ILE APE VOLCANO -09/08/2011

yesterday kerry and philippa organised thru a local hotel to climb Ile Ape volcano with a guide,and ojeks to village at base.they left at 1am to get there for sunrise.half an hour on back of motorcycles to seaside village.steep 4 hour climb-about 7 km,and 1500 metres elevation.they were surprised by Elyas,their guide,chain smoking to the top.elyas then rang his wife tto say safely at the tpoop-luckily kerry didnt feel the ned to wake me.strange and superg scenary at the top at sunrise.then e steep descent back down.elyas cut coconuts for drinking.back in lewoleba,they had brunch at his house,freshly cooked by his wife.

LEMBATA-PTUNTAWA VILLAGE TOUR 09aug2011

while kerry.& phillipa climbed a volcano bruce had a cultural day.bumpy bus ride to very friendly village-welcome ceremony,then walk into village.pretend ceremony of family taking gifts for their sons courtship of a young woman-meb singing,colourful woman carrying offerings on their heads.then a musical procession to ikat weaving demonstation-all very colourful,lots of onlookers,many of them photographing us!1then to a distillery,where tuak and arak are made from palm trees-i had the low alcohol version for lunch-an acquired taste(1$/bottle),& bought a recycled bintang bottle of the arak(taste=very alcoholic but hopefully mix well with coke or sprite and thus a potential bargain a 40,000 rupiah=<5$).nice lunch at beach-large freshly cooked fish,rice,greens and more traditional music and dancing.lowtide precluded a swim but found many seaworms in seagrass in shallows-different colours-green,striped black yellow and per photo bright orange

KALABAHI,ALOR to LEWOLEBA,LEMBATA(LOMBLEN) 7-8 aug,2011WHITE KING

the fleet,welcome sign,& ile ape volcano

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overnight sail.dinner was green chicken curry and rice,with local greens cleaned indiluted WHITE  KING premium bleach.Lembata is a small island,formerly called lomblen or kuruwu..about 60x20 km,pop 100,000.few tourists,.subsistance arming and fishing-fiendly,happy,helpful locals.anchored off lewoleba,little main town along coast,underneath ile ape volcano.17 yachtsdinghied over to jetty to rally tent-well organised with sail indonesia welcome to lembata guidebook with details of tours,maps,services-laundry,water,dieseL(cheap).jalan jalan=walk,into town center,lnice lunch at berkat lomblen restaurant&cold bintangs.back via markets.

dinghy dollies going out to dinner

5pm back over to shore(now 34 yachts). for rally dinner-lots of performers ready for evening -we all had a musical procession to restaurant.about  yachties,and several hundred performers and locals,making a noisy ,rambling,fun evening.4 performances-traditional music and dance from diferent regions,then buffet dinner(excellent),then another 4 performances,enjoyed with icycold bintangs.a late night for yachties-back on havenafter 9pm,but a most memorable fun evening

ALOR DIVING fri06082011

A LOVELY DAY DIVING
Thomas from dive alor arrivedat haven at 0800 in his lovely traditional wooden boat he built himself.he isan expat german,with 2 local crew.lovely trip along the coast with villages,boats.first dive=coconut grove,(43 dive sites in alor)2nd=the bullet-the latter luckily didnt live up to its name as it was a lovely SLOW drift dive=lotsof nice soft coral and reef fish.we saw a huge whale from the boat(and near our boat yesterday),then a tasty meal of fried chicken with spicy rice.we would love to visit alor again.
 internet on haven not work so using internet cafe tonight.
leaving Alor tomorrow=for Lembata,86nm

ALOR TOUR 04082011

notesand photoslater

RURAL RAMBLE,OJEK TREK,REGENTS FEAST

notesand photos to follow

BUS to BUKAPITING wed04082011

awoke to sounds of mosques-with sunriseover still water and about20 yachtsbetween haven and harbour.
my 1995 Lonly Planet describes Alor archipelago as asmall chain of islands,volcanic mountainous specks separated byswift deep straits.
topped up fuel tanks,put up sunshades,dinghied to shore,wentwalking(jalan jalan)-busy main streets,quite back streets with chideren.
saw an ancient bus-going to bukapiting.it then overfilled at market and off we went along the coast,then the hills 33km &.an hour later wewere there-small neat village.we hired ojek riders to take us to see the hotsprings.when we got back it gradually became clearer as it got darker that there was no return bus today,.luckily Lhyfing,a uni student found us and invited us to stay in her house.itwasa priviledge to meet her papa and mama and brother,and share dinner,and conversation.we then slept very well
PHOTOS LATER