INDONESIA

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Start at Side # 196

August 7, 2006

To start with here are a few numbers accumulated so far on this voyage. Since I left Alameda, California in March of 2005, I have sailed roughly 12,500 nautical miles, to Bali; consumed about 200 liters (50 gallons) of diesel. I crossed the equator three times and I am on to my third bicycle. I have now visited 13 countries, I lost track of the national beer brands in each country but I know I went to mass in 25 different churches in 12 countries.

From Tawi Tawi, where I left off in the previous report, it was a three day sail to N.W. Sulawesi (formerly Celebes). On the way I discovered a bad leak in the stuffing box. I anchored in a Sulawesi bay and tried to stop the flow as much as possible. Richard, of the Mobile Maritime Net, found me a location on the N.E. side of Sulawesi, at Bitung, to pull Fleetwood out of the water to fix the problem. I made a stop in Manado, just a day sail before Bitung and managed to find the right size hose, with which I was able to reduce the hourly pumping to nearly 24 hours.

The islands just to the east of Sulawesi are called the Spice Islands. A mile out from my first anchorage I started to smell this wonderful sweet fragrance, which turned out to be from the cloves culture and drying.

Northern Sulawesi is predominantly Christian and Muslims only count for about 30%. They are also much lighter skinned than the Indonesians further to the south.

Southern Sulawesi is home to the Bugi tribe. They were feared fighters and skilled seafarers/pirates. This is the area where they still built sailing schooners. The Boogey Man originates from the Bugi.

Manado is the main city on Northern Sulawesi, though the smaller Bitung has a much better port. The very small harbor is shallow and is home to good size shallow draft ferries and fishing boats. I anchored just outside the harbor at 1.30 N 124.50.250 E.

Just to the North of Menado are several volcanic islands, one is a national park and some of the best diving in the world is done near here and in particular at Bunakeng.  Manado is a very busy city with lots of traffic in the narrow streets. I did not dare to be away from the leaking boat long enough to clear emigration. The roof terrace of the Celebes Hotel, in the small harbor, offered a perfect view of the activity below in the busy harbor.

There was a constant parade of men bent under heavy sacks and boxes through the narrow spaces between the trucks and up the gangways to the ferries. Mechanization is a moot issue with that many, cigarette smoking, men standing around looking for an hourly wage.

That is a striking inequality in S.E. Asia. In the Philippines at least the women have a slightly better chance to get a job in one of the many electronic assembly plants and textile factories. The men just hang around. And their shame and feeling of inadequacy often leads to serious domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse. There are usually a hundred motor cycle taxi men vying for the one paying rider, outside of the brief rush hour. Malaysia is not quite as desperate but Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam are just as underemployed. 

Richard had made contact for me with Bernard Lamprecht of the Bakricono Resort on Lembeh Island, just off the N.E. Tip of Sulawesi.

It has an excellent protected anchorage in front of it, at 1.26.700 N 125.14.342 E.

Bernard is from South Africa and his partner, Julia, is from Poland. They met in London where they were working for the same hotel company. They are catering to the die hard divers who are looking for a variety from the usual Pacific diving spots. Lembeh Strait, and spots just off the beach of the hotel, contain some very rare fish, crustaceans and coral species. See: www.nad-lembeh-com

Bernard is also building a small marina at the end of his bay, which will have a fiberglass shop for repairs and their own boat building facility. They were extremely helpful and hospitable to me. And I can highly recommend this stop for other boaters. They can ferry you to Bitung for a fee. There is little protected anchoring on the Bitung side. And the currents and distance make for a challenging dinghy ride. Bernard set up the haul out for me. It took nearly an afternoon to get me above the waterline on a slipway and a half hour to put the new stuffing box on. The stuffing box was sent to me by my daughter, Lisa, to put in at Kudat but I had reservations about the fit from 25mm metric to 1" imperial and decided that the repair I had made prior would last long enough to do it right back in the States or Europe. Live and Learn!.. But I have added the stuffing box to the rudder and rigging as the Achilles heels of a boat and worthy of regular inspection and timely replacement.

Bitung was not a very appealing city. I cleared in and bought a Visa on Arrival for $ 25.00 The CAIT, Indonesian Cruising Permit, is a non-issue here.

I'd like to wipe the sail from Lembeh Island to near Bali off my memory. It was the most uncomfortable, slowest ride of this voyage.

The first try out of the Lembeh Straits I got clobbered so badly with the howling wind on the nose that I turned back for another try the next day. But it did not get much better. That first day I managed to do the total of 2 miles towards destination. I could not point well with just a triple reefed main and a 60% jib and the current was against me and the waves were so nasty that I just could not get any speed going. The consequent days it improved some. And once I rounded the S.E. Corner of Sulawesi and was able to ease the sheets I had a 122 mile day. I made one stop at the island of Taliabu off the beachfront of a small village called Jiko Bakiki, at 1.38.400 S 124.32.345 E. This was a delightful spot. I had hoped to re-supply since the trip had been so slow I was running out of certain foods.

The only little store managed to get me three small cans of sardines and a package of Q-tips. They had no staples, like rice or canned meats. I managed to get a can of water filled and buy two dozen bananas for 25 cents. This was the only store on the, not so small, island. There was no cell phone service at all. I had lunch at the small police/army post. While I was eating in the back the army guys helped themselves to my backpack and one was messing with my cell phone another with my camera and they had gone through all my papers. Next they went off to the boat and arrived before I was aboard. I had locked the boat. Then they rifled through everything.

One of the soldiers was sitting in the companion way with his Uzzi nonchalantly dangling off his shoulder the barrel directed at me.

I just happened to know what I was in for when the two uniformed soldiers boarded a passing dug out and the "boss" remained. Money. I just told him to go to hell and that I was going to report him in Jakarta. I was just annoyed and possibly a milder approach might have been better but it worked, for me. Many of the girls, or young women, around 16/18 years old had their faces painted with a yellow paste. The paste is made with Turmeric; it is supposed to retard aging of the skin. 

Though predominantly Muslim the women did not wear burkas.  Among the villagers that had come out to see this strange looking white man was one, obviously, ethnic Chinese young lady. She was very attractive and wore a pretty white blouse, her eyes just followed me and it was like she was trying to say: "Take me out of here, I do not belong here". It still haunts me. There were no other Chinese and it is rare to find them away from a major settlement. She was not in any group like the other girls.

In sharp contrast to Malaysia, the ethnic Chinese have, by political necessity, conformed to the Indonesian life. Rarely do they still speak any Chinese and have changed their Chinese names to Indonesian names.

The younger children in Jiko Bakiki, just stared at me. I conclude that I was most likely the first occidental they had ever seen.

Here also hung the sweet fragrances of spices. Large tarpaulins were spread in front yards and at the beach front with cloves and coco beans sun drying.

When I started closing in to the island chain that runs west from Sumatra and Java, starting with Bali and running to Irian Jaya (former New Guinea) I was treated to a sky line of high volcanic peaks on Sumbawa, Lombok and Bali. And it became a much faster and more comfortable ride.