Mar 29 - As I am preparing my gear to go to the port, Gunawan, the manager of the hotel at our next destination (Moyo Island) texts me that the normal ferry isn’t running today. There is an option of a speedboat that will cost IDR 1.5 million ($100). In casting about for other solutions, he says that a regular supply boat is available, leaving from a different port. He has spoken to the crew by phone. I get the name of the boat, and the port (Amanwana), and that is where we head when our ride arrives (the man taking us is owner of our current hotel).
The port is just a tiny pier with a few boats. Lots of people standing around, I eventually find someone who is associated with the boat we are meant to take, but he knows nothing of the arrangement. There is a lot of discussion, but no one seems to have a solution. Apparently all the space on this supply boat is called for. There is another one here, but it is chartered for some other destination.
Meanwhile, the guy who drove us here (who brought his three year old son with him) gets on the phone and says it appears a ferry will be going to our destination from yet another pier (Pantai Goa). He drives us over there and I quickly see that no one really knows what’s going on and that actually there is no ferry leaving here either. The port master, dressed in a smart military uniform with dark sunglasses, announces that there is a solution, to charter a speedboat. The two options are a slow one at IDR 2 million, or a really fast one at 2.5 million. I express dismay at this, and get on the phone with Gunawan to see what he thinks. He says all he can do is arrange a speedboat from his end for IDR 1.5 million. Meanwhile, the uniformed port master says we can just take the fast speedboat for IDR 1.5 million. I go ahead and take this offer since the boat is sitting there already. This has gone on for over an hour already and I’m not seeing a great solution elsewhere.
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The ride takes about an hour, boating north along the western coast of Moyo Island most of the trip. We arrive and jump off on the beach at the village of Labuan Aji (population 700).
As with several other small island destinations on our trip thus far, time screeches to a halt as soon as we dump the bags in our bungalow. Its just the sound of waves and birds. Electricity runs here only from 18:00 to midnight. Our room is a thatched roof hut and a simple bathroom with cold water only.
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I get into a conversation with a French resident who owns a nearby hotel. He has been here ten years and is married to an Indonesian (who is the legal owner of the establishment). He seems content to be in this quiet place, and uninterested in every living in France again. The hard thing recently was Covid of course, as this eliminated business completely for two years. We talk a lot about littering, as this is a big problem in Indonesia. Like other parts of the world years ago, the general population just doesn’t see the importance of keeping the beach and town clean of plastic trash.
I go snorkeling. There is good coral and plenty of fish less than 30 meters offshore. The color is a bit different, as the sand here is all a dark gray rather than the pure white we got used to on the Lombok islands. I see some pufferfish that look like masked puffers but with an unusual yellow coloration on their bellies. Do not see any floating trash.
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