130 miles from Kupang
The best anchorage in this group is off the same beach where Cook landed in 1770. Anchor on sand anywhere you’re comfortable in 7-12 metres a quarter mile west of the commercial pier on the main island. There’s plenty of space on sand all around and north of the pier too.
This anchorage is in between the two fringing reefs and services the main town of Seba. Best keep well clear of the RoRo ferry ramp and pier where the car ferry arrives with the island supplies from Kupang twice a week.
A good day anchorage surf spot is two miles north anywhere outside the fringing reef either side – or shoal draft vessels can venture inside the cul-de-sac to anchor on sand in 3-5 metres at 10°27.684S, 121°50.658E. It’s good for surfing or, at high tide, exploring by dinghy the creek that runs a quarter-mile inland.
Seba town is only a short walk from the landing beach at our main anchorage. It’s rustic and dry and loaded with fascinating history. Just beginning to open up to tourism, the people are eclectically friendly and almost overly accommodating. Limited supplies are on offer and fuel is difficult to find in any great quantities.
Tardamu Airport is nearby, with daily flights to local destinations. There’s a lot to see and do ashore and some interesting restaurants. Best to hire a motorbike to make the most of this shore experience and to get further inland to find the Ikat weavers.
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Captain James Cook stopped at Savu on his famous ship ‘Endeavour’ in 1770, on his first voyage to the South Pacific. The area wasn’t charted then, so he spent five days researching, while his crew of naturalist Joseph Banks, astronomer Charles Green, Doctor Daniel Solander and four artists collected and wrote up information on the islands’ botany, animals, people and customs.
Cook and his crew’s Savu Island journals were so exacting and correct they remained the main source of information on this region for centuries.
Cook made mention of the famous woven traditional dress material (Ikat) and ceremonial stones on the hilltop near Seba. He compared the stones laid here to the megaliths of Stonehenge and took them to be monuments erected to rulers of previous centuries, ever wondering how they got there.
