Reflecting

If I look back at the last few months and all we endured, I have to confess that there were times when all we wanted was "beam me up Scotty", we've had enough. In hindsight, it doesn't seem possible to have been in absolutely nowhere, and believe me, I am NOT exaggerating when I say we were so far from any form of civilisation that it really did deserve the name of Nowheresville.  Even the charts didn't know where we were!

Despite that and almost zero methods of communication, we managed to order, have delivered and install the offending piece of our engine all within three weeks!  Our daily HF chats with Mick on Zoa were the ultimate godsend solution.  He looked up things, passed on messages and generally acted as our go-between.  Then big thanks to Rob back in Jepara who looked after the financial aspects; we were able to get the part ordered and paid.  It was then delivered to Pedang on mainland Sumatra and sent via a surf charter boat to a nearby island who then sent their little power boat up the river to deliver to us.  We've had friends in large marinas order items from the States or UK and have to wait longer despite having first rate Internet and phones.  We, on the other hand, had no phone and no internet, just occasionally able to send an SMS if Paul climbed to the top of the mast to find a signal.  We were not far from learning smoke signals and the value of tribal drums.

Our next saving grace was the arrival of Jack and Sandy on Zorana.  They had been hoping to catch up with us and had somehow managed to hear us on the HF radio with Mick one day.  They were working their way down the coast of Sumatra and eventually joined us in Nowheresville.  I don't think they knew what they were getting themselves into.  

While waiting for our part, they helped with repairs on our headsail as well as the roller furler which had been damaged during the tow.  We had thought we'd have to cross the Indian relying on just our staysail or storm sail.  But most of all, they helped lift our spirits when we were feeling so down, a lift which we so desperately needed.  

Along with the arrival of our engine part, we received materials necessary for Paul to fix the huge gaping hole in our foredeck caused when the Samson post was ripped out so that was another essential job to be done before we could think of leaving.

Jack did discover that there was a little village a few miles around the corner from where we were anchored but, as we'd not dared go searching due to lack of petrol, we had not known it was there.  It was tiny but we managed to find a few fresh goodies prior to our departure as well as top up with diesel and petrol.  If we'd only known beforehand, we might have felt a little more at ease but there was no one nearby to ask so we remained ignorant until Jack went off investigating.

I've said it before but I'll say it again, if this had been our first year of cruising, there would never have been a second.  However, I know we'll look back on it one day and laugh about it or at least smile and reminisce.

So we have to say a big thank you to Mick as well as to Rob, Jack and Sandy and to all who were sending out little prayers for us - we made it with a little (a lot) help from our friends!