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.
Calm but soaked in 5 minutes flat
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 withcold 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 ↓
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.
See ya next time Jindarra
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.
Peaceful evenings, just magic!
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 crew from the Super yacht
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!
Early start heading home
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!
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!
Can read VHFMostly in FrenchThe elusive switch for the fridge
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.
A bit of writingA bit of bailingNight lights of Tampa Garam MarinaStilt houses in 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.
We are sailing!!
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!
Stern lines cris-crossing each other
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.
Making good progress
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 morningPulau KriPulau Kri
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!
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.
A bit more than our usual
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.
Should I swim?Nah,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!
It is hard to believe we have spent another year house sitting. From New South Wales in Australia, to Puerto Rico, then Thailand to India. That was 2022 – done TICK
A few months back down under to regroup and reset with friends and family and we are off again.
We have decided to do things a bit differently this year. Each year we have been house sitting we have started at the beginning, gone from house sit to house sit and made our way from one country to the next, optimising our time and following a course which eventually leads us back to New Zealand, about a year later. This year we will return to Australia between big trips. So this trip will only be 3 months long.
So start in Malaysia, only a nine hour flight from Queensland Australia where we have been recently based.
KLIA Express, direct from the airport to Sentral Station
First stop Kuala Lumpur, one of our favourite cities. We are very excited to be back in Malaysia. The food is outstanding and the people are always so warm and welcoming. We stayed in a small basic hotel right outside the main entrance of the NU Sentral Mall, which is part of Sentral Station. The public transport is so efficient and really easy to understand. It is a very simple commute from KLIA international airport straight to Sentral Station, and right to our accommodation. The warmth and smells that great us are overwhelming, sparking fond memories – WE ARE BACK!
Old and new
We had 3 nights here, re acquainting ourselves with the cuisine. Eating our way around all our old favourite places. We were very close to the Indian quarter and found restaurants with all the Indian delicacies we were enjoying while in Chennai.
Roti CanaiIdly and Sambardelicious
Kuala Lumpur is a super modern city, but still holds the charm of the old world. China Town and Little India are like walking back in time, yet you go to the Petronas Twin Towers or the Berjaya Times Square and you are immediately transported to the, almost , futuristic state-of-the-art centres with everything on steroids! We love both, maybe erring on the side of the oldie-worldie but loving the super modern, bright and shinny too.
We spend a lot of time walking around and pointing out places we have been before, restaurants we have been in, 7Elevens we have frequented and found the cheapest beer. But also discovering new things, new sights, especially as we have not been here since COVID and we do notice a change. China Town seemed very quiet now – still busy by our terms, but not that frantic business that was the total manic vibe of the place. There were not as many street hawkers or market stalls. Our old ladies pushing carts full of ice and cold drinks were nowhere to be found. It must have been pretty tough here during the pandemic, very sad.
China Town
Petronas Twin Towers
Brickfields Little India
In amongst the chaos of this busy incredible city is the Botanical Gardens. A beautiful piece of green-belt right there, hidden away from the madness. We spent a few hours here and thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace. It is a little run-down in places, but still a great respite from the heat (in all ways) of the city.
It’s a lot hotter here than what we have been used to for the last few months, we are very thankful for our air conditioning in our room. It’s a welcome relief to get onto the trains for the cool of their air conditioning. It is so cheap to ride the trains and as I said, so easy! Just have to find the right train line you want to go on, use the touch screen to say where you want to go and boom, out comes a little blue token and off you go! All over the city, anywhere you want to go for about equivalent to $1.
A few nights back here is like coming home, it had to be done, but we have puppies to look after!
Our next stop is Langkawi, an Island off the west coast right up by the Thailand border. We have been there once before for a week vacation, this time we will be there for 2 months. We love the city, but we have had our fill, lets slow our pace down a bit and get ourselves back to some Island Time!
One of the most fun things about travelling is trying new cuisine.
We have a Kiwi friend Kim, who has lived here on Vieques for nearly two decades. He comes for coffee fairly regularly and I could just about guarantee that every time, we end up talking about food. Some of the conversation is about what we miss from home and remembering the things we had as kids – Back in the Day. But more often than not its about the cuisine we have sampled with our travels around the world. If you were to sit outside our window during these conversations you would hear a lot of groaning and sighing as we all reminisce about the flavours we have tried and loved over the years. Thai food is up there, with their distinct pungent flavours, right alongside the amazing bread and cheese of France! But lately Souvlaki and Feta cheese has been on our minds and a plan was hatched.
