By Jim Banks

Day 1

It's 2am and it's been a long day of refueling and restocking. I thought I might get some sleep before we left but no chance. Time to wake the captain and get going. The engine fires up and we untie ourselves from the giant rice filled Sulawesi freighter next to us.

All day long they had been unloading the heavy 25kg bags of rice one by one from the Sulawesi freighter. Each bag had to be lifted up out of the hold, balanced across the back of the neck and then carried across the blazing hot deck, up the rusty gangplank and into the back of the beaten old truck. It was backbreaking and exhausting work. It had taken a team of 8 all day to do it. I had a feeling they might be sleeping deeply by now as we motored out into the channel and headed south.

It's completely black as we pull slowly away from the Kupang wharf and I feel respect for our captains ability to navigate our way as we pull out into the dark night.

There was a couple of interesting set ups that I wanted to reach at first light. I didn't know anything about them, or whether swell even reached that far up the coast. I felt they were worth a look. But I was so exhausted from the restocking that I slept through the pass by of the first point but managed to stumble around and wake enough to check the second potential point. Micro peelers were running down the point as we motored past. There was definitely potential here but whether it ever received sufficient swell was something that we weren't going to find out today.

This coastline was really isolated. No canoes on the beach, no hazey smoke drifting up out of the forest...not sign of inhabitation anywhere. It's surprising there's no one around. Especially in a country that no matter where I go there always seems to be someone around. The idyllic beaches here would be perfect for launching canoes and pulling fish out of this teeming ocean. A little further down the coast we pass a couple of tiny villages, but these and what appears to be one lone mission up on a hill is the only sign of life we see along the entire coast.

Finally, we start to hit some swell and we pass a small wave bouncing off a rocky headland. But it's pretty ordinary and we keep moving. A little later we're about to pass by the western corner of an island when one of us spot a couple of peeling almond eyes over at the eastern end of the island. I nod to the captain to change direction and we head over to it. Once again it's too small to surf but it's a very interesting set up. The waves is completely around the back of the island on it's leeward side. Logic would say that there should be nothing but calm water here, especially with the small swell that's running. But there they are, tiny peelers running mechanically along the reef.

Now that we've headed over towards the eastern end of the island, we continue our easterly direction and as we come around the eastern corner of the island we are met with a pretty serious looking wave. It's only small today and breaking right on the reef. The wind's offshore but the swell is not completely lined up so it's sectioning a touch and it's looking like the sort of wave that you don't want to surf when it's sectioning. On it's day it looks like it would produce very serious long barrels. I'm still keen for a paddle but I can't get anybody else interested and so we keep moving.

In the distance we can see a small low lying island. We check the map and it looks like a good anchorage. A little later we pass by a small right on it's eastern tip and further up towards the western end of the island we find a good spot to anchor and dive in for a swim as once again the setting sun ignites the sky into an explosion of colour.

Day 2

The crew are up early. We want to get the scouting boat in the water and go check the small right we sailed past last night. It turns out to be quite a mission to get the scout boat off the deck and into the water. We nearly lose the outboard motor as we lower it over the side and onto the scout boat. Right at the last moment just as the motors almost onto the back of the scout boat it suddenly free falls into the water! The rope we have been using to lower it with is not quite long enough and has come off the capstan we had it wrapped around. Fortunately Wardi grabs the end of the rope just in time and it appears like only the shaft and the bottom of the casing have dropped into the water. Finally after much grunting and groaning and a couple of tense moments, the motor is latched on and the scout boat is ready to go. Bahal fires up the motor and I breathe a sigh of relief. We haven't drowned it!

The right is really long, maybe 200 metres. We start way up the point but the waves are small and don't have much power. I had noticed down the end of the reef that the end section seemed to be focusing the swell a little more and head down there. Although small, it's a fun wave that peels nicely. The reef is very flat and well shaped. I wonder what it would be like with a bit more swell.

We surf it again in the afternoon but the low tide seems to have killed the swell. It's tiny. I scratch around hoping for something interesting but it's just too small. The reef has small patches of bright blue coral sprinkled over it that are lighting up with the afternoon light. There's all different shades of blue that are like all the different colours of the sky. It looks as if pieces of the sky have fallen into the water throughout the day and become stuck in the reef.

Day 3

I don't feel like moving today. I feel like being really still and moving very gently and quietly. It might be something to do with it being the day before the new moon. The last day of preparing the soil so to speak before the new moon and a new cycle.

But before I get a chance to say anything, the engines fires up and the anchors being hauled up. Julien's obviously got a plan. It's to head over to the main island and check out what's happening there. But as we motor past the right hander we'd surfed yesterday, a peeling set stops us in our tracks. The waves although still small, are much bigger than yesterday and looking like fun. A quick glance around each other and it's pretty obvious...we're not going anywhere. Not right now anyway. Within moments Dave's in the water and scratching over to the line up. It's a fun session, a little bumpier on the face than it looked and the current that's running along the reef is a little annoying but it's much bigger than yesterday and we all get a few waves.

Surf session over we continue over to the main island. I'm just really not feeling like moving at all and the noise and vibration of the engine is making me edgy. But it appears that I'm not only one who's feeling edgy.

Not long after anchoring just off the beach of the main island a boat pulls right up to us very aggressively. Next thing we see is the familiar uniform of the Indonesian Police. With him is a poisonous looking character from the local government that we quickly nickname The Rodent and it doesn't take long to realise that he's the mastermind behind the raid.

The policeman who we later found out to be the local chief of police is respectful but the sidekick wanders around the boat checking things out like he owns the place. I can feel a rage building up inside of me for his lack of respect and a part of me that just wants to grab him by the scuff of the neck and throw him overboard. But I've been coming to Indo long enough to know that it don't work that way and that we have to play the game. Our sailing documents are pulled out and Julien hands over a list of our passports. It's obvious that the policeman is not familiar with sailing documents and he looks over them slowly. The Rodent peers over his shoulder. We silently watch, waiting for the all too familiar claim that we are doing something wrong and how much of a problem that this will be for us. It turns out that our documents are not completely correct and the policeman lingers, waiting for the offer of a bribe or an opening to create the need for one but the captain handles it well and the bribe opportunity never eventuates. Instead, the captain calls the local port authorities and organises for the correct documents to be issued tomorrow. Eventually the boarding party leaves the boat. The encounter has left a dirty feeling and we opt to pull anchor and head back to our tranquil anchorage at the small offshore island.

Back at the island the waves look too small to bother with and I opt to head ashore to have a look around. I climb a small outcrop of rocks that create a cliff against the pristine beach. From here I can see right across the western corner of the island and the view astounds me. What I thought was a 200 metre right hander that we had been playing with is more like a 400 metre right hander. It's a seriously long wave! Unfortunately it's to small to get much of a line up shot. It's a pity. It would be one of those line up shots that would have surfers around the world asking "where is that place!". Maybe it's better I didn't get the shot. I have seen so many incredible waves become overrun with hordes of ungrateful and hostile surfers over the years that it maybe it's better that people don't see the potential of this place.

To be continued...