Nets, Admin, a Forestay and Calf Roping

 Date: 10th September 2025

Location: North Coast Flores, Indonesia

"Stop! STOP!" I shouted. "Reverse, as fast as you can". There, two metres ahead of us was a row of tiny fishing floats. Luckily, even though we were sailing the engine was also on. Somehow we stopped just in time and backed away from the mile long net. The sails backed, the fishing line somehow avoided the spinning propellor and we managed to pass round the end of the net just avoiding the start of another one. There were a couple of small boats by a red flag but they hadn't seemed perturbed as we sailed towards their valuable net. Maybe they hoped we would get entangled and have to buy them another one.

We've been slowly working our way westward along the north coast of Flores. Great but deep anchorages, few if any other cruising boats and magnificent volcanic scenery. Here are a few highlights, and lowlights.

Dates: 28th August and 5th September

A Day Out and Gill and Kevin's birthdays.

We finally found a "resort". We anchored offshore of Sea World (wooden cabins with a beachfront restaurant) and were made welcome by the staff.

We arranged a day trip with a driver to see the famous Three Coloured Lakes. A long, long drive through very poor villages with shacks mainlymade of corrugated iron sheets and bamboo. Up and up we went with the road becoming reminiscent of an African track. Landslides, roadworks and near the top of this volcano, a thick mist. Just as we were bemoaning the lack of a view we suddenly popped out of the fog. The lakes are very impressive and change colour over the years. All three lie within the confines of a single semi dormant volcano. The locals believe your spirit will end up in one of the three lakes - depending on your age at death and whether or not you have lived a pure life. One lake was steaming white clouds - a very rare phenomenon. Thankfully there were signs telling us which way to run in the event of a major eruption!

Two of the lakes.

Another view.

Paddy fields near the volcano.

Complex irrigation systems.

Back at Sea World a couple of other boats had arrived so Gilly's birthday beach dinner was shared with a young French guy and his family. As usual acquaintances soon became friends and a great evening was had by all under the stars.

Gill's birthday T-shirt.

And birthday dinner - lobstered out!

Birthdays weren't over yet though. A few days later and we're in Ruing, a small fishing village also serving as the entry point to the 17 Islands National Park. A few basic travellers' cabins provided accommodation for hardy explorers. But for us there was a small dockside restaurant where we celebrated Kevin's 64th birthday. Well actually he was 67 but he claimed to have 'forgotten' three years?

Happy birthday Kevin.

This was another good evening with just the four of us and was very upmarket compared with the local, Moslem, no alcohol food shack of the more remote villages.

It was also a good place to stock up vegetables at the local pasar.

Chickens for sale at an earlier market.

Chicken purchased!

Date: 8th September 2025

We and Meraki were anchored in a dead flat, remote bay. Dusk approached and a solitary fisherman set his net with the characteristic slap of his hand against his wooden hull to drive the fish into his net. As the sun set a big full moon rose in the east. Stars came out and we lay in the cockpit watching. A magical evening. And then, around 11pm, in a completely clear sky, the moon began to disappear crescent segment by crescent segment. In an hour it had gone completely leaving just a hazy glow. Slowly it returned. And there it was. The red eclipse moon. 2am. Time for bed.

Waiting for the blood moon.

Not the blood moon - too hard to photograph! But a nice moon picture anyhow.

9th September

A bad day for Meraki

Meraki left us to try another anchorage a few miles away. Entry to our bay had been tricky. Leaving for them was trickier. In a low tide they went around on a coral reef. Not good. Not good at all. They radioed us and we sped round to see if we could help. They really were well aground. But as you see it was low water. We inspected and waited and inspected and waited as the tide rose. 30 minutes later the engine was started, reverse engaged and Meraki gently floated off. Phew! That was close.

But their woes weren't over for the day. They arrived at their chosen bay and decided to take a further look at the sticking foresail furler. With sail unfurled Kevin pulled the furling line and horror of horrors the metal stay snapped and the entire furling gear and sail hung loose from the top of the mast. The forestsay had broken. They then spent many hours sorting out the mess. Dropping the halyard, removing the sail and clearing the mess of wire and furling foils. Nightmare.

No forestay, just a couple of halyards holding up the mast.

The next few days we travelled with them slowly here to Labuan Bajo as they carefully motored along afraid to hoist a sail for fear of bringing the entire rig down.

On the way to Labuan Bajo.

Yet again just our two boats in the whole anchorage.

Date: 15th September 2025

Location: Waecicu Bay, Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia.

The busy harbour of Labuan Bajo

We've finally made it to Labuan Bajo, the tourist mecca of Flores. This bay just north of the town has everything. It's where we will meet daughter Emma in a couple of week's time. Nice wide anchorage, very few boats, snorkelling and a taxi ride into town.

Our base waiting for Emma and for fixing Meraki.

A short paddle away to one of our yoga spots.

Yoga morning on the beach.

We are sharing the bay with squid boats - bright lights attract the squid.

So today was an admin day. We needed Harbour Master, Customs, Immigration, laundry, fresh market, supermarket, Dex and Pertamax (diesel and petrol). Admin days are always guaranteed stressful. You need a special sort of resilience and a sense of humour. And Indonesia is especially challenging both because our Indonesian is poor and the culture is very different to what we are used to. We dinghied ashore with 8 20 litre jerry cans, two big bags of laundry, various bags for purchases, boat papers, Kevin, Shawna, Gill and me. Sophea our driver waited for the four of us at the entrance to the Sophia Hotel. Meanwhile we were waiting in the carpark. There goes the first half hour. We pile into the Toyota people carrier and head for Labuan Bajo the first sizeable town for a month.

