JJDreamweaver: Molluca Islands, Indonesia

Leaving Bitung with little wind we were approached by a speed boat with 3 guys proclaiming to be harbour police and asking to see our paperwork, without slowing down or letting them aboard we gave them a glance at the clearance papers from Customs and Immigration and informed them of our next destination which seemed to satisfy them and away they went. It was at this point we noticed sunlight shining through a small hole in a lower seam on the mainsail. Providing we avoided any flogging of the sail we hoped that a repeat of our previous passage would not reoccur.

Ternate Island just after sunrise

Once we rounded the southern end of the channel and outer island we were sailing again with 20-25kts from the north, to preserve the main we dropped 2 reefs in and away we went heading ESE to Halmahera across the Molucca Sea and another overnighter. We sailed all the way to Ternate about 150nm arriving just before daylight and the sight of the volcano island was awesome as it loomed up to us in the fading light of a small portion of moon. The volcano is still considered active but benign at present much to the delight of the many residents perched on the foreshore. We didn’t stop but continued on another 15nm to a small bay on the west side of Halmahera Island where we planned to walk across the ridge to the east side of the island a distance of a few kilometres we thought. First we had to get some sleep then repair the mainsail. The following day we walked to the village which was very small and found that the distance was further than it had appeared on the chart, so by chance 4 locals stopped and gave us a tour to the east on their motorbikes, it was a bit of fun and after some lunch at a dingy restaurant we got a lift all the way back to the boats.

Sailing south from nearby Ternate

Our next destination was about 30nm away which we sailed most of the way with our UPS and poled-out headsail making full use of the light winds and positive current. The anchorage was isolated so we continued on the next day and crossed the Equator again and now becoming fully fledged “Turtlebacks” giving thanks to Neptune with an offering and some beer. Our intended anchorage was in a small inlet marked in detail on one of our computer plotting programs but blank on our main plotter, after a pleasant days sailing we approached the inlet and found ourselves in much less water than we had expected so had to abandon the inlet in favour of the next bay along the coast which thankfully was much more protected than it showed. It was deep and steep to the shore but without a fringing reef so we anchored in the lee of the 20kt winds and seas and enjoyed a well-earned beer or 2 rejoicing the fact of being back in the Southern Hemisphere. Adjacent where we anchored was a small fishing hut which housed the male contingent of a local family who fished with nets very successfully in the small bay. They delivered some coconuts and stayed for a chat.

We asked King Neptune if he could put a fish on our line after crossing the equator, perhaps we should have been more specific with regards the species.

Rafted together in the very deep anchorage close to shore

The next morning we headed a further 40nm south along the coast with a blustery NW wind to another inlet, this one was also only detailed on the computer plotter but was thankfully much more accurate with the soundings despite being 0.5nm out in its location. The anchorage was about 0.5nm upstream from a small village and we were surrounded with rainforest jungle and the sound of birds again. We decided to spend a couple of days here and enjoy the surroundings and the hospitality of the very friendly locals in their village. They gave us a guided tour of the village including the school and asked if we would sit with the teacher so she could practice her English. She needed heaps of practice but so do we with our Bahasa.

Kids at Gane Primary School

We were the first white people this child has ever seen

Our anchorage at Gane amoungst the rainforest

Our next run was another overnighter, 120nm SE to Misool Island. A book we bought in Darwin which lists 101 anchorages in Indonesia had 1 listed for the western end, a small lagoon with all facilities including fuel and a great market. We arrived really tired after motoring and pushing current all the way as well as dodging rain squalls to find the anchorage totally deserted of everything, this was to be our reprovisioning stop!! The anchorage was lovely in all other respects, heaps of birds and surrounding regrowth jungle but NO market. We were enroute to the SE end of Misool which is part of the Raja Ampat National and Marine Park, a supposed pristine isolated area so we were informed by an oz yachtie we met in PP. The SE is most definitely pristine but is a long way from being isolated.

Traversing the limestone outcrops we encounted strong currents and rips

We made our way along the isolated 60nm southern coast of Misool Island, wondering if we will find anyone or anything, weaving in and out of the smaller islands and reefs to find a huge pearling operation, apparently one of the largest in the world (in a national park seeking UNESCO recognition, how can this be???), we also found one of the most beautiful places in the world. A limestone ridge that was pushed up above the sea millions of years ago and now carved out by the sea to be a maze of small islands and thousands of pinnacles all interconnected with deep and shallow channels filled with coral reefs and clear smooth waters. TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

Eaten away by the salt water these limestone structures look almost ready to collapse

After traversing some of the deeper channels in search of an anchorage we decided to take the safe option and head further up the main inlet where we knew we could find the depth we wanted. We had to weaver around through the pearl farm and past the adjoining village to get there but it was well worth the effort. Both our plotter and the computer showed absolutely no detail of the area and actual around the pinnacles showed us well inland so it was all eyeball vis at very slow speed ahead, and a couple of times full astern as the depth sounder alarm beeped its head off.

Inside a limestone cave looking out this was adjacent our first anchorage upstream from the main village

The next morning we had a visit from a boat load of locals claiming to be Police, Army, an English interpreter, another guy in fatigues with an AK47 machine gun, the boat captain and 3 lackeys, they insisted on coming onboard to inspect our paperwork, all very friendly and we sweet talked them for about an hour and fed them lemon tea instead of the beer they had requested. They insisted on our presence in the village to meet with the Village Head in another hour, which we agreed to as it was always our intention of going to the village to seek out fuel and provisions anyway.

