Day 13 august 31st - Dingy won't start

Andy was on deck and noticed Roger and Dominic was paddling towards us.
We had to get Todd to tow our dingy. Todd and Marc spent a few hours trying to fix the problem.
Todd got it started but there was some fuel leak and apparently there were a few issues including ignition coil.

Dominic brought on board quite a few boxes of beer, snack drinks and other goodies from Australia etc. including very good dried prunes,  home dried tomatoes and his special peanut butter. He is a retired Auzies, love to surf and fish, and have been living in Roti, Indonesia for quite a number of years.

Day 12 August 30th - Washing the deck

We are expecting Roger's friend named Dominic arrival tomorrow so we are doing some chores today.
Andy brushed the deck with detergent while I got the easier task,  sprayed it down with the salt water hose.
The cabin is vacuumed, Rene cleaned the bathroom etc.

Day 11 august 29th - How to throw compost overboard

except plastics, we collect most of our kitchen scraps, paper packaging and throw them overboard.
Well... I was just dumping down the contents of the buckets right off the side of boat.
This makes a splash and with our coffee grounds could stain the paint of the boat.
Not sure how the stain on there ..may be its from my wrong way of throwing.
Roger and Marc had to clean with a brush and detergents.
I learned that I should be using more of ' trajectory ' action, to throw trash away from the boat.
also need to observe which way the wind is blowing ..

Day 10 august 28th - coconuts

So the way to get to enjoy some local coconuts is just walk around and when u see some good ones, just ask the locals that were hanging out and sitting around their front porch. In this picture, the man climbed up the very tall tree with just a home made rope harness. It was amazing to watch him climb up so swiftly.
 

It is a poor village, people are very friendly. They just stare at you while you walk. Mostly the kids smile and  'Hello Mister'! whether you are a man or woman. There are few shops that sells junk food snacks, a few motorbikes repairs shops.

Trash are seen everywhere along the streets and streams. Mostly packaging from snacks. There is only one type of black plastic bags use by everyone.

Day 9 : August 27th - Shadow in the Wind

Good surf day for the boys. Marc took video of them while I walked around the area on reef surface
There were little pools of waters around reefs where  little fishes, tiny crabs and other unknown critters swam around.
Its another warm and humid day. I wore long sleeves and pants but still got quite a few 'no-see-em' bugs bites on my shoulders and arms.

.I started reading 'Shadow in the Wind'  by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
I'm not much a reader but find myself on page 169 after a few rainy days.

Day 8, August 26th 2013, A New Swell

The day started with a small increase in swell, Andy, The Captain and Mark, were picked up by Todd at 7:15am. A 5 minute dingy ride across the lagoon, a 10 a minute walk though the jungle and finally 10 minute paddle to the deserted earth quake risen point.
Mark filmed, while three of us carefully picked off a few overhead waves.

Overall some great waves and a few casualty’s. Todd snapped his legrope and lost his board and the Captain had a few gnarly wipeout’s, which left him with a cut head and an incredibly large left testicle, which would have made buster Gonad proud.  Andy this time left the water unmarked, but surfed with a bandaged sore head, his bandage board ( a casualty the previous bigger swell)  still out of the water.

After lunch a number chores had to be done the grey water tanks required emptying and a new bilge pump fitted. Renay and Mark completed this, while Swee and Andy continued polishing chrome winches and fixings, and swam around the boat cleaning the water line.

Day 7 August 25th, 2013 Ocean bath

gonna try to make my blog simpler from here on.  I envy the guys just jump next to the boat for a quick swim and feel refreshed. Well I have been gathering up my courage..You all know me and my swimming talent LOL. I went in for the first time today. The warm bath water is so soothing. Definitely easier to float. Marc patiently helped and stay close. Treading water is much easier. I am so glad I finally got my ocean bath. Plan is to get confidence each day!

Day 6 : August 24th - Rainbow n close encounter with reef

Went out for walk on the beach this am. It is very warm and humid here.

Captain Roger, Andy and Todd had a pretty good surf day. But when we met up for the dingy, I saw Andy had a cut on his head from reef and was bleeding! We got back to the boat and Roger cleaned and bandaged him up. We are glad Andy is ok and smiling.
Thus Andy suggested title for todays blog 'close encounter with reef'
 
Now I know being a captain carries so many roles. He is the doctor, the mentor, the engineer etc etc.

This evening, we saw a beautiful rainbow.

I took my first shower on deck, with a view! after dark, it was so invigorating.
Much better than Indoor shower room where the cold water is way too warm.
After dinner, I did some stretches and exercise while the boys watched a movie.
It was cool to do downward facing dog post and saw starry nights and ocean upside down :]

Day 5 : August 23rd 2013 - Power Generator Problems

Day started with the power generator overheating, after a close inspection we discovered that particles of plastic were floating in the cooling hose.

