Saturday 18 October – joining Claudette in Waisai

We were up before breakfast, anchor raised and hoping to sail to Waisai town about 30 miles away. The wind tempted us, so we got the sails up but it was all in vain. It was a slow hot motor sail, we turned the engines off for an hour or so, just for some peace and quiet, we crept along at about 3-4 knots. Claudette had got to the town in the morning having successfully motored the whole way too. She had arrived at the anchorage and found a big festival going on just in front of the anchorage. We had debated to go to an anchorage up a river about 8 miles out of town, but the festival made our decision and we had told Claudette we would be there today.

We got into the anchorage just before 3pm, in time to see some traditional boats pass in front of us as part of the festival. Turns out it is a festival celebrating fish, it has been taken over by various fishing companies, it was an impressive set up. As soon as the anchor was secure we were in JeldiJeldi heading into town. We had to go up a filthy river to get to a jetty to get onto land. The river was just a mass of boats and people, wooden shacks and jetties. We finally found Claudette’s dinghy and used the same jetty. My god she is brave coming in here on her own, there are no other yachts about. Sadly the river was absolutely filthy and the pollution most probably the worst I’ve ever seen, very, very sad. On the bright side the people are so friendly, and we soon wound our way through the alleyways to the festival at the sea front. There was loads of singing and dancing at the platform, loads of food stalls that looked a little too basic for us and a few craft stalls. We found these amazing straw hats in the shape of manta rays, we were trying them on, and I couldn’t just walk away, we needed to contribute to the festival! They also had batik cloths with leaf and flowers imprints, it is a craft specific to this area. Some kids came and held our hands and enticed us over to a tent. Turns out there was a spinning wheel and a prize of some sort for each number on the wheel. The kids had to have an adult who spun, but they got the winnings. we did not have to pay anything, the prizes were all sponsored by various industries, including a bank. There were a handful of other tourists in the tent, obviously we were targeted, but the kids were so sweet it was a delightful thing to participate in and did not cost us anything but time and sweat. Oh my goodness it is hot, Rowan ‘s shirt was soaked.

We decided we wanted a good Indonesian meal at a restaurant, which we have not had so far. There was a good recommendation on our No Foreign Land app so we decided to go to it, which meant going in the dinghy as it was near the ferry harbour quite far away. By the time we headed there it was getting dark, on arrival it all looked rather closed, especially the outside seating. Claudette went and investigated and found the air-conditioned restaurant, we were the only guests, the food was delicious and they had ice cold beers. Very few restaurants serve alcohol. It was a delicious evening, turns out the chef is a baker and they sell all sorts of biscuits and cakes. We didn’t linger as Claudette was exhausted, it was quite hairy returning in the dark, with so many boats about and debris in the water.