Indonesia – Kiwis Do Fly

Ship’s Log – Part 2

Published on October 30, 2025 by kiwisdofly2Leave a comment

Banana Split, Raja Ampat, October 2025

After a challenging 13 hour steam from Sorong to the government mooring buoy at Pulau Kri, we settle into life on the water where things just get better and better!

Tuesday 1300: There was a very strong current ripping through this area, we didn’t get a chance to get off the boat. So we decided to move locations. Pulau Friwen is only 5 miles to the north of here, let’s go check it out.

This was the best decision. We got over there easily, and in day light – though there was localised cloud burst, right on top of us just as we were approaching the island.

Visibility became non-existent and we got soaked. We did a 360° circle to kill a bit of time before coming in closer and finding an anchorage. Then it cleared, as quick as it came, I guess that is the tropics for you! Actually we are only about 30 miles from the Equator here. Our GPS position is 00°28.6’S, 130°41.8’E. It is exciting for me to see 00 degrees, NZ is 37°S latitude, we are soo far north!

1500: We anchored just off the jetty in 19m. We are really close to the village and feel a little self conscious. You know the colour of our boat right? We don’t really hit the brief of “incognito” We hope we don’t upset anyone with being so close.

I can see locals washing their dishes on the shore line

Next minute, who should turn up in a little grey inflatable? our angels, Matt and Jo. It was so good to see them, we hadn’t noticed that one of the other 2 boats anchored in this bay was theirs, Jindarra. It was good to get their advice as they have been here before. They said this was a safe anchorage and the villages are really friendly and wont mind. We are able to repay their kindness with cold beer all round!

Wednesday: We went ashore with Matt and Jo for a walk around the village. There is a primary school on the island and all the kids were coming out for their break. They were so happy to see us.

Local kids loving chatting to the foreigners

This island is only .2 square kilometres in size, no vehicles at all, not even motorbikes. There are a couple of homestays with very basic accommodation right on the beach. This is magical, so unspoilt and natural. I imagine that some of the residents have never left the island, or if they have, then it would be only to the neighbouring islands.

This is also where we met the French family who knew of Antoine and Banana Split – check out our previous story here ↓

https://kiwisdofly.blog/2025/10/14/the-story-of-banana-split/

After lunch Matt takes us all around to the other side of the island in the inflatable to the Friwen Wall for a snorkel. There is a current running here too and the depth is off the scale. We jump into the water and just drift along in the current, taking turns at holding onto the dinghy as she bobbed along beside us.

This is the best dive I have ever done. I have never seen such a variety of colours and shapes of coral like this before. There was a shelf about 1-2 meters wide before a huge drop off, full of so many fish, every colour, shape and size you could imagine. All so curious and playful. They love seeing their reflections in our masks which makes for comical interactions. I would reach out and they dart away. I could have spent all day just watching and playing with them.

The current was gentle, and the water was warm. I didn’t even have fins on. Absolutely out of this world, I felt like I was in a tropical fish tank, it was that beautiful. Bobbing along watching this incredible example of nature at her bery best. Wow, wow and again just WOW!

Photos taken by Jo! The colours were amazing

We decided to go into the water again on the way back around to the boats. And again, stunning! A bit deeper here but just as beautiful as the Wall. I saw the tiny clown fish rubbing themselves amongst the sea anemones just like on Finding Nemo! This was the best day ever!

That evening we had a few drinks on the back of Banana Split and the local children put on a show. They were so funny. Dancing and singing and jumping into the water. They got really brave and swam out to the boat. They were having a ball, giggling and carrying on. It was pouring with rain and they were having the time of their lives. This was a real joy and an experience we will never forget.

Thursday 0700: we say goodbye to Matt and Jo as they head off and we head to Batanta, which is about half way back to Sorong.

We feel like we have struck gold. This bay has anchorages of 15-20 meters and water the colour of gin. It should be quite protected from most winds. Here we can get into the water and cool off right from the boat.

The currents are still quite strong, but we are able to get PugWash down and row ashore. Coconut palms, white sand, clear water, is this paradise? Yes I think so.

We spend 3 nights here at anchor. During each night the wind comes up and there is thunder and lightning one of the nights. So, sleep is still not coming easy. We are both up checking our position several times each night. But by morning and we see that the anchor is still holding well, we relax again and enjoy this remarkable place.

We are approached each day by small boats with young people selling coconuts. We can’t resist; fresh coconut water is just the best. I had said no thank you as politely as I could one time as we already had 2! The boy was so polite and started paddling away. Out of nowhere I pulled out my only Indonesian – Hey! I said, Satu Lagi (one more) the smile nearly broke his face in half, we now have 3. We found an electric drill onboard so were able to get into them.

