Blog 58. Sumbawa. Sept 13

Alcedo
David Batten
Sat 14 Sep 2019 00:20
08 41.94S 118 0.72E

Three days of better sailing than expected along the north coast of Sumbawa, with winds starting in the South and gradually going North through East, so Genoa poled out with the staysail to give an extra half knot. All good with minimal motoring until we approached Kenanga, where we caught a net and from Kenanga to Jambu or Selut Village, according to the Rally destination guide. That was yesterday, when it blew 15 to 25 knots up the bay as we made our way down. With no hope of making this unlit reef and little island strewn area in the daylight if we beat, it was a determined motor with a little help from the mainsail into the wind. We made it and this morning it is flat calm and actually a bit smelly anchored off the village with 8 other rally yachts. There are also 3 competing mosques which wailed and trilled away this morning at 4.30, but the program here looks good and we are scheduled to collect our passports with extended visas from here.

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Florence getting a welcome at Kilo village. Women, children and one or two young men mobbing us, in a nice way, for pens, paper, lipstick and fishing gear.

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One of the boat with women only that greeted Alcedo

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The fisherman hauling in his net that we caught. Entirely our own fault, as we had seen no fishing boats for days and failed to see the flag way out to starboard of us until the fisherman was waving like a long lost friend meeting us for the first time in a crowded airport. Too late, we saw the line of buoys at the top of the net disappearing below the keel. That rope broke but the bottom line and the net remained stubbornly attached, probably around the bulb and in the end, after hauling in net and some fish for what seemed like forever, our friend of his fishing boat came to the break and cut the bottom line. We were feeling properly guilty for not keeping a better look out, so rewarded him with several 100,000 Rp notes, after which we parted the best of friends and him with a very broad grin. Possibly an excellent catch for him!

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The village at Kenanga, where no one came to meet us. Perhaps the fisherman, who came from Kenanga, was sharing his good fortune with the rest of the village

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Florence leaving Kenanga in the early morning and flat calm

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Spider boat at Saleh Village. We are hoping to be doing a whale shark tour from here on one of these, but the moon might be too full

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Rally boats anchored off Saleh with the dinghy dock just visible in the background. Another boat to shore job with very dubious access at low water, so we have been told.

After the first leisurely breakfast for days, we are going to get some of the black particles off the deck and give the boat a clean. The news is full of the fires in Indonesia and the poor air quality and we have indeed seen many fires and looking at Alcedo, we can well believe it.

Alcedo