Wangi Wangi Island

Grab a strong coffee – here’s a bit of etymology for you:

The name Wakatobi is derived from the first two letters of the four main islands. The WA represents Wangi-Wangi. The rest of the word contains the leading letters of Kaledupa, Tomia, and Binongko. The other 146 islands don’t get a mention.

The Wangi in Wangi Wangi means fragrant or aromatic in Bahasa Indonesia. We learned while in Sempala, one of the uncredited locations in the Wakatobi anagram, that you could enjoy the beautiful aroma of the island as you got close to them by boat. I’m guessing that could have been due to the abundance of frangipani flowers. I also assume that’s historical because even the most olfactory sensitive would struggle to smell anything other than scooter fumes and seaweed now.

Wanci

We arrived at Wangi Wangi on 10th August, and our fellow sailors helped us get into one of the three remaining berths at Marina Togo at Wanci. Marina Togo is an impressive marina in the making. The pontoons are huge, and so is the space between them. You can fit a catamaran and a monohull in one space – we know that because that’s where we parked.

Although there is no power or water on the docks, there is security in place. And there is help at hand. Aris, who works for the Wakatobi Information Centre, greeted us. He explained what we needed to do and said that we could send images of our boat papers, passports, and visas to him via WhatsApp so that we wouldn’t have to walk to the office. He also told us that the Wakatobi park fees would be ‘pay per stay’ rather than ‘pay per day’ for the Sail 2 Indonesia participants.

Outside the gates of the marina, there are usually students who want to practice their English. They don’t want money but appreciate your time. They will also arrange scooters for you, as well as guide you around. Scooter hire is a bargain 100,000 Rupiah – about £5.

After settling in and making sure Jamala was safely fastened to the dock, we took a look around the hood…

As an aside, by the time we left, the marina office roof was nearly complete. Not bad for a week’s work.

Clearly, things didn’t quite go according to plan with the marina construction timeframe. Needless to say, parking is free.

Tour of the island

With the help of a couple of the students (actually one teacher, Nuzri, and a student), we explored more of the island – starting off on foot at the limestone pools in town.

You might be able to see, on the left of the photo, someone doing their washing.

And then, we headed off on the bikes to see more of the island.

Old Fort

Later the next day, we planned to go to the Liya Togo Fort on the south of the island. And because we had some time on our hands, we put it to good use – scooter practice. Mostly to alleviate Maria’s fear of hurling herself off a cliff edge by turning the throttle the wrong way,

On the way to the Liya Togo Fort (which doesn’t exist, according to Wikipedia), we stopped at a seaweed farm in the village of Togo. The seaweed here is suspended using plastic bottles – an unusually good use for them.

Then, near the fort, Nuzri asked if we wanted to see a traditional sari being made. Of course, the answer was yes. The woman making the saris asked if Maria wanted to sit in her workstation, and the answer to that was yes, too.

She is very skilled at this – not Maria (sorry, my love). The fabric is made from thread that is so fine it’s hardly visible. That thread is shuttled across the fabric using a hollow tube, then tightened using the bar that Maria is holding in the photo below. Making just one sari takes weeks. Even though the seating arrangement looked uncomfortable, the real machine operator assured us that it was very comfortable for people with normal-length legs.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many signs around the fort to set context. But the grave below is of particular significance. Djilabu was the first head of the Liya custom and Islamic preacher.

We were invited to take a look inside the mosque. The men, that is. The women were deemed to be a bit too immodest in their dress. Possibly, the absence of headscarves did it – or the shorts.

Next, we are joining in with the Indonesia Independence Day celebrations.