So here we are, in the middle of the Caribbean and we managed to pull off the best Greek dinner! What made it even more spectacular was that we found enough of the right ingredients to make it work.
Sarah found feta cheese for a Greek inspired couscous/chick pea salad, with the fresh flavours of cucumber and lemon. Kim found real Greek yoghurt to make enough Tzatziki to last the rest of the month. Betsy even found filo pastry and made the most amazing filo cones with Greek style custard and cream filling and orange zest – yes oranges!
These took us right back to Leros
There are no Greek style pita bread here on the island so we made our own, with great success I might add! Add some home made hummus and babaganoush made with zucchini’s (only had to visit 2 stores to get those) and sliced aubergine – BOOM!
Pork marinated in oregano, lemon and olive oil was our souvlaki, char-grilled perfectly and served on a bed of red onions.
We dressed in white or blue for the occasion-a huge success, our Greek friends would be proud!.
Kim and Betsy
If you have read any of my other stories you will have already heard me say that it is the people we meet while travelling that make this adventure so special. The meeting of cultures, beliefs, traditions and outlooks. We had this around the table last night, American, Irish, Cuban, Puerto Rican and of course us Kiwis (which actually outnumbered the rest) fascinating conversations, hilarious stories. Life time friends have been made here and our lives are so much richer for it. It will be hard to leave in a few weeks, but sadly, that is part of the deal.
We will miss our dear friends
So much fun! Who would ever think we could pull off a full on Greek meal on this tiny island of Vieques in the middle of the Caribbean!
Note: Not plates were harmed / broken in the making of this story!
We are here on this tiny island as if in a time warp. The time goes by so fast. One minute it’s the weekend and then the next it is Friday night again, how does that happen? We have 6 weeks left of this house sit, we have been here for over 5 months already!
I sit here on my deck chair under a coconut trees shade, at Caracas beach. This is one of our favourite places on the island. Not because it is the most beautiful, there are some spectacular beaches, I think it is because we have the best memories here. Last time we only had bike power for getting around and this was the best beach we could reach by bike – still a 9 km cycle over the spine of the island. We were so much fitter then! And it is just as memorable now. The water is as clear as crystal, gently lapping on the perfectly white sand. The sky is deep blue and the clouds are so white.
Playa Caracas
Today is very quiet. It is Sunday, it is usually “Sunday Fun-day”, where crowds of friends and family gather for a day at the beach. Bringing with them BBQ’s, hammocks, cooler boxes groaning with food and alcohol, chairs, tables and gazebos and music. That’s what we are missing today – Music! The thump thump thump of the Puerto Rican rhythm. It is very distinctive and very conspicuous in its absence.
This is the off season. Not many tourists come to the island at this time of the year and a lot of the businesses close down for a month – 6 weeks. Holiday rentals shut down, restaurants and bars, some tour operators, it is very quite. The supermarket and the roads reflect this. The fruit truck doesn’t have as much to offer at the moment. We didn’t notice this the last time here as we had just had Hurricane Irma, it was a very different place then.
It is so hot! I have just been reading through my story of the last time here. It got to “feels like” 46°C then! It hasn’t got to that this time – well not that I have captured! So hot though. You can’t have a cold shower because the water out of the cold tap is always warm. I am sweating buckets every day! It drips off my chin and runs in my eyes, and that is just going outside to the washing line! The temperatures are so consistent, 27deg – 31deg every day! When we have a bit of rain we celebrate! But then if it rains for more than a day, everything starts to feel damp, your clothes, bed sheets, cushions even the floor. And my hair!! Humidity frizz! I would like to make it a new fashion statement, but no one in their right mind would want this! So, the best thing for it is to get into the ocean. The water temperature is 29.3°C – I just looked it up. Slightly cooler than the air temperature. Though I would like to challenge this. We have a hot tub – yes, it’s true!! here at the house and it is constantly sitting at 32°C and that is with no heating, just the ambient temperature and I am sure the ocean is warmer than that tub.
Disease-causing organisms??
