When sailing off-the-beaten-track, you can expect a few surprises!

We’ve been trying to decide exactly what it is that we love most about sailing in remote parts of the world. Is it the rugged natural beauty? Is it the unknown? Is it the challenge to discover new horizons? Is it the authentic people that we meet? Is it the challenge of dealing with boat problems in the middle of nowhere? How about all of the above!

We’ve been in Indonesia now for a few weeks now. (YouTube land time) 

The Island chain known as Maluku Group

Well before we arrived in this beautiful country, we had already decided to forge our own route. This off-the-beaten-track part of Indonesia is both epic and Isolated. With very few large settlements and even fewer tourists, and we cannot wait to dive head first into the most wild part of this ancient country. 

This weeks episode we are met by machete wielding men and youth when we anchor at Pulau Kur. 

But our visit was anything but scary. All machetes were put down and we realised they all had been at work harvesting nutmeg using the machetes to cut down this precious commodity that many of the Maluku islands here are famous for.

Russell taking in the scent of the Nutmeg

Nutmeg roasting on the ground sheets

Maluku is one of the oldest provinces in Indonesia’s history. Maluku name itself is taken from the word al-Mulk, which means Land of the Kings. Maluku Islands, known for its abundant natural wealth, especially spices, which was then targeted by many countries such as the Dutch and Portuguese colonizers. Back in the days, the famed ‘Moluccas’ was a place where a great wealth grew on the trees – quite literally.  Mace, nutmeg and cloves were found nowhere else in the world, which reinforced the Dutch colonial power. 

Today the islanders live a subsistence lifestyle, growing what they can to eat themselves and exporting their spices through Ambon, the spice capital of the world.

We were given a grand tour of the village led by a jangle of laughing children eager to communicate with us. Very little english was spoken, so we started a game. We would point to the “chicken” and say “in Australia Chicken”, they caught on pretty quick and they would say “in Indonesia Ayam”. So this is how our tour of the village proceeded.

They showed us everything so very proud to have visitors to their island. We had noticed that the soccer ball that the boys were playing with on the field was in a terrible state. We in very broken Indonesian asked for a few of the boys to stay on the beach, we quickly dashed back to the boat to grab a soccer ball we had onboard to present to the village. It was thumbs up and many “thank you” shouted as we returned to Our Dreamtime.

We hauled anchor in the morning to do another short hop to a different island in the archipelago. 

Things didn’t go so well as planned.

Our intended anchorages A,B,C&D didn’t go to plan as we hit some unexpected bad weather, so we set sail overnight to anchorage E. But that’s all part of what we seek in sailing off-the-beaten-track. 

After finding safe harbour following a long and hard sail trying to locate protection from the heavy weather that wasn’t predicted, our first thoughts were “what now!” when we received a message that the captain was to report to the police station.

Our very calm anchorage at Inglas

We been conditioned to expect the worst when we are summonsed by authorities. We have also heard horror stories of how some local officials can treat you in Indonesia which is not unlike what is said about our own countries authorities. 

The police we met were true ambassadors of their country and showed us how respect and courtesy to others go a long way in building human relationships. They were very interested in Our Dreamtime so Rob invited them back to the boat to have a tour. Sharing juice and some snacks, much laughter was had by all by using Google translate. The Quarantine Officer even called his son who is studying at university to help with the translation. We said our goodbyes but not before a time was set for the following day for them to take us on tour of the village of Inglas and nearby town of Bula. 

The next day was full of surprises our own police escort took us to see some amazing local places and a lunch at a local Wurung.

Our visit to both villages from the outside could of looked ominous. However our whole experience was in total reverse. “Karma works both ways” is an excellent motto to remember as we continue to have very positive experiences on our travels.

We hope you enjoy this weeks episode Cheers R&K  

http://tinyurl.com/DreamtimeSailEp86

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