Spice Island Breakdown: Fixing Our Gearbox Underwater in Banda Neira

Hello there, welcome to Sailing NV, We're a sailing family pursuing an unconventional dream of sailing around the world in our recently converted ex Vendée Globe Open 66 race boat. This week we find ourselves in Banda Neira, the heart of the legendary Spice Islands in Indonesia. This small, picturesque island is steeped in history, once at the center of the global nutmeg trade that sparked fierce colonial battles as it was the only place in the world during that period where nutmeg was produced. Today, it's a peaceful destination, where time seems to stand still amidst its well-preserved Dutch forts, colonial buildings, and the towering presence of the active volcano, Mount Api. Join us as we explore the rich history and stunning beauty of Banda Neira, both above and below the water line, spot the infamous mandarin fish and try to fix our broken gear box from underwater. No trip to Banda Neira would be complete without a visit to Belugica Fort. Built by the Dutch East India Company in the early 17th century, it served as a strategic military and administrative center during the spice trade era. The fort is renowned for its impressive architecture and commanding views of the surrounding islands. There were also a lot of old colonial buildings which were open to the public to look around. Today, Banda Neira is a predominantly Muslim island, and this old church is a relic from the Dutch colonial era. We walked past these beautiful boat houses on our way back to the boat, sheltering traditional wooden canoes. Crafted from local materials and often adorned with intricate designs, they reflect the islanders' deep connection to the sea and their long-standing seafaring traditions and are still used today in many parts of Indonesia and are integral to the local fishing and transportation of both goods and people between the islands. Refreshed from our sight seeing venture it was time to tackle our gearbox issue. Those of you following our journey will know just before we set off from Vanuatu on our passage to Indonesia, we found water in the gearbox oil. We very recently changed the seal of our sail drive during our big refit so we were pretty surprised and disappointed that it could be leaking so soon. The other possibility is that the leak comes from the drain plug from the oil. One of the previous owners had overtightened and destroyed the thread and instead had glued it back in. We'd opened and then reglued this during the refit but wondered if it could be this which was now letting water in. Here you can see Timo re-gluing the plug with sika and using a yellow rubber glove fitted over the sail drive to apply the pressure. Again we have thank Blue for our battery operated dive gear which once again proved an invaluable piece of equipment to have onboard. You can find out more about our awesome battery operated dive gear from BLU3 in our previous video https://youtu.be/EeLkyscfIIQ?si=ViqggIBu2Dqk78B_ or using this link https://lddy.no/1g12p We'd also appreciate you using this last link if you decide to purchase one for yourselves! Use the coupon code SailingNV when making any purchase to get a free tshirt! We also took the opportunity to clean the hull a bit and discovered a variety of aquatic life around the boat, including the tiny, brightly colored mandarin fish. It was a pleasant surprise to find them here amidst the floating crisp packets and empty beer bottles. Our old GoPro doesn't quite capture their beauty; in reality, these fish are strikingly vibrant with intricate blue and orange patterns. After enjoying our time in Banda Neira, it was time to restock our supplies before setting sail for a new destination. 00:00 - Intro 01:16 - Belgica Fort 05:27 - More historical buildings 07:37 - Our gearbox issue 09:50 - Banda's underwater world 12:56 - Provisioning ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you enjoyed this video please consider supporting us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/SailingNV or with a one-off donation via https://ko-fi.com/sailingnv or paypal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/sailingnv