LWH - Week 9 : Lokadada Bay - Pertiimat

Sat 1 Sept Lokadada Bay - Tringgaula
01 01.770N / 122 12.245E
We had a very comfortable night. Fishermen waved but no-one came near us. We were on our way again by 6am. Our village appeared to be Christian with the village across the bay being Muslim. When we left it was really lumpy with quite a swell and then it dropped off and the water started dancing (I don't know how else to describe it). We made our exit better than our entrance staying closer to port on the way out. It is disconcerting going over land on the chart - the charts seem to be out by about half a mile. The coastline of Sulawesi is absolutely beautiful. Mountains to the sea and green with clouds sitting on top of the mountains. It would be fascinating to drive around this large strange shaped island. We had dead calm sea and then it was bucking up and we realised we were going down the 200m depth change line so we went further out and the seas were better. We came into the bay and the depth sounder stopped working. We were heading for Wavesweeper's anchor from last year and anchored just short of there at 2.15pm in 15m off a sand beach with two villages. It was an extremely pretty spot and was very comfortable. We watched late in the afternoon as a line of villagers held the rope of a net and a boat took it 500 metres or so to another line of villagers on the beach and they took the other end. Then they pulled like a tug of war, with the lines getting closer as they pulled the net in until they made a circle and got their catch. They must have got enough because they didn't do it the next day. These villages are real communities. They do things together, and look out for each other.
Miles: 41 TTT: 1021

Sunday 2 Sept - Tringulla
01 01.684N / 122 12.267E
We left at 6am but as we got out the wind came up blowing 25 - 30 knots so we decided to return to the anchorage and reanchored at 6.45am. Around 9am three boys paddled out in their canoe and came aboard for a chat and to invite us to their village. Andika was 16 his brother Mesi 13 and friend Deeka 13. We told them we would come in at 11 or 12 for a walk. They took our phone number and phoned a few times to make sure we were coming in. We saw a boat taking in a torpedo buoy and were shocked at the size of the thing. They are like min subs. Saw some old ones on the beach. They would be around a metre across and four metres long - huge and steel! We went in at 11.30 and a heap of children met us and pulled Bob up the beach. We walked down the street and saw Andika's house and the school and mosque. The school is a mixed school with Muslim and Christian. That seemed a good idea to us! Everyone greeted us and waved and wanted photos and the boys were proud to be walking us around. We went to a lady's house and sat and chatted surrounded by all the children. When we realised that the barefooted kids were burning their feet on the bitumen we headed for the beach. We saw wells outside some of the houses. We stopped at Andika and Mesi's house and met their mother. They had a patch of lovely grass before the beach and had sat out two chairs like royalty! We sat down and because they had seemed so disappointed when we declined a drink we said ok to a glass of water and two glasses and a plastic jug on a tray appeared to pour the water. Grandfather turned up and traded one of his rolly cigs for the skipper's so we sat him next to the skipper on the chair. He had his traditional wrap around skirt on with bare chest and was a skinny little man. I wanted to take his photo but he wouldn't have his photo taken bare chested so he disappeared and about ten minutes later came back in shorts and a t-shirt - wasn't quit the effect I wanted! Then we walked to the end of the beach surrounded by at least 30 kids. They called us Papa and Mama. Papa ended up carrying Andika's (rather grubby by this stage) three year old brother Okkie as we must have walked a couple of km up the beach and back. Papa kept stopping and drawing pictures in the sand to illustrate things to the kids. The girls stayed with me and one must have had a cold as she kept spitting - most disconcerting! They don't blow their noses - they spit. When we got back to Bob all the kids launched him and Mesi jumped in and we went back to the boat around 2.15. Andika and Deeka rowed out. We had said we could have the three boys on board and thats all. They had biccies and juice and learnt how the boat worked. They wanted DJ music but I think we were a bit of a disappointment in that department! Anyway they had a lovely afternoon and we sent them off around 4pm. Around 5pm just as we were relaxing a man and lady with four kids (not theirs) came out and had a look over the boat. The lady videoed the whole of the inside. One of the little girls jumped in the water and the other little one wasn't quite game and was saying kechil, then she perched up in the canoe and looked quite relieved - I then realised - rumah kechil - little room - toilet! Anyway we politely said goodbye so they all left happily and just on dark the three boys came out with one of the girls and little Ockie. They had been and picked us some limes because ours didn't look too good. We were going to give them some powdered mild for Ockie as we were quite shocked to find he had sugared water in his bottle but weren't sure if it would be halal and they don't seem to drink milk. Explains some of the terrible teeth we saw at Laulalang. After ¾ of an hour we told them it was time to go and off they went.
Miles: 3 TTT: 1024

