Saumlaki, Indonesia
Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Wed 27 Jul 2011 07:34
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07.58.40 S 131.17.30 E
We left Darwin on Saturday 23rd July with the
rally. It was slow the first day and night, but after we had sailed out of
Australian waters the wind picked up and we had a good sail to Saumlaki, our
first stop in Indonesia. We arrived on Monday, just before dark. Yesterday we
did all the formalities with customs and quarantine people coming on board and
then seeing immigration, more customs and port authorities on shore. This also
entailed a lot of paper work. It was all very well organised though. Today we
had a welcome ceremony with dancing, music, a traditional welcome with a drink
and some food.
We walked around the town, which brought back
memories of our time in Brunei. We are here with about 24 boats, the rest of the
fleet went to Kupang, Timor. Tomorrow the locals have organised a tour for us to
see part of the island of Yamdena. On Friday we plan to move on to
Banda.
Slow start of the rally leaving Darwin (and
Australia)
The welcome in Saumlaki, these are some of the
elders.
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