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12/2/2011 1:18 AM 

Nine point eight meters per second per second.  It starts with a click in the mind.  Like a sparkplug firing in an outboard engine.  Commit.  Jump.  The transition is a lifetime of its own.  Rising.  Rotating.  Must get the feet clear of the life lines on the edge of the boat so push hard.  My eyes see the spot on the blue surface where I will enter.  Get straight.  Stretch into the deep.  There is no  crash.  The fingers tickle the surface and begin the push below.  Water now rushes past the arms and the small splash of my head plunging below just before the press of my shoulders.  It is another world that I am entering.  There is no more falling sensation.  I am sliding into the primordial home from which we all once crawled.  Entering a realm that almost perfectly matches the chemistry protected behind my skin.  The water pulls me deeper now as my feet just slide under.  A slight arch of my back and I glide into a gentle u-turn.  Air pours from my lungs as I exhale slowing my ascent back to the air water boundary.  The cool water is delicious on my skin after almost three weeks at sea.  I keep just enough reserve buoyance to very slowly allow the sea to push me back to the surface.  I am of her, but I no longer belong to her and she sends me back to the upper region from which I came.

Pulau Wei has been an unexpected pleasure of surprising proportion.  The islanders are the happiest, friendliest, most generous people I’ve met yet in SE Asia.  It lies at the North end of Sumatra in the Aceh province.  Aceh is different from the rest of Muslim dominated Indonesia in that the are the most devout, conservative Muslims in the country.  They follow Shari’a Law and those who practice the faith are bound by their customs.  That includes visiting Muslims from other nations.  However, if you are not Muslim, have no fear.  There is no judgment and you are free to be who you are. 

There is great pride in the people of Pulau Weh.  They take pride in themselves and in their island.  Tourism is important to them, but they care for the island and the protected underwater reserve simply for the sake of protecting their home.  Not just because it is an amazing dive spot.  There is no trash to be found on the island.  Corruption is not one tenth of what I’ve experienced anywhere else in Asia.  A few of the locals have really endeared themselves to me.  One is Echa, the owner of O’lala, the only café on Iboh beach that brings in black market Bintang for the Western tourist.  As you might imagine every evening the visitors to the area come in for a $2.50 curry and $2.50 Bintang.  The fridge isn’t big and the night usually gets called around midnight or one in the morning when the last cold one has been consumed.  Echa even drove myself and another visitor into town with her friends so we could hit the only working ATM on the island and so that I could get provisions.  Spending three hours with four not even slightly bashful Aceh women was an experience I’ll never forget.  Their discussion could make many a men’s locker room seem tame by comparison.

The other is my black market connection, Iwan.  Iwan saw me pull up at the main dock the same day I arrived.  He has  workable English and came to ask if there was anything he could help with in terms of boat supplies.  I told him I did need diesel and he said to call him when I knew how much I’d need and when to deliver the fuel.  48 hours later Iwan brought his boat alongside mine with 15 gallons of fuel and siphoned it into my tank.  He only charged me 1000 rupiah over the pump price of 6000 rupiah per liter.  At 60 liters he made ~ six dollars for his effort.  The guys in town wanted 9,500 IDR per liter plus a 500,000 surcharge for delivery.  Needless to say Iwan saved me a ton of money.  Where he came through in spades was the night of the big storm.

The tides have been severe and the winds howling stronger than normal the past few days.  I got stuck without a taxi some 6 miles outside of Iboh and had to walk back with some other travellers.  What I found when I got back was a main pier that had been largely washed away and my dingy taking a pounding by the incoming surf.  I tried to get the engine running, but quickly found I was in danger of being rolled.  The engine would not turn over either.  I got to shore, dumped my pockets and waded into the surf.  I found a parted mooring line and used it to secure the dingy in a manner pointing into the breaking waves.  With the engine up she rode comfortably for the next few hours.  I made my way to O’lala and curled up on a bench under the front porch for a few hours sleep.  Echa woke me with a confused smile the next morning and chewed me out for not waking her for a blanket.  I was soaking wet and didn’t want to disturb her family. 

Back on the dock after a coffee and a doughnut Iwan and four buddies commandeered my dingy.  I had no tools to speak of and couldn’t do much unless I got back to Jargo first.  They wouldn’t hear of it and each man brought over his own tools used to service their outboards.  These were the boatmen of Iboh.  Within minutes we’d stripped the motor looking for damage or water, cleaned up the parts, and reassembled.  The motor fired and ran.  The guys wouldn’t take anything in form a payment but a thank you.  I am hoping to see them again later so that I can at least buy them each a cup of coffee.  Aceh coffee is a way of life and all movements revolve around the sweet black potion. 

There is a magic here that I hate to leave.  It has been many miles since anyplace has felt so much like home.  Pulau Weh is well off the beaten track and you have to want to come here to get here.  My own arrival being unusual.  Travellers here are generally either hard core scuba divers looking for the best places to practice their sport or seasoned travellers looking for that rare gem of little explored paradise.  Travellers here have usually  covered some miles and are not the gap year spring breakers found on the backpacker trails of SE Asia.  I believe it is this mix of welcoming locals and respectful travellers that builds the magical vibe.  Although I barely had a week here, Pulau Weh will no doubt live amongst the top five spots I’ve landed around the world.

And now, I must set sail for Thailand.  Well, as soon as the rain stops anyway.

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