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Firefly - Belitung was smoke free at first



Firefly has been anchored on the north west of Belitung for 5 days and will probably stay for a while longer. After Kumai our planned destination was Ketapang on the west of Borneo. The Sail 2 Indonesia Rally was due to stop there few a few days and would then move onto an Island called Karimata. However, the Ketapang stop was up another muddy river and we heard early reports via the SSB net that there was poor visibility due to air pollution.

The decision was therefore made on Firefly to skip the next 2 rally stops and go straight onto Belitung, an island in the south of the South China Sea that was likely to have blue sky. From Kumai we therefore sailed overnight and the following afternoon anchored at one of a number of small islands off the north east of Belitung. Lots of jelly fish and a strong current kept us out of the water and as usual, after a night at sea it was great to have stopped and we slept soundly. Up early the next morning Firefly managed to sail nearly all of the 70 miles to the destination, Tanyang Kelayang. An adverse current all day did slow us down and it should have been dark on the approach - there were however literally 100 local fishing boats with very bright lights out fishing, so we easily picked our way through the fleet and dropped the hook.

Belitung is a very picturesque place with several small tropical islands, white sandy beaches and striking looking smooth granite rocks clustered in places. Its a place popular with Indonesia tourists although we don't see many in the village near the beach. They arrive by bus and climb aboard converted fishing boats that take them out on snorkeling trips - these seem to be doing a good trade as there were about 15 when we went to the only reasonable snorkeling spot by the lighthouse in Firefly's tender. There is so much fishing there are not that many fish, no big ones - but the coral is ok.

The better anchorage is only approachable in good light so the morning after our arrival we moved around and anchored next to Flomaida, another World ARC yacht, that, similar to ourselves is taking a second year out to visit SE Asia. Christoph and Dagmar are participants on the other Indonesia Rally, they buzzed past Firefly on the way to shore as their rally festivities were just about to start with a welcome ceremony. The participants from the 2 rallies cross over a lot and in an effort to increase numbers at the events we joined both their welcome event and a tour of the main town a couple of days later.

The tour was interesting, as is usual, and we were being treated like VIP's with about 20 participants spread out amongst 2 small air conditioned coaches. There was a 'traffic' police car, lights flashing leading the convoy and a 'tourist' police car bringing up the rear. First stop was the Smansa Tanjung Pandan First School. The entire school was awaiting our visit and we had traditional dancing in the courtyard, tea under a pagoda and a guided tour in small groups led by the students who could speak the best English. This is the top school in the region and it was very impressive - everyone is just so enthusiastic.

Next stop was the Museum of Tin Mining. Tin is something that Belitung is apparently famous for. The museum was quite good, the most interesting exhibit related to an ancient Arabian shipwreck found locally - the only one ever discovered anywhere. Lunch was served after standing in the searing heat listening to speeches in Indonesian outside the so called 'traditional house'. Once inside it was cool and seated on the ground on Pandanus mats we were served an interesting lunch, local music being provided by a small group of musicians. As usual some of the food was good, some not so good and some of it was exceedingly spicy.

The final stop was at the traditional market in order to give us the opportunity to pick up some vegetables and fruit. We also started to walk to the bakery but our guide decided it was too far - we went back to the bus and it was arranged for Paul to have a lift to the Bakery in the Tourist Police Car - real celebrity status and amusing as Susie did not know why Paul was going off with the Police!

Today is Tuesday 20th October and our rally festivities will start on the 24th. It will be a long time to be in one place but the current plan is that we will stay - that will however depend on the smoke. There were beautifully clear blue skies for the first few days but it has deteriorated since then with some air borne haze blowing in. Then, yesterday a forest fire started on the shore upwind of the anchorage so Firefly is frequently subjected to clouds of smoke. Apparently the fire was being put out but its still like Bonfire Night here. With the long stoppage we have managed to get lots of jobs done with more planned. Tomorrow we have hired a car and driver for the day to go on a tour of the island and also do some more shopping in the main town - everything included, car, driver, fuel - the cost is 500,000 Rupiah which is about 20 pounds, everything here is so incredibly cheap here.

Paul and Susie




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