Heading to Halmahera

North Maluku, Indonesia

Fuji S2 digital, Nikon 12-24

After nearly a week of working together in Ternate and Tidore, Dave and I split up so that I could go to North Halmahera to find out more about the voting situation for returned refugees there.

Small boats powered by outboards provide the main means of transportation among these islands. The trip from Ternate to Sidangoli, the closest port in Halmahera, takes anywhere from 40 minutes to 1-1/2 hours, depending on the speed and power of the boat and sea conditions.

This was a very early morning departure - I only had two days to get to Sidangoli, find a car to take me to Tobelo in northern Halmahera, do all the work that needed to be done, and then get back to Sidangoli again before the last boats to Ternate stopped running at dusk.