We are smack bang in the middle of hurricane season, in fact the peak of hurricane season was on Saturday. It has been really quiet this year, so much so that, for the first time in 25 years, there have been no named storms during August. But we are still feeling a bit nervous to be honest! There are lots of different web pages and Facebook groups that we keep an eye on as we know that there is always a bit of notice if there is something coming our way that we need be aware of. We have been collecting water and have bought extra canned and dried foods just in case we do lose power. It was 5 years ago this week that Irma came through, caused 10 days of power outage then 4 days later Maria made an appearance and…… well…… that was power, and water gone for quite some time. We have bought a GPS tracker which can also send messages through the satellite system if standard communication is lost. We have done a couple of tests and it works well. Having all communication gone was one of the hardest things to cope with. We were alive a relatively well, but family on the other side of the world did not know this. Tough times, don’t really want to go through that again!
For our Hurricane story and photos, check out the link below
There has been a lot of Sahara dust most of the time we have been here. They say that this dust, which blows all the way from the deserts of Africa, helps to ward off hurricanes. It chokes out the systems, and they don’t have enough moisture to keep going, then a hurricane can’t form. Though the dust is a pain in the butt-ocks, makes it hazy and the windows get filthy, we like the idea of it being our “hurricane angel”
Being on a rock of 135m2, sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, makes for interesting weather conditions. I studied weather for my skippers licence a million years ago, we had to recognise and understand clouds, and what they represented for predicting weather……… Well, I didn’t do too well in that section! I can hardly tell one cloud from the other. But I do remember there being the “castle clouds” the Altocumulus Castellanus clouds. I have always wanted to see them; they don’t seem to form in NZ. Here on Vieques there are clouds every day and we often see the Castle Clouds. We don’t usually get just a plain blue sky, like at home, and these clouds here are the whitest I have ever seen. The sky here is amazing, moody and bright, the sunsets and sunrises, the rainbows and clouds are so vibrant and brilliant.
Altocumulus Castellanus clouds take their name from their resemblance to turrets of castles and are often a warning of thunderstorms
Things can be difficult here, but we are all in the same boat. Everyone can’t get that special ingredient to make that dish they want, and that’s after trips to 3 different stores in the hope 1 will have it, and then you pay the earth for it. I needed cream the other day and had a route mapped out of the stores I would try, if I couldn’t get it after store number 6, we would go without. I got it at store number 3!! So glad too because it was for Betsy’s amazing bread pudding!!
Perfect with caramelised banana and whipped cream
Everyone has to wait for months for contractors or parts for broken cars, so many cars are in poor condition because of it. The power goes out and the water slows down for no apparent reason at times, this affects everyone, one Barrio at a time it seems. The fire ants and mosquitos are pretty unbearable, but everyone has them. Oh, the heat and the sweat – we all sweat buckets, it is never offensive and everyone has a sweat rash somewhere! It doesn’t seem to matter here, everyone just gets on with it, you just adjust that recipe or menu to suit what you find at the store, you hold your car together with duct tape. It is just part of the charm of Vieques!
It’s quirkiness is its magic, and we all love it!
It’s a great life here and we feel so privileged to have had not one, but two chances to experience life as a local on Vieques, Puerto Rico. 6 weeks to go and we will be very sad to leave.
What a cool holiday! 5 days of pure doing nothing but eat and drink and swim, read and sleep! If you have read our last story, you will know that we had a pretty tough time getting out of the DR, but that has not spoilt our memories of a wonderful holiday.
Boca Chica is a 10 minute ride from Santo Domingo Airport. Don’t get fooled by Booking.com telling you it is a 40 minute ride and charge you accordingly. We only paid $12USD on the way back with Uber, compared to the $40USD on the way in.
The Hotel Zapata was basic but totally adequate, and it had air conditioning! We had a restaurant and bar on site and breakfast was included, which we always love! It was a mere 30 meters from the water with nothing in between but sand and a security fence and gate. Our thatched roof bar was on the sand right beside the lounge chairs we occupied each and every day. What more could we want!
We had the best part of the beach as there were no restaurants out the front of the property. This was an area where locals would come in their family groups and set up camp for the day bringing home made food in huge pots, blankets, hammocks and music. The atmosphere was great, there was no hassles on this beach as we were expecting. There were street vendors all day every day but when you said “no thank you” they respected this and moved on.
