Jaco Island

So, where to start…..A few weeks ago we had a 4 day long weekend here in Timor, so a few volunteers and some random other people in Dili decided to make the most of it and head out to Jaco Island.  Jaco is an island just off the East coast of Timor, so basically as far away from Dili as you can get, a days drive. Heading to Jaco was always high on Nemo and my priority list, apparently the snorkelling is up there with the best in the world, it’s something that anyone who has been in Timor says you have to do before you leave. So when the opportunity came up for Nemo and I to tag along on this trip we jumped at it. It was always going to be a nightmare to organise, given the distances that needed to be covered, but a 4 day long weekend helped out there and so did Mel and Nat, who organised the whole trip. Without them it would have been chaos, they organised the people, the times, what you needed to bring, they even put us into cooking groups so that each group only had to cook twice over the weekend.  I cannot understate how awesome that was! Not only did you have to buy/bring less food, you only had to cook twice over 4 days, the rest of the time someone cooked for you, it was like being on school camp! It actually got a little competitive, groups trying to out do each other, so not only was everyone else cooking me meals, they were pretty bloody good feeds, every one of them!

As far as the journey was going to be, it was always going to be a little longer for Nemo and I, Jaco is a day from Dili, and Same is a day from Dili in the other diection. So we took an extra day off work, left on the Wednesday morning for Dili on the public bus. These are usually chock full, in an older blog entry I had pics of 30-35 people on the bus, for reasons unknown on this day there were only about 6 or 7. Usually if they don’t have enough people the bus won’t leave, again that happened to us a few months back, but he didn’t care, he did one lap of town to pick people up and off he went. We think he probably had to be in Dili for the long weekend or was headed out from Dili to see family and even having 6 or 7 of us was a bonus. Either way it made a nice change of pace, I could stretch up with my legs in the isle and sleep, it made the 7 hours go a little quicker. Here are a few picks of our empty as bus, as well as Nemo’s little friend, who at one point while we were stopped for lunch decided to make a break for it and she dobbed him in to his owner, everyone else missed the jailbreak, but he is still safely in captivity today because she is a snitch.

That night we met up with our team members to go and get all the food we needed for the weekend. All the teams had cool names, Team Awesome, Team Amazing, that kind of thing, we were team Simone….. which has a story behind it, but it’s still not a great team name. Our group was me, Nemo, Eva and Simon. But here in Timor, most people’s names need to be ‘adapted’ for the locals to pronounce them, Naomi is Yimme, Stacey somehow became Tasia, Zac is Jack, Paul is Paulo and Simon just happens to be Simone. So when Nemo and I first saw our team list and that the other two were a couple, we thought we had been paired with a lesbian couple and were quite surprised to meet Simone for the first time and discover he was 5ft 10, bald and very much a man and not a woman. Anyway, we renamed our team Timor-Beste, whether the rest of them accepted our rename, we didn't really care.

The next morning the convoy all met at Corey, Stacey and Mel’s place, packed the cars and off we went. It was the first time we got to meet most of the people coming along. I think there were 16 people in our group, all aside from Corey, Stacey and Mel we had never met before that weekend, but all of them turned out to be pretty alright. Seeing as a few of us didn’t have cars, Corey and Stacey organised to hire us a car for the weekend, but being a long, long weekend everything was booked. When the situation was dire and all hope was gone they stumbled across a construction company that would hire out one of their Troopey's and a driver to go with it for only $115 a day, bargain! So not only did we have the biggest car, we didn’t even have to worry about driving, we got a nice Timorese bloke who came with the car who drove us around for the few days. We made a few stops along the way in Los Palos so he could pop his head in and say hi to his family and we gave him a few beers on the beach and he practiced his English on us, which wasn’t too bad.

Some of the traditional houses we drove past in Los Palos

The drive itself, in the back of the Troopey, wasn’t the most comfortable, two sideways bench seats and bumpy, rickety roads meant that a few people got a little car sick, in fact we had to permanently assign Nemo to the front seat to avoid a repeat of the day before on the public bus, her with her head out the window just checking what she had for breakfast. I think the whole drive took about 7 or 8 hours, but we broke it up with an hour or so stop in Bacau, which is almost half way there for an early lunch. Nemo and I were looking forward to this lunch more than most as it was the 1st of November and we had just finished 'Sober October'.

