Tag: Telkomcel

Banda Pt 1

A brief rest and we put our dinghy into service. Dropped it down, installed the motor, fuel tank and connected; we’re ready to go…. to explore a bit. We swung by Natsumi and four of us tooled over to the dive resort. They had a dock. We met Nellow (a most valued go between for cruisers and a dive master) and strolled down the frontage road. Mike was really looking for more beer! 🙂 Of course, neither W/ or I would turn one away. We stopped in at the Maulana Hotel. They had beer, so we sat a spell.

We were now a target for individuals feeding off of tourists. No matter how much we try to fit in, there is no way we do. First; we are white! A dead give away in Indonesia, second we talk funny (English), and third we carry a back pack. One of the local tour guides (Mann ph 62 822 3850 8726) joined us. He tried hard to sell us an island tour. He bragged about the things we would see and what we could do. The prices he quoted seemed a bit… funny. If we paid individually it would have been less than if we paid as a group. His English was a wee bit broken and he didn’t understand; all we wanted to do at that moment was have a cold drink and chill out in a beautiful place. We never used him for a tour. Honestly, I understand from those that did he was good. The Maulana Hotel uses him frequently. It is just that first contact put us off.

After Mann we met the owner of the Maulana; Mita. And the experience was the opposite. She was friendly, not pushy. She was welcoming and not selling.. Although we were already buying! 🙂 She spoke excellent English She made our stay in Banda a great experience. We understood the ATM was intermittent here (not always with money) and we were concerned that we could run out of cash. Mita said we could use Wise; transfer funds to her account and use that to pay for drinks and food. Too, she helped us keep our phones by accepting funds and adding the money to our Telkomsel account. She arranged for massages for us and others; we short term rented a vacant room for a small fee. We found it a pleasure to work with someone not pushy and willing to help.

Looking for a working ATM, Mike on Natsumi discovered Cilu Bintang. The other “resort” on Neira that catered to off island guests. He too had tours to the islands. Mike liked him and he wasn’t pushy. Six of us signed up for a tour to the plantations, with lunch following. A few days later we met at Cilu Bintang and began with an overview of what we would do and see. There we met Denny our guide. Off to the boat for a trip to the plantations. We had a brief stop at the only Christian church on the island and found tombs inlaid in the foundation. The boat was a 20 minute ride across the S. channel. The south channel was verboten to anchoring for cruising yachts. Not that we would want to with the winds blowing from every direction.

BloodStone where contracts were to be bonded

Denny lead us to the sacred well where women couldn’t drink or get water. The water was said to be excellent. W/ and I didn’t try the water. I not wanting to be struck by lightening due to my lack of faith in any of the 4,000+ religions on Earth. 🙂 W/ couldn’t because; duh, she is female! They gather the Nutmeg when it drops from the tree. The seed removed and dried out.

From there we continued up the hill to the Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Almond plantations. We passed a cemetery with Muslims and Christians graves. And even still segregated; Christians on one side and Muslims the other. Sad how beliefs follow us into death. The plantation was eye popping. Nutmeg trees 100’s of years old, huge beyond belief. They reminded me of the Redwoods in California. The biggest difference is in the base. Nutmeg trees have a base kids would love to play around. Here however kids work… for their families.

A Mature Nutmeg Tree
Nutmeg Fruit on Tree
Nutmeg Fruit Harvested
Nutmeg Fruit showing Nut
Nutmeg Harvested
Nutmeg Drying

Cinnamon is harvested by gently cutting a strip of bark and drying it. Grinding occurs once dried. The Almonds are a bit different from those in the US. They are softer. Here they dry them and. then grind into flour for cooking. And to finish the tour of the plantations we took a motor scooter ride around the rest of the island visiting several more forts. As fun as that sounds; it wasn’t easy on the tosh!

Wendy with her driver

Lunch was a mix of Indonesian fare. A smorgasbord. Everything was excellent and there was plenty of food. We met a couple from Ambon and had them out to the boat for a tour a few days later. Actually, she was Indonesian and he from the UK. They met as pen pals years ago and as time progressed so did the relationship. She worked for the World Health Organization at the time and he was a tech guy in the banking field; thus could work most anywhere. It is always eye opening how people navigate the life work balance.

A few days later we did a snorkel; island tour of Rhun and Ai. People brag about the coral here. Yes it is beautiful. So is it in Fiji, in French Poly, the Galapagos, the Cook Islands, Panama, etc. Honestly, everywhere we’ve cruised the coral is awesome. And I can’t say one place stands out more than another. A “10” is a “10” no matter where you are.

