Back from Indo 5

Welcome Everybody to my next Blog!! This blog is about our next trip to Indonesia on our sailing yacht Micah!!

Leaving Micah in Malaysia, we have just returned to South Africa for a two month visit but my mind is full of wind and salt still....I have not been back to Sa in 3 years so it all feels very exciting but scary too...

  Here sailing the wild windy waters of Indo...Africa was far away then:)

There is a piece of me in this photo...like standing on the edge of a cliff...it attracts and petrifies me at the same time...

At last...a quiet moment to start my next blog:) This blog is mostly about our recent adventures in Indonesia after four months of surfing epic waves! Enjoy!

Early days on Micah in the Mentawi islands:) Below three years later:)

Heading home always makes Brent smile...a house that stays in one place, a comfy car or two, and people that listen to him;)

But- before I start from the beginning of our Indo times , just a snippet on where we are now:)

We arrived in AFRICA- South Africa by plane and not by yacht...a week ago.

 A piece of Africa:)

This is one of my paintings that I bought a few years ago! It is one of the things that lightened my heart to see again:)

 And what about this sight below! We have been sailing the ocean now for three years and it takes me coming all the way back to 

Africa to see this majestic whale leaping out of the sea at the beach here! 

It says something for the beauty of our ocean we have on our doorstep! I am proud to be South African:)

Cody surfs the Indonesian  Indian Ocean:)

I flew in here with the wind and salt still in my hair and the adrenalin of all our recent Indonesian adventures, still fresh in my blood!

 What a strange feeling to be back after three years of living on 15x9m of yacht...I actually feel bad for Catamaran Micah. She sits in a marina in Malaysia, with only the swallows to keep her company;)...waiting for our return and thank-goodness- we will be returning:)...

Our wild birds in Malaysia (aboveabove) and our domestic budgies in SA...:)

Some of my wilder pets;) Above and below!

For me- I find looking at so many people, cars, highways and buildings...quite exhausting and depressing as I have become used to living and looking at water:) ...not that we do not live at the edge of the ocean in SA too-it is just that that lifestyle suits me;)...

This life suits you too Cally:)

I cannot complain though... I
Below-Our beautiful hometown in Durban:)

"Uncle Darren" in the centre with our beautiful daughter Cally and her friend Cameron and brother, Caden- 
Posers! 
( I am a fine one to talk;) )

Look at the gas chamber on this wave...
Below and taking his pose seriously:)- Cody in that barrel!

All we seem to do here in SA is eat!(Lucky us!) We are definitely going to be rolling back to the yacht again after all the "treats" we keep treating ourselves too;) It is like we have been on the Survivor series for three years and now Nando's chicken livers and Spur spare ribs are just the best things ever!!Happy eating;)

Of course, re-uniting with our lost crew member;)- Cally (our stunning daughter!), has made tearing myself from the yacht- worthwhile!Cally, bravely returned to high school in Sa to finish her education in a good school-without the support of us:(! She has made us proud!

Cally and I at her school drama evening!

My last blog was written and posted an hour before we sailed out of Malaysia and off over the Malacca Strait to Indonesia:) We had no idea what we were in for despite having been there four times before...

I took this photo of these dolphins above in Jeffreys Bay years ago...In 3 years I have not seen dolphins doing this in Indonesia! We have a beautiful ocean in South Africa!

And our story from my diary continues:)

"We are back in Indonesia!

It has been so stressful getting ready to come over here that for ages I have had no inspiration to write.Today is the first morning where I have felt the beauty of the day and started to unwind.

Right now- we are sailing along the north coast of Sumatra in a westerly direction.

My permanent sailing hairdo:)
The wind is so strong that we cannot put the whole genoa sail out in case it tears!

 We crossed over the Straits of Malacca under a train of cloud a few days ago. We left Langkawi in the middle of a storm system! Abandoning our planned stopover in Phuket to buy all my luxury food items :(-liquorice all sorts...ginger biscuits...bulk everything...Brent took advantage of a one day weather window to cross the expanse of water that connects Malaysia to Sumatra.But of course, it is a two day plus crossing in a straight line to get to the East coast of Sumatra and we could not avoid the high winds and rough seas that met us on the other side. We have never experienced anything like it!

Above- the sea was so disgusting that Brent decided to head straight toward land and see if we could find some protection...The best we could find- 3m of chop on a sandbank....did we rock!
Below- Caden and his brave face-
"agh"- children are so resilient;)

This is the first time in all 5 sailing trips to Indo that we have experienced such bad weather for so many days! I know it all goes down to experience;). but we were fighting the elements out there!

