The island of Wangi Wangi – 25^th to 27^th August 

There was an exposed reef separating Astra and the few remaining Sail Indonesia yachts moored up on the inside of the lagoon.  Adding to this, the approaching channel was too shallow to make a pass, so we tied up to a mooring buoy on the outside of the reef.  We all went ashore for lunch at the restaurant on the jetty overlooking the yachts.  The service was extremely slow and beer was forbidden due to Ramadan.  However, when the food did arrive, it was excellent and it was just nice to relax after the bumpy sail from Bitung.

That afternoon, Jeremy went back to Astra to do a few jobs and relax whilst the rest of us hired motorbikes to explore the island.  We had to get used to riding the bikes with the required gear changing, but it was a lot of fun at the same time.  We had a local guide with us who took us all over the island to a fresh water swim hole, to local villages and up to the hills/highest part of the island which couldn’t have been more than 100m above sea level.  We met with local villagers along the way and had fun speeding along the islands roads on the back of these motorbikes.  That first evening in Wangi Wangi, we had Keith and Susan from Baccus over for drinks.

On the 26^th, we had lunch at the same restaurant due to the fact that this was the only place on the entire island where we could eat during daylight hours because of Ramadan.  During the afternoon, Oliver spent his time trying to refuel Astra whilst Sally, Charlie and Liam took motorbikes to the beach further up the coast.  Sally went off to have her hair done (which included a head massage) whilst Charlie and Liam went snorkelling to a reef several hundred metres offshore. 

That evening, we went for drinks on Stream Spirit along with Baccus prior to the evening festivities organised by the mayor of Wakatobi at his house.  This was the welcome dinner for this section of the Sail Indonesia festival.  We were invited into his house to dine on an amazing seafood buffet.  After which we sat outside listening to speech upon speech followed by many traditional dances.  We were all so tired and this part of the night seemed to drag on for a long time.   After the ceremony, the locals asked for photos with all the participants of the rally.

The following morning (the 26^th), Sally and Liam went off to buy some food at the local market where they were constantly ripped off.  We were supposed to attend yet another ceremony on the island that morning yet opted out to sail to the next island of Hoga.  Oliver did a fine job of sorting out fuel which seemed very difficult to obtain due to the limited supply on the island.  We left for Hoga at around 2pm that afternoon to leave the rally and do our own thing – at last!