There is an outer reef about 300 meters off shore, so the water inside was calm and shallow. Only about waist deep at the most almost right out to the reef. The water was crystal clear, Caribbean blue, and so warm. Beautiful white sand and so many coconut palms. This reminded me so much of out at One Foot Island in Aitutaki, Cook Islands. So beautiful. I really feel we found a absolute gem!
Many restaurants lined the beach and the shore to the east of us and to the west, a city of beach umbrellas over tables filled that part of this super wide beach. We walked up and down this many times, stopping at the little stores in the streets behind the beach, to get cold beers and sit on the sand.
There was a big police presence both in the streets behind and on the beach front. There were the normal police and the tourist police, who ever knew there was such a thing! It felt safe.
Dominican Republic is well known for its “All Inclusive” hotel deals where it is a one-stop-shop. Where there are restaurants, bars, beaches, pools, everything you could want, all very safe and included in the deal, they are very cost effective. We went to one for the day, just a walk away at the end of the village. It was great fun, I lost count of the cocktails we tried after I ran out of fingers! We ate plenty and wobbled our way back to the Hotel Zapata and crashed at 7:30pm. It was a good fun day but we were so happy with our little hotel and the location was just perfect! Even if you are travelling with children, I would recommend this part of the country.
The one thing we were not so impressed with was the food. If you read any of our other stories you will know that we love exploring food. I have said it before, the humble supermarket and even more so the local markets are our favorite tourist attraction in any country we visit. The food here was very average. Not horrible, but very definitely, not special. Not to worry, there was more than enough other beauty to make up for it – and the beer was Dam good!!
Thank you for reading our story, I hope you enjoyed the photos!
We are travelling with 10-year multiple entry Visas to the USA. This allows us to be in The States for up to 6 months at a time. Our house sit here in Vieques will be slightly longer than 6 months, so we have to figure out a Visa run, ie leave The States and come back in again to re-start a 6 month phase. There are plenty of islands around us here in the Caribbean, some really close. So, we have to think of what will be the quickest and easiest and of course the most economical place to go. Tortola? That’s BVI, could work. What about St Thomas? No that’s Part of The States, so that’s no good. What about Cuba? We tried to go to Cuba following this house sit in 2017 but didn’t make it due to the hurricane. Cuba is now fully out of our price range for a Visa run! Bahamas? Barbados? Colombia? All too far and too expensive. Dominican Republic? Yes! That will do us, its so close and well-priced.
You can’t exit The States to Canada or Mexico for a Visa run. I’m not sure why, maybe as it is a land border? Not entirely sure so we are looking at our 36-minute flight to the DR and hoping that it is going to be far enough and we are away long enough to satisfy the Visa requirements. Time will tell…… we are committed, tickets in our hot little hands!
It is an easy run through, everything in order. Stunning flight right over Puerto Rico. The e-ticket required by the DR Government worked surprisingly well, a QR code saved to my phone, not one hick-up, easy place to get into.
E-Ticket required by DR Govt. for landing
We have 5 awesome nights.
But it is time to go. We can’t stay on holiday indefinitely…….. or can we? That’s a story for another time! We have been so impressed with Boca Chica, the beach and the people, just wonderful. We get an Uber, it costs about $12USD, much better than the $40USD on the way in, through booking.com
So, this is the part where we start to wonder if maybe we won’t be granted another 6 months. Remembering this is a “Visa run” trip so there is a definite possibility that we will come across some problems with said Visa. The US Govt. have said that it would be up to the agent on the day on how the “staying in/staying out” part is interpreted, there is no set amount of time, unlike Europe for example which is 3 months in – 3 months out. But that’s all that could go wrong, right? ……. Wrong!!
Here we go.
We are at the airport with loads of time. Its 1215, flight leaves at 1403.