The Baucau market/main drag

When we finally did get there I was blown away, we had been told we would be camping on the beach, but I just assumed that they meant close to the beach. They weren’t kidding, we were camping on the sand, a few metres from high tide under the shade of some palm trees, absolutely stunning.  Here are a few pics of our campsite.

This next photo was the view from the front door of our tent

A few pics of the sunrise on the first morning

When we first got to the campsite we found tracks like this everywhere

At first I wasn't sure what made them, then the sun went down and they came out in their hundreds. 

Crazy crabs! Everywhere. Sitting on the sand at night time if you sat still for more than 5 minutes they would start crawling over your feet.

So in the morning we headed just down from our campsite and paid one of the local fishermen to take us over to the island. So I think I forgot to mention that you aren’t allowed to sleep on the island, it’s a nature reserve, but the mainland is only a few hundred metres away, so it’s a short boat ride there and back, for a modest fee of $6 per person, but all that money goes back into the local community so its money well spent.

 Us waiting for the boat

Us on the boat

Stupid (Corey), with the man who drove the boat

Already having slept on the beach, woken up the sun rising over the island/ocean and watching a pod of over 100 dolphins swim through the channel while  we had breakfast I already thought I was in paradise. Keep that in mind when I saw as we rounded the beachhead to where the boat drops us off I could not believe how amazing it looked. The blue of the shallow water was something you see in a movie set in the Caribbean; you could see the water rippling all around with schools of fish, white sand and palm trees on the beach. Again, here are a few pics of the beach on Jaco Island.

But the really, really, really amazing part was yet to come, that was when I put my head underwater for the first time. One of the girls that organised it, Mel, was telling us on the first night, before we went snorkelling about what to expect and how good it was, she was telling these ludicrous stories, one after another about seeing thousands of fish, about how a reef shark swam right up to her last time and how if we are lucky we might even see a turtle. Pretty hard not to get excited about all those lofty claims, but I know better than to pump something up so much that you’re certain to be let down. So instead of imagining what it would be like to snorkel in Mel’s Mind Reef, I chose to remember what it was like snorkelling at Warnbro beach. There was one limestone outcrop, you could see a whiting here and there, maybe a few brim and if you were lucky a stingray. With that in mind, expecting to see something on par, maybe better, this is what I saw….. 

As you can see, there were LITERALLY thousands of fish EVERYWHERE! I couldn’t believe it; it was like jumping into an overcrowded tropical fish tank. The tiny little fish swam in schools of hundreds, the slightly bigger fish (around 30-60cm) swam in schools of up to 100 and then there were massive grouper type fish that swam by themselves and would have been easily over a meter in length each with at least one monster floating around that would have been closer to 1.5m. It was absolutely astounding; I had never seen anything like it. 

Just before I came in from my last snorkel Nemo and I were out a little deeper than most, in maybe 4 meters of water chasing a few schools of big fish when I looked out a little deeper and there, about 10 meters away was a shark! Only a reef shark, white tipped for you shark enthusiasts, but easily 1.5m so still big enough to get the blood going. I always assumed that I would shit my pants if I was in the water and saw a shark, but it didn’t happen, I just got really, really excited. I spent the next 2 or 3 snorkels out deep looking for more, unfortunately I didn’t see any, that day……

We sat out on the island snorkelling, reading and eating for a few hours, until the tide came in and we had finished lunch before heading back to the mainland for an afternoon siesta. After a few hours back at camp reading some more, kicking the soccer ball and having a swim Corey decided to inform us all that he was South East Asia’s resident expert on Yahtzee.  Although the rest of us hadn’t played it in more than 2 decades, if at all, he has played it on all 7 continents, has mastered the game in over 12 different languages and told us that it was time for us to get serious and play some Yahtzee. It was surprisingly fun, the highlight had to be watching Corey get really excited about the 5 little dice, fist pumps, random yelling and general over enthusiasm were all shown by Corey ‘the homicide’ Williams and it didn’t even matter whose turn it was, he was getting just as excited for other peoples rolls, the man just loves dice! Now that Yahtzee had been played on Jaco/Timor he told us that it had to develop a name of its own, as it had in other parts of the world, so from that day forward, in Timor, it is now and will be forever known as ‘Yahtzee-ka-lae’. 

