We were halfway through our time in Wakatobi National Park and we moved SV Kismet down to the more southern island called Tomia (sometimes spelled Tomea). We had a lazy morning before departure and it took us two hours to get there, but when we arrived, we realized our mistake. The plan was to traverse the pass, into the inner lagoon but, for some reason, neither Kevin nor I thought to check the tides and we happened to arrive at low tide. Based on depth reports from other cruisers, Kevin determined we couldn’t enter the anchorage.
It seemed all the mooring balls outside were already taken so we dropped anchor and set the hook. About 45 minutes later, we received a knock on the hull by some men in a boat, not speaking a word of English but looking very unhappy. Based on their boat and shirts, we deciphered they were from the large Swiss-owned dive resort on the island and we were confused as to why they didn’t send any of their English-speaking employees to interact with us.
After another 30 minutes of rough translation, it seemed anchoring was prohibited and if we wanted to stay, we would need to use a mooring ball. They kept pointing to a nearby fishing boat on one of the balls and motioning us to join up. So, we got some lines ready and tied up to the fishing boat, first bow to stern but we later had to change side to side because the current shifted and sent us bumper-boating into each other. Kevin grabbed a couple of packs of cigarettes and handed them to the fisherman as a thank you.
The fishermen were ecstatic to have a sailboat of white people tied up next to them and wasted no time taking selfies then eventually hopping on board for more photos. Joni did her best to translate and found out they were from Makassar and here on a fishing trip with a handful of other boats. That night, Joni stayed onboard while Kevin and I went for a night dive with a local guide. Before leaving we made sure Joni knew the protocol of how to start the engine and radios in case anything happened to the mooring line or we got accidentally untied.
The next morning we were woken up at 7 am by footsteps on the boat. Joni and I went to investigate only to find one of the fishermen, not wearing any pants, just a shirt and underwear, sitting in the cockpit. We tried to engage him in small conversation as he looked around at the electronics and muttered things like “ahh Raymaine” as if he had been contemplating which brand of chart plotter to go with on his own boat. As we stepped out into the cockpit, we noticed a second fishing boat had pulled up alongside the other and we prayed the mooring ball was strong enough for all three boats.
We began getting reading for another day of diving and our guide showed up right on time. We used him as a translator to confirm no other boats were coming or leaving while we were gone diving and they confirmed they would be staying for another couple of days and not to worry.
We headed out for a morning of diving and were greeted by schools of sappers, jacks, and barracuda but my favorite that day was the leafy scorpion fish in three different colors. We came back to SV Kismet for lunch and fishermen on the boat we were tied to began motioning to us that they were leaving. Since they were sandwiched between us and the other boat, they managed to untie SV Kismet and retie it to the outside boat, then drift backward away from the ball. This was all very confusing since they had indicated that morning that they weren’t leaving. We chalked it up to Bahasa Indonesia being a strange language with no conjugations or having a past or future tense.
That afternoon, Joni stayed onboard to teach while Kevin and I went for one more dive at a nearby atoll and found the diving to, once again, be great. Three dives in a day will zap your energy so we called it an early light since we would be departing the next morning. By the time we woke up, we were surprised to find we were the only boat tied to the mooring ball. The other fishing boat seemed to disappear in the night and had kindly tied us up. I couldn’t believe I didn’t hear any of this happen just 5 feet away from me.
It was time for us to be on our way as well. Next stop: Komodo!
Awesome adventures you guys are having.
❤️☮️🌍