Again after our day touring Cilu Bintang hosted the group for dinner. What a great way to end the day. We enjoyed the food there so much W/ decided to take an Indonesian cooking class. I went to fly the drone. However; when I returned I ended up enjoying what they made; Fish Ball soup. Much like a Chicken soup with a fish base instead of chicken and more onions and ground up almonds. It was….. very …. good.

Volcano Api, Banda Spice Islands

We were lucky, the weather on tour days was excellent. On the off days it wasn’t so nice. We had varying winds up to 20 kts with intermittent rain. We were waiting for the change of the trades. According to the guides winds this month will change from NW to SE. That would put our anchorage on a lee shore. Not what we wished. That being; we looked to pull the anchor and move across to the Maulana. There we could drop a bow anchor and tie the stern to the shore. The SE trades would keep us easily off the shore. We would use less petrol getting to the town proper and have a great view of Volcano Api.

As we float about I had been hearing our chain over coral on the bottom. I thought we would pull it up slowly to free it. I pulled in 25’ and we were snagged on something. As the tide went out I pulled more chain in and planned on letting the rising tide and the float of the boat break the chain free. In the middle of the day the bow of the boat rose, we heard the chain break free and we could retrieve more chain. I retrieved another 50’ and again we were stuck. Again as the tide went out I kept pulling the chain in. At low tide the chain was taught. At high tide the bow of Elysium was a foot lower than normal and the chain was tight as a guitar string. We heard it break free once but then nothing. I couldn’t haul anymore in. Two more high tides went by and we hadn’t moved. We now have a perfect mooring! But, we weren’t interested in leaving our anchor and 120+ feet of chain here. Time for Plan B.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Ambon Pt 2

Anchored in Ambon by the University

We let our sponsor / agent know we were here now and we would await the paperwork. We tied the dinghy up and introduced ourselves. Mr. Gino’s job included the dock, boats, and construction of the new academic building. He is quite worldly; having received his Phd in the US and completed post graduate work in Europe. For us; he spoke English. We found the grocery he told us about. There W/ almost passed out. We’ve not seen one this well stocked for months. We also needed a laundry. While cruising I am the laundry machine. That is for clothes and small towels. The big stuff, bath towels, blankets, and sheets all go to laundries, when available. And there are several here. Following Google maps we didn’t find the laundry. Seems the mapping of all things Google isn’t perfect. With charade backing and some props we asked a few people where the laundry was. One young girl actually led us to it. Leave it and return in 3 days. Bingo. Life is good.

In the next couple of days Natsumi arrived followed by True Blue V and later Wild One. Tales were told, discoveries shared and new people met. Thru Johnny Ambon and a local restaurant owner we contacted Ivan. He had a car and spoke passable English. All of us used him. We scouted around town. Discovered an Ace Hardware store that must the largest in the world! Additionally he took W/ and I to Telkomsel. 

Phones and Internet in Indonesia are oft times frustrating. First, on our boat a phone is not considered a part of our equipment. For us it is also part or our safety. But, Indonesia is hard nosed when it comes to phones. Only phones manufactured in Indo or have had duty paid on them are good to go. They control this through the IMEI number. If your phone IMEI number is on the list you get service. If not there is no connection to phone or data in Indonesia. When we arrived and purchased our first phone card the agent registered the IMEI number. We didn’t know or understand the 3 month limit. In Labuha we discovered this. Both phones stopped working. There is no Telkomsel office in Labuha. Our only alternative  was to buy Indonesian phones. We bought the Oppo A57’s. A nice alternative to the Apple phones but a tad bit clunky. Of course we’re not comparing Apples to Apples. 🙂 We used those phones and the data connection till Ambon.

In Ambon I went to the Telkomsel office and got a new registration for my iPhone. Again, I understand they can only do this twice. Our second three months will be up when we reach Flores and we’ll be back to our A57’s. The photos’ are not as good. The alternative is to carry the A57’s and iPhones. Use the A57’s hotspot and then the iPhone will get data and we can take and post photos. The iPhone will not be functional. Two days to get both phones up and working. 

Ruja Indonesia dessert
Ruja an Indo dish of Peanut suce, sugar and fruit

While we mucked around with the phones we did some tourist stuff. Ivan, the driver we cruisers hired took us on a road trip to another fort on the N side of the island. The Dutch were fond of their forts. We had lunch at what we called the Presidents restaurant. Sari

The President of Indonesia was said to heat here

Gurih. We understood the President of Indonesia once ate there. The food and company were excellent.