Saturday 1500: We took PugWash to the beach for a swim and a cold beer. While we were there, the crew from the super yacht we’d spotted up at Kri, which had anchored in the bay the night before, came ashore. We got chatting. There were 4 of the usual 6 crew. Canadian, English, French and a Kiwi! (so proud!) Young people living their best life. The skipper was 26 and had been master of this boat for 3 years! The owner had left the boat a few days earlier. We were super impressed with them all, they are out there doing it and absolutely loving their jobs! Well done team!

The water here is stunning, so warm and clear. At the corner of the island the sand is pure white and the water shallow. It feels like being back in Vieques, bobbing around in the knee deep clear water, this is what it is all about!

Sunday 0700: Anchor up and make way to Sorong. We make good time, 4.5 knots most of the way. 5 hours later we make fast at Tampa Garam Boat Harbour. We are getting better at this Med style mooring. Time to relax and high fives all round – Again! We did it, such a fantastic trip!

We have used all our provisions, and it is so hot back at the marina compared to out at sea. We decided to spend the afternoon at the pool beside the marina.

It is Sunday and the complex is full of local families. We feel like celebrities! We are approached by 3 different groups to get photos/selfies with them. The girls are giggling away as they get brave to come and talk to us. Google translate becomes our best friend. We swap Instagram profiles and share the photos. We even get asked to touch the pregnant one’s belly – to give them good luck. How about that! It has been quite a day – Quite a week!

Thank you for reading our story

Ship’s Log – Part 1

Published on October 29, 2025October 29, 2025 by kiwisdofly21 Comment

Banana Split, Raja Ampat, October 2025

0700 We arrived to see the bright yellow boat nestled in between other yachts at the Tampa Garam Boat Harbour. We were knackered, having done an overnight flight from KL (Air Asia-tiny seats) via a 4-hour layover in Jakarta.

We get ourselves and all our luggage safety on board. This is all so new to us; we have never been on this boat before. We start exploring, turning on switches looking in cupboards, stripping off clothes as it is getting hotter and hotter. We close the fridge and try to get it going but it doesn’t seem to be working. We do a little diagnostics as good as we can given we don’t know where to look. But this is just a boat, right? We have been on boats before; how hard can this be. No luck, this fridge is refusing to cooperate.

By now it is a decent time in France, so we call and talk to the owner, how do you turn the fridge on? We had already found the fridge motor and all looked ok there, all switches we can see are on, Arnaud is none the wiser. In the end we call the Skipper who delivered Banana Split from Australia, and ask him how did he turn the fridge off? Maybe we could retrace his steps in reverse. So, it turns out that there is a separate switch for the fridge, in a faraway place, all on its own, cunningly disguised as the anchor winch switch. Well, you don’t know if you don’t know!

Life is now good; we have the whole boat operational. By now it is afternoon and we are starting to really feel the heat. Then an angel came down from heaven, in the form of the Aussie bloke from the boat next door, in a little grey inflatable – carrying 2 cold beers! What a guy! This was so appreciated, we cannot say. This was Matt, and his wife Jo. They have sailed up from Australia and are sailing around Indonesia and beyond, for as long as it takes; Awesome! After getting some supplies of our own, we took our borrowed dinghy to their boat and spent the evening enjoying their company, swapping our warm beer for cold. This is a fantastic start to our time here in Sorong.

We spend 2 weeks at the marina. Matt and Jo left the day after we arrived. We are busy every day, getting to know the boat, doing a little tidying and sorting and exploring a bit of Sorong.

We decide we should do a day trip, a little shake down, feel the boat. So, we let the lines go and head out for a few hours. All goes well and we like Banana Split, she is a good solid boat and very easy to manoeuvre.

Coming back in is a little challenging. We have never had anything to do with the Mediterranean Mooring system which is used here at Tampa Garam. We had a good plan and had left the stern lines ashore where we could back in and pick them up with the boat hook – easy peasy. And it was. We came in and tied up like pros! High fives all round for us! Great day!

So, with the trial run completed, it is decided that we should go further and see a bit of this amazing part of the world, Raja Ampat. Let’s go for a week. We spent a few more days provisioning the boat and planning our passage.