ATM first. We took out 4,000,000 rupiah! Laundry next. It's complicated. 50,000 rupiah for a 5 kilo load, 70,000 for a big sheet (50,000=£2.50). But that's if you don't want the express 2 hour service. Anyway we left it all with them with our WhatsApp numbers for a detailed price. "Terima kasih" (thank you).

Now the fun really began. Some rumours had it that we must have our 'green book' stamped at major ports or you could end up getting fined on final departure. We presented ours to the harbourmaster. Much consternation and discussion in very broken English. Have you just arrived in Indonesia? You must go to immigration, customs and quarantine too. No we haven't. How long you stay here? When you leave you must come again. Who knows. Anyway they gave us some sort of stamp in the green book and we escaped. Kevin tried to get the harbour master to allow him to tie up to his dock once he has his furler parts. Can't be done. I'll get my friend to contact you.

Next is fuel. There isn't any. Maybe tomorrow. Sophea the driver is hard to understand and is trying to get extra kickbacks wherever he can.

On to Customs for Kevin to get a letter to exempt him from paying duty when he gets back with his forestay parts from Australia. "Ah, that letter needs to come from Kupang where you checked in." But Kupang say he must take the boat back to Kupang (hundreds of miles) before they will give him the letter. In the end he decides to ask forgiveness on arrival rather than permission in advance. We'll see how that works!

And then it's Immigration to ask how we extend our visas. You only get 60 days initially and we need another 60. Amazingly the woman there understands perfectly and tells us how we need to fill in an online form and then return to see her to have our photos taken. She also knew what Kevin needed to do to renew his visa when he gets back from Australia. His current visa is single entry and he'll be coming in a second time. Well done Immigration. You were great!

Then it's supermarket and local market. The local market especially is just ace. Friendly, mostly Moslem, great choice, great quality. We buy some things that we recognise and a few we don't. The pineapples are the best ever.

The busy market.

On we go to pick up the laundry. A misunderstanding means it's not been folded and will be another hour. We say we'll take it unfolded. "What! Wait we'll fold it now." And what folding. Even my holey T-shirts were precisely sized using a small rectangle of plastic to ensure the folds were in exactly the correct places!

At the laundry.

That's some folding.

Then finally it's back to the boats. "Just ask for Alex" if you need me again says the driver. Yes, that's Sophea the driver. So we query him. "Ah, my name is Alex, 'Sophea' is Indonesian for driver!!"

Next day things get even more weird. Kevin gets a text from the harbourmaster to say they have his Crew List piece of paper. Well, turns out it is actually ours for Mehalah. This is a critical piece of paper. It must have the same names on it when you leave as when you arrived in the country. I stay on the boat. The girls go to sort out the Crew List and Kevin takes jerry cans for fuel with Alex. Gill sends me a message "They've lost the Crew List!" "Ah, they've found it in the bin." "No. That's not the Crew List it's the list of Ports form" (another critical one). They agree that a photo of Gill with Rivo the harbourmaster and a copy of his original WhatsApp message is the best that can be done. Fingers crossed at exit time.

Gill and Rivo the harbourmaster.

Meanwhile Kevin is with Alex at the Petromina petrol station. IT IS BEDLAM. In five years sailing it's the only time Kevin has feared for his safety. Alex bypasses the huge queue shouting at people as he drives on the kerb to get to a pump of Dex. K keeps his head down and starts to fill the diesel jerries with tempers fraying and much bad feeling. Meanwhile Alex is off trying to get the petrol cans filled. He's unsuccessful for some reason. As it turns out this is a good thing as he was trying to fill our red jerry can (labelled for diesel) with petrol.

They return to the boats with Kevin traumatised and upset.

Date: 22nd September 2025

Meraki Repair Update

So this is the biggy. The only way forward is a new forestay and furling system for Meraki. Luckily we're waiting for Emma here anyway so can afford to stay with Kevin and Shawna while they sort things out. Indonesia just does not have these sort of parts and as they are off to Japan, Russia and Alaska once they leave here it is imperative they install new parts. New parts must come from Australia and they ain't cheap. Two options..

1. Order and fly the parts in with a risk of them getting stuck in customs for weeks whilst incurring an additional import duty charge of 40% and bits missing when they arrive.

2. Fly to Australia to pick up the parts. But this means a new Australian visa, a new Indonesian visa, four flights and two nights away.

Kevin's gone for Option 2. At this moment he's in Sydney checking all the parts. If any are wrong or missing when he gets back here he'll have to repeat the entire trip. It's complex and the risks are high. Even when he gets to customs at Bali he might need to pay duty. To mitigate this risk he's buying a surfboard bag and hopes to bring the parts in as 'sports equipment'. We shall see!

Whilst waiting for the parts to arrive Gill and I make a short foray into the outer Komodo islands.

[PS: Kevin's back with no issues. On to the rebuild].

[PPS: There are some missing parts. We need a new plan].

Checking the inventory.

Interesting Indonesian facts...

- All the small one man fishing boats appear to be powered by strimmer engines - small engine on the end of a thin shaft with two strimmer blades in the end. They aren't though because they sound different approaching with a deep thud, thud, thud.

- Indonesia away from the biggest towns is very poor. But the people are happy and theft is almost unheard of.

- Scooters and motorbikes are ubiquitous. A typical scooter costs $21m rupiah (£950 UK). 80%are purchase by taking out a three year loan.

- And finally (and totally unrelated) I decided to Google myself. Seems I am famous in Texas! Click here.