Our cruise is drawing rapidly to a close, but we’ve had an amazing few days since I last blogged.
On Friday, Le Soleal visited a remote region off the coast of East Timor, the Barat Daya Islands. We spent the afternoon there, snorkelling on off the beach at an uninhabited island called Pulau Kital.
The island group is separated by deep water from both the Australian and Asian continental shelves and have never been linked to other land masses. As a result there are few mammals and a mix of flora and fauna from both continents. The islands are also a bird lover’s paradise, with almost 162 different bird species.
But we were there for the snorkelling. Bathed by the Banda Sea, the islands have fine, sandy beaches and are surrounded by healthy coral reefs.
Check out how beautiful our deserted island was …
We spent an amazing time in the water exploring the diverse coral, then I wandered along the beach, which had a unique pink hue created by broken red fragments of microscopic marine creatures called Foraminifera.
It was hard to capture the pretty colour with my iPhone, but here’s my arty shot …
On the other hand, I looked pretty out there in my whale shark suit and extra-coverage hat …
And here’s a photo of us back on deck …
That night we had dinner with two of the naturalist guides – Hannah and Barbara. We first met Barbara in the Japanese sub-tropical islands and Hannah was on our Auckland to Cairns cruise.
Hannah told us about spending 50 days walking the Bibbulmun Track, which stretches nearly 1000km from Albany to Perth – and she did it on her own!
It puts the youngest’s 500km bike ride to Wagga Wagga in the shade (please, no one tell her about Bibbulmun).
On Saturday we landed in Kalabahi, a town on Alor Island. After a joyous welcome ceremony at the pier, we climbed aboard a mini bus and drove to the village of Takpala, home to the Abui tribe and known for its pyramid-shaped houses called Lopok.
At the end of the official dance performance some of the passengers – including me – joined the villagers to attempt their traditional Lego-Lego dance. I held hands with a little boy on one side and a warrior on the other.
The little boy kept hissing “one, two” to help me follow the beat, but I was hopeless at it. His mum pushed in between us and attempted to teach me the rhythm, but eventually gave up. It was still a fun experience, despite my two left feet, the sweltering humidity and the perspiration pouring down my back.
It was a joyous trip to and from the village, with children waving and calling out greetings along the way.
The villagers were so welcoming, coming up to shake our hands and say hello. Two children even insisted on holding our hands as we walked back down the hill to the mini bus.
We cruised into the town of Maumere early on Sunday morning to the sound of hundreds of locals singing hymns floating across the water. The city is predominantly Catholic and is filled with steeples, although the skyline also features an impressive mosque.
A few days before our visit, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted on Flores island, sending ash 10 kilometres above its 1584-metre peak. It was the volcano’s third major eruption since July, but it was all clear and safe to travel on our side of the island.
We were taken into the mountains to a village called Watublapi to watch a traditional dance performance and see local women weaving ikat fabric. Ikat weaving in Flores is regarded as being among the most skillful in Indonesia, but we’d forgotten to bring our cash along so we left empty handed.
The traditional dancing included a unique routine performed by a villager who climbed a bamboo pole and balanced on top of it.
Today we head off on our last shore excursion to Komodo Island, then it’s a day at sea before we reach Bali and fly home.
It’s been an amazing cruise, filled with opportunities to visit very remote parts of the world.
As for the chasing dreams title of this blog post … I booked the cruise in the hope of seeing the vibrant coral that I remembered from my visit to Hayman Island in my early 20s.
I’ve spent the last few decades chasing the high of those rainbow colours without success. My hope was that I would find them again in Indonesia, which features a mix of cold and warm currents that potentially keep coral healthy.
We saw a lot of gorgeous coral during our cruise, but the reality I’ve discovered is that about 80% of healthy corals are actually yellow or brown in colour.
We were lucky to see so many of those as the world is in the midst of its fourth and most widespread global coral bleaching event, which has impacted approximately 84% of the world’s coral reefs due to record-high ocean temperatures.
Heartbreaking.
But I remain hopeful that I will see those colours again … Another cruise has been booked … it’s a very long time until we depart, but I can’t wait!
Song of the day: Enya “Orinoco flow”
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