Sunday 0630: We head out on a course for Mansur and Kri. The weather is a bit overcast which is giving us shade and the sea is very calm with light variable winds. Other boaties around have been saying that there has been no wind to speak of, so they have not been getting their sails up. We don’t know our headsail from our genoa anyway and have no intention of trying to undo all the perfectly tied up sails and sheets and whatever-else-they-are-called. We would never be able to get it all back together again as we found it. Like re-folding a map – I guess you have to be a certain age to understand what that is like!! Anyway, we do not feel out of place motoring along with all sails neatly stowed in their rightful places.

We are making good speed, 4.5 – 4.8knots, 37 miles to travel. Should make it by about 1530. We almost speak too soon, 5 hours into the journey a squall comes out of nowhere. This was not forecasted. The wind is getting up to 20 knots almost right on the nose. We are now only making 2 – 2.5knots. We take a few good greenies over the bow and things start falling all over the place. We were still towing the dinghy as it was so calm but wished we had brought her up on deck. We just have to punch through it and hope it passes soon.

For three hours that squall held right over us. We took a bit of water in through the front hatches, it is a wet bed tonight. PugWash (newly named dinghy) held on like a brave little soldier and finally it calmed.

We made our way to the anchorage we had chosen from the Chart. It is a new chart plotter, so all the values had to be entered. It was Nautical Miles for distance, and I changed the depth from feet to meters. I thought there was something wrong with the settings because the depths were still showing feet – well that is what I thought. It is so interesting how our brains work when you have a belief or an assumption, you just won’t believe anything else. Maybe this area has not been converted into meters yet, I thought? This is so deep; it has to be feet. Areas showing 200m+ Is this for real?? Turns out Yes, definitely meters. The terrain is so steep. It would go from 80+m to 2m in a boat length, just incredible. So, our anchorage is no good – it is 50m deep here – not 50ft. We only have 60m of chain onboard.

OK, plan B.

1730: It will be getting dark soon. We have to make our way around the top of Kri to where there are 2 mooring buoys. It looks a bit shallower over there, so could anchor if the buoys are being used. But there is a reef between us, and it is getting dark. We navigate very slowly between the island and the shallows, watching the chart plotter, and the depth finder as the sun goes down. It was almost high tide which was totally to our advantage. Chris was on the helm, and I was calling the depths as they changed. Chris could see lumps of reef breaking the surface, shining in the dusky light close by. We got to 2 meters for a bit before it deepened again.

There was a super yacht tied up on what we assumed was the mooring from the resort ashore. Just ahead of her was about 20m depth, lets try to anchor there.

1900: It is fully dark. We get the anchor down. Next minute, a Long-boat full of people coming back from a dive, approach us all in a panic, – “go to the buoy, go to the buoy” oh man! It is pitch black, how the heck will we find a buoy now? But we have to try.

We look back now and think it was an absolute miracle that we found that buoy, but it was there, and we pulled it up first try, then settled for 2 nights.

Sleep didn’t come easily that night, the mooring line made noises we were not used to.

What the mooring buoy looks like in the morning

The next day we tidied up, dried everything out and rested after the ordeals of the journey.

Thank you for reading part 1 of our story, part 2 is coming soon, with loads more photos and heaps more fun!

The Story Of Banana Split

Published on October 14, 2025 by kiwisdofly24 Comments

October 2025, Indonesia

So here we are onboard SV Banana Split. We have been asked a few times now; What are you doing now? A boat? Why? How? Where? Well yes, a boat. A 12.5 m sailing catamaran, so how did this come about? Well, it all started in a castle in France in 2019.

Chateau de La Barbaliniere, Thure, France

There is a bit of history to Banana Split which is fascinating. She was built in 1989 by a French explorer/photographer/singer/sailor, Antoine. Following a career in Engineering, he embarked on a singing career. Apparently, Antoine was a bit of a Pop star back in the day. He sang all through Europe and America and recorded numerous albums. This was a great life. But for Antoine, something was still missing.

In 1974, quite by accident, Antoine discovered sailing. He promptly embarked on his first solo round-the-world voyage. This began a lifelong journey that continued for more than 45 years. For fifteen years, he first sailed on the oversized schooner, OM and then the too small sloop, Voyage. In 1989 he returned to France and built Banana Split, the perfect travel companion. Banana Split became his home, mode of transport, and his workplace. In his own words “I began to practice the most wonderful job in the world: Traveling, discovering, meeting, feeling, loving…. And then telling stories.”

Antoine has published numerous books. Stories, autobiographies and photographic diaries. These have been translated into many languages and released all over the world giving inspiration to sailors and travellers alike. Following great success with books, Antoine progressed into film, a series of documentary films on travel and practical how-to-be-a-sailor. He continued to write music during this time and could be seen on TV preforming at times.

