Kawula Island, Indonesia (Wednesday, August 7 to Saturday, August 10)

We headed to Tanjung (Tg). Liang Meah, Kawula Island, our first real cruising destination – an overnight from Kupang (101 miles).  We left Kupang at 11:00 a.m. and arrived 24 hours later at 11:00 a.m.  Mostly light and variable winds along with currents which slowed us down – good to allow extra time for passages!

Great stop on this mountainous volcanic island with small village, nice beach and room for about 10 sailboats (good holding in sand and some coral).    Not even Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) or the Lonely Planet writers have made it here.  I suspect that most of the islands are only connected via ferry boat service or other small crafts owned by local fishermen.

Super friendly locals!!!!  We went to the visit the village (Baokapong, approximately 500 residents) the first day and were greeted by all of the smiling village kids on the beach – they were so delighted to have visitors.  Judging by the number of headscarves worn by the girls, I guess that the village was mostly Muslim.  I truly can’t remember a better reception by the locals anywhere in the South Pacific.  The boys flocked to Dennis and the girls to me – they grabbed our hands to show us the village and where the high school volley ball and soccer games were going to be played later that afternoon against opposing island teams.  There was also a very friendly gentleman who greeted us and invited us to his home – he knew about 20 words of English.

When we left, we were worried about dragging our heavy dinghy from the beach into the surf – no problem as about 15 young small boys lifted our dinghy off the beach and into the water!

We returned the next day to take pictures and to show Jim the village.  Because it was a Friday, the Muslim kids were in the mosque so we hung with the Christian kids who appear to co-exist nicely with their Muslim neighbors.  One of the boys scurried up the coconut tree and gave us each a coconut to drink.  As we walked through town, we saw women eating and drying beetle nut (a nut that is a mild narcotic and turns your mouth red – if you chew on too many of these nuts, you will loose your teeth; this nut is also very common in the Solomon Islands).  We were graciously greeted by a couple of Muslim clerics visiting from Jakarta.  We played with the kids who loved to mimic Dennis’ English and we even learned a few new Indonesian words.  We laughed with these wonderful warm villagers all the way through town.

That night we joined our cruising friends on Thylacines (Australia, Jerry and Suzanne) for sundowners.  Galatea, USA – Neil, Julie, Teague and Bailey; Libertad, USA – Dennis and Virginia; Lazy Bones, Australia – Roger and Barbara.