Year 2- 11 September 2025 –Another day at Pulau Moyo
We woke to another good day and after tea upped the anchor and headed out of our bay and to the next bay where there was a village called Labuan Ati. We had seen it as we came across the other night in the rain and there were several boats anchored there. When we came round the corner there were none.
I had looked up place to anchor and headed for one which was off a beach and a short distance away from the village as we could see clearly a mosque which might be noisy!. We had to come a long way in to get a depth we could anchor in and were soon settled. I decided to do a cooked breakfast and the smell of bacon was soon swilling around and we had eggs on toast with bacon which we both enjoyed.
We then got the dinghy down and prepared to go ashore. We had seen and read that there were a few restaurants here and some nice waterfalls we could visit and this had been mentioned when we were at Amanwawa.
Pulau Moyo (older spelling Mojo) is an island off the north coast of Sumbawa Island, in Sumbawa Regency, West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It has an area of 349 km and is about 8° south of the equator. The island rises 648 metres (2,126 feet) above sea level, and its centre is composed mainly of savannah and some strands of the forest. The island is divided in two administrative villages: Labuhan Aji in the south and Sebotok in the north. Both are within Labuhan Badas district. In 2022 there were 1333 households and 4,200 inhabitants, distributed in 6 villages.
Fishing and farming are the most prevalent occupations and are not mutually exclusive - most farmers also fish, and reciprocally. A few people have small businesses and deal with tourism services. Very few work in the local government as civil servants. The most frequent crop is cashew; there are also coconut, mango, lebui beans, upland rice, srikaya (sugar apple) , corn and sesame.
On September 29, 1986, Moyo Island was declared as a conservation area (Moyo Island Hunting Park) for the Buru Park and the Marine Nature Tourism Park. The area is managed by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry in collaboration with the Natural Resources Conservation Centre of West Nusa Tenggara. This area is home to macaques, wild cattle, wild pigs, barking deer, deer and several varieties of birds.
In 2018, the island became as part of Moyo Satonda National Park along with Satonda Island (which we visited). The area is home to long-tail macaques, wild bovines, wild pigs, deer, and 21 bat species including flying foxes. Bird-watching enthusiasts can observe 86 species of birds, 2 of them endangered: the yellow-headed parrot and the Tanimbar Megapode bird which is endemic to Indonesia; it nests in large sandy heaps, litter, and other debris, where the heat generated by the decomposition of the organic material serves to incubate the eggs.
Inside the Park there are also a few waterfalls; the biggest one is about 2 hours from Labuan Aji village, the others are within 15 minutes walking distance, in the forest frequented by a multitude of colourful butterflies. Mata Jitu Waterfall, visited by the Princess of Wales Lady Diana, is about 4 km from Labuhan Aji. Recently, the entire coastline of Moyo Island has been declared a marine conservation area. The coral reefs and their inhabitants are now protected from fishing and pollution.
Moyo is still considered "undiscovered" in tourism. Visitors usually reach the island via boat trips from Sumbawa Besar. There are a couple of lodgings on the island, the most prominent being Amanwana, a part of the Aman Resorts, which we had lunch at yesterday. In 1993, the resort famously hosted Diana, Princess of Wales while she was going through a bad patch of her marriage to Prince Charles. So we have been where royalty have been.
We pulled our dinghy up the beach and this was in front of a Seafood restaurant and we asked if it was ok to leave the dinghy there and the lady said yes. She then said would we like to go to the waterfalls (Mata Jitu -which is where Princess Diana went) and we said yes. She called for two motorcyclists to come and we said we would be back later.
Mark and I got on the back of the mopeds and initially we went through the village where there were the usual wooden huts and also breeze block-built houses. There were a few little shops or shacks really and we passed the football pitch with its dirt base. It was quite like many Indonesian villages I have visited. The people were poor but friendly but not as enthusiastic as I have seen previously to see us and I think it is because they are used to tourism here.
The bikes then started heading up the hill which was a mixture of a concrete track and dirt track and this was the only track out of the village and the only way in and out was by this road/track. I hung on for dear life and hoped we would not fall which we did not there and back. The rider taking me was good and he dealt with the uneven surface very well. The track took us up into the savannah and forest but there were areas which had been cleared for agriculture and we saw cows grazing and there had been lots of goats wondering around the village. There were areas which had been burnt to clear I suppose and agricultural clearing was going on. The track went on and we rode for about 5km and came to a stop point and a track which led into the woods. My rider said follow him and he led us along the track to a sign board which talked about the National Park and we had to pay a fee to enter to an official.
Once paid we headed into the forest and you began to hear the sounds of water and the track led us down to a river which we crossed and then headed up the other side and this led us to some beautiful waterfalls with Stalactites very evident. It was clearly a low point in flow as we saw the width that the flow could be. The falls had a set of pools you could go in and swim. This we did and could sit a bit under the waterfall and the initial pool was quite deep. The water was cool and refreshing and it was a beautiful scene in the forest with few people about. Once we had enough we then walked up the side of the waterfall and could see the top of it. We walked on and were able to cross the river again higher up and then back to the moped parking place. We then had another 20-minute ride back to the village.
Once we were back at the village we walked around and saw the houses and huts and said hello. We found a great place on the beach called Sunset Moyo which I think was a place with bungalows you could stay in but more importantly for us it had cold Bintang. We sat on two deckchairs with an amazing view of the sea and watched the world go by as we drunk a cold beer. It was a lovely setting. When we went to order the beer the lady in the kitchen was in her pyjamas!! There were boats coming back and forward and some were being repaired. We finished the first and Mark went to wake up the lady to order a second. We waited 10 minutes so Mark went back and the lady had forgotten and had fallen asleep again. After a couple we decided to go back to our Seafood Restaurant for some lunch and had some delicious prawns and squid with rice etc which was filling and nice.
We got back in the dinghy and came back to Stormbird. As we approached the outboard just stopped so we paddled the last bit. We will look at it later. We had rest and then looked at the outboard. The spark plugs seem ok; the fuel seems ok bit it was just not firing. Perhaps we will look at the carburettor tomorrow. We enjoyed sitting on the aft deck and watching the sun go down. It had been an enjoyable day. The lady crew we have joining us in Bali have arrived in Bali and were enjoying the beach. We were so full from lunch that we skipped supper.
The picture of the day is Mark and I at the waterfalls.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com