There are so many of his books, CD’s and DVDs here onboard. Sadly, for us, these are the one’s in French so makes reading a little difficult. Glossy hard cover coffee table books, novels of life sailing solo around the world, blue ray DVD series still in their wrappers. A life’s work and history of 1 man travelling the world. On this boat! Banana Split, the boat we now have the privilege to continue that work.

Google translating what I can from the covers of the books and researching this inspirational storyteller, has have given me so much respect for both him and his boat. Banana Split; she has done the hard yards. She has seen the sights and can tell the stories. Now she is looking after us, making new friends and creating new memories.

I have discovered all Antoine’s charts onboard. Nautical navigation is a bit of a passion and seeing these charts, with the courses and calculations, drawings and notes all over them is a real pleasure. There is a sextant onboard also, there were no chart plotters back when he began his journey.

So how did we end up here? This is a good question, and as I said, it all started in a castle in France.

In the fall of 2019, we are house sitting in the Loire Valley, France, for a wonderful couple Marie-Laure and Arnaud. We spent three months enjoying life in rural France. Working on the land, helping with the various ongoing projects which are necessary to keep an estate of that size functioning well and looking good – and, of course there was a puppy – Havane, Getting to know the amazing culture and people. It was a magical time.

Check out our stories from that time

https://kiwisdofly.blog/2019/11/15/our-fairy-tale-in-france/

On several occasions during our time at the Chateau, Marie-Laure and Arnaud’s good friend Antoine and his sailing cat, Banana Split, where mentioned and discussed. The boat had been in New Zealand for some time, so we had a lot to talk about. Marie-Laure and Arnaud and their 2 children had spent many trips on Banana Split both with and without Antoine over the years.

A few years later, Banana Split got stuck in Australia, on the NSW coast. The call was made. Can we sail the boat back to New Zealand? Well, yes, we are boat people and would be willing to crew, but we do not know how to sail. The answer to this protest was – “you are Kiwi’s, of course you know how to sail!” Also, across the Tasman sea? That is a big piece of water! But with one thing and another, weather and COVID being some, Banana Split got stranded in Australia.

Then finally time came, Antoine decided it was time to lay down his sails and sell the boat. Who better to intrust her with than Marie-Laure and Arnaud. But she is still in Australia. Discussions were had and plans were made over the next few years to relocate her to Malaysia, or Fiji or Indonesia, where the change of ownership would take pace. Marie-Laure and Arnaud would buy Banana Split in syndicate with another friend, Lee, from Alaska.

During this process, we were asked if we would like to be part of the project. We are so honoured to have been asked and here we are.

Banana Split was sailed up from Harvey Bay in Queensland, Australia to Sorong, West Papua, Indonesia. The hired skipper and crew got her there safely mid 2025. We arrived in Sorong in September for a month.

We are enjoying this bright yellow boat with a personality the size of her creator. We will help ready her for her new owners arriving in November. Chris has brought dive gear and is sourcing a compressor to be installed onboard. She is off to have the next few years discovering and enjoying Raja Ampat with her new family. Diving, sailing and meeting new friends. How lucky are we to be part of the team.

It hasnt been all work and no play! We spent 1 week sailing around some of the closer islands to Sorong. While anchored at Pulau Friwen we went ashore with an Australian couple who were anchored up at the same place. (More about that in our next story) On our walk around the island, we came across a French family who were holidaying in the little homestay on the island. The Dad of the family would have been about our age so I took a punt and asked him if he knew of Antoine.

As my research is proving, he is a very famous man in Europe. Oui! yes I do know of this man, he says. In fact he had several of his books as he is a sailor himself. He was so excited that we were on Banana Split and that she was anchored just around the corner. He would take photos to show his friends back home. He relayed to us that he thought Antoine was an incredible man, a very down to earth, real man with a fantastic sense of humour. He said he had seen Antoine recently on TV doing a travel show or something similar, which is so great to hear. Is this not just the smallest of worlds?

We are so very excited to be on this “world famous” boat

Thank you for reading our story

The Story Of Business Class Travel And Indonesian Customs

Published on September 30, 2025 by kiwisdofly2Leave a comment

Our next adventure begins. It was quite the trip from NZ which started with a very special treat – we flew business class. We were told that once you had flown business class you will never be able to go back to cattle class. It was such a great experience. I know exactly what was meant by that statement.