We also did the typical “cruisers in town” stuff. A movie theater was playing “A Man Called Otto”. Four of us went and with subtitles in Bahasa I learned a few new words. A good movie by the way. We hit the mall, and there I came across the largest Ace Hardware store I’ve seen anywhere in the world. About 3 x’s the size of the largest Walmart in the US! Multiple

Great Smoothie
An Awesome Smoothie

Making Sagu
Making Sagu

floors and you would be hard pressed to see from one end to the other. I came across an exceptional smoothie place that necessitated daily trips. Added some diesel fuel. Filled in our boat stores. Received some much needed boat supplies thanks to Ayu at Wicks’ in Sarong and Johnny Ambon here. 

And our real reason for being here: Visa stamps. Our Agent Raymond had sent the paper work to Herman. We had planned on anchoring by Herman’s home but as I said earlier the anchorage in this season was not safe. Herman met us near our boat and we set off to the Immigration office. We arrived in the “Open” time but the officials were moving their lunch time forward. The official out front suggested a return at 1:30 pm. As cruisers we don’t argue with government officials. We grabbed lunch and were back when they reopened. There was some concern that we had never “met” our sponsor, Raymond. In another office Herman was asked to contact him and after much discussion it seemed likely we would get our new stamps. Come back in two days. And we did. Ivan was our driver the second time and we went to the office only to be told that the paper work on one of the visas was wrong. Raymond would need to send the correct paper work. Oh shit! I really, really hate runarounds and hate when the master key is on another’s plate. We contacted Raymond and he said he would correct it and send the correct letter. Lunch again and I called Raymond to see if it was done. After all; we were paying for this! Raymond said he couldn’t send it through to the immigration office and sent it to Herman. We were not with Herman. I asked him to send it to me. He did using WhatsApp. 

Everyone in Indonesia loves WhatsApp. A couple of minutes later I had it and back to the Immi office we went. Immigration said they hadn’t received it yet, I showed them my copy and they forwarded it off my phone to theirs. Printed it and took all the paperwork to the supervisor. An hour’s wait and finally, finally everything came back ok, we had our stamp and were good to go. It seems that Raymond and the Ambon office have a few wrinkles to work out. But; that isn’t our problem, not anymore. We have the stamp and are good for two more months. Yipee!

Johnny ended up with the master key for Ambon. He knew everyone that yachties needed and could connect with any locals that would make our stay memorable. One day the city of Rutong was hosting their sister city from the Netherlands in a full day party. Working with the Ambon tourist office, Johnny got the cruisers invited. An hour and a half ride to Rutong on the south side of the island dropped us off  just as rain began. A slight drizzle doesn’t deter much in Indonesia. A band played while people mulled around. A wee bit later we were off to the church for a brief; not brief, service honoring their sister city. Yes the mayor of the sister city and his entourage were here. After which we attended a gathering of the major families to welcome the new guests. Of course I took part. I was now considered a member of this community. Tied up with a drink called Sopi, an alcoholic wine that is more like a spirit. Being welcomed into the community entails will not letting anyone starve, anyone go without clothing, or housing. And you cannot date or marry anyone from the community. Of course W/ already has that restriction on me. 🙂 The idea is that then one would be marrying their sister or brother! From there to the beach head.

At the beach everyone ate. In typicial Pacific Island, Indonesian culture; guests ate first. Between food and entertainment I went exploring.  I found where various families share in harvesting the Palm trees to make Sagu. A base for many of the meals. They sat me down and let me try. It wasn’t easy. 

The community acknowledges the color differences in people. The skit wasa parody on that difference. All the small children were all watching; enthralled to the max. Phones and tablets couldn’t compete with what their elders were doing! W/’s other seat mate was fluent in Bahasa and English. He explained bits to us as the play went on. 

One of the cast wanted to sit with “the white” people. They had given us (not just the cruisers but the sister city group too) a tent for shade and to guard against further rain. There was an argument

I want to sit with the white people

that he was too dark to sit with the white people. The main character came up with a way to be… white. He dumped flour on his head. By all appearances that was to be the end but I had a different idea. I went up to the stage and offered my seat to him! The crowd loved it and he went with it. He came and sat next to W/. She had a new friend, and he bragged that he was 76 years old! 

Lenda, Dave’s dance partner

We danced, yeah I was dragged onto the dance floor by Lendia, a lovely tall Indonesian women who earlier I had mistaken for being from the Netherlands. She was taller than 99% of all Indonesians, males included. A real rarity. There again I discovered why dancing and I don’t mesh well. Foot movement for me is learned via sport, keep moving my feet, fast. Dancing seems to be feet moving slowly. My feet would not slow down and while I was frustrated a wee bit, others found it funny. W/ was one! 🙂 

Ambon’s time was ending. We had our visas updated, boat stores added to, new experiences filed away, and we were ready to move. We’d heard a lot about the Spice islands and were keen on visiting them. Our next adventure awaits.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long