Hello friends, family. It’s been a month since we are back from our second adventure in Pasir Hitam, We call it Toliho 2018 (in Galela language toliho means: going back home). In total we spent 6 summer weeks (July-August) and it was again wonderful. This time, we have our boat! Last year we’ve been diving with a small katinting traditional boat and it was ok, but as going by boat is the only access to Pasir Hitam, we knew then it was a priority for us to have our own boat.
THE MAKING OF BILOLO
After several information and considerations we decided to have our boat build in Ternate. Ternate is the nearest place where they build fiber boat, which is about 240 km (150 miles) south of Pasir Hitam. We wanted a small, simple and light boat practical for diving. So Sven started out by hand-drawing our future boat and we sent photos of the drawing by whatsapp to Aminah (Belgis’s cousin) in Ternate who organized and followed the boat building process.
As soon as we agreed on the price, Belgis prepared the contract for the boat builder to sign, to make sure that the work, price and time limit don’t change. The boat builder is a nice person, always listening to our request and doing well his work. We expected him to be a bit late with our boat so we are happy the deadline was set a month earlier.
We are happy with our boat. Made of fiber, she is 7.80 m long and 2.00 m wide. When we tell local people she will be called “Bilolo” everyone laughed. Bilolo means hermit crab, reminds us of our childhood by the sea-shore, fishermen uses them as bait while kids are calling out a retracted bilolo inside its shell by rolling their tounge and making a funny sound “biloulblouublou” continuously until bilolo comes out..
BILOLO PREMIER VOYAGE
When Bilolo was almost ready we started the ID card process, it’s a long process often not done, now Bilolo is registered and proud to wear the Indonesian flag! Ready for its first trip, 240 Km from Ternate to Pasir Hitam.
Sven went earlier to Ternate alone (yes he speaks Bahasa Indonesia, “sedikit-sedikit”) to check if everything was ok and he planned to go on-board Bilolo. Unfortunately the sea was rough, the travel was always postponed so after a few days waiting, he decided to go to Morotai by plane.
A week before, Roy (Belgis’s brother) took care of buying the boat accessories, security equipment and of course the engines in Manado. He organized it very well and managed to ship everything overnight from Bitung to Ternate using a small truck in a ferry boat. We were lucky, Roy coincidentally met a truck driver who is actually a cousin of Ishak (Aminah’s husband), so we can trust him. And yes it all went ok. Ishak used to be a motorist for a big fishing boat and he has the boat driving license. He installed the two new 40 HP Yamaha outboard engines easily and he even agrees to be Bilolo’s captain.
Few days pass waiting for a calmer sea. On Sunday morning 8 July 2018, after the “baca doa” ceremony by tradition (sending prayers and blessings to Bilolo) Ishak took the courage to start the voyage. He was accompanied by Rais his son and Ungke another cousin. They left Ternate at around 07 a.m and had 2 and a half hours to rest and check things. They said the sea was ok until the very north tip of Halmahera where they crossed giant waves!
Thankfully they arrived safe and sound in Pasir Hitam at around 17 p.m. For Sven who was already in Pasir Hitam two days before with very little telephone network and no electricity, it was a big surprise when Bilolo arrived :-).
