Our last chance to get to Rhun, would we make it? Why is it important? I'll let Brian tell you that.
There were 5 of us today, J&M and a Romanian whose name escapes me. 09.00, no 10.00, knock at the door, make that 09.30. Not Ipin today but another snorkeling guide, Chai, and we are off. It's really quite rough, Julie isn't happy, Captain obviously is, as we bypass Ai and carry on to Rhun. It's a little calmer now we are in Ai's shadow, thank goodness.
We stopped for our first snorkel on a very shallow reef, between Rhun and a tiny island, very pretty again, as they all have been. 5 or 6 black tipped reef sharks (5&6 may or may not have been the same one) Brian finally did see one, but unbelievably not the two that were swimming underneath a huge school of fish he was filming. Two turtles and a moray eel.
Back onto the boat and to a deserted beach, it's obviously still a bit rough, Captain doesn't think he can moor at the town, at last, he's finally going to set foot on this bloody island. We all went ashore, still dripping, but that wasn't it. Half an hour, along that path, across the island is the town, apparently we are going there. I'm not sure my $5 flip flops from Ecuador were designed for jungle trekking, nor Brian's sliders from Matalan. We at least made it off the beach, which is more than can be said for Martin. His feet inside his thongs (he is a kiwi after all) were just so wet and slippery he was afraid of breaking his neck.
Just over half an hour later, 4 of us, plus Chai wiggled through the town to a guesthouse, for cinnamon tea and fried banana. This is the guesthouse we would have stayed in. We asked to look at the rooms to discover, one with AC, one with a fan and yes, he did have 24 hour electricity. We didn't look inside the bathrooms but I think they were both en suite. We would probably have been ok, but I am still very happy to actually have had 6 nights at the Cilu Bintang estate, it's been lovely.
It wasn't really that rough in the harbour, but with no cell coverage Chai couldn't get Captain to collect us, so another half hour slog back across the island. Unsurprisingly Martin was a bit miffed, nobody had realised we'd be gone just over two hours! Off to Ai for lunch, and I have to say, the most delicious crab spaghetti. I didn't even try anything else, just three portions of that!
Snorkelling off the beach for our final dip. I was first in and it was definitely a bit murky. It did improve as we drifted along the beach, though Chai seemed to be on a mission. I kept pace with him and was rewarded by him spotting and pointing out some cuttlefish in the deep blue. Another first. And then, there's the boat to meet us, hurrah, swimming back would have been very difficult.
The trip back was much quicker than out, but it was still gone 17.00 by the time, we walked dripping through the hotel and straight into the shower, for the last time.
So, a little bit of background from me on why I wanted to visit Run (or Rhun) island - no, don't stop reading now, you might enjoy it! I blame Jackie for buying me the book Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton a few years back.
In 1616 Nathaniel Courthope was an officer in the British Royal Navy and, on 25th December of that year landed on Run island to secure the nutmeg trade for Britain. Remember that, in those days, nutmeg was an extremely valuable spice and control of its supply had, over many centuries, passed progressively between the Chinese, the Arabs, the Portuguese and finally the Dutch. The location of Banda Neira and the spice islands had been kept a closely guarded secret, but the British had learned of its location and were now locked in a struggle to control it. Captain Courthope had taunted the Dutch by occupying the surrounding islands of Hatta, Ai and Run erecting a fortress on Run, but the Dutch, in retaliation laid siege, forcing Captain Courthope and his men to seek refuge on Run.
With the help of the islanders, but still greatly outnumbered, he held off against the Dutch siege for four years, refusing even the most reasonable offers to leave. The islanders signed a contract to pledge allegiance to King James I and to give England a monopoly on their nutmeg harvest
He was eventually killed in a skirmish in 1620, the English were forced to abandon the island and the Dutch occupied the island and destroyed all the nutmeg trees but, somehow, British sovereignty of the island remained.
The English sovereignty of the island was a thorn in the side of Dutch wishes to control the spice trade so, in 1667 Britain agreed to surrender their interests in Run in exchange for a Dutch asset in North America known as New Amsterdam, that we now know as Manhattan Island. The new territory granted to the English was renamed New York.
The British, at the time, were giving up the potential of making huge sums of money from nutmeg in return for an unpromising island on a different continent, but history proved otherwise.
