What happens when three heathens and a Jew set off from Bali
across the Java Sea
to Borneo in the middle of Hanukkah? Light
winds and pleasant days, it turns out. We’ve been worried about being the last
boat through Indonesia
this season. Perhaps we’ve been lucky, but the weather has been pleasant and
easy for most of our trip and our thought is if you’re leaving Australia late,
don’t fret too much. The bonus of being later in the season is you’ll have just
about every anchorage to yourself and the flies…
 |
| colourful boats and spa day |
To date our passages have been similar to those we’ve read
about; light winds and the occasional rain squall. We dodged one particularly
intense squall (lightning but not wind) on our way to Kumai. But most of our
days were spent admiring a flat sea and the flamboyant fishing boats that ply
the waters. Here and there we got a few hours of sailing but it stayed pretty
calm the whole way across. Each evening we lit the Hanukkah candles and Sarah
tried to teach Maia the ancient prayers. When it turned dark, we watched the
AIS for big ships, and squinted into the dark for signs of fishing boats and
tugs.
Rain of biblical proportion greeted us when we arrived in
Kumai, making us wonder just how much rain
there really is in rainy season. But as we settled into our anchorage and
finally started our Christmas preparations (decorating, wrapping gifts and
turning Indonesian meat into mince for our Christmas Eve tourtiere) the sun
shone. And then we were visited by Adi, who is arranging our tour to Camp Leakey—to
see Orangutans and who’s also getting us diesel and having our laundry done.
Goodness, we’ll miss Indonesia…
Christmas Eve, on an exotic river, in a far away land was
kept familiar with traditions we’ve accumulated along our journey. We added a
new movie (how did I miss “A Christmas Story”?!) and Dylan Thomas’ reading “A
Child’s Christmas in Wales”.
And we ate tourtiere and Maia’s Christmas treats.
Maia, the teen goes to bed later than Maia the kid used to
do, so the grownups stayed up longer than planned. Christmas morning we were
woken at 4am morning by a chorus of Muezzins calling out across the Kumai River,
drowning out the soothing jungle sounds. The Muezzins woke Charlie the cat, who
woke Maia the teen (who’s still a child at Christmas), who rewoke us, and by
6am, as the Muezzins began their second call (which we’re guessing had nothing
to do with the birth of Jesus), we were opening stockings. By 8am the gifts
were open and our 6th Christmas afloat (and our second with our dear
friend Sarah) was well underway.
We’re so grateful that we have this incredible opportunity
to spend familiar holidays in unfamiliar places; to mix the wonder of the world
with the comfort of home. We’re reminded of the friends and family we deeply
miss, and those we’re yet to meet, and wish each of you the happiest of
Christmases.
2 comments:
Hi -
My name is Michael Boyink and together with my family of wife and teens have been a fulltime RVer for 4 years now.
A while back we started TopFamilyTravelBlogs as a way to keep current with other traveling families. We initially had just other RVers but recently have broadened the scope to include any family traveling full time in any mode.
I just wanted to let you know that we added your blog to the mix of sources so hopefully can send some traffic your way. Your new posts should appear on the paper the next day.
If you care to link to TopFamilyTravelBlogs.com from your site you can find logos at: http://b4a.us/a/6125 (no worries if you don't want to, we don't require it, this isn't a money-making effort on our part).
If you know of other family travel blogs feel free to suggest them - we'll add them if we haven't found them already.
Best wishes in the new year!
Michael Boyink
This iss great
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