the lake as it was relatively small and unimpressive but on explaining how it had come about to the younger ones their interest was sparked and they started to look more closely at the island in general. The lava rocks spilling into the sea, the black sparkly bits in the sand all became a little more interesting when related to a giant natural explosion!
The rest of the day was spent beach combing whilst all the guys went diving off the point. There was a lot of broken bright red coral and the colour of the beach changed in parts. Dark sand at the ends and multi-coloured in between with lots of red bits from the coral. There were a lot of scallop shells to be found here too scattered about the beach.
We set sail at night after dinner for Moyo further east along Sumbawa.
18th August- Woke up early to see the sunrise from the top deck. It was very cool but an attractive sail along Sumbawa. Sumbawa looked desolate though, dry, hard and pretty much featureless except for slopes dropping into the sea. The sunrise gave it a glowing softness that turned harsh as the sun came up.
We rounded a point and sailed right in front of the tented resort of Amanwana. This looked very romantic from the distance and even more so when the sea plane came in to land and then take off again. We anchored ourselves off a long beach with lush trees right up to the waters edge, their roots and branches dragging in the water at high tide.
It was very different here. Lush heavy foliage with apparently a lot of birds. We saw wild boar coming down to the beach and little babies running after their much bigger mums. Everyone went snorkeling along the reef and then walking along the beach again. We bought a couple of large squid from a fisherman who approached us for supper.
In the late afternoon we all went ashore-except for Edward and Arthur who spent the whole time on the reef- and collected firewood for our bonfire. As the sky turned pink we lit our fire and with soft drinks for the kids and gin and tonics for the adults we sat, looked at the amazing sky in front of us and wondered why on earth we had to go back to civilisation!
The tide had gone gone down very low and so we let the fire go out in the dark, picked our way through the reef- us gals sat in the dingy while our gentlemen pulled us out- and headed back to Tiger Blue for a lovely baked fish dinner and slightly chewy squid.
We set sail for Lombok and the Gilis later that night.
19th August- Wouter woke us to come up and look at the view. Lombok looked amazing alongside us at sunrise. The volcano Rinjani huge and dark looming over everything. Everyone woke at different times but we eventually all sat down for breakfast with Lombok and enjoying the sail. We managed to get the sails up again and this was a lot of fun because we took out the tender and sped around Tiger Blue to enjoy her in full sail from the sea. She looked lovely and with the blue sea and white foam under her bow she is elegant and gorgeous.
We sailed carefully into the Gilis through the narrow channel and it was strange seeing all the activity on shore. Lots of people, sun chairs, pony and carts and we all thought maybe we weren't ready to be thrown back into a tourist filled civilisation.
We went ashore onto Gili Trawangaand felt slightly out of place after being all alone and happy with our own company but we did settle onto a beach. The boys tried surfing and the kids built sand castles. Tessa and found a young man who carved these lovely turtles and bought one from him. Although no cars lots of bikes and horsecarts whizzing about. We managed to hang out there until evening when we all walked up the strip for sunset cocktails and to an Australian owned restaurant where we had a very enjoyable seafood dinner with nice wine. It was heaving with tourists and was definitely slightly surreal after our lovely time away in the middle of nowhere with Tiger Blue.
Edward and Arthur stayed on while we went back to Tiger Blue. They thought that they'd check out the nightlife. Within half an hour of us getting back to the boat though, they called us asking for pick up and were happy to back on board too.
20th August- We all awoke to breakfast anchored at Pemanang, a pretty anchorage on Lombok itself, just across from the Gilis. Lovely views of green slopes cultivated with corn, cloves and cashew trees. Lots of colourful more traditional boats tied up and a busy road along the harbour. A few pearl farms were also scattered, floating in front of the anchorage.
We decided to go across from Gili Trawanga and check it out on the beach there. The breeze was very very strong and the kids did a bit of snorkeling. We thought we had found a deserted beach but just along the way we found a couple living in their wooden house with their cows. They also harvested white coral off the reef and the beach. They baked this to crushed as used as 'lime' one of the ingredients for 'betel', chewed into an orange pulp in the mouth, with betel nut, sirih leaf, tobacco.Slightly narcotic it is still popular amongst the locals on the islands. They had fashioned ingenious little boats made from found plastic water bottles. These boats were resting against coconut trees and would have looked fantastic in a a snazzy New York Gallery. I was tempted to try to buy one but was discouraged by husband!
Despite there being no one in sight we were still accousted by a little man who came up to us with his box of goodies- necklaces of pearl and shell and lots of carved horn trinkets. We all ended up buying a bunch of things off him and the kids got lots of horn bracelets for their friends.
At this point we all knew our time together was coming to an end. tonight we would sail onto Bali where we would go off back to Penang and the Fosters into Ubud for their last few days before going back to London.
21st August- We had a good sail through the night into Bali. All of us had a great trip together for the first time since Tiger Blue has been finished. There were lots of goodbyes to crew and to Wouter but we all managed to get organised and pack up and be ready for the taxis that were arranged to meet us ashore. They took us straight to the airport and we were off back to reality!
**Meals to remember- Beef udon, Soto ayam, Roast beef, Nasi kuning, Gado-gado, Chicken curry, Fresh sashimi, Ikan mole, Beef green curry and Mango salad |
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