From Pulau Weh to Pulau Nias
But we
were using our onboard system (run by our HF radio, modem and computer) to keep
our families informed of our whereabouts. I’ll use excerpts from those emails to
highlight our adventures in Indonesia.
March
2:
We spent a quiet night on a
mooring ball at Rubiah Island and spent most of today motoring in calm seas to
Seudu Bay on Sumatra's west coast.
Rubiah Island:
LATITUDE: 05-52.82N
LONGITUDE: 095-15.38E
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| Sunrise at Rubiah Island. |
Seudu Bay:
LATITUDE: 05-21.32N
LONGITUDE: 095-14.39E
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| Seudu Bay |
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| The Captain in Seudu Bay |
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| Relaxing at sunset. |
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| The hills seemed to be growing clouds. |
We were often surrounded by
interesting-looking anchovy fishing boats.
March 4:
We motored in calm seas to
Tangkura Bay - a remote spot with clear water and interesting fishing platforms.
LATITUDE: 05-07.50N
LONGITUDE: 095-17.91E
This is the first installment of
my "LAST OF" report. Yesterday, we had the LAST OF our fresh garden
peas. Maybe "fresh" is an exaggeration, but after soaking them in
water in the fridge for an hour, they were pretty presentable. We have many
tins of peas to keep us going. And I make a great tinned-pea salad by sprucing
them up with a dressing made with mayo and sweet chili sauce and chopped
onions. And our pork? Ha! We had no pork. We provisioned in
Malaysia, land of no pork. We are now in Indonesia, another land of no
pork. But we have plenty of chicken and
beef. (We are not in India, land of no beef.) We have never come across a land
of no chicken.
Today we had the last of our
cilantro. I will miss it. We are hoping that the markets in future stops will
allow us to replenish our peas and herbs. And our diesel. And our Indonesian
rupiah.
March 5:
We motored to "Pulau
Raya"
LATITUDE: 04-52.86N
LONGITUDE: 095-23.75E
There is a little village here, but the beach is unfriendly - lots of surf and rocks. We didn’t go ashore.
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We had our last orange yesterday,
but we have plenty of apples aboard and a good supply of tinned fruit. And
we're still hoping to stop at some markets.
March 7:
We had a good overnight sail with
a mix of motoring and sailing. The sea was very calm with a gentle 3-foot swell
that was well spaced.
My highlight happened during my
8pm-2am watch. I was starting to get a little sleepy so I turned on some lively
music. I stood just outside the cockpit to get a look at the Milky Way, and
nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a gasp and splash. I realized right
away that it was dolphins playing in our bow wave. It's the first time I've
seen them at night (Darrel has previously) and it was amazing to see the
bioluminescence glitter as the dolphins glided through the water. Often, three
of them would dive out of the water in a synchronized fashion, easily visible
by the trail of glitter. I watched in amazement for about 15 minutes, but then
the BeeGees came on and the dolphins left - obviously not disco-digging dolphins.
One stayed behind a while, dove out of the water a couple of times right beside
me, and then zipped off to join its pod.
We anchored in a very deep bay –
Sirih Bay on Simeulue Island.
LATITUDE: 02-40.46N
LONGITUDE: 096-09.61E
We had to get quite close to shore to find water shallow enough to anchor in. It is very remote ... not even a mosque in sight. Tomorrow we'll travel another 24 miles to get to a town where we should be able to do some business.
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| The charts in this area are off. This poor fellow landed on a reef and has been abandoned. |
March 8:
It took us a while to find a good anchoring spot here in Sinabang (still Simeulue Island) - it's a very deep harbor with a large village.
LATITUDE: 02-28.82N
LONGITUDE: 096-23.16E
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| One of our neighbours. |
Two local boats had already claimed
the one shallower spot we found, but we managed to snuggle safely in between
them.
One of those boats had a man on
board who saw us, made a phone call, then jumped into his tender, scooted ashore,
then returned to us with the Harbor Master, who wanted to come aboard before we
had even dropped our anchor. We asked him to wait ("moment please")
and he did. Then the two of them came on board, had a drink of iced tea, asked
for some beer (we gave them two warm ones) and then the two of them took Darrel
ashore to check in.
Checking in was smooth and cost
about $20 and two more beer, and Darrel saw a few ATMs that we'll try out
tomorrow.
Right now several mosques are competing
for our attention with their loudspeakers, but I think we'll ignore them all.
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| Our other neighbour. |
We had a very productive couple
of days in Sinabang.
Our neighbor, the boat man who
helped us with the harbor master, also got our diesel for us in our jerry cans.
