Sunday 9 November – settled into Balbulol island

We said goodbye to both boats last night, they were both gone by the time we got up. We have the place to ourselves except for the occasional long boat bringing tourists from the pinisis’s that can’t come in here. We got straightened out after last night, clearing up the boat and dishes before heading off to explore in the dinghy. We went out and around to the bay next door and found a pinisi and a sailing yacht. We went to say hello to the yacht called Sinead, it turned out to have a 33 year old solo American guy on board called Jim. He has just completed a PHD in some Ecology topic in NZ where he’s lived for the last 4 years. He sailed from NZ to here via Australia and the Torres Strait. He hasn’t spoken to another English person in a month, pretty lonely, luckily he speaks some Indonesian as he studied it at University in Michigan. He wanted to move around to our side of the island which is more protected. He can get in now that the other boats have gone, we arranged to help him around 4pm, to tie his stern lines onto the rocks, very tricky for a solo sailor to do. We carried on exploring a little way around that side and found what looked like a fishing station. Some rather suspiciously trendy guys tried to get some money off us for anchoring on the first day, Rowan said he would go to the ministry to pay. This morning they were around early to say if we don’t pay now we have to leave. Begrudgingly we paid, it looked like they were lining their own pockets. We assume they must be based at this fishing station.

We headed back to PolePole after a good explore, it is unbelievably hot, which does not improve energy levels, so it was good to relax under the awning. 4pm we went out and waited for Sinaed to arrive, he was very late, it did not really matter as we were in the shade, we went scouting for good rocks to tie onto. Finally he arrived, we got him securely tied up, his boat is an old steel boat that he plans to sail back to the States via Japan and Alaska. We invited him for a drink later and a bite to eat. We went and found a wooden staircase we were told about that takes you to the top of one of the pinnacles for a good high view point, you cannot reach it at low tide. The stairs were recently made and in great condition, covering the razor sharp limestone, well worth paying the guys if they maintain the steps and jetty. It was a fantastic view from the top, around 5 pm with low light, illuminating the green water. It was well worth the sweaty climb and the last five metre rock scramble to the top. Very narrow ledge at the top, space for two people max, so glad there was nobody about.

We assumed Jim might be vegetarian which was fine with us on our meat free week days (take note Han!). He arrived just as it was getting dark, with a story to tell us about why he was so late coming from the other anchorage. This is so tragic, I hate to even write about it and it obviously really had upset him too. When he pulled up his anchor to move around to our side he discovered a Manta ray had got caught on a small rope that he has attached to his anchor. He said he had heard weird noises last night but thought nothing much of it. The poor old Manta was dead, the rope had tied tight around his horn shaped fin at his mouth, Jim had to dive down to cut it loose. Ugh so, so sad! We quizzed poor Jim all about his life, a reputation I have from a niece’s husband, interrogating aunt ….. I see it more as interesting conversation! Anyhow poor Jim is medically dependent, of course I asked why, and it turns out he has a rare rheumatoid arthritis condition, as a kid he had to use walking sticks, but as long as he takes his medication regularly he is ok. This is tricky though as it has to be kept refrigerated. So his mum flies out to meet him every now and then to keep him topped up. Quite something, especially being on his own. But he seemed very relaxed about it all. Luckily all cruisers go to bed early so it was not a late evening.