Current Position at Pulau Bibi Bay on Roti island: South 10*27'133 East 123*21'930
Position for last week in Kupang Harbour: South 10*09'661 East 123*34'207
We've been in Western Timor for a week now and we still haven't acclimatized to the huge cultural differences between here and Australia. Arriving in Kupang we'd timed a little wrong and had to stay out overnight to wait for day light to enter the anchorage and we were very glad we did. With over 100 yachts already there finding a spot less than 60ft deep was pretty tough....luckily we have over 300ft of chain and had no problems. The check in process was something different but once the quarantine officers had been out to the boat we were able to head ashore to Teddy's bar to explore and start all the other necessary procedures. Getting customs to come out to the boat was the tough one and then being impounded for a couple of days until things could be ironed out in Jakarta. On the whole we are really glad we joined the rally as trying to do all this on our own would have been impossible.
The rally organizers had a lot to deal with as many of the older cruisers are extremely impatient and obviously haven't had to deal with third world check-in's before, for us it was business as usual and we knew just to be patient and all would come right! Kupang is a great city and everyone came together to welcome us with festivals and dinners with the Mayor and Governors. The free day tour into the mountains was the absolute highlight, we visited the Village of 'Soe' where the Indigenous Dawan people live in traditional, beehive - like 'lopo' huts. This tribe were once head hunters and we were treated to a performance of their warrior dance. They also laid out there weaving's and carvings for us to buy and we couldn't resist a couple of wooden Beetle nut powder boxes. The second village we visited is called 'Boti', way up in the mountains and here we were given a welcome by the Raja and his people who gave us woven 'Ikat' scarfs that they weave in the village. They also treated us to a traditional lunch and to view the hair cutting ceremony which takes place once in a persons life and then their hair is never cut again. It involves slaughtering a pig and using the blood to paint the child's head then shaving off the hair with a knife... Luckily I couldn't quite see the pig slaughtering part!!
As for provisioning in Kupang pretty much everything is available, at the moment the exchange rate is roughly Rp 8,300 to Aus $1. A bottle of Bintang beer is somewhere around RP 20,000 and a meal of Naasi Goreng (fried rice) can be found for Rp 6,000. There are ATM machines all over town and by jumping on the number 6 Bemo (mini van bus) for Rp 2,000 you can ride out to the 'Mall' where they have a supermarket stocked with western food or the Indonesian equivalent. Pretty much all but red meat and fresh milk can be found there. Toilet roll is available but in very limited quantities and at quite expensive prices...they just don't use it here!! We also found it a lot of fun to visit the huge local markets to buy fresh vegetable and fruit or even to just soak in the atmosphere and practice our Indonesian with the enthusiastic locals!
Leaving Kupang was hard as we'd made many friends in our short stay and the Dinghy Boys who carry our huge dinghy up the beach for a small fee will be sorely missed. However we upped anchor two days ago and had an extremely wet sail 20nm south to 'Palau Bibi Roti' anchorage on the northern tip Of Roti island. It's a very good anchorage but a good look out has to be kept to avoid the coral heads and Bommies. Yesterday we went ashore to visit the village and had a wonderful welcome from the locals who took us to get fresh coconuts from the trees and introduce us to their families. The children followed us wherever we went and always had big smiles on their faces especially when Jimmy chased after them... they couldn't get enough. They pick and dry seaweed here and from what we could work out it is then sent on to America to sell in health food shops or something along those lines! Afterwards we went back to the Norwegian yacht 'Blue Marlin' where I was treated to a surprise birthday party (2 days early as we may all go separate ways from here) and some really wonderful gifts including a woven 'Ikat' blanket and hand made butterfly's!!...a wonderful night and Thank you to everyone.
Tomorrow we have decided to head north to Flores Island which is about 100 nautical miles to do some diving and visit the famous three lake volcano. This may change by the end of the day however as some other friends are heading south to the famous surf brake at 'nembrala Roti' which is also a very tempting idea!!...Watch this space.
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