Our journey to Wakatobi took
us 32 hours and 50 minutes from Namrole. We sailed almost all the way as the
direction of sail gave us a beam on wind and Matilda likes that very much. We
took 32 hours to cover 218 nautical miles, motoring only 2 hours of them and
most of that was because once you’re behind the island you will lose the SE'ly
winds. We anchored at: 05.19.66S & 123.32.036E dropping anchor in about 7
meters. Very good holding in here.
Old fisherman's house built in the harbor so the boat can be parked out the front
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| Typical street guttering in Indonesia don't fall in. |
This was the first place
we found it takes a bit of getting your head around the names in Indonesia. To
clarify: Wakatobi is the name of a group of islands and the regency located in
an area of Sulawesi Tenggara Province, Indonesia. Wangi-Wangi is the capital.
Wanci is a village of the capital Wangi-Wangi and where the harbor is. Very
confusing!
Wooden boats every where, check out this beauty
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| Dingy landing dock. |
Points to note:
- Turn your your clocks back 1 hour
- You must ring Jino on 16 to enter the coral harbour. He
will be expecting the fleet and he can be hailed as W.I.C. (announced
individually not as WIC) you need assistance to enter
- The way points for the atoll channel: 005 19.60S, 123
31.77E, wait out the front for Jino
- We arrived in the dark with no issues
It’s an absolute
pleasure being inside the coral lagoon harbour – it’s very calm inside still. No
current and Matilda sits flat, which is a relief coming from Namrole. None of
us wanted to leave the anchorage here at Wanci.
Another fantastic sundown, pass the Bintang
We found a lovely
restaurant which was extended right out over the water and we ate here quite a few times. I did not note the name, however, if you are looking at the land from your
vessel, you can take the tender down as it’s a short ride to your
starboard side and you will see the restaurant. Unfortunately during a our
time, the noise from the constant renovations got a bit tiresome so we moved our
favourite eating place to the restaurant 2 doors down the road in the hotel. It was also very good and
served cold Bintang.
Renovations under way
The markets where
excellent - being day and night markets. The night was mostly selling fruit and
vegies and a few other bits and pieces, the day market sold everything.
Wanci is a good place if
you need supplies.
The usual chicken and rooster
We had quite the
reception from the Regent, at his house. Again loads of speeches in Indonesian
and they take sooooo long - but the food was good. The ladies and dancers in
their traditional outfits where beautiful.
Dancers looking for partners
Quite a few of the fleet
had tested positive to malaria in Namrole. So it was arranged for us to also be
tested along with others who were not tested in Namrole. This process was
typical of Indonesian time. First we were told we would be tested at the W.I.C
(Harbour master's office), but after much waiting around we were told ‘no the
nurses couldn’t make it out’, so we were transported to the hospital and this
took about 1 hours to arrange. Once in the hospital we were shuffled from
building to building, and finally after several hours we were tested and all
results were negative much to our relief. But we must say the trip in to the
hospital in the ambulance was a load of fun.
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| This is the ambulance. All that was in it was this bed that was not locked down, no equipment - nothing just this bed. |
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| Hospital admission desk. |
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| Connecting walk ways through the hospital. We saw them moving patients around these. |
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| Dentist chair out in the hall way! |
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