Above...this fishing boat knew where it was spending its night...not us, we just kept on going toward the tip of Sumatra. Hugging the coastline did not help...strong currents and bullying winds worked against us in a sluggish seasick getting no-where motion.

We have been pounded by choppy rolling seas on the nose of the yacht, and with no protected anchorages...we just slammed into each wave and then nose-dived into troughs! It has been horrible and I have been feeling so seasick that drinking tea (my favorite thing:) ) is not possible. We have been the only crazy boat out here, persevering forward and praying for some light and calm seas at the end of the tunnel:)

Look at this photo below: a storm traveling next to us:)

Earlier days on tiny islands! Caden and I!

When the storms pass...:)and the light shines at the end of the tunnel!
Below-the kind of troughs Micah surfers do not complain about:P

The kind of wave that Brent and Cody want coming their way;)! 
Below-Here Cody finds his ultimate barrel! 
Note TO CODY: I Must be doing something right;)
Photo taken from dingy by ME!

And in the middle of all the tossing and turning...a beautiful reminder came out to show us that storms do pass:)

We are sailing parallel to shore and we are still on the East coast of Sumatra. Not a fishing boat in sight- they are all hiding in their secret spots that we cannot find! The angle of the high 36 knot wind is such that we have no alternative but to keep sailing head-on for shore and then tacking back out to sea in a zigzag pattern (which means the yacht is guzzling loads of fuel and we are not getting anywhere!)-Quite a desperate feeling and I am hearing myself repeating the phrase- I think my days of sailing are over...

Can you believe it! We found a calm bay- deadcalm!- little curve in the shoreline. Ah! heaven! Peace:) The boys are already overboard-swimming around the yacht! And here come the fishing men on their little boats...

Storms feel very distant in this moment in time....

There was not a ripple on the sea when we woke up this morning...Everything was shrouded in a grey hue with majestic mountains that at dusk last night had been crisply visible with a fine dusting of white cloud..now swallowed up in a gown of mist...

I feel relief when I see these mountains in Sumatra...I can believe that tigers can still be free and wild on those slopes-I hope and pray.
 Around us are scores of small local dugout fishing boats with one or two fishermen tirelessly waving their arms up and down as they tease the fish with their lines.

Filled with optimism that we can make it to Banda Aceh in 5 hours if we up anchor now, we left this protection and as we rounded the corner...our high spirits and with raised sails Micah sailed straight into an endless trail of fishing nets. Swerving hard we pointed the bows at the fuzzy not so promising weather up ahead and it did not take long for that crafty wind to find us- charging at us like an overgrown cub wanting to play but not finding an enthusiastic playmate.

Me feeling seasick now for 5 days since we left Langkawi!

Cody was born a surfer- above now in Indo 2013 and below - years gone by....(ps. in the days when I was allowed to take photos of him;) ) I miss Cody already:( He has come back to SA to complete his final years at high school....:( What are we going to do without Cody on Micah:(((- I love this boy now a young man.........

Brent is in control:) That mainsail is going up and then reefing down- genoa is out and jammed tight-the jesting between man and nature continues:)

 Nature does have a sense of humor;) and we are sailing a fine line trying to stay just out of the clutches of the 30 knott winds.

At that moment we were dreaming of those tranquil Thai days:)...
Below...those wonderful days at the Wave Park in Phuket where one can just walk away from the wild water when one has had enough;)

Zangy Palm trees when we eventually set foot on land again:)

Look at beautiful Cally at about 5 years old at the top of these pics above and above now at 18!

Cally years ago with the ocean in her blood...
and below good times with my daughter in days gone by!And now some more beautiful moments......with Cally:)

I am so happy that we could have had the opportunity to take her out of school for two years and have her with us on Micah to share this adventure and quality time with us! Now  after returning back to boarding in Durban,as soon as she is finished her finals-Cally is coming back for a few months to sail with us and I cannot wait!! Woohoo!!

Back to life on Micah and weathering the seemingly unpredictable waters of Indonesia...

Yesterday was perfect weather for us! The ocean was a beautiful misty blue and the boys were leaping into all that blueness! The local fishing boats darted around us cheekily, competing with each other with noisy motors and rough looking sailors.