The CDC rescinded the need for COVID testing, pre-flight and on arrival, in June, so we didn’t think to take our vaccination cards. The first thing we were asked to produce – while standing in line, pre-check in – yip! Our COVID vaccination certs! Oh crap! Chris finds a photo of his, I couldn’t find mine! I had a photo of it somewhere in the 1000’s of photos on my phone. Everyone is waiting, scrolling scrolling, getting hot, scrolling, getting hotter, had I deleted it? When had I taken the photo? oh man! Finally, I find it and then we both sign a piece of paper which she files, very carefully(not), in the drawer. Name, signature, todays date – that’s it! not sure what this is going to prove, oh well. Then, when we get up to check in, the check in lady also wants to look at our vaccination certs. But somehow while I was signing the paper, I had deleted the image by mistake. How the *#@ did I do that!! So she called the other lady over and they accept that the cert. has been sighted. We didn’t see that one coming, of all the problems we thought we would have!
It takes an hour and a half to get through security and into the airport air-side. This is where we stay now for the next 24 hours……. Yip!!
We are leaving from terminal A, check the board for the gate closer to departure time. OK. Our flight is direct Santo Domingo to San Juan, departure time 1603. We have time for lunch then wait in terminal A. We are supposed to be boarding at 1518, its 1500, still no flight F996 on the board. We found one larger board at the far end of terminal A and it said change of gate, B1, but the departure time was showing as 1638?? but now delayed to 1644. That’s weird, oh well, it’s delayed, no biggie, now leaving from B1, sure, let’s go.
We get to B1 and it is total chaos, no room to move. It’s now 1525, there is a line to the gate door at least 4 thick and no one is moving. We get past the crowd to the other side, close to B2 and sit down out of the way. Chris keeps getting up to check the board, no change, no instructions to be at the gate, no indication that it is boarding. No announcements that the flight has started boarding. So we sit and wait.
1630 we decide to go wait with the millions of other people; it has to be boarding soon. I txt Lidia, our friend who has driven from Ceiba to meet us at the airport, and say I think our flight is delayed again, we still haven’t started boarding! She is already nearly at San Juan to pick us up! Almost immediately after that the sign on the screen flicks over to Fort Lauderdale. What? Oh, they must be loading that plane first. The huge line starts moving, yip, these are passengers to Fort Lauderdale. 10 minutes later we think, should we ask what’s going on? We make it through the throng of people to the podium and ask. Wait for it………..
Your flight has gone!
What??? Gone where?? When???? How?? But we were right here!!!! All frontier staff have disappeared, these are Spirit staff, they even point to their logo and are very clearly NOT INTERESTED! So we try to find a security guard or someone, we so need to talk to a Frontier rep. Up and down the airport we run looking for someone who will talk to us! No One! So many staff here with various colour uniforms, lanyards, walkie talkie radios, but no HELP! No one wants to know!
Oh My God, what do we do? We have missed our flight!!! How did that happen?? We are both feeling quite stunned, nobody wants to know, we are stuck here, can’t get in, can’t get out!!
There is a JetBlue flight going to San Juan, maybe we could talk to them and try and get on that flight.
That flight has a 2-hour delay, leaving at 2030, but totally full. The girl at that gate was so lovely, she went to find a security guard to escort us out through immigration. We were to wait there, and security would come and get us in 20 minutes. 90 minutes later, this lovely girl sees us again and is surprised no one came for us. She goes off again and when she returns she said she can take us through, yes! we are getting out of here. We follow her down the back corridor, down the stairs, only to be stopped and told “you can’t come through here” even our JetBlue lady was surprised, she had been told we could. Oh well, back up the stairs and into the terminal.
The JetBlue flight has been changed to gate B1 now, so we should go down there and wait, maybe get on stand-by, or at least find someone who can help. Mean while we have been trying, with the dodgy wifi, to find new flights. I am in communication with my friend Sarah on Vieques, she is looking for flights for us, as this wifi keeps crashing!
Back at B1, less people around now, JetBlue leaving in half an hour, still hoping for a miracle that we can get onto this flight – No, not going to happen. OK, fine.
The last flight out of this airport tonight is 2110. We are starting to realise that we are here for the night, thoughts of that movie with Tom Hanks where he is stuck at an airport – that’s a familiar feeling for us right now.
As the airport empties, the wifi gets better and we find a spot to figure out what the heck we are going to do. I started a chat with Frontier on messenger. They were very good and because the flight hadn’t been registered as a “no show” yet, we could change to another date, now this sounds hopeful! BUT…. The next flight with 2 seats is next Monday, do we want it? Oh Man! We can’t stay another 8 nights here. We take the cancel option, we end up with a $58 credit after all the fees. 2200 and our lovely JetBlue lady appears, she is heading home and offers, once again, to take us through. We decline the offer as we are just starting to get somewhere online (I am in the middle of the chat with Frontier) We find out later that we would not have been able to go through anyway, so nice of her to try though, she has been the only one.
