Casamara - Wakatobi

Wakatobi

Casamara

John & Susan Simpson

Tue 13 Aug 2024 11:10

Our Sail 2 Indonesia rally itinerary listed 20 or so names of places we would visit, most of which we’d never heard of before and couldn’t remember without prompting. Wakatobi was the exception. We’d never heard of it before but who could forget a name like Wakatobi! We were even more delighted to discover that Wakatobi was the name of the collection of islands, Wangi-Wangi was the name of the island we would visit and Wanchi was the town where we would moor.

Wangi means ‘fragrant’ in Indonesian but I can’t say we noticed the island being particularly sweet smelling. In fact the plastic waste problem was more acute in Wangi-Wangi than anywhere we’ve been so far. The whole of Indonesia is gearing up for Independence Day celebrations on 17th August and there were many large groups of people congregating in the town centre to practice dancing or marching routines. The amount of waste that accumulated as they did this was colossal and it was easy to see why. Single use plastic cups of water, complete with straws, were being handed out by the dozen, food was being eaten from plastic trays with plastic cutlery and all of it was just discarded on the floor when finished. No-one seemed interested in the least in the environmental impact that was so glaringly obvious to us. In some ways it’s understandable that waste management is a problem because the best solution they have is to burn it, but that doesn’t excuse the lack of a sense of personal responsibility for at least keeping the waste off the streets and out of the sea. In fact dumping waste in the sea is seen as the next best thing to do after burning.

Wangi-Wangi was clearly undergoing an upgrade, or at least in the harbour area where the construction of a marina provided us with the first opportunity to moor to a pontoon since we left Cairns two months ago. A stretch of dual carriageway with central planted island, brick pavements and ornate lampposts was being constructed by hand along the waterfront. The dual carriageway didn’t seem to go anywhere in particular so it felt as though this was the island making a statement that it was ready for bigger and better things. Perhaps some of the investment that is going into promoting tourism more widely than Bali was going into this development.

Rally yachts moored at Wangi-Wangi

Unlike other islands we have visited so far, the Wakatobi archipelago has no churches, Hindu or Buddhist temples. The brightly painted and glittering domes of the mosques were a feature of the skyline and the sound of the prayers broadcast from them at regular intervals was a dominant feature of our stay. The day starts very early in this part of the world and we were woken by the first broadcasts from between 4.30 and 5.00 am each morning. There were 12 mosques close to the waterfront where we were staying and the cacophony of sound when they all got going was quite incredible. It was very atmospheric to sit in the cockpit on Casamara in the evening listening to the different intonations.

Street corner in the town

We hired scooters one day and drove around the island. As we drove through the villages strung along the coastline we were greeted excitedly by children shouting the now familiar ‘meeesterrr, meeesterrr’ which seems to be the general greeting for tourists. The braver ones ran towards us with hand outstretched to do a ‘high five’ as we drove by! We passed two resorts and these are often good places to have coffee or lunch so we called in to see what they were like. Although the first one served us coffee the resort didn’t seem to have any guests and the coffee was probably the worst we have ever tasted! The second resort was closed for renovation so they couldn’t provide lunch, but we went in to have a look anyway and admired the view. We had set ourselves a mission at the end of our island circumnavigation by scooter. Letitia and Derek were low on beer so we really needed to find somewhere to buy some more - not easy when Islam is the predominant culture. We’d been to the mini market to stock up on bread, milk and other goods but no beer. Letitia happened to ask someone in the street if there was anywhere to buy some and the guy kindly led us on his motorbike to the one and only shop selling alcohol. It was discreetly located away from the town centre and, with a large unmarked wooden door only partly open, we would never have found it on our own. We wobbled our way back to the marina, each with a tray of beer wedged between driver and pillion passenger. Mission accomplished!

Scooter safari

Dining area, Naya Matahora Island Resort, Wangi-Wangi

There is an English language school in Wanchi and the students had volunteered to be our guides in the town, taking us to the tourism office, the local market or other shops, the deal being that we would help them practice their English. We met two lovely girls called Tasya and Tiara who kindly took us shopping, translated for us, identified the fruits and vegetables in the market, and even insisted in carrying our bags! Before we left we invited Tasya to have a look on board Casamara and she videoed the visit so that she could show her mother. She seemed quite overwhelmed at being on board and kept saying she was so happy she could cry! On our last morning she got to the marina at 8.00 am so that she could give us a gift to remind us of our time in Wangi-Wangi and to wave goodbye. Thank you Tasya and Tiara for making us so welcome.