Caden could not resist trading with them. When boats approach us Cody will run into the saloon and avoid communication with the locals but Caden has to go out and see what they have to offer in terms of fish or squid or octopus or coconuts:)...

Caden will come running out leaping onto the cockpit table over the rails and onto the sugarscoops at the stern of the yacht. "Ada Ikan?" -Have fish?
Actually up to now we have only caught one tuna and that one got away:( But Caden traded cigarettes for a bonito:(- which I had the pleasure of filleting and cooking.

What?!! I take my fishing seriously;P

Below look at the fish we caught last year I think!

 Look at how amazing the clouds look above this fellow in the pic above:)

Yesterday...about 30 flies came aboard even though we are out at sea! That is what happens when we get too close to land. Despite the furious fly swatting contests,(not me! sis!) the flies have moved in! Caden also got us some teeny bunches of bananas- as fruit is now scarce on Micah- banana fritters and banana shakes went down well:)

Cody "floating" ;)

Our friend Todd from Gone Surfing:) Surfing like a pro!

Below our very own Captain shows us how it is done!

One thing about sailing is that we are always hungry! Nothing goes to waste on our yacht especially in Indo! I am neurotic about running out of food and knowing that we have got nearly 4  months ahead of us in this quite wild area I worry that by the time our friends arrive here in 3 months time, that we may not have any of our precious meat left to feed them. "welcome to Micah...if you get hungry ummm go spear some fish!" That will not be the most welcome that a person could feel after flying all the way here from SA!

Brent has been working so hard on this yacht. After all the incredible winds, the sails had some small tears in them and here brent is repairing the sails ...

Here above, despite the rough seas which a photo can never seem to show...Brent is in the engine compartments checking on something...who knows what is going on down there but I stay in the kitchen (galley) and as far away from those hatches as possible;)

Our anchorage for the night out of desperation at Raya island...Mud and sandbank and shallow water...This fishing boat came and rocked violently next to us...
What a day today has been! I have no idea what day of the week it is.Each windy rocky seasick day just merges into the next for me....This morning we woke up after our second day off Banda Aceh.We are finally at the Northern tip of Sumatra and last night we seemed to drop anchor miles from shore and yet the swells rolled in bouncing on our beam and rolling us. This is because it is only about 5m deep even though we are far away from shore! Who knows what happens to the depth when the tide drops!It was another uncomfortable and disturbing dark night as the wind howled and whistled and when we woke up, the sky was grey and the sea was grey. We felt pretty desperate to find a better anchorage.In the night time everything feels worse especially when a large swell picks us up from the side and heaves us around! Wohoa!!

Still to come...thank-goodness..a calmer anchorage:)

The days have been flying and my pen cannot keep up.We rounded the Sumatran coast and finally reached the west coast but the weather and the sea has not got any calmer. Another day of feeling seasick to the point where my mind just rolled around in my head while I lay on the saloon floor curled up in a ball!Since I last chatted, we have inched our bows swell by swell deeper into the Indo waters. Right now,we are moving side to side hectically with the swell and rough seas. Raya island is up ahead. Things are banging in the cupboards and I had to take a piece of seasick tablet!

Today was quite eventful:) Just to get to this point, our second night off Banda Aceh, Brent desperately searched for a more comfortable anchorage and he found a spot. However the winds that howled down the mountain gullies blew up to 47 knots! I really thought we may be the first flying catamaran as the yacht strained and twisted around on her anchor chain. 

Brent had already made a mental note to repair two rusty links in the chain and as soon as the rain downpour stopped briefly, Caden and Brent went to shore on the dingy to see if they could somehow find some transport to give them a lift to town. With the luck of Brent, on the remote windswept shore, a man approached them and for R200, took them all over the show.While Cody and I minded the boat, Brent shopped and came back with loads of veggies, chocolates, fruit, malaria medication and the bad news that his computer with all our tracks and safe anchorages in Indo...had crashed. So we have THAT to look forward to now.Finding our way through some hairy treacherous routes to get to the familiar spots to drop our anchor...sometimes at night, was going to be very interesting!

I think that I should post this blog now just in case I have a glitch like before where I spent two months putting the blog together with all the photos and then the entire blog vanished! 

This is only the beginning of the Indo 5 adventure and there is still so much to come...from here we have to cross through a narrow expanse of tidal ocean before we can cross to the other side of Sumatra!! I can only hope that whoever reads this blog enjoys it as much as I do in putting it together for you:) Until soon I hope!!