There were a couple of small fishing boats in the dark that I had to dodge and a narrow passage through the outer reef that we also had to negotiate. The Navionics charts were accurate and although it was very nerve wracking, we passed through the channel without mishap and entered the open ocean.
Once out in the open ocean, I could relax a bit, so I put the kettle on and made a coffee and later some cup noodles. At one point I had to alter course for what looked like a small squid boat, but just in case it had a net out, I gave it a wide berth.
Later we passed a tug boat going the same direction as us, towing a large un-lit barge full of coal. The tug boat had AIS, but the barge didn’t (trailing half a kilometer behind the tug) and also didn’t show up on the RADAR.
Along the way I replaced the batteries in one of my Indonesian flashing hazard lights strapped to the side shroud and I also spent several hours looking for the Flores KEP files (on all my portable hard drives) and trying to remember how to use OpenCPN, my navigation program that I hadn’t used for a couple of years (due to COVID). Eventually I got all my Google Earth satellite imagery working in OpenCPN for Flores as well as the USB GPS dongle.
After catching up on my blog notes, I got to work on the STBD engine to see if the alternator V-belt just needed tightening or replacing. Unfortunately, it was completely shredded with pieces of the belt strewn all over the engine room. I spent about one and a half hours replacing the belt, cleaning up all the debris, vacuuming and wiping the engine room clean. By the time I had it back together and all the mess cleaned up I was pretty knackered.
The entrance through the 17 Islands National Park into Riung is very dodgy with lots of dangerous coral reefs to negotiate, and that’s why I wanted to be there well before dark and having my OpenCPN Google maps up and running would come in real handy, especially for when we leave this place tomorrow night in the dark.
Once we started to enter the passage (at 15:30) that leads into Riung, I started the STBD engine so I had good control with two engines just in case I needed it and when I pushed it into gear there was a really bad vibration. I thought maybe there was a plastic bag or something caught around the propeller and then suddenly the oil & alternator lights came on, so I shut the engine down.
We came in on one engine and made it through the reef safely and then headed towards the western jetty to drop anchor. All of a sudden, some nasty jaggered reef came out of nowhere in the murky water and I had to quickly slam it into reverse, and with only one engine, back out in a hurry and try to anchor further out.
After anchoring, we drifted too far back towards the shallow reef and I wasn’t happy, so I moved the boat further east towards the other jetty and anchored in a better place in soft sticky mud, then we lowered the dinghy and prepared the boat to go ashore.
I then jumped overboard to remove whatever was wrapped around the propeller and it turned out to be a large plastic type hessian bag. It was wrapped so tight around the propeller I couldn’t move it at all, so I had to get a knife, multi-grips, long nose pliers and a screw driver. It was so difficult to remove; it took me over 40 minutes to cut and pull the dam thing off whilst holding my breath and I was completely exhausted when finished. I was pissed off too as I dropped my good long nose pliers !!
The water was very murky and hard to see past my extended arm and with all the mud and mangroves around it felt like crocodile country. Later, after I got out of the water my suspicions were confirmed when I saw an Island on the chart called crocodile Island. I was so glad to be out of that dirty water.
After a shower, we headed into shore to look for a warung to buy some food. This village was extremely poor with lots of ramshackle old houses built in a mosquito infested swampy area, but it had a lot of character and the people were friendly. We walked around like movie stars with everyone saying hello and taking photos of us.
We stopped to talk to two older men who spoke reasonable English. They told us where to go to find a warung and we thanked them and walked off in that direction. The town and houses were very interesting and reasonably neat considering the crappy location and eventually we found the warung we were looking for. The owners spoke good English. Apparently, we were the first bule they have seen in over two years since COVID hit and after a long chat we ordered a meal and relaxed while watching the village residents go by.
Pato Bar - Very good warung at Riung
The food was good and we had a great feed, then headed back to the boat in the pitch dark, as we forgot to take a torch with us once again. Luckily the dinghy was still there and so was Sirocco, and it was so nice to climb into bed as we were both exhausted.
Track Sirocco’s progress
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