SAUMLAKI, INDONESIA TO LETI ISLAND

August 8, 2014     Friday

Rain squalls have been on the menu for the last few days.  For the most part they are brief but pack wind and some of them are quite heavy.  This will become more frequent as we sail west.

Heaved up anchor at 1015 hrs and departed for Pulau Moa (08-08.4’ S x 128-03.9’ E) :  230 nm.  Wind is fresh out of the ESE at 25 kts with higher gust in rain squalls but the bay has very little swell.  Our plan for the first part of this trip is to anchor at Selaru Island (08-07.7’ S x 130-58.6’ E) which is a very well protected anchorage about 27 nm SW of Saumlaki.  There are a few islands in between so even with the fresh Trade Winds there isn’t much sea.  We notice a few villages on some of the islands and have a very nice sail with frequent rain squalls.  A few miles from the anchorage entrance, we get shut a shut out rain squall and winds gusting to 30+ kts but I’m reefed in so, as the Aussies say, “no worries”.

Dropped anchor at Labhuan Olendir (08-07.7’ S x 130-58.6’ E) off the island of Selaru at 1500 hrs.  It’s a beautifully well protected anchorage and an ideal stop to break up the voyage to Moa.  There are 11 yachts anchored here waiting on the Wx to improve over the next few days.

August 10, 2014  Sunday

We heaved up anchor at 0648 hrs this morning.  The winds have eased off and are blowing 15-20 kts out of the SE.  Since we will running downwind, we’ll just pole out our 120% genoa and keep the mainsail tucked away.  The distance from Selaru to Moa is 194 nm.  We’ll make this in one hop and sail all night.  There will be a full moon and winds should be in the 15 kt  category.

August 11, 2014   Monday

Reports from the Moa anchorage are not favorable: not well protected, rolly, deep and have to anchor very close to the coral reef.  Some of the vessels have moved over to the island of Leti which is only 10 nm across the Selat Moa (Moa Strait).  We have decided to go there as reports are favorable.

1830 hrs – dropped anchor in 30’ water depth with 180’ chain out in a fast shelving coral anchorage (08-09.760’ S x 127-39.676 E).  It appears that, in many of these anchorages , one has to drop the anchor very close to the reef and fall back into deep water.  I don’t like anchoring in coral but there is no other choice.  Most importantly, the anchorage is quiet and not rolly.  We are totally dependent on the prevailing Trade Winds blowing from the SE.  If these winds were to change to an onshore wind we would all be on to the reef!!  The Trades are so constant during the SE Monsoon season that this rarely happens without an advanced Wx warning.  Most vessels download GRIB Files from the internet and pass the info along.  These are wind and wave maps that predict what will be happening with the wind over a 3-5 day period.  Any significant wind change will be noted so that everyone can seek a safe anchorage, if available.

The island of LETI and the village of Tombra.  Our reception here has been one of friendliness and hospitality.  The harbormaster, whose name is ITA, is a recently married young women who is sweetness in itself.  She invited all the yachts anchored off the village to come to the harbormaster’s office for a traditional meal.  The meal was stewed fish, fried fish, vegetables, cassava, rice and sambal.  The sambal is a very hot sauce made from chilies:  I love it!

Walking through the village, we had at least 50 children following us.  They were as fascinated with the yachties as we were with them.  Indonesians love to have their photos taken with visitors.  They have cell phones with cameras and are delighted to snap photos of and with us.  The children were shouting “EEEECO” and when I repeated the word they all laughed and cried out “EEECO”.  Later, the harbormaster told me that this means “follow”.  I felt like the pied piper leading

all the children to the sea to check on the incoming tide and dinghy position.

One of the young men, who spoke a little English, gave us a tour of the village and we stopped at all his relative’s houses for an introduction and greeting.  We ended up at his house to meet his wife and  drink these wonderful young green coconuts.  The inhabitants of the Eastern Tanimbar Islands are Christians.  In this village there was a large Catholic church called “Elohim Tombra”.  It was nicely done in a simple way with tiles and painted stained glass. 

The genuine hospitality and friendliness of these villagers is very new to us.  It appears that they truly enjoy seeing foreigners in their villages.  About the only way to get to some of these villages is with a boat or ferry; most don’t have airports.  Communications via internet is, for the most part,­ non-existent.  It will take me some time to get this posted.