Day 4,101 - Moyo, Indonesia 18:22hrs - August 22, 2018 Dragons, Rays and Volcanos

Over the last week we've hiked Komodo Island in search for more of the legendary dragons, and with cruising mates Bobby and Sam off Confidence, we sighted seven, including a ten-foot monster that seemed entirely Jurassic in nature, an experience that completely recalibrated my belief on where I reside on the food chain. The dragons on Komodo, however, are a tamer lot, familiar with tourists and selfie sticks, so unlike their wilder and more aggressive cousins we encountered last week on the southern shoreline of Rinca, we got a little closer - I'm pretty sure within striking distance - to take a few choice photos. But our official Komodo National Park guide accompanied us, armed with a really big stick, so I'm almost entirely certain we were safe.

For five days we explored all the islands within the park and even hove-to to spend a little time drifting and free-diving with a gliding fleet of manta rays feeding in Selat Lintah, a channel between Komodo and Padar Island which boast currents so fierce that, for one embarrassing moment whilst running at full throttle, we actually found ourselves carried backwards.

This week we've day sailed west across the northern coastline of Sambawa, in the shadow of Tambora Volcano which, in 1815, caused 'the year without summer' during the most explosive and devastating eruption in our recorded history. We've been sailing, for the most part, in gentle conditions, dodging FADs (Fish Aggregation Devices) - homemade floats, markers and buoys designed to attract fish and foul propellers. And just two days ago, in eighty feet of water, we anchored off the edge of Satonda Island, a dormant volcano, and hiked over it's ridge line and down to the high-salinity lake that fills its crater. Locals believe that wishes and dreams are fulfilled if rocks, or a gift, are hung from a sacred Kalibuda tree on the shoreline. Our offering was a nautilus shell we found in New Caledonia.

We're about to sail to Lombok, but with all the earthquakes around the island over the last few weeks, the recent evacuation of tourists, and concerns of further tremors, tsunami warnings and even a volcanic eruption, we may sail straight to Bali instead. However, as recently as June 29th this year, Bali's Mount Agung, the island's active volcano, erupted, belching plumes of ash 2km into the sky resulting in 450 cancelled flights and effecting over 75,000 passengers worldwide.

Of course, we have our own means of transportation, but as Dream Time's average moving speed is a modest five knots, we've registered with SMS-tsunami-warning, we'll need as much notice as possible.

Day 4,086 - Kupang, Indonesia 07:08hrs - August 7, 2018 We Have Arrived in Kupang, West Timor!

We have arrived in Kupang, West Timor! It’s all still a little overwhelming and we’re still a bit jet lagged from our 5 day sail here, and with the check in paper dance full of cheery smiling officials shuffling multiple documents from one desk to another made for a dizzying start to Indonesia. But we’re here, we made it and everything is new and different and fascinating it’s hard to know where to look first.

The sheer number of people and traffic somehow not bumping into each other is something to behold, and we are enjoying the funny chaos of it all. Everyone is so sweet and friendly and they want to practice their English on us so there’s a constant flow of hellos and how are you’s and good-byes etc. it’s lovely. Also amusingly the men are all somehow fascinated by Neville, they all want a photo with him, I think it’s because there aren’t many tourists here he’s as tall and interesting to them as they are curious and interesting to us. The other entirely cool thing we’ve seen here is the mixture of religions peacefully cohabiting. Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Christians all just getting on with their busy lives in this one city without any apparent difficulty, I wish there was more of that in the world.

Also we had a tourist day, visiting the ‘monkey cave’ where we met alot of very cute monkeys, but no cave, and then a ‘crystal cave’ that was an actual cave but there were no crystals. There was however a very welcome cool sparkly freshwater pool at the bottom for those willing to navigate the slippery climb down to the bottom. Then we wandered through town and made our way to the city market and communicating almost entirely with hand signals we tried to figure out what to eat for lunch, I’m quite sure we managed to entertain the folks there as much as they entertained us. There were all the usual market fare including little fish and small plucked chickens laying out in the open on various tables ready for someone braver than me to buy them, I stuck to the fruit and veg. But the market does stay open 24/7 so we can go back and get that chicken anytime if we change our minds which is very convenient.

So, we’re having a lovely time in this very different and interesting part of the world. We’ll be sailing to a much quieter part of Indonesia in a few days, Komodo, and apparently there’ll be dragons! Watch this space...