Position Report from Calypso

I just spoke to Paul on the Radio, the signal was very poor, but I managed to hear that they are at
Lat 01 Deg 46'S Lon 099 Deg 15'E.
All is well on board, but they have sustained some damage, and will be delayed heading for Cocos Keeling.
I will speak again tomorrow night, hopefully there is better Radio Propagation.
Regards
Mick SV Zoa

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Calypso's Position via Zoa

I just received Calypso's position @ 20:15 Indo Time (utc +7) over the radio.
They were at Lat 00 Deg 33'S, Lon 098 Deg 29'E,
All is well.
Regards
Mick
SV Zoa

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Pulau Sipika on the Equator

It's wet!!

Rain, rain and more rain!  In fact, more rain than we can remember since our time in Jepara during the monsoon season.  We left Lagundri after just a couple of days, primarily as there was no means of getting the dinghy ashore in order for us to wander around the village so we left in the good remaining light of Friday afternoon in order to arrive at our next destination, Pulau Sipika, in good light the following morning.  Ha!  We managed to arrive at seven thirty in the morning in the midst of a howling gale, torrential rain and so overcast, it may as well have been nighttime: and six days later, it was still raining!

We had agreed to meet Zoa here after they'd had to go off to mainland Sumatra to renew their visas and thought they'd make it down by the weekend.   They arrived in Sumatra in plenty of time to go to the immigration offices on the Fiday but, true to Indonesian bureaucracy, they were messed around and told to return on the Monday.  When Monday arrived, they were told to return on the Tuesday.  It seems that the new government regulations favourable to yachts has not quite filtered down to all the departments around this vast country.  Suggestions of greased palms entered the fray but they eventually got the necessary stamp in their passports and high-tailed it down to meet us on the Wednesday where, of course, it was raining.

Pulau Sipika is a tiny island popular for its surfing and lies virtually right on the equator and a very pretty spot if it would just stop raining.  Yes, we've crossed back into the southern hemisphere, undoubtedly for the last time aboard Calypso.  There's not much on the island, just a surf camp and a few houses; no shops, restaurants and no internet or phone connections.  Crikey, a whole week without knowing what's going on in the world!  

Sadly, the unfortunate thing for us as we prepare to cross an ocean is - we have no means of sending or receiving emails en route.  Our previously faithful modem which we used for linking to our ship's radio, has died.  We are going to try to contact other boats who can perhaps post messages to our blog site for us but there's no guarantee as there are too few boats following this route with us.  We'll do whatever we can but may not be able to update the blog until we reach civilisation again.

Moving on south

Pulau Asu

We could have stayed endlessly in Pulau Lasia but time marches on and we've still got a lot of mileage to cover to get as far south as possible if we want to get to Cocos Keeling in early June.

Our next stop was a lagoon on the northern tip of Pulau Nias, one of the bigger islands off Sumatra's west coast.  This was a well protected lagoon but we didn't want to venture into the town of Lahewe as it has a very prominently positioned harbour master and, as we have already checked out of Indonesia, we're basically flying under the radar and daren't come across any curious officials so we only rested the one night then sailed around the headland and down to the tiny town of Ufulu in another very well protected bay.

As one arrives outside the bay, there is absolutely no evidence of calm waters beyond the humongous breaking waves visible all around.  Here, one must trust waypoints given by earlier brave skippers!  Lo and behold, eventually an opening appears amongst the surging white waters and beyond that, a very peaceful anchorage.  It almost defies belief.

Ufulu was another village that was badly hit by the tsunami and remains incredibly poor.   Prior to the earthquake, there was a fringing reef outside the bay but this was lifted a couple of metres out of the water and 11 years of growth have created a substantial protective island with some wonderful surfing waves a regular feature.  The sad part was that all that reef was, once upon a time, beautiful coral formations but now is dry land slowly creating its own lush vegetation.  

Like most Indonesians, the resto owner had to have his photo taken

We were there for one very rainy day which just happened to be my birthday and, as there was nowhere in the village to have a celebratory meal, we found a chap who would drive the four of us back up to Lahewe to get some fruit and veggies and to find a suitable restaurant for the occasion.  We enjoyed a very nice local-type meal, bought a few fresh items (few being the operative word) then had drinks and snacks abroad Calypso that evening along with John, a single-hander on the catamaran Barnacle C.  All in all, a very pleasant day.

 

After a couple of days, we moved on to Pulau Asu, a tiny island with great surfing spots.  Mick, from our neighbouring boat Zoa, is a keen surfer and managed a few sessions while we were at Ufulu but they're having to move on too as their visa expires and they need to get to the mainland to extend it.  Our afternoon exercise was a stroll through the jungle amid hundreds of coconut palms.  Such a pretty spot.

We are now sitting at the south end of Pulau Nias at Legundra Bay.  It's a lovely place and is, apparently, very famous for its surfing.  From our anchored position, we can see huge waves with plenty of surfing bodies coming down them.  Unfortunately, the big negative is that there is nowhere to land a dinghy and we need to get ashore to get some provisions in Teluk Dalam, the nearby town.  

The guys did however, manage to organise some fuel.  We're only a short distance north of the equator and that means almost no wind and even when there is a bit, you can bet your bottom dollar, IT'S RIGHT ON THE NOSE!  Hence, we've been doing more than our fair share of motoring.

Zoa has just left us to get over to mainland Sumatra and we'll meet up with them again at another island almost right on the equator.  It's a 64nm trip for us so we've decided to make it an overnight run as there are too many reefs and tiny islands at the far end; we need to reach that in good light.