Monday 3 Sept - Tringulla - Bulontio
00 59.616N / 122 25.040E
We left at 5am in the dark as our next destination has reef so we wanted to get there early.
We motored, dodged a few logs and went over some of the depth lines where the water was dancing and then choppy so we went further out. It is such a strange phenomenon. A fisherman went past and held up the tail of a tuna he had caught - it would have been two feet across. The skipper checked the bilge and it had salt water in it. Started the bilge pump and headed for land. We came into a bay and anchored off the beach in 14m. Three men immediately came out and sat on the boat - one had quite good English. The skipper chatted for an hour and then sent them off while he pulled out the exhaust water lock box and repaired it again. In the afternoon four men came out and sat on the boat - they always smoke and of course the skipper does not discourage them. He really enjoys explaining to them and drawing pictures of how the boat works. I just kept reading my book. The skipper asked about getting steel and getting it welded and they said yes could get. They left and we had a quiet night.
Miles: 19 TTT: 1043

Tues 4 Sept - Bulontio - Tg Besar
00 56.198N / 123 01.430E
The skipper went into the village which turned out to be quite a big town and one of the men met him and borrowed a motor bike and took him to five places before he found some steel. The skipper didn't like the look of the welding so bought the steel back in the boat. Meanwhile at 8am I was visited by the man who could speak English, two women and three kids - at 8am! By the time the skipper got back a few men had jumped on board so we decided to leave. Shooed them all off, pulled up anchor and left at 9am. We came out 8 miles in front of the Moratai rally mob comprising of five boats. We were motoring along beautifully when we got hit by wind and the seas came up. The phenomenon seems to be on the lines of changes of depth and throw in some wind against tide and it can get really rough. We were getting water over the bow, the cushions nearly got washed off and we were sailing at 8.2knots and really heeling over (the crew really hates that!!). We went further out and the seas calmed a bit and we made very good time. As soon as we got behind the headland it was really calm and smooth water. We motored into the beach and dropped anchor in 7m at 3.40pm. The others came in 1 - 2 hours later. Rubicon Star stopped by in their dinghy to say hullo. It was a very calm night.
Miles: 41 TTT: 1084

Wed 5 Sept - Tg Besar - Pulau Tiga
00 50.651N / 123 50.208E
We left with the fleet at 6am - we were villaged out and it wasn't as pretty as the other bays and motor sailed. Saw a huge school of very small dolphins - hundreds of them but they are very shy. A long day of motor sailing anchoring off a beach down from an interesting looking village with a large mosque. One of the boats had a canoe visit them but none of us did. We all then went to Rubicon Star for drinks and a chat.
Miles: 53 TTT: 1137

Thurs 6 Sept - Pulau Tiga - TG Kalasei
00 50.672N / 123 50.187E
We left at 5.40am with the fleet. We had a great sail for a few hours which was really good. It was a long hot boring day. The two big cats decided to keep going another 7 miles to Menado as we could see it in the distance. Jemima was in there and said about six boats could fit in - it is very deep in there. We came into where we were going to anchor with three other boats and we dropped the anchor. The other three thought we were over reef and decided to keep going. We had a lovely anchorage off a small village and watched the loveliest sunset over the flat ocean. We have heard about the green flash when the sun goes down - we didn't see a flash but the sun definitely turned green just as it disappeared into the ocean. Not sure if thats what people talk about or not. We had a lovely calm night.
Miles: 67 TTT" 1204

Friday 7 Sept - TG Kalawsai - Pertiipat
01 46.909N / 125 09.384E
We upanchored at 6.45am and decided to give Menado a miss and headed for Gangga Island. We passed some interesting fishing structures with huge lights to attract squid (we presume) - we haven't seem then before but could see all the lights last night. We motor sailed past a volcano on the port side and Monado also has a volcano behind it but it was very hazy and smoggy. Would be quite a dramatic sight otherwise. We had almost three knots of current with us so we made very good time. We passed Bunekin Island which had the biggest Cathedral on it - it is mostly Christian around this area. Cannot imagine that they would have a congregation big enough to fill it but it looked very impressive. We have noticed quite a few churches in the towns we have passed. We had flat seas, great current and good wind so it was all good. We went around Gangga Island and it was all very pretty on the islands with reef and white sand beaches but also very deep. A yacht called Delight called us up as they had come from the Moluccas and we were the first yacht they had seen. We swapped some information and we came round the island and couldn't find anywhere good to anchor. The place we wanted to anchor and had good depths was all coral so we went round and anchored off Gangga Island where Delight was and it was very pretty but we felt very exposed there and the clouds were building so decided to go another seven miles across to the NEw tip of Sulawesi. We had good currents with us and anchored in the most beautiful bay. The water was clear but dark then the most beautiful shade of green. We went ashore to the resort and had a look through but it was deserted and not in use. We walked down to a European couple on the beach who turned out to be Swiss and had walked over from the jungle resort around the next bay. Other than them we were the only ones there. Had a swim and took Bob for a bit of a look around and went back to the boat in the rain. A lovely day.
Miles: 41 TTT: 1245

We are currently surrounded by eight boats who head to Moratai tomorrow for the rally and we head 26 miles around the corner to Bitung to check into the country and hopefully get some welding done.

Have a happy holiday Ruth. Stay safe all
Fair Winds and Calm Seas
Dell and Peter

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