Year 2- 21 August 2025 – Exploring South Buton

The Adhan started at 4.15am again and whilst I groaned I tried to ignore the wailing and luckily this was one of those days when the call to prayer seemed to be shorter. I managed to then sleep more but the inevitable the phut phut of the fishing boats pulled you from your slumber and I got up to a lovely blue-sky day.

We all had tea and looked over the reef and the pretty village and the tide was in so it looked even better. I made banana pancakes for breakfast which everyone enjoyed followed by some toast from Jon’s loaf. We had arranged for a water boat to come and collect us at about 9.30am as we wanted to go and explore ashore. We had no expectations and yet we had a most special day as I will outline. Adam who has to leave tomorrow decided to stay on board as he wanted to do some jobs.

A local boat came and we were met by a lady in a Hijab called Anggun and we were taken ashore. We were able due to the tide to step straight ashore and we were then in a little street of the village- Gerak Makmur. This was on land and there were many old wooden traditional houses which were on wooden supports about 3-4 foot high and they had nice carvings on them and many were painted with different colours. In addition there were now many concrete type houses spread over the village and they had been painted a range of colours as well. There were narrow streets with flags down each side which had been put up I think because of Independence Day. We walked along the street with Anggun and throughout our time in the village we were met by many of the local people who were very friendly and said “Hello- Hello Mister” and we were treated very well and almost like royalty. The children were the most friendly and giggled and smiled and wanted to slap our hands and they also wanted a picture with us. They were lovely and many in their smart school uniforms.    

We walked on and came to the market building which was largely closed as the market starts at 5.00am. There were a few people around and we said hello and we looked what they were selling. We carried on and came to a stall selling what looked like small treacle tarts  but they were rice and brown sugar in a sort of pancake. We tried them and they were delicious. We came to a vegetable/fruit stall and we bought some mangoes. We walked on and met Anggun’s father, mother and Aunt outside her grandfather’s house. We carried on passing all sorts of huts and houses and we said hello to everyone. We then came to the end and the beach area which was shaded by many lovely palm trees. We looked out to the water and the colour of the coral and sea was spectacular. This was quite a large area and they are erecting shades and stalls for the rally celebrations which start on the 24th. At the end of the beach was the boat building area where there were lots of boats in various states of disrepair and we saw work going on with some large long boats.

We then walked back along another parallel street and this was slightly narrower but equally as attractive. We came across a fruit which Jon recognised which had a prickly brown skin. We bought a couple and peeled the hard prickly skin off which left a white soft fruit which looked like lychee. You then peeled off some of the fruit which covered a brown nut underneath. The fruit had a bittersweet taste and it was a little unusual – but when in Rome….

We walked on and came to some young men cutting down what I think were called King Coconuts. I bought one and they prepared it with a machete and enjoyed drinking the coconut juice although with only a hole to drink from it was not easy not to spill some. The juice was sort of sweet but refreshing. Once emptied they cut the coconut open and you can spoon out the soft, thin white inside which had a pleasant taste. It is not very thick like a normal coconut. This was a nice stop and we noticed some graves and Anggun explained this was relatives of the local family. One of their huts was an old traditional hut and we were told it was one of the first in the village and may be more than 100 years old. We asked to see inside and the lady agreed. You walk up some wooden steps (as it is 3-4 feet above ground on wooden supports) and then there was a narrow wooden entrance with a wooden step which you stepped over (this stopped young children falling out) and then you were inside.

There was only one level and I was struck but how dark it was but how cool and most of the floor was wooden struts with gaps which allowed the wind and air to come up. There was a little living room on the left with a sort of lino floor and it had pictures on the wall of members of the family, some deceased. There was then a sort of corridor and the next area on the left was a sort of ante chamber before the bedroom. After this was the kitchen area with pots and pans etc. It was lovely and simple and appeared to just work. What an insight into how they live their lives here.

We continued on and then came to a Mangrove Walkway which was a wooden walkway through the mangroves and we were followed by adults and children who wanted pictures with us. The walkway went for about 100 meters but was not circular. It gave a great view over the bay and apparently it great to come to at sunsets. We met a group of children who sung us a song.

Anggun had arranged for us to be met by a car and we were to be taken to a restaurant nearby. Anggun by the way spoke pretty good English. She told us that she had learnt all her English in about 3 months from Ticktock – the social media site. She was 26 and a teacher of Science in the Secondary school here. She was a lovely person and I guess we helped her with her English.

We drove up the hill and came to an odd tall building on the top of the hill which was white and had sort of holes in it. This was a swift bird building and a speaker was emitting bird type tweets to attract them. Apparently they sell swift bird type saliva to the Chinese for their soup – birds nest soup!!. We were now on top of the hills and stretched out were undulating plains where they farm. We continued to our restaurant which was clearly new. The structure was complete but there were no windows or doors really. There were plain plastered walls and a concrete floor. There were wooden tables and chairs- all made from proper hardwood so heavy and dense. We ordered about 5 dishes which we shared and the food was very good. There was fish, two chicken dishes, a vegetable dish with peanut sauce, rice and a noodle soup. It was all tasty and cost us about £10 for 4 of us.

We then got back in the car and were taken on a trip about 15km away to a village called Turia which looked quite similar to our local village. At one point there was a party going on in the street with fires burning and people had to move out the way so that we could pass. They all did this in a friendly way. We carried on along a meandering road which gradually went down to the sea and we came to a village called Baharia. We drove through the village to the seafront and beach area. This had a number of coral mushrooms or that is what I called them. They were like little islands sticking up but the sea over time had eroded the base to give them a mushroom look. These were beautiful especially set against the blue sea background. I was told later that there is a cave right there which has some of the oldest cave drawings in the world.

We got back in the car and were taken inland to a hilltop village which looked similar to the other villages but it was much cooler due its height and breeze. They make coffee here and we saw a number of mats on the streets drying the coffee beans. The locals then made us a coffee with their local coffee called I think Ruini. It was quite bitter and strong sort of like a Turkish coffee. We then drove up a hill and had a great view over the village and valley.

We then drove back to our village but passed on the way a river which flowed inland and there were lots of long boats able to use it. They do quite a lot of quarrying here and make bricks and concrete and collect stones and wood. It was beautiful set in a tropical jungle. There was little traffic apart from the odd moped.

We returned to our village and the tide was out. We had arranged to go out to supper with Tom and Mark from a boat called Dilemma.  We decided to wait on shore and a boat went to collect Adam, Tom and Mark. In the meantime we chatted to and had pictures with the villagers. Once the guys arrived we went by car to a restaurant around the next bay which had a lovely view across the sea. We were able to get a beer here although we had to sit at the end of the restaurant it is strictly Muslim here. We had a great meal which we all enjoyed and returned to the village. It took a while to find the boatman but he eventually arrived and we were taken in the dark back to our respective boats.

It had been a most interesting day. Adam leaves us in the morning to return to NZ and we will sail on to Ruing some 200nm away.           

The picture of the day is the view from the beach in the village.

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