Causing a Stir - Bone Rate Island, Sulawesi Province, Indonesia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sun 29 Aug 2010 06:26
|
07:20.369S 121:04.565E
On August 21 we left the quiet of Hoga Island and
headed southwest through the night 200 miles to Bone Rate (Bone-eh Rat-ay)
Island. Bone Rate is part of a tiny group of islands isolated from the
rest of the islands of the Sulawesi Province by 200 miles of sea to the north
and from large Flores Island 65 miles to the south. Its isolated position
makes it the perfect stopover for boats like us traveling from the Maluka and
Sulawesi Provinces in the east to Flores and eventually Bali in the
southwest.
Our 31 hour passage was smooth and slow with
only wind enough for us to sail about one-third of the way. The
rest was a motor. Until now, the wind has been surprisingly reliable,
but it looks like we've officially entered the no wind zone. We were
expecting this to happen since we are so close to the equator and the land of
the doldrums. We did see a series of lightening flashes along the
way, which is yet another unpleasant feature of the doldrums. At
one point during the night, one of our three computers got bundled up in a towel
and shoved in the oven. That may sound odd, but it's a
recommended safety precaution for electronics when lightening
threatens. A lightening strike will rarely sink a boat, but a
complete wipeout of all electronic devices is a real worry. Sticking the
computer that contains our 'life' into the oven, where the metal enclosure
should keep it from being fried, at least makes us feel
better. Aside from that and the six or seven unlit floating raftish
things we passed along the way and thankfully didn't hit, the trip was
easy. After some discussion with other boaters that encountered the same
collection of unlit floating raftish things, we have decided that these
structures are used as fish attraction devices. The fisherman build
the rafts, tow them out to sea, set them free and then track them down (we
wonder how exactly they do this given the crude bamboo rafts are drifting with
the current, wind and waves) to capture the fish gathered underneath.
That's our guess anyway. It's either that or six or seven people
washed up on a deserted island, built raftish things for themselves and set off
on the high seas hoping to be found and rescued. All we saw on
the rafts were birds, lots of birds, so if there were humans on board at
one point, the birds must have had a mighty feast.
We stayed a very calm three nights anchored off
Bone Rate with only two or three other rally boats to keep us
company. There was a village nearby, but the call to prayer was
simply that, a call to prayer, with no extended songs or chants
that carried on for hours. A few curious boys paddled out to see
us in their wooden canoes, but other than that, the locals let us be.
Our trip into the village, however, was a different story as you will see
below.
Picture 1 - Don and Melinda from Australian boat
Sassoon walking down Bone Rate's main thoroughfare. No cars here, just a
few motor scooters.
Picture 2 - Don and Dave (also from Sassoon)
walking down a side street. The teenage boy at the fence offered to act as
our guide. He is learning English and seemed to enjoy the
practice as he led us through the streets of the town in search of bananas and
vegetables. We ended up buying some bananas from a friend of his after two
unsuccessful stops. The general lack of fruits and vegetables in the
Indonesian towns we've visited so far comes as a surprise to us. We are
used to the Pacific islands where the people are practically drowning in
bananas and yams and papayas. On board Harmonie at the moment, we are down
to two carrots, a bunch of rotting bok choy, two pieces of shriveled
up ginger root and a bowl of tiny red-skinned onion-ish things. It's
time to break out the canned fruit and dried hot peppers.
The town of Bone Rate is neat and tidy with
'streets' like this one lined with makeshift fences and traditional homes like
those shown here, as well as more modern concrete houses complete with ornate
iron gates and elaborate ceramic tile floors. We assume the traditional
homes are built on stilts not because of a fear of flooding, but to encourage
air flow under and through the house. If it hasn't been mentioned before,
Indonesia is hot. Sweltering is probably a better word. We've been
swimming or snorkeling almost every day just to keep from turning into
puddles of mush. As we strolled around the town, we noticed the people
living in traditional homes spend their time underneath the houses where it is
probably a degree or two cooler.
Picture 3 - The beginning stages of what was to
become our posse of trailing kids. In this picture, Melinda and Don stop
to laugh as our fan club starts to form and the woman to the left shows us
her baby (who promptly began to cry, which is why everyone is laughing in the
picture). What started out as a peaceful stroll through the village (as
shown in pictures 1 and 2), turned into a giant kid parade as word got out that
four foreigners from the anchored yachts were out and about town.
Picture 4 - Five of the more outspoken kids posing
on the newly built jetty in front of a departing 'cargo' ship (carrying a load
of tiny red-skinned onion-ish things). Every few steps the
kids yelled 'PHOTO!' and struck a pose. I obeyed.
Picture 5 - We pushed off the jetty in our dinghy
leaving no less than 25 kids behind. They waved good-bye and watched us
motor away as they perched on the jetty wall. I think a kid posse
numbering 25 is a new record for us. There are no tourists in Bone Rate,
so it's no wonder that infrequent visits from very tall, pale and generally
funny-looking boater people cause such a stir.
More on the rest of our trip south to Flores Island
later.
Anne
|
