Atauro Island Survey

28 July - 3 August 2014

It has certainly been a while since the last post, this is in response to repeating a lot of things that have been mentioned in previous blogs.  However, just the other day I given the opportunity to complete a survey of an existing water supply servicing the north western part of Atauro Island.  It was a rollicking adventure in comparison to the road trips to other parts of mainland Timor Leste.  To anyone who is unfamiliar with the TL’s geography, Atauro Island is located about 35 kms north of across the Wetar Strait.

(Map of Atauro Island, approx 35 kms north of Dili, line show where I sailed and purple spots is where the survey was completed)

I have previously posted about a day trip to Atauro and commented on how rough the crossing can be and it was no different this time.  One thing that amazes me is that I sometimes meet someone who I can bounce ideas off, in this case Adrian is a licenced survey back in the US so I was able to confirm the planned survey method was an efficient method considering the time constraints we had and the required accuracy of the survey.

 (Atauro Island viewed from Dili)

It was arranged that Franklin, Joáo and I would transfer to a smaller boat and cruise around to the other side of the island where survey is located after landing at Barry’s Place on Atauro.  I was having a little chuckle myself on the way as I remembered hearing of a school kid’s report where Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world in a 200 ft clipper back in the long distant past, it is amazing how one word can make a historic fact into a crude joke….  I certainly was not Drake, nor did circumnavigate the island but I was a little nervous about heading out in such a small boat, it fortunately had outriggers to keep it stable.  A major feature of this trip is that I spent most of the time wet from either the sea voyages or from sweat trudging over the island.  I am yet to decide on my surveying business back should I start one, should it be Mad Dogs or Drowned Rats, I do not think either really sell a surveying business (maybe I should take the hint in not starting one up in the first place…).

(are we going in that small boat?!?, sort of relaxed, Maun Franklin loving it)

(some of scenery along the west side Atauro, the survey crew we picked up along the way, unloading in Maker)

The boat trip from Barry’s Place to Maker took about 3 hours to complete and it was lunchtime as soon as we made landfall.  Lunch had barely settled before we slogged our way up hill to the water source that was to be surveyed.  There are two water systems on Atauro, let’s call them the east and west water supplies.  We were surveying the western system, which is about 20 kms long from its southern source to the much drier north.  It supplies many villages along the way, which Adara was to be the overnight stop and somehow we would survey the whole system in just two days!  How wrong was that assumption, it took two days to survey from the source to Adara, which is about half way along the planned survey route.

(carrying the equipment to start of survey, one of the many points taken, the view along the way)

Needless to say I got sunburnt and badly dehydrated on the first day where I was even contemplating drinking the water without boiling it first.  Fortunately I was saved by a short trip from Atekru to Adara on the outrigger, where I was able to drink safe water that was on the boat to recover from the day’s trials.  

(feeling pooped at Atekru, cannot wait for dinner, the fish was nice!)

Where we stayed in Adara is the sister resort to Barry’s Place and it is a very comfortable to place to stay, especially given how exhausted I was.  It seems that most people would hike their way there and overnight at the resort.  If feeling adventurous, you could take the boat to get back to Barry’s around the north of island, like I did.  There is good snorkelling/diving at Adara but we got back late and started early the next day so I could not take advantage of that.  Maybe next time eh?

I still chuckle at the thought now - I caught some crabs from the shower/bathroom in Adara, but these were hermit not the poor hygiene variety of crabs.  You see their trails in the sand all over the place and some are quite large.

As I was walking along, I noticed that the islanders here have spent considerable time building walls/fences to keep livestock from straying and villages themselves are quite orderly.  The mainland is less ordered and after talking with several people living and working on Atauro, there appears to be a sense of pride that is less prevalent on the mainland.

The islanders have excellent knowledge of the reefs that surround the island and took the opportunity of the return trip to Barry’s Place on Thursday to catch a fish, one was caught but I do not know its name and nor did I get a good picture as evidence.  We had to wrap up the survey by lunch time as the boat captain wanted to return to Barry’s Place before the seas were too rough in the afternoon.  So I got a good soaking yet again, lucky it is in the tropics than back home in Victoria….

(a water leak where I saw swallows flying through to get a drink, more leaks, a recently repaired leak using a piece of wood to plug the hole)

We were supposedly returning to Dili by the water taxi, but the owner of the service thought the weather was going to turn bad for several days.  I was thinking that is not so bad, as we had returned to Barry’s place on the Thursday afternoon, I could spend the Friday being a tourist as our return would have been delayed until Saturday where we would catch the Nakroma ferry (which I later found out was cancelled).  We managed to find a boat that was leaving at dawn on the Friday.  I was surprised how quick the return trip was as the captain took a slightly different route and was able to cruise at 20 knots or so for most of the trip.  And I still got a good drenching, even the back of the ears were damp.

I later found out that a man on Atauro breeds good fighting roosters (I wanted to say something else), who would have thought that would be an exportable product.  I did laugh when I saw one of these prized possessions in the boat with us on the return voyage, he was clucking a bit at the start but I think he got a little green by the end of the journey.  

(using palm leaves for a boat ramp, there is a water main along the intertidal zone, the prized chook off to fight Dili’s best)

So it would seem that another trip to Atauro is now on the cards to finish off what we have started.  It is never good to leave loose ends flapping about in the breeze…