Orangutans in the Wild and Crossing the Equator: Bawean to Singapore: Wonderful Sail to Indonesia Rally Part 4

This is the fourth story about the Wonderful Sail to Indonesia rally.  In the last post, we sailed from Buton to Bali. Here we sail north to Bawean and  north again to the vast island of Borneo, home to wild orangutans......

The official Wonderful Sail to Indonesia Rally map. You can enlarge any image by clicking on it.

After an emergency departure from Bali in the middle of the night, we sailed 34 hours to reach Bawean.  In Bawean we rented a motor bike and had another adventure riding up narrow lanes which laced the forested island. We zoomed past paddie fields, through shady woodlands and little hamlets. 

We rode, then hiked further to the interior to glimpse the remote crater lake. We passed scores of parked motorbikes were parked, to come upon a festive gathering where young buffalo bulls were sparring, the local equivalent of Saturday afternoon football.

Young bulls being prepared for the bull fight.

Bull fight, with a huge crowd of locals hanging out in the shade off camera.

 The next day we rode again, seeing as much of the island as we could. 

We were afraid to cross this bamboo bridge. Then several other scooters did
 and we found out it was solid and sound as metal.

Rice paddy fields, now dry and harvested.

School was let out because we foreigners were here!  Lovely kids.

That evening our hosts took us to see a natural hot spring, and on to a banquet on the pier, with local dignitaries, music, dancing, karaoke...a cocktail party with no cocktails. The Bupati’s mother was keen to sail the world aboard Henrietta, since charming Mike is also fluent in Bahasa, but I don’t think she found a berth that night!   

Big rain coming this way.

In the morning it was time to set our sails for Kumai in Borneo, to see the "forest men" of Borneo, the Orang-utans!

The river anchorage at Kumai, You can see a debris trail at the edge of the current on the left.

We sailed for 34 hours to reach Kumai, which is located well up a wide river on the southern coast of Borneo.  The local program started out with a visit to a Dyak tribal longhouse, where we were treated to several shots of rice wine served in freshly cut bamboo cups, smelling sweetly of grass. 

The traditional Dyak longhouse, built of ironwood.

Dyak dance performance.  Jungle spirits.

Chillin' with the band.

First time with a blowgun since my Grandpa McGee made one for me when I was ten.

I had fun jiving with Dias, our cute, personable guide, who told me his great- grandfather was a Dyak headhunter. We got to see the traditional way to cook pudding in bamboo segments, dance the traditional Dyak dances (which involved passing around more rice wine) and to shoot traditional blowpipes, which our hosts could shoot with deadly accuracy. We went on to the Sultan’s palace, a spacious hundred-year old wooden building with floors of polished ironwood. We had a nice lunch with hosts richly dressed in yellow, the color of honor, and visited the pool with magical powers where the princesses bathed. 

The Princess' bathing pond, where the water will make you look young. More please.

The embellished door frame inside the sultan's palace. A pretty picture frame.

Though it was opaque green, it is said if you wash with the water you will look younger…of course I did (scrupulously avoiding all portals of entry!)  It began to rain. The next stop was the Rainbow Village, so called for its colorful painted buildings. There was a fashion show there for the kids with costumes all fashioned from recycled materials with so much creativity and style. 

One of the fantastic costumes made from recycled material.
This one is made from corn husks.

A young local beauty modeling recycled fashions.

 I was worried that so many people were crowded onto the rickety dock over the river that it might collapse. Indeed, one section of wooden walkway along the street did! The rain started to pour down. 

The rain poured on us in Rainbow Village. I love the exclusive brand logos on the curtains.

It poured rain.

Boatmen bailing their boats after the rain.  With beautiful smiles and humor so typical of Indonesia.

 We sheltered wherever we could, the Hens and I down by the river, knee deep in water next to what turned out to be a flooding privy. When the rain subsided, we all boarded long-tail boats for a ride through the riverside village, built on pilings.

Cruisers on the long-tail boat tour of the village by river. We had fun racing.

View of the village and life along the river. Everyone waved to us.

Village life was all there to see; bathing, cooking, dish washing, tooth brushing and privies all along the river. We raced along in the boats, having a blast.  After, we went to another sultan’s palace, where we dried off and prepared for another feast. We were seated under a white and yellow satin canopy on white satin-covered chairs. We were given yellow ceremonial scarfs to wear in honor the occasion. The Hens and I sat with our pals Terry and Mike from Revision II and again, there was speechifying, masked Dyak dancers, music and dance where the cruisers were invited to join. My pal Dias sat with us and offered further insights into the Dyak ways, and danced with me; turns out he dances in a Dyak troupe. Another fun party.

