8-10-2017 Leslie. Once our paperwork and international clearance was handled coming into Kupang, Indonesia, we were treated to well organized Sail Indonesia 2017 rally events including music, dance and food.

For us newbies to Indonesia, all the new colors, sounds and tastes are magical. We enjoyed the above presentation of the Rote Island Hat Dance featuring a representative phallic appendage on the front of the hat; the dance is also representative…. The island of Timor is the furthest east in Indonesia in the East Nusa Tenggara province, so the residents don’t encounter many white-faced tourists. Many times we are approached to pose for selfies with the locals.

We spent two days with a wonderful guide touring the area. He brought us to visit his elementary students for an hour-long session of English conversation. The visit ended with a song – the all too familiar: ‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes.’ We visited the local vegetable market seeing for the first time the many exotic food items for sale.

A pause to feed local macaque monkeys peanuts was a highlight along with the chance to refresh ourselves hiking down into a deep cavernous cave where we swam and BnT jumped off boulders alongside a group of local boys.

That clear water cave pool was a bit salty. It turns out the cave is linked to the ocean which scuba divers have been known to pass through. Our tour reached a climax at a local waterfall, Oenesu Waterfall, which was also being visited by local dare devil teenage boys who insisted on posing for a photo with me! Bryce, Trent and new yacht friend, Rainer Dawn, fit right in, jumping off the high wall into a deep pool below.

Incidentally, on the first day of our arrival in Kupang, I was approached by Sue Hacking from s/v Ocelot regarding our sons. She and her husband Jon are hosting their 15-year old nephew, Rainer Dawn, and was excited for him to meet other cruising teenagers. The three boys immediately made fast friends and we invited him to join us on our upcoming quest to surf at a neighboring small island known as Rote.