 

Background for non-Timorese; a common greeting here in Timor is Diak-ka-lae, which means ‘how are you’ but literally translates to ‘good or no’.  

We went for another snorkel in the afternoon, on the mainland side. Although it wasn’t quite as exciting it was still easily better than anything I had seen anywhere else aside from that days morning session. Lots of coral, still a fair amount of fish and plenty to see. Though after 30 mins or so I was getting a little bored and ready to head back when Nemo spotted a turtle! She got us all to come over and have a look, it was exciting but he was an ugly turtle, his shell was odd shaped, different colours and he was a little runty, but I took it in as I didn’t think I’d ever see another one. Well I was wrong, only about 5 minutes later I was swimming over a wall of coral, which was about a metre below me, when I saw it, he was sitting on the coral looking at me hoping that I didn’t notice him so that he didn’t have to move. Unlucky for him I did see him, sitting directly below me almost within arm’s reach, so what did I do? I started screaming for everyone to come look at him while my head was still underwater of course. The turtle wasn’t a massive fan of being exposed like that and took off like a rocket; everyone still got a look, but mostly at his backside as he shot out into the blue.

That night we enjoy another amazing meal and night under the stars, we were all lucky enough to be serenaded by a couple of very talented musicians.

This photo is actually Corey and I trying to figure out where your fingers are supposed to go, I think our brains were just like our skin, a little frazzled from a day in the sun. The real music legend was Simone, the guy was unreal, Irish James was a surprise packet as well with an unreal rendition of ‘Miney the Mooch’

The next day we took our hangovers back over to Jaco for another snorkel. On this day the current was really strong and you basically had to swim into it just to stay where you were. One of the other guys on the trip had the brilliant idea that we should walk down the beach and float back in the current, best idea ever! So a big group of us walked up the beach for about 25 minutes, then out over the rocks as it was low tide, put our thongs on our hands and jumped into the water. At first it all looked the same as the beach where we had set up camp, but there were subtle differences, it seemed to have more fish, more colours, we saw a nudiebrank and then we saw a turtle, then another turtle and another, at one point we could see three all at once, where we jumped in the water was on a bend and apparently where it meets another current (or so someone told me) and apparently the turtles hang out around there and play in the changing currents. After all I had seen the day before I didn’t think it could get any better, but seeing another 8 or 9 turtles in a 10 minute period was pretty special. Floating back the rest of the way was pretty cool as well, not only did I not have to swim or kick, I just floated in the current, but we saw hundreds more fish including a few more reef sharks and one massive barracuda! I was more scared of the barracuda than the sharks, it was about the same size, 1.5m, but it came up fairly close to me and had some massive teeth!

Hanging out on Jaco in between snorkels

That afternoon was more of the same, drinking, Yahtzee-ka-lae, swimming and reading, was a good day, with more drinking, eating and camp fire guitar playing that night. 

On the way back from the boat that day we bumped into a few of the local fishermen and had a look at their catch of the day, a massive tuna!

Some other catches, the longest one is a barracuda

Clearly, I'm not sure what these ones were

The next morning we all got up, packed up the tents and got ready to head off. Someone mentioned that there was a set of caves on nearby land so we jumped in the cars and headed off. They were right, there were caves, pretty amazing actually, right on the edge of a cliff, cave paintings and stories of what they meant and who painted them by the local guide that we had come along for the ride. What they didn’t tell us that it was a good 30 min hike straight down, and I mean down steep enough that I can’t believe one of us didn’t fall, there were railings in parts and a ‘track’ but it didn’t comply to any safety regulations. I don’t mean to complain about the trip down, the view was stunning, I mean to complain about the trip back up, which was 45 minutes and hard bloody work after 3 days of swimming and drinking. Complaining aside the view and the caves were pretty amazing, here are some photos. 

