Friday, November 08, 2013

Quick escapes

Life starts early on the waterfront so not much past 05:00 we did too. Today was errand day in Larantuka (Indonesia): find an ATM, stock up on some produce, check email, locate fuel, etc. (checking email was unavailable). Right away we met a young man who spoke good English and offered to show us where things were.

We passed this building under construction and enveloped by bamboo struts, stairways, scaffolding...definitely no Workers' Compensation Board in existence here!

Indonesian safety standards

Have you ever seen the pod of a banana tree? Or the flowers of a papaya tree? Apparently both are edible.

Banana pods, papaya flowers, and red hot chilies

This quiet, smiling Muslim woman was wearing a shirt, a sweater, long sweatpants, and a black traditional head-covering - it's the wet season here and locals consider it to be cold but we think it's very hot! We have noticed scores of locals wearing sweaters or jackets even in the heat of the day.

Fish...fish for sale...

After our guide rushed us all around town, we had to quickly depart Larantuka while the rip tide was in our favour, otherwise we never would have been able to make it back through the channel.

After several nautical miles out of the channel, we anchored at S08°07.195' E122°46.837' for a quick snorkel to cool off. The water was 30.4°C but anything wet is still cooling!! We swam ashore to the sandy beach but found few shells.

We have noticed several fish attracters or fish protectors in the ocean. These are rafts anchored which give small fish protection. The large fish know about these protectors and they come for their meals. And the fishermen then catch the large fish...the food chain.

Quite far from shore

They usually have an upright pole and perhaps a flag. These are a danger for us, especially at nighttime, as they are not lit and hard to see.

As we continued to motor, we ended the evening with a stunning lunar sunset - a visible moon as the sun was going down.

Moon visible at upper centre

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