Being picked up by the klitok, and ready to head up the river to Camp Leakey.

In the morning I joined with Lars and Maria from Alexandra, Flora and Damien from Skybird and Sven and Lisa from Randevag on an overnight river tour inland to visit the Camp Leakey wild orangutan reserve. I was picked up from our boat by a klitok, a river-going houseboat, where my friends greeted me, and we proceeded to motor up the river, past tall river cane and pandanus into jungle of towering trees with macaques and proboscis monkeys looking down from high branches.

Lars and Damien on bow watch.

Lounging on the bow, watching the jungle go by.

                                             

Arriving Camp Leakey

Proboscis monkeys

We walked along a long boardwalk into the forest to where the orangs are fed daily. A ranger made several loud primate calls which echoed through the forest, and soon we heard the sound of branches rustling overhead and an orang swung down to the feeding platform.

An orangutan joining a fellow at the feeding station.

Mama and baby. The babies always love to be touching their mamas.

An adult male.

First came a young male, who gobbled up well over 50 big bananas, and carried more away in his mouth and fists as he climbed into the trees. Next came the moms and babies. A spider monkey scampered in to grab bananas when the coast was clear. It was special to spend time in the silent forest observing the orangs in their own environment. We returned to the boat for dinner and cold beer, then went on a night-time walk through the forest. We slept on the upper deck of the boat, surrounded by the night sounds of the river forest. 

The beds were comfy and colorful, and had mosquito netting.

My favorite photo of Flora and Damien.

In the morning we watched the orangs feeding again, and when as our boat got underway we saw that a big male orang had followed us down to the river and stood on the banks watching us depart.

Cruisers ready to head into the forest.

The next day we departed, sailing Samara II downriver. We anchored at the shallow sandy river delta that afternoon, and Gilles changed the oil even though there was a bit of a swell. I saw a dead dolphin floating, pectoral fin waving lifeless at the water’s surface. We sailed on for 36 hours to Belitung. The sea was a washing machine with heavy current against us. With both engines we were only making 4 knots rather than our cruising speed of around 7 kts. 

We arrived Tanjung Kelayang, and the next day went on a tour of this relatively flat and developed island to see the tin mines and kaolin clay deposits, a byproduct of tin ore extraction. Kaolin is used for bone china, cosmetics and meerschaum pipes! 

We visited a school, with  dance and martial arts performances by the students, and went to a ceremonial longhouse where we had lemonade, and on to lunch where there was a traditional comedic poetry smack-down between the doorkeepers as part of the entry ceremony. 

Always graceful dancers.

The traditional comedic poetry smack-down was part of the fun.

We enjoyed a feast seated on the floor and eating with our fingers as is customary, seated together with local dignitaries. Here the live music had a more Arabic flavor, featuring an oud, the Arabic stringed instrument, and also an accordion.

Jack from Escape Velocity was my fun bus buddy for today. Thanks for sharing, Marce!

Chillin' with the band again. The hand-carved oud is topped with a stag's head.

We went to see traditional boat builders working with hand tools and chainsaws to make sturdy seagoing fishing boats. 

All made from teak and other tropical hardwoods.

A builder fashioning a knee out of naturally shaped hardwood, using only his eye and a chainsaw.

The next day I visited a tarsier sanctuary with Aussie pals Flora and Damien, and Diane and Jeff of Sea Monkey. These tiny, nocturnal primates are fascinating, and world-recognized research is being done by self-taught scientists there.

With "sharp pointy teeth" like the Monty Python bunny.

A tarsier skull showing the size of the eyes.

We stopped by the beach park where mammoth, smooth boulders of granite stud the landscape, reminding me of Virgin Gorda and “the Baths”. The night ended with a nice bonfire on the beach by the tiki hut.

Granite boulders on the beach.  It's fun to walk between them.

Di, Damien, Flora, and yet another smiling, friendly local guide.

A blazing bonfire, eight feet and climbing!

We skipped Toabali since it was out of the way, and sailed instead to Pulau Gelasa, lovely, remote and uninhabited. I expected a good snorkeling reef, but it was badly battered, either by storm or dynamite fishing. 

