From the other boats I met: Ray and Jenny from “Basilea”, Mark, Rachael with children Nomara (12) and Aaron (10) from “Glayva” and Costa, the mad Russian, from “Sheidegg”. What great people and through them I have been able to get the information on how things work in Indonesia and as a consequence will stay and tour the coast of Sumatra. While in Fremantle I had applied for a Clearance Approval for Indonesian Territories (CAIT) via email – thanks to Toby. The CAIT costs around US$200.00 and had been emailed me while I was in Cocos. 
The village of Duru on the bay I had anchored near is very picturesque; there are no cars, no roads, no running water or drainage. The children cross the bay in dugout canoes to go to school. The people were generally happy. Watching the kids happily paddle their way to school across the bay, I could not help but ponder kids back in Perth being driven to school in large fat 4 wheel drives – progress I guess. The village is powered by an ancient generator that is started at sunset and turned off at around 2100. The wiring in the village would be an electrician’s worst nightmare – there are no standards etc. The anachronism is mobile phones and the satellite dishes near some of the houses. These people still live the simple life – some go fishing, some farm coconuts (copra), some build boats and some run small shops. The story of the American Tourist in the Mexican fishing village came to mind – Google “Mexican fishing village story”.
I was befriended by one of the locals Rifan, who was a university student learning English. He was keen to work on his English and help me learn Indonesian. The “Surf Village” near by, run by Mario and Paulo, offers unique accommodation for keen surfers and also employs local villagers.
I spent a fair bit of time with the people from the other boats, after listening to the surfing stories I must have said, more than enough times, that I wished I had learned to surf. Mark from Glayva gave me an old surfboard and a few tips.
The day after Glayva, Sadiqi and Sheidegg motored a few miles north of the bay to visit a river and a safe surfing wave. The ride up the river in our dingys was spectacular. The surfing after that on the learner wave not so great. I wonder if an old dog can learn a new trick. The Mentawais and Telos group of islands, apparently, offer some of the best surfing in the world. This usually means surfing huge waves over shallow reefs. I was none too keen on getting shredded on a coral reef, I’d have to find shallow sand breaks for awhile. This was something I think I shared with ten year old Aaron from “Glayva”. 
After three days of padding around and getting pummelled in the surf the old dog was stiff, sore and absolutely rooted! Hopefully persistence pays off.
With the days passing quickly and I was running out of supplies and needed fuel. It was time to head north to Telo. I chose the passage between Pulau Tanahmas and Pulau Tanahbala. There is very little wind this close to the Equator so it meant motoring again. The passage was largely uneventful until I hit a coral reef and made some unfortunate modifications to the front of Sadiqi’s keel. This was my fault – getting complacent. The C-Map electronic charts that I use did not help much as for this area the charts are out about 700 metres to the West. When I anchored near the village of Duru it actually showed as anchoring on land. Fortunately the damage to Sadiqi’s bottom appears to be superficial and she was not taking in water. Another lesson learned.
After three days of padding around and getting pummelled in the surf the old dog was stiff, sore and absolutely rooted! Hopefully persistence pays off.