A visit from the local powers to be

Not sure if it was loaded but were we intimidated, of course we were!!

We were met at the village dock by a swarm of children and of course the guys from the boat and after the compulsory photo shoot it was off to the Village Head. He was an old man who had apparently started up the pearling lease with the Chinese backed company 30 years earlier. He treated us like school children meeting with the headmaster and after some explaining what we were and why we were in his backyard he finally gave us permission to stay in the area for 1 week on the proviso that we have the Policeman, the Army man and the interpreter with us whenever we went anywhere. We think that’s what he wanted as the negotiations were undertaken in the usual Asian way with plenty of smiling, nodding, hand shaking and not a lot of understanding of what was said.

Larger limestone outcrops

We found the fuel shop and both yachts got 2 drums of diesel and the girls bought some eggs and basics from another house-shop and we headed back to the boats with the intent of returning in an hour to go with our new companions to seek out an anchorage closer to the pinnacles. We returned to the dock thinking they would have their boat which they came in that morning only to be informed that it was the pearl farms and that they would be coming with us EVERY BLOODY DAY!!. Me, Chad and the 3 Amigos all in our inflatable in search of other anchorages up to 5nm away. It turned out to be the best situation actually because after 3 hrs of tediously slow travel in the dinghy, dropping a lead line at various locations to find closer alternative anchorages they were totally bored and disinterested and couldn’t wait to get off.

The 3 Amigos in our dinghy, they soon lost interest

The next morning after a look around the upper reaches of the inlet we headed down to the first of our alternative anchorages. Within 30min we were confronted by the interpreter guy in a different boat to the previous day who told us the manager of the pearl farm had requested that we leave the area. He said he was sorry but couldn’t do anything and was going back to the village. Next a boatload of people in casual uniforms turned up requesting information about us and our intended stay in the national park. All very friendly and no concerns about us being there. I stood on deck scratching my head trying to figure out the situation then decided to front the pearl farm manager and have it out with him as he seemed to be the main man if the farm leased the area we were anchored in.

Enjoying a free feed of delicious oysters, no pearls in these critters however

Chad

and I went to the farm manager with our paperwork and cordially discussed our situation with him and he agreed that we could stay where we were for a couple of days till we found another alternative anchorage. We went searching again this time with the girls as the 3 Amigos were nowhere to be seen and we found a small fully enclosed isolated lagoon with 16m of water and enough room for a couple of yachts. Perfect!!

Our perfect anchorage within the pinnacles

We enjoyed our new home amongst the pinnacles for another?? days completely loosing track of time, none us new what day it was when we were ready to leave. We feasted on huge black-lipped oysters fresh off the rocks everyday and cooked them every night, we toured the whole area in the dinghy and snorkelled the coral reefs which were brilliant but unfortunately lacked very much fish life. It’s a great place to visit but not as isolated as were led to believe. We didn’t see the Amigos again or any other authorities, but we did have a few locals wanting smokes and matches.

Traversing the pinnacles, the plotter showed us on land

It was time to move on again and 30nm south we stopped at the Misool Eco Resort, a small and very expensive resort catering to divers. The resort leases the island and a huge area of seabed which is classed as a no-take zone and heavily policed by the authories. We had to take a resort mooring as anchoring in less than 60m is forbidden with heavy fines if caught, it’s also impossible for us in such deep water. The moorings were a little suspect and Just Magic had a steel FAD as a mooring buoy. Not good!!

The exclusive Misool Eco Resort

The resort was extremely friendly and invited us for dinner at their restaurant, but inadvertently forgot to inform us that they operate on +10hrs UTC whereas the real time zone is +9hrsUTC. They do this so they can get the guests up earlier and away diving. We arrived an hour later than their guests but the 3 course meal was excellent despite the expense of 30 Euros per person.

One of the deserted islands

The snorkelling was fantastic with masses of large fish within a boat length from the yacht reminding us of some of the locations on the GBR back home. We were intending to stay a couple of days but the steel mooring kept banging on Just Magic when the wind dropped that night and would have caused further damage.

In amoungst the pinnacles

We dropped the mooring at midday and headed south for the 120nm overnight trip to Palau Geser on the SE tip of Seram. The wind was too light to sail so we motor sailed pushing 1-2kts of current all the way, it was a long slow night. We arrived about 1000hrs and found an anchorage just inside the channel, downed our previous nights beer ration and then crashed.

A 10 cent icecream durian flavoured of course

The next morning we visited the village and had a walk around meeting some locals and buying some basic provisions, we met the local teacher and the girls helped her with her English, the police just wanted some beer, which again we avoided, informing them that good Muslims don’t drink beer. We up anchored at 1500hrs and headed off SW for the 120nm overnight trip to Banda (The Spice Islands). The weather was great, clear skies and a waxing ¾ moon but no wind, we tried the UPS but even that wouldn’t hold, we had almost 1kt of current with us so we arrived at the channel entrance about 1hr too early and had to sit and wait till after daylight to see our way in. It was an easy entry but the harbour is deep and steep so we had to anchor and then tie our stern back to the concrete wall.