Monthly Archives: January 2008

Timor Tour – Village Life

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Continued from yesterday”¦ We were greeted by the village queen, Kolo Binu, and two of her granddaughters, all beautiful women with big smiles. A couple of the men also eventually came out to welcome us. We presented our gift and, like in the other village, it was put in a basket and passed around. We were served coffee and fried bananas, which are basically banana chips that aren’t quite as crispy as we are used to. It was 16:00 (4:00 pm). Neither of us particularly wanted the coffee. Eric does not like coffee and Christi is sensitive to caffeine and didn’t think she would be able to sleep with caffeine so late in the day. However, we decided it was important to not offend our host. Much to Eric’s surprise, the coffee was delicious. So good, in fact, that he had a second cup, which floored Christi. They must brew it differently than we do because there was zero bitterness to it at all. As we were enjoying our coffee on the patio of the main house, it was pointed out to us that we were sitting right in front of the coffee plant that the beans were picked from. How cool is that? Three feet from plant to cup. Wow.

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Of all the villages on Timor, Boti is the Continue reading →

Timor Tour – Traditional Villages and Scary Mountain Roads

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Continued from yesterday”¦ SoE is a small city and there wasn’t much to see besides a few modern commercial buildings with government offices, restaurants, markets, etc, a few modern houses and grass huts, and some street vendors selling assorted goods. After leaving the restaurant, we stopped by a street vendor and bought some beetle nut, white powder that we were told was lime, and raw tobacco as a gift for the villagers.

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We were only back in the car for just a few minutes when we turned off the main road to go to Tetuf, a traditional village. The dirt road through the village was really bumpy, and as we gingerly crept along, a horde of children ran alongside to escort us in. The kids were so excited to see us. The whole time we were there, they followed us around, staring at us with wide eyes.

The road abruptly ends at a small cluster of huts. When you get out and look around, you realize Continue reading →

Timor Tour – Musicians and Mountains

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Ony and the driver, Anish, picked us up at the beach near Kosmos at 08:00. Normally he does three day trips into the mountains, but we were uncomfortable being away from Kosmos for more than one night, so we opted for the shortened two day version.

We followed the coast for a few kilometers, seeing many of the same sights as we had seen on our bemo ride yesterday. We turned and headed up the mountain. As we moved farther out of town, the buildings became less dense and there were small pockets of farmland here and there. Ony commented that we were lucky we had come at the beginning of rainy season, when it was green. The trees and bigger bushes were green, but the ground cover and smaller shrubs were dead, and it seemed brown and dusty to us. The flowers have all started to bloom, so there were lots of colorful flowers to see. Also, there were an amazing amount of butterflies flitting about. Despite being dry, it was still a pretty drive.

The east bound road went back down the mountain into a valley. Our first stop was to see a couple of musicians, Jitron K. Pah and his son. They are actually pretty famous within Indonesia, even playing for the president. They play the sasandu instrument professionally. The sasandu itself is a cylinder with strings all the way around it. The number of strings varies from 25 to 43, depending on the size of the piece. There is a woven basket around the backside. In addition to playing, they also hand craft the instruments and sell them out of their home. We were surprised by how beautiful the sansadu sounds. Almost like a cross between traditional Japanese string music, a harp and a guitar. The dad played Indonesian folk songs for us and the son played western pop tunes. We wanted to buy CD’s, but they were out. Here is a shot of son playing and dad singing.

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Near the musicians’ home, we noticed Continue reading →

2007 Reflections and Happy 2008!

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Wishing all of you and Happy, Healthy, Safe and Prosperous 2008!

We have been doing some reflecting on 2007. It has been the most amazing year of both our lives. The first four months we jumped hurdle after hurdle in trying to get ready to go. It seemed several times that obstacles might stop us, but then at the last minute we were able to overcome these obstacles, leaving a month behind schedule. We want to thank everyone who helped us overcome the various hurdles. We are so blessed to have had so many people help us along the way and we are thankful for your friendship, help, and support. We couldn’t have done it without all the help!

Since leaving we have been to 18 islands in the South Pacific, four places in Australia and one in Indonesia. We’ve been SCUBA diving in all kinds of amazing places, including beautiful reefs, caves, and shipwrecks. Of course, we have seen incredible amounts of sea life on our dives. We went swimming with dolphins and whales and sharks in the ocean. We have been to the rim of an active volcano and walked up a waterfall. We have seen many traditional Polynesian and Melanesian villages. We’ve done a lot of snorkeling, gone on many gorgeous hikes, and taken several island tours, including one on a go cart, one on horseback, and one in a helicopter. We have been to several big celebrations for a country’s local holiday, and twice gotten within a few feet of the country’s president at these events. We anchored on a sunken sailboat by mistake and had to handle getting unstuck very carefully or we would have sunk, too. We got our anchor badly stuck on some coral another time. In Australia we saw all kinds of crazy land animals and ate crocodile and kangaroo. We have been in very rough seas, and once we almost got hit by lightening. Those are all the biggies, but there is much more, too. Here is a list of some of the highlights since leaving home.

  • Average speed: 5.94 knots
    Best Polynesian Food: Jenna’s Niuan Buffet, Niue
    Best Sea Animal Encounter: Tie between swimming with the whales in Vava’u, Tonga and swimming with the melon headed dolphins in Nuka Hiva, French Polynesia
    Best Polynesian Dancing: Society Islands, French Polynesia
    Best Tattoo artistry: The Marquesas
    Best Wood Carvings: The Marquesas
    Best Yogurt: Mami Nova brand (we found in Tahiti, imported from France)
    Cleanest Fuel: Thursday Island, Australia
    Days on land/days at sea: 141/70 = 33% time at sea
    Deepest anchorage: 100 feet in Bay of Virgins, Fatu Hiva, French Polynesia
    Deepest dive Christi: 130 feet in Luganville, Vanuatu
    Deepest Dive Eric: 102 feet in Niue
    Favorite Dive Spot: Fakarava, French Polynesia
    Friendliest People: Niue
    Least expensive destination: Timor, Indonesia
    Longest passage at sea: 21 days from San Diego to Nuka Hiva, French Polynesia
    Most amazing land destination: active volcano in Tanna, Vanuatu (found in blog under Efate)
    Most boats in a single anchorage: Tahiti, French Polynesia
    Most expensive destination: Bora Bora, French Polynesia
    Most expensive fuel: Cairns, Australia
    Most frustrating check in/check out experience: Fiji (we were unlucky. Most have no issues)
    Most remote from civilization: Suwarrow, Cook Islands
    Most Unique Land Animals: Tropical Dome, Cairns, Australia
    Restaurant with best value for the quality: Chef’s in Nadi, Fiji
    Restaurant with worst value for the dollar: Hotel Bora Bora, Bora Bora, French Polynesia
    Scariest Event: Getting the anchor stuck on the sunken sailboat in Apataki, French Polynesia
    Shallowest anchorage: 10 feet in Moorea, French Polynesia
    Strongest winds: 39 knots during a squall on passage from Australia to Indonesia
    Total distance traveled: 9,959 Nautical Miles (11,452 statute miles, 18,320 Kilometers)
    Total engine hours: 1676
    Total generator hours: 767
    Worst seas: Suwarrow to Niue passage (waves as high as 14 feet not fun!)

It will be very interesting to see what 2008 has in store for us. We hope it is just as good or even better than our wonderful 2007.