Belitung Blast

October 17, 2013

After three quick days of sailing we made it from Borneo to the island of Belitung where the adventures never cease.  This was one of the most beautiful islands yet and the 4 of us crew members stayed in a beach bungalow for less than $10 each.  There was plenty of rain on the island, but it didn't keep us inside!

Here is Tanjung Kelyang Beach - and this is the view from our beach cottage!

There was a very casual sea turtle conservation center on the beach run by a local.  Yeah baby sea turtles!

We tried to go snorkeling in the rain, but once the thunder and lightening started we high tailed it back to our cottage.  Safety first!

Beripat - traditional whip fighting.  

Matt got pulled up to join the fun.  I am pretty sure this is going to end up on Indonesia's Funniest Home Videos!

The winner is the one with the least amount of whip marks on their back at the end of the game.  Matt got his butt kicked!

We took a lovely walk down the beach hoping to catch the sunset while snorkeling.

Our walk was derailed by Winda, the local in the middle, who literally chased us down the beach screaming at us to stop because we are beautiful.  And then forced us to joint her family for photos and food.  

What would friendship be without karaoke to celebrate???

The next day we rented scooters and drove to an ecolodge in Batu Mentas.  Check out our sweet safari tent!

A real shower!!!!!!!  A miracle!!!!!

I can't believe we forgot the 6 pack to float down behind us.

And we even got to see this cute little booger, a tarsier!  

Daily Boat Life

October 21, 2013

 

I think the one question I hear most from all you wonderful people is "what is life like on the boat: am I bored???"   What could I possibly do all day???  The answer is a lot!  It seems like the days just fly by here, especially when we are on the boat sailing lazily through a tropical day.  Let's look at what we do:

 

Here's me in the kitchen chopping up some vegis for a pressure cooker surprise meal!

Here's Omar on watch at the helm - keeping an eye out for vessels, shallows and debris in the water.  If the motor is going then we keep a check on the gauges too.

Here's Omar pulling the mizzen sheet up . . . we have to change sails every time the wind changes direction or speed. Some days that is nonstop!

And here's captain above helping the mizzen sail out of the cover.

Hey pervert -I'm in the shower!  Get out!

This is more just so you can get an idea of a good lean on the boat when the wind is crazy!  There were times Tropicbird was leaned over so hard I thought for sure we would tip.

Strip poker on the boat just doesn't seem to work . . .

Captain upfront meditating on the plank… yes, we have a plank on the boat!!!

Lunch on the boat - freshly made hummus, tomatoes, cucumbers and cracker today.

We came up with a new sport . . .

...sail boat boarding!

Don't let go of the tow line...

...or the sport becomes a new game called Man Over Board!

Nothing like some henna tattoo fun!

It's kind of a game in itself with the boat constantly rocking!

Arrr . . . tough like sailors!

This is what happens wheel you ask a first grade teacher for a tiger tattoo.

Sometimes boat life is lonely.  Thank goodness Matt has Teddy Boo Boo Bear to keep him company.

Got mail?

Finding postcards in Indonesia has been difficult. For 7 weeks we saw none and when we did find a few they were of terrible quality. Eventually we found some in Borobudur and we went post card crazy!

Then we had to find a post office that was open. That was a multi-city challenge. Once we found an open post office we discovered that sending mail from Indonesia was ridiculously expensive. To put things in perspective, what we spent in postage was enough to stay in a home stay and eat out for three days. Not to mention that we bought every single stamp in the post office. It was so crazy that our postcards ended up looking like this: 

Yeah, take a closer look at those postcards. 

Yep, each one has 7 stamps and if you are lucky you might get one. If you have kids your chances are better, but there are no guarantees. It turns out that the Indo post is not that reliable and you might not get them at all. 

Are you feeling lucky?  Let us know if you get one!

Monkey Bussines part 2

Here are the rest of the pictures from our Kumai adventure. 

The next day we went for a stroll in the jungle. Some of the trails have boardwalks that are quickly rotting and becoming part of the jungle. It makes for an exciting and springy walk. 

Then we went to see more orangutans. 

Magic mirror. 

The orangutans get roots and milk for their meal. This little fellow is taking a bath in the milk instead. He heard its good for beauty!

Here is Ali posing with her ex. I donno how he got in the picture. 

This fella is a proboscis monkey. Gotta wonder if its good for anything? 

Happy little monkey. 

After all that hiking in the jungle we decided to take a shower in the rain. It was very refreshing. 

The crew on our boat made us meals all day long and we had candle lit dinners. 

We hid from the bugs behind mosquito netting during the night. 

This is our guide Jeffrey. He was a park ranger beforehand and taught us about the orangutan ecosystem and how it's threatened. 

The last day we planted some trees to restore some burn damaged areas. Matt was pretty proud of his rat feeding tree. 

This is the biggest threat to the orangutans. Deforestation for logging and palm tree plantations. They live on two places in the world and their habitat is being eliminated. If you wish to help them out visit orangutan.org

Kumai and the Orangutans

Hello friends,

After leaving Semarang we did a brief stop in Karimun Jawa. There we met two new crew members to join us in our adventures and make our night watches go easier.

Rhiannon is from Florida and is joining us for the long haul to Singapore. She is single and likes kittens gentlemen!

 

Kaitlin is from Minneapolis and joined us just for the short trip to Kumai. At the time of this writing she was heading home already to a puppy that misses her lots.

  

Matt and I went to get some haircuts in town. Gotta love this basic barber shops. The language barrier makes things exciting. I don't really mind if they shave it all off but Matt was sad they took a bit too much of his top.

We met Sophie walking around Kumai and she joined us for our Orangutan adventure. She would have been a good fit in the Tropicbird crew, but sadly only has 2 weeks left of her vacation.

We headed down the jungle to the Tanjung Puting National Park. At least the parks in Indonesia are still open. What a surprise to see turn signs down the Chocolate River. I wonder if boats went off the road?!?

The park is dedicated to orangutan rehabilitation and land conservation. There we met The King.

  

And King's family. 

  

Just in case you need a reminder that you are in the Jungle.

 

The rehabilitation includes feeding in the jungle. This fella stole a bucket of bananas from one of the rangers and had a feast.  No, not Ali - the other one!

Mr. Feast with banana pudding.

A little fellow doing yoga.

The King sort of administers the bananas and decides who gets them. That is unless you can distract him,  sneak in and grab some.

Ladies and children do not get to go first. But they get their turn and come along with a baby velcroed to their side.

All that jungle trekking prompted Ali to do a yoga class. Stretching is good no matter where you are. Then we prepped to go to a wedding. 

The wedding was a traditional Muslim wedding in a small jungle village. This is what we were expecting... more or less. 

What really surprised us was the entertainment - hired from the big city. At least it was all in a family atmosphere.