Arriving at Auckland Airport we went straight to priority check in and bag drop, immediately following that was an “Invitation” to go to the lounge. Ok, yes please! We have 3 hours until take off and we feel like kiddies in a lolly shop. Where do we start?

There is cooked breakfast on offer, a barista making coffee, all pastries and cakes you could dream of, and a full bar. 1 plate, 2 plate, 3 plate, oh hang on, here comes lunch! The mandatory glass or 2 of bubbles, even though it is only 10am. Oh this is lovely. We took a seat right by the window looking down at the departure lounge. Passengers waiting for flights, sitting on plastic seats, trying to get comfortable drinking cuppuccino’s out of takeaway cups – this is usually us by-the-way.

That was just the lounge! Now we get onto the plane. First to be called, down a seperate skybridge that I never even knew existed! Into our own little area on the plane. We have our own cubicle with a sliding hatch between us. Duvet, sheet and real pillow. A footrest with room to stretch right out into a bed. This is going to be good.

The Crew are amazing. Right there every step of the way making sure there is nothing we need; nothing is too much trouble. The meals come with linen tablecloth, proper cutlery and glass glasses – which, it seems, were never empty! My crew looked so disappointed when I said no to Champaign, a Sauvignon blanc would be just fine thank you – to be fair, he did not know I had already had 3 glasses of Champaign in the lounge! After the first meal, a little Baileys perhaps? how about a 12 year old malt whisky sir? Oh it would be very rude not to!

It was so very comfortable in our little cocoons. It was wonderful to get our feet right up. It was an 11 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur. We did not get the swelling in our legs that we usually do. It was the best thing for my ankle, as I am still having issues with swelling and stiffness. I think it would have been a lot harder with out the feet elevation.

It was very cool to lie right down and snuggle into the duvet, turn off the light and try to go to sleep. BUT, I was just too excited to sleep, just as well this was a day time flight. So nice to have the choice though. Imagine having this luxury every long haul!

So I sit up again, reclining in my wonderfully comfortable seat. I felt like a Queen. Another glass of wine perhaps, or something else to eat Miss Donna? Oh my Gosh, I could so get used to this.

3 nights back in one of our favourite cities, Kuala Lumper. We stayed at a usual spot in China town and reacquainted ourselves with the wonderful smells and food.

Kuala Lumpur

A few pieces of navigation equipment to pick up for Banana Split took us out to Port Klang. 45 minutes drive from the city. It took an hour to do the “deal”, sign the papers, pay the man, collect receipts, then the driver took us back. Now to readjust the packing to get it all in. We only had to buy 5kg extra baggage for each flight. It was an interesting exercise as you buy by the kilo, not by bag. Perfect for us carrying what we had. We ended up with 3 bags – well one was just a big box. As you tag your bags, the weigh scale counts down your allowance. That was concern No.1, will we get away with the allowance? – yes! Easy peasy.

Concern No.2, getting said equipment into Indonesia. We landed at Jakarta airport. We had the right documentation, but alas, we were called into the office with the very official man asking quite a few questions. The guy on the x-ray machine said “is there something you want to tell me?” and pointed to the x-ray of the box. We were carrying a radar dome, he had no idea what it could be. Through the screen it really looked like something from outer space. I was visualising us being on the Indonesia version of Border Patrol – “do you know the contents of your bag?”…… All was good though. We had a laugh with the man in the office, right before he socked us between the eyes with the bill – he charged us 10% duty, 11% VAT and 10% Income Tax – yes Income Tax as we are not Indonesian citizens, then sent us on our way.

That piece of equipment was the sacrificial lamb, with a bit of clever accounting we got away with a fairly low bill. It could have been 3 times that amount. They were also so interested in the Navigation equipment, they forgot to ask about the brand new dive gear we were also carrying. Job Done!

Next flight, Jakarta to Sorong, 4 hour flight leaving at 1210 am, where is our business class now??

This part was easy, our faithful driver Neddy was waiting for us at Sorong and took us to Tampa Garam Marina where we found Banana Split. This is a small marina with no berths as such. It is a small rectangle of water with 8 vessels tied up in the Mediterranean style mooring system.

It was 0630, and though the manager knew we were arriving today, there was no one around. A quick discussion on how to get out to the boat as our dinghy is on the boat; not helpful. A call to the manager, who offered us to use the one tied up down at the other end of the marina, it has no oars; but there is 1 paddle.

There she is – Banana Split; our home for 3 1/2 weeks

We manage to get us and all our equipment safely onboard. Wow this is cool, we are back on a boat!! Now the real fun begins!