15/8 Sailing to North Buton and the fishing village Banua Banu. Anchor up at 05:15 and out, of the beautiful bay, for motor.

16/8 Sailing to North Buton. We sail most of the day behind Blue Rodgers and Randivåg but at the last miles we got wind in the sail and were a head of both sailing in to Anchor in the afternoon. We took the dingy down and sailed in to the dock and met with an English teacher and his students. They told us about a fish and seafood restaurant and showed us the way. We could shoos an alive lobster each, in a large basin. We got one of the best meals in Indonesia there. The guides went of on the scooter to by local bintang bear to us with ice on the side to cool.

17/8 With bus to Islamic center because it is Indonesia’s national day. We were invited to sit with the important people to see the military parade. A lot of selfies was taken with us. After that the bus take us to the market in Ereke, the capital of North Buton. It is a very large and good market we so get eggs and vegetables. I rest my knee in the afternoon and Lars take a tour to see traditional games and a beach. He was chocked by the plastic pollution on the beautiful beach. In the evening we are going by bus to Ereke and a big hall were we are sitting for a long while waiting for something to happened. Some of us, not Lars and I, were going to a circumcision celebration of 100 children. Finally the hall gets filled up. There were speeches, mostly in Indonesian, from Bupati and other important people, like leader of tourism, we had to listen to. Afterwords dances by small children. At 21:30 we finally got local food, quiet good, in a room at the side of the big hall. Afterword they took pictures of us on the big stage.

18/8 Lars sailed in and went on a tour to see traditional sport in the morning. Neighbor fishermen came aboard with fish. So sweet of them. I made Coffey for them. Lars take care of the fish so we have file of fish in the freezer. We went a tour in the fishing village built on stilt with our lovely young guides, Yhus, Reisya Omar and little sister…and later on the English teacher joined us. It was quiet exiting to go on the boardwalk because there were many wholes but the young people took care of us so we did not fall down. There were time to talk about trash also. They came aboard on Alexandra a couple of time.

19/8 We and Sandy and Max met with teacher and students in the harbor. We talked a lot of plastic pollution and how imported it is to clean up your environment. It have to start with the children and young people, them! Good luck with that! The students made a presentation in English and we gave then questions to answer. In the afternoon, in Ereke, we so a parade with children that had been circumcised (boys, the girls get a prick with a needle they say, you like to believe that). The children were dressed up in gold and colorful dresses. There were dancer and speeches from Bupati and other important people in North Buton. Local food, made from the families involved, was served on the floor in a huge tent.

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