Sunday 8 February – finally we get to Labuan Bajo (LBJ), it is all wonderful until it is pitch dark

We set off early to catch the calm waters. There was absolutely no wind so it was a motor all the way to LBJ. The swell was big but it really wasn’t that bad, the most peaceful passage in days. We had to go the far side of the islands to get into LBJ, with only satellite navigation we did not want to take any chances, as there are reefs everywhere. We finally got in around lunchtime and were amazed to see so many phinisis, hundreds around, most probably as it is low season they are all at anchor here. We were told the best thing to do was get a mooring ball, all the phinisis tie onto them and it appears to be first come first served. We just got tied on when a phinisi next door said we had to move as a boat was coming. We found another ball, but I could not get it high enough to thread our ropes through, so we had to abandon it

Third time lucky we found a mooring ball with a hoop on a long leash so we could tie up easily. The leash was incredibly long, we spotted another loop much further along the leash and decided to attach the bridle onto that loop, so that we had less leash to swing around on in the packed anchorage. Next we saw Sea Angel appear, we pointed to the mooring ball we couldn’t get on to. Rowan went out on the dinghy to help them get securely on. We agreed to pick up Daiana and Aaron for an early supper in town. We went to a highly recommended restaurant for supper overlooking the bay which was stunning in the setting sun. We all ate local dishes which were really delicious, it was a good night out. Quite a long dinghy ride home in the dark from the town jetty, wiggling our way though the phinisis.

We were back on PolePole by 8pm, we were all pretty tired, we forced ourselves to stay up a bit as it was way too early to go to bed. At 9:30 I could not last another minute I had been dropping off to sleep for the last 20 minutes. I went to bed, just got my glasses off, and put my head on the pillow when I heard a ghastly noise. Rowan was trying to stay awake until 10pm so he was still upstairs, he thought it must be a log hitting us, but downstairs I heard terrible crunching. I dashed upstairs, we got the torch out and discovered we were stuck on a bommie next to the reef. We had to move in the pitch darkness! I went up front to get us off the mooring ball only to find our lines were in a complete tangle. Rowan had to jump in and get the bridle off but also untangle the ropes which took a major effort. Somehow the float had flipped over our lines and it was a real mess, all the time there was a ghastly noise of the rudder grinding on the bommie. Finally we were free but we could not get off the bommie. I’ve never seen Rowan so lost for an action plan, we were really stuck, in pitch dark, with long leashes and other mooring lines threatening to get stuck in the propellers. Rowan gave the engines a mighty acceleration and we got off. What a relief but now we had boats and reef all around us in pitch dark and no idea where to go. We crept up to one area but thought if we dropped the anchor we would not have enough swing room, we returned to where we had been and could not find anything. We finally crept back up where we had gone to have another look and a man on a big gin palace with no lights on (crazy!) shouted to us there was a mooring ball available about 100ms ahead of us, he got a torch out and lit it for us. So kind of him, especially as he spoke no English and we struggled to communicate, we initially thought he was just shouting at us! We finally managed to get onto that mooring ball. What a mega relief, there was not a lot of space about, but it was better than anything else. We were fully awake now.

We put the under water lights on and Rowan dived down to have a look at the damage, we have put a big gash in the rudder with a significant crack. Luckily Rowan has loads of epoxy putty that you can put on under water. So for the next half hour he was trying to fill the holes as best he could, best to fill it early before too much water gets into all the fibreglass. It was nearly midnight by the time we finally got into bed, what a fraught night, after such a pleasant day. We had really enjoyed the little we had seen of LBJ. Bed has never been so welcome!