Kimberley Trip, Day 5: Sumbawa and Satonda

Monday, May 27, 2024

Today, we rose early (according to our internal clocks) for breakfast, followed by a Zodiac boat ride to a village on the island of Sumbawa. There we were welcomed by local officials including the mayor and local schoolchildren. We took a short walk through the village and were then seated on the beach for several musical and dance performances. Various different groups, including the men, women, and (very cute) children of the village participated. The last event was a contest where local boys tried to shinny up a greased pole to reach several items and an Indonesian flag at the top of the pole. They predictably failed until they teamed up and the grease wore off the pole. We were struck by the number of cellphones being used by the villagers to take pictures of the event.

After lunch, back at the ship, the first snorkel outing of the trip took place off the island of Satonda. We were in the second group, which gave us a little time to rest. When our turn came up, we rode a Zodiac boat out to a platform between two other Zodiacs, making entering and leaving the water easy. There was a current, which made it challenging for some people to stay in the area where we were snorkeling, but otherwise, conditions were excellent. The water was very clear, and there was a wide diversity of coral and fish, which made it look like a very large well-stocked aquarium.

After getting cleaned up from the snorkeling outing, we dressed up a bit for the Captain’s Welcome Dinner. We sat with Dave, Jan, and one of the other guests and had an empty seat at the table. We were honored to have Captain Alex himself seated with us. He answered the many questions we had and told us quite a bit about his travels as well.

This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Indonesia and Australia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.