Not only did he make it very easy for us by loading the cans up in his own
tender, delivering them, getting them filled, etc., but he also saved us a pile
of money ... to the tune of $120 less than what we would have paid in Sabang
for 170 litres. We tipped him well.
Today we finished off our income
tax forms and filed them electronically. It took two smoky stops (every man
here smokes heavily) - one at an internet place where I used their computer
until a bunch of men came in and booted up the other computers and then
everything bogged down. So we took our own computer to a coffee shop (where the
owner sent his young son down the street to get ice so we could have an iced
Milo) and I just managed to finish the electronic filing when a couple of other
patrons came in, started up their computers, and then everything bogged down
again. Sigh.
Darrel kept himself busy taking
photos of the village life.
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| "Hello mister!" |
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| A unique taxi. |
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| Lots of garbage cans around. And cigarette advertising. |
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| Village helpers keep bike seats from getting too hot in the sun by covering them. |
We had a couple of good lunches
at a local place. Today when we arrived, I was greeted by name. Day two and we're already feeling at home. The cook had to run
out and buy a few ingredients for our fried rice. It was delicious. The iced
lemon tea was sweet and frosty.
We stocked up on some fresh stuff
and I treated us (me) to a bag of chips.
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| Sinabang |
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| The wharf at Sinabang |
We then took a short trip to Labuhanbajau
at the south end of Simeulue Island. We anchored in a lovely bay surrounded by
flat land with a gazillion palm trees.
LATITUDE: 02-23.91N
LONGITUDE: 096-23.67E
We spent a peaceful night at
Labuhanbajau, with fishing boats continuing to pass by and greet us. Sunset was
special for the sights but especially for the sound. The mosque chanting was
being performed by a sweet, young, haunting voice (maybe a young lad in
training?). It gave us goose bumps. While we have tended to tune-out the
mosques, we paid particular attention to this one. You could hear a nervous
quiver in the lad's voice, but that didn't hide the talent. Unfortunately, he
did not perform the 0530 chant the next morning.
We motored to another island
under very grey skies and lots of rain. We had some ash on CanKata from our
last two stops, so it was good to get a rinse.
We anchored in Pulau Babi on March 12.
LATITUDE: 02-06.89N
LONGITUDE: 096-40.60E
This lovely spot is uninhabited.
There is a narrow strip of water along the sandy shore, then a big drop off
into 200 feet. We found a good spot to anchor (will probably get some bugs
tonight ... on go the screens) and will leave our GPS alarm on in case we get a
stiff off-shore breeze. One never knows - the anchor might drag and drop into
nothingness.
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| Sometimes we have to work. We cleaned the cushions here. |
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| Darrel did some waterproofing. |
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| As in most places we anchored, the water was beautiful. |
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| Paradise all to ourselves. |
We had a productive time in Pulau
Babi. We worked hard in the mornings on boat jobs, and then we snorkeled,
explored in the dinghy, combed the pristine beach, ate hearty lunches and then
spent the late afternoons relaxing.
Again, a few fish boats passed by
and waved (nothing for sale, unfortunately). We found it hard to find a reason
to leave, other than it was time to move on.
So on March 16 we motor-sailed to a quiet
spot in the Banyak Islands - much the same as our last anchorage.
LATITUDE: 02-10.98N
LONGITUDE: 097-11.76E
It's so amazing that there are so
many beautiful anchorages in the world with NO ONE in them.
I wanted to say that "all I
hear is nature" but right then Darrel was hammering on our refrigerator
motor. His repair was successful and our frozen goods are still frozen.
We enjoyed our stay in the Banyak
Islands. We had started calling it "boat chore bay". We had fallen
behind on our maintenance and, after a couple of good days there, are now
caught up. And I'm happy to say that the fridge is running smoothly (knock
wood). Darrel sanded the commutator (part of the positive-negative action that
runs the motor) and performed some other magic and presto - it purrs!
The snorkelling there was pretty
amazing. The water couldn't have been any clearer, and was a perfect
temperature. The coral, which seems to be suffering almost everywhere, is
starting to come back here. Amazing colors - blue, purple, mauve, green,
orange, pink..., and there were a multitude of varieties of colorful reef fish.
We saw a couple of rays, but no clown fish or clams.
We had a huge family of baby
squid around the boat, and a gazillion minnows. It reminds me of when the loons
on Big Rideau Lake used to leave there little ones around our boat when they
went fishing. Nice to be considered a safe haven.
March 20
LATITUDE: 02-02.82N
LONGITUDE: 097-07.78E
WHERE: at Pulau Bangkaru in 21
feet
We were told that Pulau Bangkaru
was "a good sheltered anchorage in sand" but the sand must have all
washed away to Pulau Babi and left coral and rocks. We did find good holding at
a muddy little beach beside a mean-looking raised coral bed. The water has some
sort of algae growth in this corner, so we won't go swimming. The surroundings
are very green and pretty.
