Seram is a long narrow island to the north of Banda Sea, running roughly east-west in an arc about 100 miles long. This was the second of the inhabited islands that we visited. There is a tall range of mountains that runs lengthways down the arc of the island, and it seems that this drives a lot of the weather, with local influences being a greater force than the global circulations here in the doldrums.
There are a number of large towns with ferry services to the rest of Indonesia, and a large number of small villages around the shoreline, with small houses built almost everywhere we went.
The population density in the villages is high, with large families cramped into small dwellings on small allotments. It seemed most villages survived on vegetables from their lush gardens and meat from chicken and fish. We stayed a few days at Bula, a relatively large port town on the northern coast, where the local children swam out to SeeBeeZee each day just to sit and watch our lives.
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Towards Seram
From Kai Kecil to P Walir was only a 20nm hop, and so too on to P Kur the next day. But from there, the chain of islands that runs NW up to the big Seram, (or Ceram) that sits across the top of the Banda Sea, provide no viable anchorages. We decided to make…
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Desa Maar, Seram Laut
We arrived at Seram Laut in the early afternoon, and had to navigate down a narrow curved channel to find an anchorage in 10m depth off the village of Maar. Laut is the Indonesian word for “sea” and this small island of Seram Laut is the seaward extension of the large island of Seram. As…
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Pulau Akat
We woke to a glass out with not breath of wind, but were keen to continue travelling north towards Raja Ampat. The destination of Pulau Akat was selected, at a distance of 22nms. We agreed that we would motor the entire distance if required, so set off after breakfast. We found a favourable current assisting…
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Ashore on P Akat
After a quiet night at Pulau Akat, we woke to a calm morning, with glassy seas and not a breath of wind. The forecast for the day, across all of the available models, was for continued calm, so we decided to stay another night and spend the day doing maintenance jobs and cooking. In the…
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Bula Harbour
The weather followed the same pattern as the last few days, with an early morning land breeze turning into an afternoon sea breeze. The breeze was only very light, and required the spinnaker to make progress, but we were stalked by another line of trough and thunderstorms all morning. As the storm headed over the…
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Bula Floating Restaurant Pardidu
Nearby to where we anchored in Bula was a floating restaurant specialising in seafood. While staying at Bula, we had three meals on board; two grilled fish dinners and an afternoon supper of banana fritters and coffee. Whatever is fresh and available is what is served. On our first night, we were both very hungry,…
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Bula Boardwalk
Bula Harbour is protected by a spit of sand on the northern shore of a creek that runs into the sea on the north coast of Seram. A boardwalk was built along the shore of this creek, providing a nice location for a stroll. We had to ignore the piles of plastic litter piled up…
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Gumumae Beach Village
The town of Bula is a large regional town covering an extensive area along the north coast of Seram. We anchored in the mouth of a little estuary in the Bula Harbour, which also seems to be a popular location for the local fisherman to moor their boats. These long dory style boats may be…
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Bula Waterbabies
We were anchored for three days in Bula Harbour, waiting out some calm weather, waiting for some winds to carry us north to Misool, the most southern part of the Regency of Raja Ampat. On each of the afternoons we were anchored at Bula, we were overwhelmed by the large number of children that came…
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Rose Water Apples
While travelling Indonesia, we were on the lookout for local foods. At Bula, on the island of Seram, we made friends with some of the local boys, who later returned with bags of fruit for us. One of the local fruits in season was the Rose Water Apple, syzygium aqueum, which is beautiful little mauve…
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Kianlaut on Seram
After we were battered by a strong storm on our overnight trip down from Misool, the anchorage off the SE tip of Seram provided a welcome rest. We were lucky that the sky was lit by a full moon, and in the bright conditions the approaching rain that brings wind was clearly seen, and we…
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Pulau Gofa
From Kianlaut at the eastern tip of Seram, we headed around the corner into the Banda Sea to get a shorter run across to Banda Neira. The passage from the Seram Sea to the Banda Sea was a short gap between islands, and the current ran against us here at a couple of knots. On…