Pulau Hoga
We departed Banda August 3rd, and had sailed west across the Banda Sea. The first day was uncomfortable, and talking to friends Elaine and Roy (Paw Paw) later, things weren't much better on a catamaran. After a couple of nights at sea, we came in to Hoga Island, part of the Wakatobi National Park, where we dropped anchor and spent a lovely five days with some amazing (the best ever) snorkeling. The reef off the islands drops down to very deep water, and we were able to tie the dinghy to a mooring buoy placed by local divers and enjoy all the sights of beautiful local species of corals and fish we'd never met before. Local traders came by and sold us fruits and veggies, and a few more yachts came in to the anchorage before we left. Parties were held on Lady, Arkouda, Paw Paw and ashore at a local "resort". The was an NGO group staying at the "resort" doing marine research and it was reported that they had discovered a number of new species and also re-discovered a couple of species previously thought to be extinct.
Flores
A group of five yachts departed Banda, headed south to Flores, initially intended to be just an overnight passage. We passed numerous Fish Attraction Devices "FADs" (we think) that looked like a little boat with a flag. We radioed the positions to each other, and then on to the rest of the rally behind us. Paw Paw arrived at our destination of a small harbor at Tanjung (cape) Gedong at far north-eastern Flores Island. Paw Paw was a few hours ahead of us and reported early in the day that the small harbor had a very large visiting local cruise ship that was occupying most of the space, they had tried to anchor, but only rock was available for their hook. Plans and courses were changed, with Wodong being the next intended port of call. Arriving there mid after-noon, Paw Paw found a sandy spot near the dive resort to anchor, but the wind had changed and was now blowing quite hard out of the north, and it was now a lee shore, and the shore went from shallow to deep very quickly, so the crew of Lady was not comfortable there, so we let the fleet know that we were leaving and intending to spend another night at sea on our way to a better anchorage since there was no other choice we could reach while we still had good light. (at sea is almost always the safest option, contrary to what landlubers might think)! Arkouda and Ultimo soon felt the same way, and before too long Paw Paw had decided that instead of spending the night on anchor watch, they would come to sea as well. Cattiva is a slower yacht, and they had made it in to Tanjung Gedong after the cruise ship had left.
Next morning Ultimo led the way into the Damo anchorage. It was like a totally protected pond, and we all enjoyed it. The anchorage is part of the 17 Islands Marine Park, which has 24 islands. Another two yachts joined us later, Georgia and Fairwinds, who we knew from the Caribbean. There would have been plenty of room for a dozen more yachts.
There was some sort of local fishing camp, and we saw a few local boats.
We dinghied out through the cut one day, hoping to find some good snorkeling, but the wind was too strong, so we went back to the inlet and found a place to do some swimming, but the reefs had been dynamited some years ago, and they were recovering.
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