Leaving Ambon

Secure in the knowledge that the back of my eyeball wouldn’t end up at the front – and in a place where there are few people and definitely no clinics, we decided to head north to Wayag in Raja Ampat.

We left Jefry’s place early on July 12th so that we could reach an anchorage on Manipa island before dark.

Saling around most harbours in Indonesia is best kept as a daytime hobby. There are Fish Attracting Devices (FADs) in places you would never imagine there could be. Ambon is no exception; they are everywhere. The photograph below shows two fishing boats on the way out, weaving between two FADs in the middle of the bay.

Manipa Island

We arrived at Manipa Island just before dark and found a place to anchor close to the mangroves. The only noise around was the sound of animals that have made the mangroves their home – and the occasional putter of a fishing boat motoring home to the village. It would have been a lovely place to stay, but we were on a northbound mission.

The next evening, on the way to West Seram, we witnessed this spectacular sunset:

Things happen in threes

After parking the boat at Fet Dom Bay in West Seram, Maria said she couldn’t get the water to run. That’s no problem. I’ll just look at the pump, I thought. It’s an easy job—I’d done it before.

But when I lifted the engine room lid, I was greeted with a swamp of water sloshing around the floor—high enough to stop the water pump from working but low enough not to cause any serious harm. The cause was a combination of three things: 1) The exhaust pipe from the engine to the water muffler was leaking in a place that wasn’t obvious. 2) The float for the water pump had become stuck under a pipe because the whole assembly had rotated, and 3) the bilge alarm wasn’t working. A comedic trilogy that wasn’t funny.

After emptying the bilge, rinsing everything with fresh water, treating the metal surfaces with CRC, rewiring all the wires that had come in contact with salt water, and then tightening the bilge float assembly, all was good again. But what a pain in the arse that was. I’ve added some more things to our pre-departure checks.

Apart from that, Fet Dom Bay is a lovely place to hang out. Although snorkelling is out – there’s a crocodile or two around here.

Wayag

A couple of days of sailing took us over the equator to the northern hemisphere and brought us to Wayag in Raja Ampat. The guidebook described Wayag as the preeminent Raja Ampat island and noted that its karst cliff formations have been featured on magazine covers worldwide. I can see why.

Not many people come here – there’s no infrastructure to support mass tourism – just the occasional live-aboard dive boat turns up, and us sailors of course. It’s also a marine conservation area, so the chance of seeing fishlife around here is higher than in many places.

When we arrived, Mothership and Teatime were the only boats here – apart from a group of drunk local fishermen sheltering from the wind who, somehow, even at 1000 in the morning, were so off their faces on booze that they managed to ram their skiff into the side of Teatime, breaking one of their windows.

We only knew about this because of a Pan Pan call issued by Woody of Mothership on behalf of Teatime to warn other boats of these drunks. To cut a long story short, the police came around (from where I have no idea), and the guy driving the boat was spoken to. Later, on one of the many boats that arrived, one had on board a shipwright who fixed the broken window so they could carry on.

Time here flew by. We stayed here for 12 days, but it didn’t seem like it. We spent our days (apart from the inevitable boat jobs) exploring the island, paddling around on our paddleboards and spending time with other sailors.

And if you want to get to know some of the sailors we spent time with, take a look at the Mothership Adrift YouTube channels: https://www.youtube.com/@MotherShipAdrift for family sailing and https://www.youtube.com/@MothershipMaintenance to dispel any notion that it all is about gin and tonics and champagne. They are a lovely family and fun to spend time with either in person or virtually.

Here are some of the photographs at sea level:

And again

Wayag underwater

And some photos taken while snorkelling:

Soft Coral

Wayag from above

There are a couple of places to gain a view of Wayag from the top. Both of them make you want to buy a drone.

Even though this hike was the least evil on footwear, it ruined a perfectly good pair of water shoes. But the views from the top are fantastic. I went up there with Olivia, who is crewing for Frank on Windsong. Fortunately, she went up the day before and knew exactly where to go.

Apart from Windsong, who very kindly brought us a new starter battery because the old one had exploded—literally (we borrowed a spare from the other Amel, Mothership, for a few days)—more boats on the Sail 2 Indonesia rally started to arrive, including these…

These:

And these:

Mr Ranger and Friends

The park rangers visited to check if we each had a Raja Ampat pass. We did. So, with the formalities out of the way, we treated them to coffee while they took photos of each other on and inside the boat. I assume to share with friends and family or splash it all over Instagram. Who knows. But we know we are very much a novelty in any of the places we have visited in Indonesia.

They suggested we go to the ranger’s station to snorkel with the sharks. So, the next day, that’s exactly what we did,

Seeing them off the premises

Rangers Station

We shared a dinghy with Tom and Anita on Sand Dallor. Their dinghy because it is faster than ours and can plane with four people onboard. After half an hour of weaving between bommies and scooting over shallow water, we arrived at the Rangers Station and parked on the brilliant white beach.

The water around here is shallow, but it is full of fish:

After leaving the Rangers Station, we headed to another area of the island to see the caves. Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery, so this is the only photo we have:

As this was our last night on Wayag, we stragglers got together on the beach for last night’s drinks – just the crews of Jamala, Sand Dallor and Sea Biscuit.

Our next stop is further south to one of the few islands located right on the equator.