sv evi

The kids decided to stay on board, so we took a handheld VHF radio, and headed into town to provision and visit the Quarantine office to get our green book (apparently a necessity to clear out of the country). We left them a card with how to say, Jangan datang! (Don’t come) or Mohon pergi! (Please leave) in case anyone came on board. Tomu’s job was to talk to the person, and Jade’s job was to call us on the radio. We didn’t think anyone would come, but wanted them to be prepared in case. (those stories you hear …)

So far in Indonesia even the small tasks like getting from our boat to shore are a big adventure! In this case, we asked a fisherman named Henke if we could tie up to his boat (which was rafted up to 3 other boats) and then climb over the four boats and up to the tall dock. He said, no problem.

Once ashore, Riki went into the hardware store while I started talking with an older man on the street named Agus. I told Augus I needed to go to the Quarantine office, using the word in Indonesian from my cruising guide: Kantor Kesehatan. Next thing we knew, Agus was hailing a bus (a mini-van with the door open) to take us to the Quarantine office and getting in with us. I paid for Agus’ bus fare (33 cents) and we walked into the office. I tried to explain in Indonesian that I had arrived by yacht to Tual, but they were out of green books, and so I needed a green book. About 4 people stared at me in confusion before telling us that we were in the wrong office. wah-wah. We decided to walk to the market before going back to the correct Quarantine office. Agus walked with us, though he had a bum leg and a distinct limp. He then stood by me while I did most of my fruit and veggie purchases, then finally sat down next to Riki to wait for me. After grocery shopping, we wanted to get some lunch. Riki was like, Han, we have to find a way to ditch our unofficial guide. I don’t want to eat lunch with him when we can barely communicate with him, take a taxi with him, etc. So I tried out the phrase my friend Dinda taught me, “Maaf, bisakah tinggalkan kami sendiri.” Please leave us alone. “Kami mau makan sendiri, mau jalan sendiri”. He nodded, and asked for the bus fare back. Whew!

Lunch was delicious — all the food is already prepared and in a window. The server scoops rice on a big plate, and then you can just point to what you want her to add. Riki got grilled fish. I got egg, tofu, greens, and some sauce and chili sauce. It was delicious! We both got iced tea to drink, and the bill was 55,000 rupiah, which is about $3.66.

We caught a bus back to the hardware store where we had asked to leave our jerry can. Then Atus offered to take Riki on his scooter to fill up the jerry can with gasoline.

Atus then took me to the quarantine office and waited for me while the official called someone on the phone to ask about my case…it turned out I could get the green book but not until the next morning, but I didn’t have to pay any fees.

We invited SV Salty Finch (Gisela, Tim, Chloe & Finley) over for dinner. We had met them in Cairns, and it was lovely to catch up.

Finley gave us all a scare when he fell from the deck through the hatch into Jade & Luz’ room. Luckily he was fine — no broken bones, no blood.

We woke up at 4:30 am and donned our wetsuits the next day in order to go swim with whale sharks. The crazy things we do! We had a long dinghy ride (about 4 miles) out to the bagans (fishing platforms).

We stopped at the first one and asked if the whale sharks were there. They replied “Tunggu, tunggu” (wait wait). So we tied up our dinghies (Salty Finch came as well) and then began to snorkel. The fishermen began dumping buckets of small fish into the ocean. They also dumped a bucked of jellyfish, which was a good cue for us to go.

No whale sharks came, but tons of dolphins did! We could hear them talking up a storm!

The whale sharks never came and the kids were clamoring to go back to sv evi. We gifted the fishermen 2 packs of Camel cigarettes and a fishing handline. When it was time to leave, I asked how much we should pay, and they said 500,000 rupiah (33 dollars). A boat full of Indonesian tourists came to the bagan, then left to go out to the ones further out. In hindsight, we should have followed them!

We made another trip to town to pick up our green book from Quarantine and get some fruit. Atus gave me a ride on his scooter again. Riki filled his tank twice with gas.

In the afternoon, we motored an hour to get closer to the bagans, figuring to try again the next day to find the whale sharks. After we anchored, Riki and I went to the closest bagan to ask about the whale sharks — not expecting to see them. However, one fisherman slapped the bottom of the bucket on the water repeatedly while the other one dumped a bucked of small fish in, and there they were, two of them!! You will see how surprised I am in the videos. They are huge!!

So the following day we woke up an hour later and went back to try and swim with the whale sharks. The first bagan — no luck. Instead of waiting, we dinghied to the other ones. On the third one, the fisherman said, yes, they are here! There are 3 of them!

We hurried to put on fins and masks and jumped in. Wow. They are so majestic and graceful. They kept surprising us because we would be looking around to find them, and then one would swim right underneath us. That takes your breath away! Then you turn your head and one is coming right at you! Luz was a little scared of them, and would scream and try to swim like mad when they surprised her. Jade loved them, and would swim after them as fast as she could. Tomu also loved them, and liked swimming near them. It seemed like they wanted to play with us, they just kept going right under us. We actually saw 4 of them at one point, a mom and 3 juveniles. The mama was probably 25 feet long. It was exhilarating to swim with them! Riki took a headshot from a tail fin, and both Tomu and Jade also got bonked. After about 90 minutes my legs were cramping, so Luz and I got back into the dinghy. In my opinion, whale sharks are a perfect sea creature to swim with because they swim near the surface and they aren’t as speedy as the dolphins or the manta rays.

The fisherman told me that every bagan has 6 people working on it, and they lower their nets into the sea at night, and work all night, then sleep during the day. We gave him 500,000 rupiah ($33), though he didn’t ask for any money. We just felt grateful for the experience and figured they could put the money to good use.

Here are the kids’ take on the whale sharks (taken from home school journals):

Tomu:

I woke up with a Quadratini (a brand of cookies) in my mouth. Groggily, I swung my legs out of bed and sat up. Walking out of my room into the salon I accidentally stumbled on something fluffy that turned out to be Na Na (Luz’ stuffed koala). Once we had all gotten in the dinghy, Papa drove us to the first bagan which took exactly one minute and thirty seconds (I counted). We swam for awhile and we saw some dolphins. At the next bagan the people said there were none there. At the final bagan we saw four whale sharks. They were playful, big, spotted, and they loved to sneak up on us. They were awesome!

Jade:

9 October 2024 We woke up really early to see whale sharks with our friends. There were so many dolphins but no whale sharks. Then we tried to touch jellyfish. After that we said good-bye to our friends and played Settlers of Catan. Tomu won, then we had lunch and took a short one hour sail to be closer to the bagans. We were going to try to see them again. We went to bed really early to see the whale sharks the next day.

10 October 2024 I woke up Mama and Papa. Then I lured Luz and Tomu out of bed with 2 Quadratini. Then we put on our wetsuits and went off to see whale sharks. There wasn’t any so we went to the next bagan, and at the third bagan they were there! We think there were 5. I got stuck underneath one, and it was not spotted underneath like it was on top. I was lucky enough to see in the baby’s mouth. It was dark red and black. Papa was taking videos. The fisher people were dumping fish into the ocean for the whale sharks. It was so awesome!

Luz:

Gentle Giant of the Sea

Jade woke me up and gave me two Quadratinis. We got in Pentapus. We had to go to three bagans. At the third bagan we saw the gigantic whale sharks! I was scared because I was looking at one when another snuck up behind me! It was hard not to touch them. They were spotted and kinda brown.