PHOTO ALBUM:

Such a pretty smiling face in Ufulu

Zoa and Calypso at anchor in Asu

Beautiful jungle

We came across this chap climbing the coconut palms

as easily as we walked the path.

He cut us coconuts to drink

Cloves drying in the streets of Lahewe

A family in Ufulu

The pier that corruption built - it lasted one year!

Need your surf board repaired?

 

Beauty & Devastation

The sun setting on Pulau Lasia

For the first few days after leaving Sabang, we had another pair of hands helping out, a Czechoslovakian chap, Petr.  He had crossed over from Malaysia on another boat, asked if we could take him further down and drop him off somewhere on the main island.  He is making his way around the world on a bicycle!  He needed to get onto Sumatra to carry on down the island before trying to find a boat that will take him over to Java.  His whole plan is to circumnavigate without planes, trains, buses or cars.  Quite a prospect methinks.  We thoroughly enjoyed his company for those few days and speculated how wonderful it would be to have those extra hands to help us across the Indian but he's going the other way and well, so far, we've managed on our own.

As we work our way southwards down the western coast of Sumatra, we have found some amazing spots.  

We continue to see a lot of evidence of the 2004 tsunami.  The charts are no longer accurate, islands have appeared and disappeared, depths have changed and I doubt that the charts were spot on to begin with.  When one thinks that islands well north of Phuket were hit badly, then the northern part of Sumatra being the worst at the epicentre, and now we are well south of that and still the devastation and destruction here was immense.  One wonders if some areas will ever fully recover.

A foundation and roof is all that's left of this home

We stopped at the village of Labuhanbaja on Pulau Simelu, where we walked around the village meeting the friendly, smiling faces.  We felt a little like the Pied Piper with our entourage of children following behind.  There was much evidence of flattened homes, bared concrete foundations and ruins and many houses still being reconstructed.

Our next stop was the small, uninhabited island of Pulau Lasia.  Magic!  What a beautiful place; fine white white sandy beaches, crystal clear turquoise waters, coconut palms by the thousands, bright coloured new coral formations and just generally, one of the most gorgeous anchorages ever.  We, along with Zoa, had a braai (BBQ) one of the nights while watching a magnificent sunset.  What more could we ask? 

PHOTO GALLERY: 

Leaving Sabang with the construction of Kilometre Zero monument from the sea

Six lovely girls came to visit us

At anchor in Labuhanbaja

A little artwork on a rebuilt house

A new canoe

What's with the 2-finger sign all over the world?!

She looked fierce but I quietly said "Boo" and she ran like hell

Pulau Lasia

A BBQ with Mick and Janice off Zoa

There were so few shells around that these little hermit crabs had to hide in a flower!

Fisherman from the next island came to visit

Hospitality Plus

We are currently anchored in Sabang on Pulau (Island) Weh attending their 2nd annual Marine Festival.  It lies within the province of Aceh in Sumatra which is a semi-autonomous region situated at the extreme north-western point of Indonesia.  

This was the closest point of land to the epicentre of the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 2004 which killed 190 000 people and left over half a million homeless in Sumatra alone.  Nearly twelve years later, there is little physical evidence remaining but the magnitude of this disaster is certainly still very much a part of their lives.

This region has had its fair share of civil wars over the past century, the most recent being a bloody civil war between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement, the Acehenese people wishing to secede.  This violent war went on for a number of years but came to an abrupt end as a result of the tsunami disaster.  At least there was a positive aspect to the tragedy.

Relative to most of the country, it is a religiously conservative area and has the highest proportion of Muslims mostly living according to Sharia customs and laws.  Alcohol is not served or sold but in an effort to attract tourism, this seems to be changing.  We heard that last year, several boats were threatened with arrest for just having alcohol on their vessels which is why we were more than a little surprised, and delighted, to each be given a case of beer by the organisers of the event.  

They are really going all out in their efforts to promote Aceh to the cruising population.  By entertaining us in this manner, they are hoping that we will spread the word and that, in the future, this region will become a popular location for cruisers, divers and tourists in general.  

They have even gone to the extent of building a marina in a lovely secluded bay not far from here.  Half a dozen boats sailed over where we were treated to a wonderful show of traditional dance and music before being taken to the next village for a fabulous lunch at a rebuilt restaurant which had nothing left but the cement foundations the day after the tsunami.  

 

 

Sadly, the marina itself is very inadequate for yachts our size.  The piers are simple floating plastic platforms with no pile driven supports, there are absolutely no facilities (water, electricity, ablution block, nearby shops, restaurants etc), in fact, there is not even a road at present to reach it.  We were asked to give our suggestions and recommendations to help them create a proper marina but, at this stage, none of us could honestly say it was likely to become viable.  I hope we're all wrong.  

Throughout the days of the festivities, we were treated to all manner of games (canoe races, greasy pole climb, races, rope pull, etc), tours and endless food, gifts and entertainment. Suffice it to say, our stop here will not be forgotten easily and we sincerely hope that they continue receiving positive feedback along with many more tourists.

PHOTO ALBUM: 

Cooking one of their famous dishes - Murtabak

Traditional dress

Sumatran fishing boats

Entertaining us with traditional dancing

Watching the games

Some of the greased pole contestants

Sparkling clear waters

Lunch break

Kilometre Zero, the farthest extent of Indonesia

Wash day

Hiking up to the waterfall

Sheer bliss

More traditional dancing at the Tsunami Museum

A fishing boat that landed on top of a house 3km inland, kept as a reminder

This was a floating power station that was washed 5km inland!