Back to Bajo - Flores Island

Labuan Bajo is where my last Indo sailing trip ended. It seemed a bit less of a culture shock having been here before!

We managed to find a mooring ball tucked into a sheltered spot on the south of Jonny’s Island. There were 3 other non-Indonesian boats there - 2 appear to be charter sail boats, and the other was another cat similar to ours. We ‘hit the town’ that night, keen for a meal and a beverage (we’d run out on the boat nearly a fortnight prior). We chose ‘La Cucina’ an ‘Italian’ restaurant. As in they did have pizza and some pasta! Seafood and of course chicken were on the menu, but no red meat.

Back on the boat that night seemed strange being surrounded by other boats and their lights, and of course all the lights on shore!

In the morning we loaded the dinghy up with empty fuel cans, and tied up at the wharf. Dale moved the fuel cans to his handy cart - he headed to Pertamina (servo) and I went looking for a car to take me to immigration. My driver was ‘Three’ and we had a great chat on the way. Due to the shut down small businesses like his are struggling, and there is no government support or safety net. He is heading back to his wife’s home island for the duration, with wife, their 2 yr old and 8 week old baby.

Three waited while I went into the immigration office to finalise my visa extension. I was the only client so I had three willing and friendly staff on the job. In no time I was signed, sealed and legal again, so Three dropped me back near the harbour.
Dale dropped the last load of fuel to the dinghy, and we wandered the Main Street doing a few errands then eventually made it to the eatery where we had our first meal here after our crossing from Thursday Island.

La Boheme was as delightful and quirky as we remembered. Our waiter from last time - the bubbly Raphael - of ‘always happy hour, you no leave Tim you drunk!’ fame - no longer works there. Maybe be that’s why because Anik, his replacement, was strict that happy hour didn’t start until 4pm! 😆😆😆

We opted to sit on a roofed platform
up high among the trees. The ladder up was a bit questionable, but it was a great roost! I even managed to get a pic of a fire-tailed sunbird - similar size and shape to our local sunbirds. The food was good, and we really enjoyed our meal.

From our roost we could watch the going-ons in the street, especially a large group of kids playing under the bridge over the canal. Like kids everywhere they played, laughed and argued. But can you imagine children as young as 3 being allowed to play on the banks of a canal I supervised here?!

The area between the restaurant and the pier where we tied up was ‘lower socioeconomic’ - but was entirely safe. Indonesian people, despite absolute poverty, are gentle and honest. Even the 60 litres of fuel in canisters Ieft on the Dingy in plain sight was untouched when we returned. Sadly I wouldn’t have the same faith that would happen in Australia, despite the support here for lower income citizens. There is no government support in Indonesia, and that amount of fuel would make a huge difference to a poor person’s life. Yet they clearly have a strong moral compass.Read more