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Indonesia is split into two pages because I couldn't possibly do it justice on one page. There are also lots more photos in the photogallery
We sailed down from Bone Rate to the west coast of Flores which gave us access to the Komodo National Park. Komodo and Rinca are the biggest islands in the park and are famous for being the home of the largest lizards in the world - the carnivorous Komodo Dragons. They were only discovered by westerners during the last century. They roam these islands killing large prey like water buffalo, deer and even occasionally men. They carry listeria in their saliva which is a lethal bacteria. They only need to bite their prey once and then they wait for up to a fortnight for it to die of septicaemia. These pictures were all taken on Rinca. Needless to say we didn't allow the dragons too close although we did witness somebody being attacked by one. The snorkelling and diving were also superb. The manta ray was swimming in one of our anchorages
Komodo dragons
Water buffalo Fish Eagle Long tailed macaques
Wild boar A deer on the beach
Manta Ray Anchored off Rinca
Then we sailed on to Lombok where we had a tremendous welcome. Lombok is at present only developed in a few areas, but it is looking to develop tourism. We were lucky to visit before it gets spoilt, although it is unlikely ever to attract tourists as much as its neighbour Bali because it doesn't have the number of potential tourist attractions that Bali has.
Ceremonial welcome to Sail Indonesia
Lesley trying her hand at traditional weaving
Bali is well known as a tourist island but the locals have struggled since the bombings of 2004. We stayed for a few nights just outside Ubud. We hired a driver to take us around to see as many sights as possible in our limited time there.
Breakfast on the balcony with the Bali volcano in the distant background Enjoying a magnificent traditional meal
Hindu temples
Paddy fields
Barong dancing Kecak dancing
After Bali we set sail to Kumai for one of the anticipated highlights of our circumnavigation. A 450 mile passage through busy waters dodging anything from large container vessels to small fishing canoes kept us on our toes. As we approached Kumai we encountered large numbers of tugs towing very large loads. Their navigation lights did not always correctly indicate that they were towing which made night sailing somewhat hazardous!
Tapestry progressing well under downwind sails A sea-going tug pulling a raft loaded with logs
Once anchored in Kumai we took a two day trip by klotok to see the orang-utans in their natural habitat. The indiscriminate logging previously carried out in the tropical rain forests of Indonesia has made them an endangered species. The Indonesians are now well aware of the problem and have been making efforts to properly control tree felling.
We saw several wild orang-utans. These were the boldest ones.
We visited Camp Leakey which was originally a research station to study and rehabilitate orphaned orang-utans but it is very run down. It is now only used as a site to feed rescued orang-utans as they usually cannot make the full transition back to the wild.
A male greeting us on arrival A female leads us along the walkway to the camp
"Tom" the alpha male of the Camp Leakey orang-utans.
Wild proboscis monkeys An athletic gibbon
By the time we had visited Kumai our visa only had a few days to run. We set sail with two other yachts towards Batam Island which was just over 600 miles away. One of them JJ Moon suffered a transmission failure half way there and the other yacht Troubadour towed them over 350 miles to Nongsa Point. Meanwhile we pressed on to organise a suitable berth for them to be towed into. Nongsa Point marina has all the comforts of a hotel including a lovely swimming pool but it was as difficult as elsewhere to find skilled help. JJ Moon's troubles were only just beginning because they were unable to arrange the repair in Indonesia and eventually had to be towed to Singapore to have it carried out.
Our visa ran out soon after we arrived and it was time to make the short passage across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world to Singapore.