Day23
The bad news? The 08.00 ferry is leaving at 07.00 so breakfast at 05.30, harbour at 06.00. Not sure why, most of the locals rocked up about 06.50! 5 hours and 15 minutes later, we are approaching the port. I hope our driver is there as I'm dying for a wee, but I'm not going on the boat. I'm choosing to believe it's seawater that has come up the hole that is flowing all down the aisle!
He was, 15 minutes to the hotel and over an hour waiting for the room. At least we are further away from 'sunset vibes' where we are and I think it's a nicer room.
Day 24
A full day tour of Ambon, we should have been flying out today, but this flight was postponed till tomorrow, so a day here, rather than Sorong, which actually sounds like it might be an improvement.
Organised by Abba from Cilu Bintang, our usual driver and a guide we haven't met yet. He sent an itinerary through last night, sounded long, and messaged to say he's on his way. Then messaged to say he's got weather problems, but he's stopped his Moto taxi to buy a raincoat. It's not that big an island, but we didn't have rain, though we could see it and could hear the thunder.
Imanuele arrived, just on original time, very flustered, driver was already here and disapproving but we calmed them both down and set off. It was a long drive (1hr) to the first stop, Fort Amsterdam, the Old Mosque, and the Old Church (which is being renovated). The Old Mosque was an interesting building, originally built in 1414 it has been moved twice to its current position. It has also moved with the times and has speakers, like every other mosque, so no one can ignore the call to prayer. Fort Amsterdam was also rebuilt, and is quite solid, there is a piece of the original wall inside, made of coral and all sorts. It was mainly built for storage of spices before shipping, but does have good look outs for protection.
It was then another hour back to Ambon city for lunch, during which time I couldn't help myself. I had to ask Imanuele if he was Gay, and whether it was a problem in Indonesia. He is (no surprise there) and yes, it is a problem. In most areas it is not illegal, BUT same sex marriage is not recognised, and, as of this year, sex outside of marriage IS illegal. His parents are understanding, but perhaps they have to be, his father is Christian and his mother Muslim, so they have had problems to deal with through their lives, and he obviously has good friends (and a long distance relationship in Holland) but he was quite guarded how he was talking Infront of our Muslim driver who he hasn't worked with before. He was however an absolute joy to be with, and our favourite guide to date.
Lunch was also really good, a lovely looking restaurant, matched by it's food. We made imanuele order, so fish soup, some prawns, and two vegetable dishes for the 4 of us, though we couldn't do it justice.
First afternoon stop was the museum, which was three different buildings spread out along a very steep hill, fortunately we didn't have to walk far. The first was a selection of wedding outfits, from different regions. A bit random but I liked it. The second was stone age to current fishing history in a snapshot, and the third a marine museum with some huge blue whale skeletons. He whistled us through, which was great, as I still struggle stopping Brian read everything!
The World Peace Gong was our next stop. A very recent erection, only built in 2009 to celebrate the end of the Muslim and Christian war in the region that had been going on since 1999. It's interesting how every other guide has told us how accepting and inclusive Indonesia is, failing to mention a local war, that they feel was politically motivated, but seemed to be started by car bombs being blamed on Christians to Muslims, and on Muslims to Christians. Imanuele was a small boy at school when this started and remembers the teacher running the whole class into the jungle. There are bullet holes in the wall of his house, and his neighbours house was burned down.
I would happily have for gone the last stop at the WWII cemetery, but Brian wanted to stop, and it was a peaceful, well maintained space. Paid for by the Australian government as the majority of graves are Australian, along with Indian and the opposing Japanese.
We made it back just after 16.00, so a full day out. We've showered, had a drink and eaten, and it's now 20.00, but we've just heard from Imanuele that he has only just got home. Apparently he had to stop and do some tutoring on the way as he is paying for his sister to go the university. He had to drop out, as his father's business partner ran off with all the money, but has been paying for his sister to do the course he should be doing. She has an exam next week which he has had to pay for. He is such a nice man, he split his tip with the driver, who we didn't tip, because he is taking us to the airport tomorrow, so we would have tipped him tomorrow, we feel really bad.
After chatting with Imanuele, he is coming to the airport with us tomorrow, so we can replace his tip. This seems like a lot of faff for £4.58, but he was telling us about working for the water purifying company after he dropped out. They paid once a year, which sounds horrendous, but then it was a lot of money. 30,000,000 IDR, which does sound a lot, but in reality is £1375. 100,000(£4.58) is more than a days earnings, so I guess it was worth getting out of bed for
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