Karimunjawa Archipelago S05 52 433 E110 25 519
 A nice warm scarf given to us by the people of Karimunjawa! Next stop was this archipelago of small islands some 35 miles off the Java coast. They are part nature reserve and part holiday destination for wealthy Indonesians from the Java mainland. Some of the islands are strictly off limits because they are breeding sites for fish eagles. The main island has a population of only 8,000 so has a relaxed feel to it. Many of the yachties used the protected anchorage as a place to leave the boat while they visited the sights on the mainland. We wanted something more relaxed after our 54 hour sail from Bali with 2 nights of massed fishing boats with glaring lights like small cities, unlit fish rafts and ships but no shipping lanes. So it was decided to have a few days of snorkelling and exploring the island.
Main street Karimunjawa at home time.
To this end we hired a driver and van for the day and were guided by Sari a young woman from the Tourist Board. There are hardly any 4 wheel vehicles on the island so perhaps we should have expected ours would not be that good. It took us a while to realise that it had no brakes other than the handbrake, although the fact it had to be bump started soon became apparent.  Morning exercise! We visited an interesting mangrove forest which had a good board walk but the interpretative centre was still under construction.
A warm foot spa.
The island produces cashew nuts so we asked Sari and the driver to show us a Cashew tree. This surprising fruit is the origin of the nut, you can see it in its shell outside the fleshy fruit. The fruit is sweet and edible when red but the nut needs to be roasted. We ate a small piece of the raw nut and it leaves a burning sensation in the mouth.
 The main industry however is fishing and they use some very elegant craft with booms that hang out one side and the usual bright lights to attract the fish and squid. Many of the boats here have engines that are slung on the side with long drive shafts that are lowered into the water to immerse the prop. Very handy for removing your neighbour's unlit net when you drive over it. Three rally yachts have become entangled in fishing gear at night including 2 that went right over the top of the large unlit rafts we pictured in a previous blog.
Our lunch stop was at this wonderful beach where I had a go in a slightly less elegant craft.
In the meantime the driver cooked us a meal of rice, rather a lot of fish and a delicious spicy peanut sauce.
The beach.
Sari and our driver.
After seeing more inland our day ended on another beach where we went snorkelling before more delicious beach food, singing and dancing which is what Indonesians love – so do we.
Vehicles here can be pretty interesting like the motorised rickshaws or the multiple variations of the motor cycle & scooter.
Some of the local boats do still use sail here and are painted with interesting designs.
There are few sailing craft here so like us most of the fishing boats need to buy diesel. When I took our cans ashore I was ushered into a small room to await my turn for the lady with the 2 litre measure and the open drum of fuel!
I wonder what Health and Safety would have to say! Our final evening on Karimunjawa was, for us, quite an unusual event. Earlier in the afternoon Chris has seen a procession of children and mothers dressed up, some of the mothers were wearing scary head dresses and chasing the children. One boy was sat upon what looked like a pantomime horse, he was the focus of the gathering and it transpired that it was his circumcision celebration. The family invited some of the cruisers to their home and we took some money to be put in an envelope as a gift. There were 8 of us so four women together with Sari who accompanied us. We presented our gifts to the eleven year old boy who looked quite composed after his mini op. The doctor was there along with a few others we had got to know. However, it suddenly dawned as we sat eating and talking that no other women were there, the men had been at the mosque when we arrived then the tables suddenly filled with men and the women withdrew inside to eat separately with the children. We stayed a little longer but felt it was time to leave, the segregation felt strange but we were very privileged to be involved in such an intimate gathering.
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