Kupang to Kalabahi, Alor
Gaviota
Wed 10 Aug 2016 09:30
008:13.41S 124:30.88E
The next
potential stop in West Timor was a no no so we had no option but to head into
the dusk and make the crossing to Alor at night. This with all the above mentioned issues was
not ideal and as the light faded we realised that there were an awful lot of
tiny fishing boats (unlit) along with fish traps (also unlit) out there! The wind had dropped and the sea was glassy
so we ate dinner in the dark wondering what the night would bring. About an hour later the wind started to pick
up, sails went out and for a while we were making a good speed. We definitely did not want to arrive at the
entrance to Alor in the dark but the wind soon died again. Syd had a hard night altering and trimming sails
as wind came from every direction with wind strengths from 3-25 knots. Dawn came and the amazing entrance to the
‘ring of fire’. Towering volcanoes
dropped into the sea. There was a strong
current against us and frightening overfalls with standing waves and whirlpools
as we negotiated our way up the channel.
Little villages (all with churches or mosques) clung to the sides of the
massive volcanoes and looked very vulnerable.
We
arrived in Kalabahi, Alor and anchored along with another 6 boats that had decided to
skip the second stop. The area next to
the anchorage was a Muslim village and we were sandwiched between 2 mosques – a
bit noisy!
We went
into Kalabahi the main town of Alor the next day on a bema (little bus) blasting out
some pretty good rock music. The town
was busy, chaotic and pretty dirty so we visited the local market and stocked
up on veg and decided it was not where we wanted to spend the next 5 days.
