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August 8th
Saturday got here with heavy anticipation of the boys meeting up and the ensuing boat trip out to the mentawai's. After meeting our surf guide Joey from San Diego we had a quick chat and then he had some particulars to sort as the others from Australia arrived a bit later on in the day. It was good to away from Jakarta, the site of ANY airport and in the company of old friends...a Raleighwood Reunion of sorts as Dom, now in Brisbane originally from Cornwall England has always been considered a raleigh boy. His trips back to the city of Oaks have been legendary thus far. I don't see that changing anytime soon as it appears he'll be back for a conference next summer and will surely plan some "off" time to be had around a week of work. Mike, a Kiwi calling and d like me calling Raleigh his home the past 12 years...Dom and myself were all fast friends when we all met all be it in different timeframes...but no matter Rugby and Surfing are two things we shared passion for and ultimately how we met/developed our friendship. Both super mellow guys and great senses of humor, they make for good travel partners at any level or in any country. As it is we of course had a huge piss up last night as we all were all travel weary and overdue for some jars of Indonesia's finest. Bintang is the local beer here and quite good actually. Imagine it as more mellow heiniken or better tasting miller lite. A fine pilsner either way for the heat and humidity that is all around and on us! We had a pretty rough morning as a result of Tee Box...a local pool hall and karaoke bar and right across the street from our extremely cheap and new HW hotel...20 bucks a night! However, seeing how Mike had arrived early and checked in under my reservation didn't really give mind about the single queen bed in the room....a double had been requested but was just one of the many communication breakdowns between hotel staff and us. They really didn't speak any english...and of course no indo for us! So when Joey nocked on our door to find a big Kiwi prop in the same bed as a non forward slight framed winger comparisons and thoughts going through his mind were probably quite hilarious. He made some interesting convo and pulled through it...but then came the nock upon Dom's door where he peeked through a cave of darkness and said a weary hello...all the time hiding behind the door... clearly naked. Good on ya Dominic! Again...a penny for Joey's thoughts!!
Soon we were off and checking out of the hotel after a quick breakfast and some damn good fresh Sumatran Coffee! We were collected by a driver and taken off to meet our next pickup who we had heard was staying down the road...but we were unable to hook up with the night before. Glenn was also a Kiwi from Auckland but living in Sydney the past 5 years. There were some rumors of Aussie's on this trip as Mike didn't know all the names on the emails... but come to find out this would be an All Kiwi and One Cornwallian and American trip! After picking up Glen we went to the Oxana Hotel where we to chill have some lunch, beers and wait for the others to arrive. Soon that did as Graham, Paul, John, and AJ were a part of the first wave to arrive. Followed by Mike's high school and rugby team mates Kim (Hobby) and Simon from North Shore Aukland and Takapuna rugby club fame. They were long friends and formidable front row of Hobby being tight head prop Simon a hooker (in the middle) and Mike the loose head prop. it had been sometime since the 3 had seen each other... I think 3 years ago for a 40th celebration of the 3 down in NZ.
We sorted out some cash and particulars of the trip with our surf guide Joey...and then we were off to the boat to meet the crew and wait for high tide to allow us out of the channel of Padang. It would be about 10 pm before we got out the channel as they were doing some dredging of the river inlet and we had to wait for good time to pass by the machinery and the process. After that it was about 8-9 hours on the water crossing before we would make our first anchor location in the beautiful Mentewai Islands.
Pretty rough seas on the way out which didn't allow for much sleep...so some bintang's and stories of catching up made for a late evening. It's pretty cool waking up in such a remote and distant place in the morning after a long and arduous journey to get there....paradise was definitely found!
