Leaving Kumai for Nangka

Whilst the visit to the orangutans was great, the anchorage on the Kumai River is average.  Its brown muddy waters are apparently inhabited by saltwater crocodiles and of course, rats.  We are happy to leave the Kumai anchorage for the small island of Nangka.  On our long journeys, we deflate the dinghy and store it on the cabin top.  On arrival at Nangka we decide to inflate the dinghy however discover a huge 5cm hole in our dinghy.  It’s a mystery – what has caused it?  We check for friction via ropes etc and can’t quite work out how it has happened.  We are joined by our friends and fellow yachties from Sutamon.  We are horrified to learn that they have a resident rat living on board their yacht eating their food, fruit and bathroom cabinet contents at night – a stowaway from Kumai.  The penny drops – our dinghy hole is the result of a rat that has boarded us via the anchor chain in the Kumai River. Eek – we check our fruit and food supply and decide that it has not managed to venture below into our cabin – big relief.  Graeme and Brian spend some hours patching the hole – a fantastic job – hope it lasts.  The Sutamons make an elaborate rat trap however rat poison finishes him off some days later.

A rat has eaten our dinghy!

Nangka is a beautiful island with fantastic snorkeling just metres away from our boat.  We find loads of ‘Nemo’ fish i.e. clown fish, living in the anemones just a few feet below the surface.  The coral and fish are abundant and beautiful.  We enjoy this peaceful bay however are starting to realize that although there are huge number of fish, we still can’t seem to catch any.  We decide the problem lies with the bait – or lack of it.  A Rp50,000 (AU$5) note still seems to be the best bait :-)