Indonesia, August 31 2010, Komodo and Rinja, Ilham and Arman.

We left Mausambi and made our way to Komodo. As usual, quite a lot of motoring was involved to progress. We made a first stop at Sabayor Island and anchored in crystal clear water.

Martin went up the hill to take this wonderful picture.


We had the visit of a local boat. As it is usual, they come and offer you a lot of things. This time it was something different.

We met Ilham and Arman. They had magnificent carving of dragons on board; they are made out of hibiscus wood. We just fell in love in one of them; I’m talking about the dragon.



We started to negotiate the price, and as I’m getting my valet I realize that I’m out of cash. Another time I would have said sorry and forget about it, it’s not important. But I couldn’t resist and let them know.

They said, no problem, we drive you to Labuhan Bajo on Flores 12 miles away to the ATM. It was already 3 o’clock in the afternoon. We didn’t hesitate, and with Pui we jumped in their boat and off we went.

Aïch! The engine had no exhaust and was very laud.

A piece of tyre holding the exhaust pipe away from the wooden wall started to burn and Ilham the driver was digging salt water with his hand to cool it down, no panic.

We arrived at five o’clock and the sky was getting darker and darker. We found the ATM, the rain found us. We used the opportunity to do some provisioning and the rain falling denser and the roads changing into rivers.

It was hard to find a bus back to the dock, and we ended completely wetted, but in over 30°C air temperature it was not a problem. As we arrived on the boat they already put a cover over it, and we could sit in the dry. Then they gave us a blanket to stay warm.

We left Labuhan Bajo in the dark, it was still raining and we were wondering how they will find the way back to our boat. No problem from time to time Ilham was lifting the cover on his side to look out and two hours later, in the pitch dark night, we saw the anchor light from Salulami.

We invited them for dinner, Pui made a Tuna coconut eggplant curry with rice. They enjoyed the meal.

As it was Ramadan time, and they were Muslim, they could enjoy the meal after sunset.

They anchored close to us for the night, and next day I toke some picture of their boat. We can learn from them, every thing is basic, easy to change; they don’t need to go to expensive shipchanlder shops.


In the day they made their way and we said goodbye.