Right, what to do, flight now gone, stuck air-side of the international airport in The Dominican Republic – not how we expected our day to go.
We find a flight for tomorrow with interCaribbean, leaving 1345 to San Juan via Tortola. $300 USD each, done! Booked! Right we really need to get out of here, we can’t check in to that flight while being on this side of the airport. Oh and I haven’t mentioned our checked bag? Where is? Did it go to San Juan without us? Will we ever see it again? No flight should ever go with an unplanned, unaccompanied bag, right? Must still be here somewhere. They would have had to off-load it. We hope to find it in the morning.
Back down to B1, no one even wants to make eye contact, it is so bizarre, the airport is basically empty except for the cleaners and these other people with lanyards, who knows what their roles are! We talk to one big fella, and he says he will go find a security guard to escort us out, just sit here and wait – this sounds familiar! So we wait and wait, nobody’s coming are they. We never see him again.
About and hour later we talk to a lady, who takes photos of our boarding passes and passports and tells us to wait there, this sounds promising! ……. We never see her again either.
Finally at 0130 a nice man comes to our rescue. We explain, his English is pretty good, and he takes us down the back corridor, down the stairs and into an immigration supervisors office. Oh my! She was not happy that we had missed our flight…..Why did you miss your flight?? HMMMM? Tell me! We don’t know, we didn’t WANT to miss the flight! Please Miss, let us go! She scanned the passports and scribbled out the dates on the original stamps and let us go. We are free, now officially back in The Dominican Republic. The nice man shows us where the Frontier office is to try to find our bags, they will be open about 0800. We find a quiet spot and try to get some sleep. Like that’s going to happen!
This is turning out to be a long story, I hope you are not bored, but the best is still yet to come!………
We are feeling really bad, really stupid. How could we have let this happen? We are experienced travelers….. what went wrong? How did we drop the ball so badly!
Good News flash! We find our bag! Sitting in the Frontier office, right, we are back on track.
Check in opens for our interCaribbean flight at 1130. We line up at 1100, 3rd in the queue. When we had good wifi last night I found a copy of the deleted photo of my vaccination certificate in Google photos. So we are ready.
The staff start appearing and the pre-check in girl comes to us and asks to see our passport. Can I see your onward ticked from Puerto Rico? What? Why? We don’t have one, we have a B2 Visa. You cannot fly today without an onward ticket Sir! Yes we can! They let us through yesterday without one, and the prior 3 times entering The States on this Visa! No you can’t, step aside! Can you imagine how we are feeling at this point – total disbelief! WHAT THE ACTUAL!! We go to the interCaribbean rep we had talked to earlier and he really wanted to help and listened. He was willing to confer with a Frontier rep to see why we had been let through yesterday, he didn’t get it either, but they didn’t open until 1300.
I ran back to the office behind the check in counters where we found our bag, and asked that lady to come out and tell these interCaribbean people that they had it wrong. She wouldn’t, of course – I get that. We are feeling so wrung out by now with stress and no sleep, we are probably not making rational sense. Anyway, she tells me that different airlines have different rules. You have got to be kidding!! Really?? Visa requirements and immigration are up to individual airlines?? Not the Government? This is unbelievable!!!
I run back to Chris, he is starting to look, with the dodgy wifi, at flight options to satisfy this supervisor so she will let us fly today. We put our heads together and find a flight on Frontier for end August, San Juan to Santo Domingo, $66 each, one way, no bags – booked! I could hardly get our names into the fields on my phone, I thought I had gotten hot and bothered yesterday……. Time is now running out, it is now 12 o’clock and we know from yesterday how long it takes to get through the next bit. The supervisor glances at the booking on the phone and nods, that’s it! Nothing recorded anywhere, just the “NOD” and we get our boarding passes and told to run! You are kidding me, all this time here and we are now running!! And what about our COVID certificates, they don’t matter today??
Screen shot
But wait, a bit more good news! The next bit only took 10 minutes today – perfect, straight to the gate – you guessed it B1!
