The passage from Banda to Namrole on the island of Buru was made of the stuff from which superstitions could well arise. We left Banda early in the morning sighting birds, fish and dolphins (and quite a few local fishing boats) just as we made our way out of the harbour.

We had a great sail that day with good wind and excellent boat speed under our multi-coloured spinnaker. Others who were sailing behind us saw sunfish and a pod of whales and we were quite disappointed that we had seen neither by late afternoon. As the sun went down we made our usual preparations for the night and Phil went off to bed and left me on first watch. The twilight dwindled and as it did the sea gradually became milky white all the way to the horizon. It was as if someone way down deep had turned on the lights. So instead of the sea being dark and the sky light with starlight, it was almost the inverse. The sea was light and the horizon was marked by a dark line. Fortunately we had heard about this phenomenon so it was not unexpected. Still, it was very eerie. At one point I saw a couple of dark shapes coming rushing towards the boat, which I realised were dolphins- they are not normally visible at night in the dark sea. I can imagine that to ancient mariners the whole thing could have appeared as if something very strange was going on. At about 10.30pm I needed to wake Phil to ask him to check something (only about the second time I have had to do that) and so he got a real surprise when he come on deck to this remarkable sight. As it turned out it was extremely lucky for him, as the milky sea gradually disappeared after he went back to sleep and was completely gone by the time I woke him for the next watch. Others we have spoken to since also saw gaps in the milkiness so it appeared as if there was a very deep canyon. It seems that this is not uncommon in the Banda Sea at this time of year. Other remarkable forms of bioluminescence such as lines, whirlpools and other patterns can also be seen in the waters around Sulawasi, but we are not likely to see these as we probably won’t be far enough into those waters before we leave this area.

The next morning we were alerted by the sound of a whale blowing out and raced on deck to see a very large whale off our bow. It was swimming along behind us first on the starboard side, then to the port side, and then it disappeared. It was as if it was just checking us out and then went on its way having satisfied its curiosity.

Buru turned out to be quite surprising. It has been closed to foreigners until recently so we were the first westerners they had seen there and that was very very exciting for them. I had thought that there would not be much development here, that no-one would speak much English, and that they would not be very familiar with western ways. But not so. I would say that the people here have quite a good sense of humour. They are very warm and genuine. Wednesday morning we had the welcome ceremony (speeches and local dancing). At the end of the ceremony we were all invited up to join in the dancing, and this was followed by a tasty lunch, with dishes from each of the six local communities. We went for a walk around (lots of photos taken with lots of smiling people) and then came back to the boat and went for a snorkel and swim. Smart phones, tablets, fancy cameras, and satellite dishes abounded, but as in the other places we have been the houses are mostly very basic and in poor repair, with the odd exception.

Thursday we were taken in buses to a river nearby and went across the river on traditional bamboo rafts, then walked a couple of kms through the bush (jungle) to reach a village. We were ceremoniously led into the village by locals playing traditional instruments (drums and pipes/whistles) where there was more dancing and a welcome speech (all performed in the streets filled with locals which made it very hard to actually see what was happening).

We were then led to the beach where they had set up seats for us in the shade in front of a long buffet table on which they served lunch. After lunch we were invited to swim in a sacred place so had to get ancestors blessing before-hand. The swimming hole was in a fresh water stream that emptied onto the beach. Phil could not resist and so he went in (water was pretty cold) and jumped from the branch into the stream a couple of times- just like Wuk Wuk river at Lindenow. Then loooong walk back to the harbour.

Each evening they played music at the harbour where we are anchored. They had electric keyboard, guitar, microphone and large speakers. Music in Indonesia is played VERY LOUD. Thursday evening it finished at some respectable time, but later some teenagers came back and cranked it up again playing and singing from about midnight until 3.30am when one of the yachties got into his dinghy, went ashore and told them to turn it all off. So there were some very grumpy people around on Friday, including Phil who decided he would not take part in the festivities that day, which turned out to be a wise move as it was another very full day.

We visited 4 different villages spread out over quite a distance so we were gone from about 10am to 5.30pm. The routine at each one was very similar- welcome speech, dancing in the streets, and lots of smiling and photos. The last one was a larger village and they had gone to sooo much effort. They built seating for us out of bamboo and erected a bamboo structure lined with coconut palm branches for shade. We all sat down, completely surrounded by all the villagers and then 6 little girls performed a dance and this was quite a different one to the others that we had seen. By then we were so over it- hot, tired etc, it was such a shame. Long drive back to the boats through very hilly country with some spectacular views.

Then dinner at the harbour with the Regent – sort of equivalent to the Mayor. Dinner was yum (at last- food I felt safe to eat), and then after some short speeches the music was on again. This time the Regent sang for us- and blow me down if he didn’t sing a pretty good rendition of the Frank Sinatra song “I did it my way”. We couldn’t believe it- it was completely surreal to be in an Indonesian island community that had never had western visitors and for the Regent to be entertaining us by singing a song like that! What a surprising way to finish off a very surprising visit.