Kijana by Jesse Martin

Author:Jesse Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIO000000, book
ISBN: 9781741156485
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd
Published: 2005-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

DRAGONS

WE SAILED THROUGH THE NIGHT AND MOST OF the next day. The wind came steadily from behind and we made good progress. Maria was handling the watches well and she was over her seasickness. Only when the wind got above 25 knots, which was rare, did she start to feel queasy.

The wind, while generally lighter as we got closer to the equator, always seemed to be enough to keep the sails raised and the engine off. This was a blessing for those in the rear cabin. Being so close to the engine room, it was extremely noisy and stinking hot when we had the motor running.

Crew morale was great. We’d had a lot of fun since we left Darwin. But beneath the surface I continued to feel the pressure of expectation on me, the feeling that I could never have too much fun because there was always more work to do, more to film, another update to write and, of course, boat maintenance. There was constant pressure from the office to make quality films to pay for the adventure.

I hoped to solve that problem at our next stop, Pulau Rinca, the island home of the infamous komodo dragon. We sailed for three days, past the low-lying tropical islands around Roti, which made way for the more volcanic and visually stunning island of Sumba. Our challenge when we arrived at Rinca was to capture the komodo dragons on film close-up. In fact, just getting close to such reclusive beasts would be a major achievement.

I was excited about the assignment, but also a bit frightened. We’d heard varying reports about the komodos. They ranged in size from a large lizard to crocodile sized. And they could run – fast! If bitten by a komodo, it was said, the victim would eventually die. Even if one could wrestle with the lizard and get away, the bacteria from the komodo’s teeth would eventually poison its prey.

It was hard to tell how much of these stories to believe. I could hardly believe anything could contain enough bacteria to kill a human. Nonetheless, to help us get the required close-up shots of the dragons we decided to use live chickens as bait to attract the hungry lizards. We weren’t sure how this would work, but it had to be better than nothing. We had to capture them on film or our visit would be a waste of time.

We anchored Kijana in the small harbour of Waingapu on Sumba and made our way to the market where we purchased two chickens and a flimsy cage to keep them in.

Rather than stay in port, we weighed anchor before it got dark and sailed through the night. The chickens made a hell of a noise as they sat on deck, but once the sun went down they thankfully stopped clucking. We made such good progress over the 60-odd miles to Rinca that we were forced to slow down so we didn’t arrive before the sun rose.

I replaced Josh

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