Year 2- 15 August 2025 – Tifu Village -Island Buru -Indonesia to Hoga Island -Wakatobi

Tifu is a village located in Leksula District, South Buru Regency, Maluku, Indonesia. It's known as a hidden paradise on Buru Island. The village is part of South Buru Regency, which has the motto "Lolik Lalen Fedak Fena" meaning "Unite Hearts". Tifu is also known for its homestays, local cuisine, and friendly community. Well our stay here has certainly proved that. The village has about 200 residents.

We woke about 6.30am and had some tea and breakfast and then upped the anchor and slowly headed out of the natural harbour waving to the locals fishing in their homemade canoes. It was a bit brighter and not raining. There was some quite large swells as we exited the bay and little wind. However, once we were about a nm from shore the wind increased and we were soon sailing. We were headed for Hoga Island which is part of the Wakatobi group of islands some 190nm Southwest of our position. Ali Cat, the catamaran, anchored next to us had left at 3.00am.

Wakatobi, refers to both an archipelago and a national park in Indonesia, located off the coast of Southeast Sulawesi. The name "Wakatobi" is an acronym derived from the names of its four main islands: Wangi-Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia, and Binongko. It's renowned for its stunning coral reefs and abundant marine life, making it a popular diving destination. It is the third largest marine park in Indonesia. Jacques Cousteau is said to have called the Wakatobi islands – then known as the Tukangbesi islands: an "Underwater Nirvana". Now a national marine park covering the entire Waktobi District, it comprises 1.4 million hectares, of which 900,000 host tropical coral reefs. The islands form the largest barrier reef in Indonesia. It is the habitat of large and small fish species, dolphins, turtles and whales. The island group comprises 143 islands of which 7 are inhabited, counting a total population of around 100,000. Most notable are the Bajo communities, seafaring nomads who inhabit many of Indonesia’s remote islands.

Once we had upped the sails we made a good course for the waypoint I had set off Hoga. The swell was quite large (2m) and it was on our beam so we rolled a bit and made good pace. Tony and I took the first watch 8-12.00noon and we did the daily checks. The sun almost came out and it was warming us through the cloud cover. Then at one point we had rain and the winds increased and we reefed the main and genoa and then for a period we had the staysail out due to the strength of the wind. It was gusting 24 kts or so and mostly stayed around the 19-22 for long periods. Adam and Jon took over at 12.00noon and we continued on our course.  We noticed some Gannet type birds enjoying flying the waves.

I had a bit of damage on the main and this began to get worse. We also heard from Ali Cat that they had experienced 29 kts ahead and so I want to ensure we could get the main into the mast with the damage as I did not want to find out when 29 kts arrived. We managed to get the damaged section which was at the top in leaving a small bit out to help us stabilise. We therefore continued under the headsail alone. This worked quite well and we were doing 7-8 kts on a regular basis albeit a bit rolly with the swell.

We had some lunch and the skies brighten and we made mile after mile. There was great excitement when we saw a tanker on the plotter coming towards us. It was a 1,000 feet long called the Huangpu River and was an empty iron ore carrier bound for Australia to take iron ore back to China. It was sort of heading directly for us so I called it up on the VHF radio and confirmed that they were going to pass behind us and we could maintain our course. It was so long that we could see the bow and the bridge but not the rest until it got nearer and then it slowly disappeared into the distance. There were a few other tanker around but they did not come close.

Shifts came and went and we continued to sail on our course with the wind remaining 16-20 kts and the swell remained 1.5m plus. Tony and I took over at 4.00pm and it got dark about 6.30pm with a bit of a sunset behind some cloud cover. We went into night mode with our instruments and settled down for the night shifts.

Jon made a tuna pasta supper which was filling and enjoyable. The wind continued its steady rhythm and we pushed on through the darkness. There were some nice star constellations but no moon so it was quite dark. As I write this it is nearly midnight and we are doing 7.2kts in about 17 kts of breeze. We are rising up and down a bit in the swell and there is the odd clank from the galley. We have about 76 nm to go. It will be interesting to see Hoga island which has a lagoon you enter through a narrow passage.    

The picture of the day is Stormbird sailing along at sunset.

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