After a quiet, restful night we sailed on to Tanjung Pesona, on Bangka Island, a really rolly passage. We anchored there at night and there was no sleep to be had. The boat rolled so badly that Gilles decided we would sail around the top of the island to escape the swells. Several other boats did likewise, so we missed the planned activities at Pesona. No worries. The bay was lined with soft white sandy beaches and a tiny village at one end. 

Our calm new anchorage on the north coast of Bangka.

Sailors of the Rogue Fleet exploring our lovely bay.

We cruisers of the “Rogue Fleet” met up for a walk up the hill to an observation platform, then down to the beach where the idea of a beach party was born. We collected firewood and decided on a potluck to celebrate Carolyn’s (one of the Hens) birthday.

Cruiser parties are always fun.

You should have seen the food! Pizza, popcorn, fish balls and dim sum, hummus, salami, fruit skewers, and Gilles contributed an English Christmas pudding for Carolyn’s cake.

To us yachties it was hog heaven!

 Some local guys quietly joined us to tend the fire (to make sure another brush-fire didn’t start!) and we invited them to join the party. They were fun to talk with.  The next day some of us went ashore for a walk through the village, which was more ethnically Chinese.

I don't know what the yellow thing is.  It looks to me like a capstan!

We set sail for Penuba, and stopped halfway at Pulau Saya, a cluster of granite domes tumbled in the middle of the sea. We dinghied ashore at sunset. Though quite close, the strong current prevented me swimming there. Gilles snorkeled over a lively reef in clear water, and I rock-hopped along the shore taking photos.

Granite domes which made up the islands.

Gilles securing the dinghy. That seemingly weak twig was super tough and strong.

Night fell too soon .  We wished we'd had more time.

Sea-sculpted granite.

"...and the Captain's below making tea for the crew". (Fiddler's Green)
Gilles treating me to his signature Spanish omelet.

Such a pretty anchorage, we wished we had arrived earlier in the day. We departed at 03:30 for Penuba.

Arriving Penuba, we entered a river-like channel between a cluster of small, jungly islands. A massive current was flowing here, so strong that boats at anchor were throwing a small bow wave. Here the hamlets are built entirely on stilts over the water, the home to tribes of boat people who in earlier times lived on boats but now have settled out. Homes on stilts don’t require any land ownership. 

At slack tide. when the tide was running there were bow waves.

Sea gypsy stilt houses. And of course, their boats.

Local men, women, boys and girls row standing and facing forward .
 Here they're using a counter current near shore to head upstream

We were tired, and I’m sorry to say I felt a bit annoyed when we were swarmed by persistent kids in boats, rowing against the strong current calling for small treats and to see the amazing giant plastic palaces we sailed in on. Maybe later, guys. The next morning the program began with a sea gypsy mass wedding, where the brides in their finery were ferried across to Penuba town for a public wedding ceremony to the sound of drums and tambourines. The bridal parties and crowd processed to the square, where the couples were seated on the stage in front of festival tents set for a banquet, and speechifying began.

The bridal parties arriving to the sound of drums and tambourine.

The wedding procession.

Despite their wedding finery, the groom appeared wooden and brides looked grouchy and morose. Whaaaa?  We later heard from talking with locals that these couples were of the sea gypsy heritage and of animist faith and  had been married for years, but the Indonesian government only recognizes certain faiths, and animism isn’t one of them. 

Not happy. Not happy at all.

In order to obtain state recognition and the rights, privileges and documents thereof, they had to remarry in one of those recognized faiths. The timing was a bit of a coincidence?? Karaoke ensued, with Bupati and his wife belting out the hits. We enjoyed another delicious feast. The winning recipe was potato chips coated in a flavorful and spicy sauce that allowed the chip to remain crispy. I ate all I could without making a spectacle of myself.  We enjoyed chatting with local dignitaries.  One of them warned us not to swim, since two people had been killed by salt water crocs in the past year!  As if the ripping current was not deterrent enough!  We explored the picturesque village and browsed handicrafts. I walked with Mike of Romano and his sweet English backpacker crew member out of the village and into the countryside. 

Mike and crew from Romano buying lovely fresh veggies.

Loved the colors here. The green machine is a shave-ice maker.

Pretty girls.

We passed a mosque where the chatty caretaker welcomed us, speaking not a word of English, pulled up chairs for us on the mosque veranda which offered a fine view of the harbor, and gave us sodas. We continued across a long footbridge to another picturesque fishing village, laughing and joking all the way.