These particles were parts of the cooling impeller and a common problem found in all maritime generators is that these impellers have a short life span and often break. The generator is new and has only done 124 hours. The problem was left in the capable hands of Mark who has dealt with this problem of poor design many times. Within an hour Mark had removed all the loose plastic from the cooling system and replaced the impeller.

While Mark was fixing our life saving power source me (Andy) serviced and cleaned our water maker, which uses a process called reverse osmosis to create fresh water from sea water. 4 filters from 5 to 20 microns were removed and cleaned.

This only took about an hour which gave me and the Captain time to go to the beach for a surf. Had a few average waves and a long paddle, but overall not that good for Indonesia. The surf forecast for the next few days looks very good!

Swee and Mark took a tour of Gone Surfing a 42 ft catamaran, which belongs to Todd, who made the boat himself.

With regards to shopping a quick dingy run to the local pier the Captain retrieved 4 chickens (plucked and dead of course) and few large Bintang bottles of beer.

Anyway we now have power,water and food, to continue our adventure. The alcohol has already been consumed mostly by Swee.

Written by Andy Annear Gloria crew member

Day 4 : August 22, 2013 - Farmers Market at Afulu Village

Afulu is a little village on north west coast of Nias,a big island west of North Sumatra. Every Thursday morning there is market where we can buy fresh veggies etc. I was happy to see some of the Asian veggies I recognized. The market also sells all sorts of snacks, grains, lots of dried fish, some fresh fish and household items. I was so excited to see taro ie Ubi, or Lan Eng calls it yam lol. Marc made taro chips and everyone loves it!

For dinner, Marc made a delicious curry barracuda and I made a stir fry Chinese red leaves green, perhaps yin choy ? The boys were so hungry for new fresh greens. It seems before I arrived. All they have been eating is cabbage, carrots and potatoes since they dd not recognized the other produced.

I was quite down since day 2 about not able to use my iPad since it only has Wifi and not 3/4G cellular ?
very grateful Andy lets me use his laptop to email. The others ware not willing and told me No ;(
Internet is very slow and takes forever to load web page or FB so I am very happy to have Shuw Ling help me post these blogs!
We are docking here because captain Roger loves to surf. We will have internet for the next 10 days or so while we are at Afulu.
Do not know exactly when Captain is ready to head out to Siboga where we will stock up supplies enough to take us to Madagascar.

Day 3 : August 21, 2013 - Barracuda!

Marc and I dropped laundry at village, since we are really conserving water, I washed my hair at the community well where the local women washed their laundry. I was happy to see locals cutting down coconuts. We each had one and the friendly local did not even want our money for it.

Since the rain, the sea water by the lagoon was brownish so we took the boat out further out to make water. The boat uses reverse osmosis to make fresh water. We had one sail up. I was excited to feel it moving. The boys checked out possible surfing spots. We checked out another more remote island called Wuunga where water so clear I could see corals and reefs and fishes.

Marc caught a barracuda while the boat was moving. There were big excitement to reel in that 5 foot fish. Rene made delicious ceviche from the freshly caught fish. It taste like chicken lol. It is not a flaky tender fish but we are happy since we have been just eating canned tuna or sardine.

Day 2 : August 20, 2013 - 10 Gallons of rain water

 

I had purple sweet potatoes and plantain for breakfast. Sitting and eating on deck, i could not believe I am actually here. It is so peaceful and quiet. We only have one neighbor Todd, who is solo on a beautiful 46 foot catamaran which he took 9 years to built. Todd generously gave us 10 gallons of rain water which he collected. We did not collect any and ran out of water. Roger re-position the canvas on deck so we can collect from now on. In the pm, we walked to the village to  top off credit for phone.

I rode scooter with a local girl, went to her house and bought two papayas for us. One of them was too high on the papaya tree that a little boy easily and happily climbed up to get the ripe one. I talked to the local in Malay if they would do a load of laundry for us since we ran out of water.

I took a pic of Andy watching a beautiful sunset. Dinner was sour kraut n potatoes.

Day 1 : August 19, 2013 - Gunung Sitoli, Northern Sumatras

 

Arrived at Gunung Sitoli airport in the rain.

Happy to see fellow crewman Andy, accompanied a local driver to pick me up in a nice SUV. We stopped for some grocery in the village. After 2.5 hrs of driving, we came to Afulu lagoon. I pulled my 2 luggages on dirt and sand by the dock. Marc and Rene, the Swiss crew man came to get us in a dingy.

I was so excited to see Gloria. She is beautiful and bigger than in the picture Captain Roger sent me. Lagoon is beautiful lined with coconut trees.

Everyone is friendly and welcoming. Captain Roger showed me around his boat. My cabin on port side, own mirror and sink along with an opening skylite hatch ;)
Everyone is so happy that I bought along the Brita filter and the rest of the goodies.
Dinner is green curry chicken with brown rice.