Beef I is Tortola………for this flight anyway
It is the same as yesterday, total chaos and mayhem. The board shows 1 flight to Tortola, 1405 departure, flight number 0411…. We are 1345 departure, flight number 0413….. Really, not again!! So we ask and are told that there are 2 flights to Tortola, but only 1 on the board. Crazy place! No wonder people get confused. Anyway, this is getting too long, so long story/short…. This flight is delayed, so is flight 0411, people are arguing, getting stressed, shouting. The ground staff are getting stressed. They seem to be only using this one gate in terminal B, where they are trying to load planes at the same time as disembarked transit passengers are trying to come though. I lost count of the number of flights that got loaded from here, but we kept asking – we CANNOT miss another flight.
B1
We were being so hard on ourselves about yesterday, but seeing it all again today and really taking note, it is no wonder we missed the flight. Total disorganisation, no communication, the information that was available was incorrect. Nightmare!
Finally at 1600, we board the plane to Tortola……
Ok. So we are all (12 of us) sitting in the 30 seater, twin prop plane, no AC until airborne, so hot, plane looks to have come off the arc. Doors shut, port engine starts, then stops. Captain comes out of the cockpit and tells all the passengers something in Spanish then opens the front door and the two side doors. What’s going on? Is the plane is broken? I’m just waiting to see the Roadside assist truck appear! Will we ever get off this island??!!
Doors open waiting, don’t know what’s going on – but we are on the plane at least!!!
We do end up taking off!!!!
Beautiful flight over Puerto Rico and into Tortola, we stay on the plane while the other 10 get off, they load some more people, and we take off again. We made it – touch down in San Juan at 1900.
Entry into Puerto Rico – So simple – we have a Visa!!! Come on in folks, and why don’t you stay till February! You are aloud!! WHEW!
And our wonderful friend Lidia was there to pick us up – for the second time!!!
Quite the adventure – don’t ever want to do that again! Remember I said it was a quick 36-minute flight???? And it would be an economical destination for a visa run?……….HA!
We have returned to the little island of Vieques which is off the east coast off the main island of Puerto Rico. We had a strong desire to come back to this unique little place. We had left in such a hurry after Hurricane Maria, we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye or thank you to our friends. So, unfinished business, I guess you could say.
We are doing the same 6 month housesit we did in 2017.
It was so good to see Bob and Lou again. They surprised us with a gathering of people to meet and connect with, introduced us to Pickleball and the awesome group of Pickleball players, so we are hitting the ground running this time. In 2017, this was Bob and Lou’s second season here. Five years on and they know so much more about the island and know so many more people, add that to our experience and the people we met then, we are in for an awesome 6 months!
It feels like we have never been away, but there is a different feel to the island. The same wonderful people, but somehow, much more friendly, much more relaxed with each other. Our favourite part of travelling is meeting people from other cultures, making friends in different languages and crossing that “foreigner” barrier.
Hurricane Maria almost wiped this island out. In the aftermath the people came together, they supported each other and helped each other, there was an incredible bond, a bond of survival. The need to purely survive continued for months and months. Things finally came back to a kind of normal, but, it seems, the people have not lost that special bond, that appreciation of each other, knowing that we are all in it together and we really are one big family. We feel right at home! Reuniting with friends we had become close with has brought tears to our eyes at times, and catching up with friends we had not known so well, but connected with all the same has been a joyous thing!
So what else is the same? Well it’s the same heat. It is almost summer time here and the temperatures are so consistent. They only fluctuate about 3°C in a 24 hour period. 27°C – 30°C every day at the moment. (80°F – 86°F) The humidity is sitting at about 75% but we know it will increase as the summer goes on. The maximum temperature will probably only reach to 31°C but we remember the “feels like 42°” (107°F) temperature VERY well. We would freeze a small wet towel in the shape of a C shaped sausage, and use this to put around the backs of our necks to try to cool down. We feel we are better acclimatised this time with being in Queensland for a while before getting here. And we know what to expect. News flash! We have Air conditioning in the bedroom! We feel so lucky to have this, what a treat!