This, is some sort of voodoo sacrifice totem pole with a dead bird hanging from it. Yes I think that is the offical, culturally appropriate term..... 

Jaco in the background

Us and the guide that took us down to his families cave paintings

 

On the way back we stopped into Baucau for a quick swim in the natural spring water filled local pool. They literally have a waterfall running through town and they divert water straight into this pool, it is quiet amazing, not to mention refreshing!

The next day (for me anyway, Nemo got bumped to the day after) we were lucky enough to fly back to Same! There is a small plane that can be chartered from Dili to a few of the districts and our works had both booked flights early that week and we were lucky enough to snag a few seasts. The flight is a nice 20 minute flight with a great view, that sure as hell beats 8 hours in the back of a cramped bus. Here are a few pics of the plane and the view from it.

The plane landing at Same International Airport......

Anyway, it was an amazing trip, one that I had been told that I had to do while I was here in Timor and I was keen to do not only because we ‘had to do it’ but also just to tick it off the list of places of go and do, which was always going to be an effort that it is 2 days there and 2 days back from our place in Same, but now all I can think about is when I’ll get to go back! It really was amazing, the camping, the snorkelling the company. If any of you are even contemplating coming over to Timor for a holiday or a visit, let us know and we can tee up a trip out to Jaco, while Dili is very expensive, the districts are very, very cheap, a couple of dollars per day is all it takes. So while it might cost you a bit to get here, once here it would be a very cheap holiday and great value for money. I also saw that Airnorth (the only airline that travels from Aus to Timor) have a special on from early Jan till late March, Darwin-Dili $189, Dili-Darwin $169, it doesn’t get cheaper than that.

It’s now less than a month until we are back on Aussie soil and just over 3 weeks until we head off to Bali for some R&R, I’m not gonna lie to you, I can’t wait! It’s great here, but I think a nice little dose of civilization, friends, family, beer and good food is just the thing I need. I am slightly concerned about how much it is going to cost, catching up with people is going to mean a lot of eating out and drinking, which especially in Perth, is really expensive. Luckily living in Same is a lot cheaper than Dili so we have been able to save a few dollars here and there, which should go to help paying for our spending money while ‘down under’.

The wet season has finally started here, the humidity is pretty atrocious and when the rain comes down it really comes down, something to behold really. The worst thing however is the increase in mosquitos, it’s only been rainy for a week or two and already there are so many more mossys. The other night I accidently had my feet hanging out of mosquito net and I managed to get around 10 bites on the top of each foot. I somehow managed to get bites on both my knees and the tops of my hands 2 days ago but last night takes the cake. I tucked the mosquito net under the mattress hardcore so that I didn’t have a repeat of the 10 bites per foot incident, only to get bugger all sleep and the itchiest toe anyone has ever seen. I must have had my toe up against the net and because it was tucked in so much the net was taught and was right up against my foot (damn small ass bed), anyway it seems that mosquitos can bite you through the net if you press your skin up to it hard enough.

That is what 13 bites on one toe looks like. You would need about 3 different angles to count all 13, but just in that one shot you can see about 8. I didn’t get any other bites on any other toes, feet, hands or legs last night, just 13 bites all on one pinky toe….. It’s actually a terrible photo, but I’m sure you get the idea

I’m not sure how many mosquitoes out of 100 carry malaria or dengue fever, but in Timor it is supposed to be of low to medium prevalence. Let’s say that’s about 1 in every 100 mossys has a nasty disease. At the rate I'm going I’m easily getting bitten more than 100 times a week, I am so getting sick while I’m here. Apparently you can get bitten by malaria mossy and then get sick a few weeks later; I just hope I don’t come down with malaria while in Aus, that would really ruin the holiday!

Anyway, might get another blog done before we leave, might not, depends how exciting the next few weeks are. If I don’t, then the next time I talk to you it will probably be with beer in hand at your house!

Take it easy!

Ben and Nemo

PS: Thanks to Corey and Stacey for the pics from their underwater camera, Nemo would have killed me if I took her SLR underwater