Our journey from Manado was to get us 320 nautical miles further on and round to the Togean Islands tucked deeply between the top two fingers of Sulawesi. This windy coast provided us with four anchorages along the way, some with lovely names like Kora-Kora and Jiko Buhe-Taya and we crossed the equator en route.

At Jiko Buhe-Taya bay we had visitors fairly quickly after we anchored, fishermen and their sons who were very interested in Gryphon II. We were very interested in their large outrigger fishing canoe which was in beautiful order. We traded with them as they brought us three nice fish from their day’s catch. We gave them packs of the 3-in-one-coffee that they like, condensed milk which keeps well without a fridge, noodles, some sweeties and toothbrushes for the boys.

They spent an hour with us looking at the navigation equipment and inspecting the decks, then just chilling out with drinks and chat what we could manage of it, hands and smiles always help.

Next morning we went ashore to their village which was very pleasant with pretty gardens. They had never had western visitors before and were all out to welcome us. We were hugged severally and all wanted their photograph taken with us – that kept us really busy.

A wonderful troupe of parents, grandparents, children and dogs escorted us round the village as we went on jalan jalan (walking about ) to see the protestant church, the beach boat building centre and to visit the very small shops to buy eggs and onions.

We met the teacher of the elementary school and a temporary teacher over from Jakarta to teach English who told us there was no fresh veg or fruit to be had as they were awaiting a delivery but we did manage to purchase much needed diesel. In these smaller villages the diesel is usually kept in a large tank in a room attached to a shop and is measured out into the jerry cans via a litre jug. We bought only 40 litres this time so it didn’t take as long as it sometimes can and we had no end of helpers to carry it back to the dinghy.

It is always great fun to be with Indonesian people and this village was particularly welcoming. Arriving back at the beach there were young green coconuts to drink which are so refreshing, the original isotonic drink perfectly packaged for freshness and surprisingly cool.

We made our goodbyes and had another session of hugs and handshakes before making our way back to Gryphon II to print out pages of all the photographs we had taken for the villagers. These were delivered before we left next morning and pinned up in the main village shop for all to see.