The same beautiful clear water! The colour of Bombay Sapphire Gin. Water temperature is currently 27.6 °C. Gently lapping the white sand under the blue sky. The beaches are wonderful. The tradition of spending all day Sunday at the beach with a bunch of friends and family, eating loads of food, drinking loads of alcohol and listening to music, is alive a well! I believe there are 40 beaches here, that’s a lot of parties
The same beautiful views – but now even bigger! The island is looking really good, really fresh and tidy. A lot of trees came down in the hurricane which opened up views all over the island. We say to ourselves “could we see that from here before?” well, we couldn’t! All the vegetation has recovered, but where there were big trees knocked down, there are now small trees, so the views are amazing. There are a lot of freshly painted buildings. Still the run down places and falling down properties, but overall the whole island is looking great.
The same old horses! There seems to be more horses around. Vieques is known for its wild horses all over the island. I read once that they are as much a part of the island as the sand and sea. You have to be very careful when driving as they don’t know the road rules and they don’t seem to be afraid of being right in town. It has been very dry here the last few months and we were told that they are looking for water and food, so therefore, there are more around. There are a lot of foals around at the moment, so beautiful. It is a co-habitation which has been going on for generations.
The same strong cocktails. A plastic cup, five different spirits, a dash of coke, lots of ice – yip it’s the Vieques Pain Killer! Only need one ……. Or two….. before you fall off your bike! Good old Medalla though, is still the same, cold and wet and bubbly – BUT new colour can! This is only temporary as they raise awareness of the coral reefs – but oh how I love the current colour!
The same abundant Mosquitos!The town clock still has different times on all four faces
It is pretty great to be back! We are already in week 6, the time is really going to fly. Many adventures to come!
April 2022. We arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 1am after a journey we felt would never end! We often get asked, how long does it take to get here from New Zealand. In some countries, New Zealand is quite the “unknown entity”
It must be true! Google said so!
It is always a good topic of conversation to explain just how far away we live. We left for this trip from Brisbane, Australia, rather than New Zealand, but all that did was add another hour and a half onto the journey. With COVID still causing difficulties with travel, we were advised to be at the airport 4 hours before take off.
My awesome cousins Steve and Shelley were up at sparrow’s fart with us and Steve drove us the hour to the airport. The airport was not very busy and we had all our paperwork in hand. The day before we had been to the doctor who preformed a Rapid Antigen Test, then wrote a letter to verify we had taken the test and it was negative. We were so worried that we might contract COVID in that last week which would have grounded us completely and we wouldn’t have been able to fly. But we didn’t and here we are checking in on the biggest trip we had been on for 2 years. The check in guy was great and said that the flight was only half full and he would put us in a 4 seat row to ourselves – perfect! Before COVID the planes we always chocker block full, so this is a nice change – especially as this first leg, Brisbane to Los Angeles, is 13.5 hours!
4 seats to ourselves!
We do get to sleep a bit on the plane, spread out on our 4 set row. Our Steward was awesome, extra mini pies and red wine in the middle of the night…. Thank you!…
Still pretty tired on arrival at Los Angeles, half way! We clear immigration and customs here. All week I had been concerned that we had forgotten something, that we had maybe not done something right. All this “stuff” for COVID, declarations, attestations, certificates, tests, contact addresses etc etc But no, all done, all correct, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES!
A four hour wait in LA then five hour flight to Miami. Now this flight was a different story altogether! Jam packed full and we were sitting apart. I was in the middle of three and Chris had the window seat a few rows behind me. Not to worry, 5 hours is nothing compared to the 14 we had just done.
We arrive in Miami, the three hour wait turned into four, and off we go to San Juan. It is now 1am and we arrive to an Island wide power cut! The city is basically in darkness. We arrive at our accommodation to candle light, is this a joke? This is exactly how we left 4 ½ years ago. So we cant say we didn’t feel right at home! There had been an explosion and fire at the power plant earlier in the evening which caused power outages for a couple of days. By now we were so tired we just fell into bed and had a great sleep – WE MADE IT!
21 hours flying, 11 hours waiting at airports plus traveling to and from the airports. So that’s the answer
32+ hour journey
slightly longer as we came from Brisbane, the usual flight time from Auckland, NZ to LA is 12 hours.
We spent 2 days re acquainting ourselves with the historic town of Old San Juan. Such a beautiful place. We just wandered around, drank in the sights, the sounds and smells. Its lovely and warm, 28°C. Its so good to be back!
Kiwis Do Fly 