The bridge to the next village.

A fisherman's work is never done..

While dinghying in from the anchorage with Gilles, the outboard engine quit and we thought it was out of gas.  We were able to paddle in, the current being with us.  Gilles bought some coke bottles filled with gasoline, the normal way of dispensing it here, and refilled the engine. He thought at first the fuel was full of contaminants… but it turned out that engine had burnt the last of the oil and seized up (oops). In any case, the engine was irreparably dead. Thankfully, René on Joz IV just happened to have a spare 2.2 hp outboard motor to lend which well and truly saved the day for Samara II.  Merci beaucoups!

Marie from Joz IV, Girard and Jacques of Extrapoles, Gilles, Patricia,
 and Rene of Joz IV...the French Connection!

We sailed for Benan; on this passage we would cross the equator!  I’d never done it on a sailboat before, though Gilles had many times.  We departed with several other boats, and all anchored in the sheltered anchorage off Lingga Island. Several of us dinghied ashore to visit the Chinese-style gate and winding walkway marking the Equator.   

While other boats marked the occasion with a special shipboard ceremony, Gilles didn’t feel the urge to celebrate. I did, however.  A heavy rain came on and poured buckets of rain, sheets so dense the shore and other boats were completely obscured for nearly an hour.  I decided to draw the curtains on the starboard side of the boat and warned the captain to take cover.  I went outside with my shampoo, conditioner, razor, my dirty laundry and detergent.  I luxuriated in the continuous warm, fresh-water shower, groomed to my heart’s content, washed and rinsed my clothes and thoroughly enjoyed my rain bath au naturel. Later on we all piled aboard Alexandra for a champagne party to celebrate our crossing. We are now Shellbacks...sailors who've crossed the Line.

Rainy day on the Equator.

Rain, rain, rain; the rainy season had arrived. Our island tour of Benan was a laid-back walk across the sandy spit of land to a pavilion set up for speechifying on a pretty beach.

The Welcome Ceremony included a martial arts demonstration.

Another pretty lady.

The tranquil beach at Benan.

 We visited the school, a pandemonium of excited children of all ages. In the school yard, the children swarmed all around us. 

Anne from Henrietta in a swirling sea of children

Distracted by the happy crowd and not looking where I was walking, I didn’t see the small boy who thought it was a good idea to make snow angels on the ground amid the swirling crowd. I nearly stepped right on him, and doing a quick-step to avoid that, my flip-flop scooped a shovelful of sand right into his face, ears, eyes, nose, and mouth! He was not happy and no amount of cooing and jollying would fix it.  I was the villain of the day.

Little Dude in the red pants got the sand in his face. If looks could kill I'd be a goner.

We enjoyed Cruiser Halloween together! It seems that it's an American holiday, and Kimi and Trevor from Slow Flight organized a party on the pier. In spite of themselves, everyone from every country showed up in costume! I pulled my costume out of the rope locker, fashioning a cat tail out of a piece of rope. Trick or Treat!

Di as the Cheshire cat, Sexy Steve as the Hottest Blonde Ever!,
Raymond as a the Tooth Fairy, and Kimi as Tony the Tiger.

Mike as Bear Grills, with Carolyn, and Terry as the Joker.

Dancing and fun was had by all.

The end of the rally was at hand and what would come next was now on everyone’s mind. Captains had to decide how to proceed after the last stop, and crew were making travel arrangements to move on.  Farewells were said, though I missed saying them to many friends on boats which had not yet arrived.  Our last scheduled stop was Tanjung Pinang, a busy commercial port where Samara II stayed only for one day. We then we sailed a half day hop to the ferry terminal on the north coast in the Straits of Malacca, where the Singapore ferry would bring Gilles’ wife Judith to join him and where I would leave the boat for five relaxing days in Singapore.  

Another tranquil sunset at the end of the Wonderful Sail to Indonesia.

Off to Singapore, and whatever comes next...

Merci beaucoups to Captain Gilles for inviting me to crew on this Wonderful Sail to Indonesia.   I will always cherish experiencing the extraordinary people, places and events of this four month, 4000 mile voyage. Heartfelt thanks to all the many wonderful Indonesian friends who welcomed me along the way.  Love you all.

                         Bismillah, may we meet again someday.  Terimah kasih!