March 21
LATITUDE: 01-24.26N
LONGITUDE: 097-10.87E
WHERE: at Lahewa Lagoon in 30
feet
We're getting closer to the
equator. Funny thing: when we get there, day and night will be equal because of
our latitude, at a time when day and night are equal because it is the vernal
equinox. Double whammy. Here's the catch, though: while we should be celebrating
because daylight is getting longer, for us (after we cross the equator),
daylight will be getting shorter. Hmmmmmmm. But as most of you know, this
wasn't in the original plan. And it won't be a significant thing.
We had a few stormy days in
Lahewa Lagoon with lots of thunder and lightning. Most of our spare electronics
spent the time in the microwave oven or the stove's oven. We're still not
positive that the stove's oven is a good Faraday cage (we know that the
microwave is), protecting our electronics from electrostatic influences, but
we're hoping.
It was so very very calm in
Lahewa Lagoon. No swell, no waves, no wakes. Other than the few storms, it was
so peaceful: the nearby mosques weren't as busy as some are, the songbirds in
the lush trees were heavenly, a fisherman played some music that sounded nearly
Polynesian, and another fisherman sang some pleasant songs. The skies were full
of clouds and electricity, but most of the noise was in the distance, with just
a few cracks to keep us
on our toes, and our computers in the ovens. We felt we were a million of miles from anywhere, in a hidden little corner of the lagoon, unable to see the village or harbor.
on our toes, and our computers in the ovens. We felt we were a million of miles from anywhere, in a hidden little corner of the lagoon, unable to see the village or harbor.
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| The tricky entrance to Lahewa Lagoon |
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| A fish farm in the lagoon |
We decided to tackle some special jobs that are easier in dead calm, and stayed on CanKata the first day, saving our trip to town for Saturday.
We had a successful trip ashore. There was a sturdy pier to tie up to, then we visited the harbor master (he just got out of bed I think) whom just waved us on and told us to enjoy our visit, and there were several fruit and vegetable stands to allow us to restock, and - thanks to Darrel's keen eye - buy a vegetable we haven't had in a while: avocado! There were a few small stores, too, and we stopped at one for some mosquito coils. There is a cost to pay for lush calmness in water. In the evenings, when watching our movies on the foredeck, we covered up, put on repellent and burned our coils, but still managed to get a few bites. Sigh.
Ashore, there were hundreds of school children just getting out of class when we arrived - all neatly attired in their uniforms, some on bicycles, some too shy to greet us, but most eager to try out their English "how are you" on us, and all sweet and having fun. The vendors were helpful and friendly, and we were surprised at the amount of English spoken here. They had lots of questions (where are you from, where are you going, do you have children, etc.) which is just the way it is in the S.E. Asian countries we have been in. It is not impolite to ask personal questions; in fact, it is impolite not to.
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| A colourful shop in Lahewa |
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| Darrel amongst the school kids. |
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| An iodine wash for the fresh fruit and vegetables |
We had a good trip today,
motoring in calm winds and seas, with me being able to hang my laundry to dry.
We will eventually be able to replenish our diesel, so we're not worried about
the amount of the motoring we are doing. This is, after all, the doldrums.
March 24-26
LATITUDE: 01-15.31N
LONGITUDE: 097-14.41E
WHERE: at Afulu Lagoon in 24 feet
Three hours after we anchored in
Afulu Lagoon, we had visitors: a local fisherman who guided us through the reef
into the lagoon and who was hoping for a reward (duly given); Kevin, who is on
yacht Helena and who lives to surf and who knows lots of great anchorages in
these parts; and a local boat with what must have been a family reunion - lots
of children, women and men. It was quite a welcome.
This was a great stop for us,
even though it doesn’t rate highly for beach and water quality. Kevin
introduced us to Makmur – a hard-working entrepreneur who helps out cruisers
whichever way he can. Here’s what he did for us: got us two SIM cards (so now
we can phone fellows like Makmur when we need our SIM cards topped up and now we
have internet access - slow!); got us diesel; and – hurray – got us two large
yummy lobsters.
An interesting bit of information
about Makmur: the Canadian Red Cross rebuilt his home after the 2004 tsunami.
They did quite a few homes here. I don’t know who is rebuilding the mosque …
Kevin tells us that it’s at the same stage as it was six years ago.
After getting some valuable
advice from Kevin on anchorages to the south, we prepared to leave Afulu and
our new friend Makmur, looking for more adventures to tell you about.
