On the way to Pulau Simeleu

S/V Galatea update
Neil Scott
Thu 26 Mar 2015 07:19
After 3 pleasant days in Sabang and Rubiah on Pulau Weh, we departed at 6.45 am this morning for the start of our journey down the west coast of Sumatra.

It turns out that, contrary to expectations, the customs and immigration guys in Sabang were the most pleasant we have dealt with in all our Indonesian travels. They were courteous, helpful and never hinted for souvenirs/bribes or whatever you might want to call them. That doesn't mean that they were efficient - anything but, but it was all done in a pleasant way so as not to be annoying!! Sabang was quite a scenic spot with an interesting history including periods of occupation by the Dutch, Germans and Japanese. The people, although part of the seriously conservative muslim province of Aceh were friendly and easy going with no overt signs of animosity whatsoever.

Yeaterday, we had a rather hot, but pleasant walk out towards the northern tip of the island. This was through a designated nature preserve area. In addition to a few monkeys, Mike and Neil heard several birds - Teague actually spotted the birds, some pretty interesting ones included.

Anyway, so it's now a couple of overnighters, or about180 miles down to our intended stop over point at Simeleu Cut island, just off Simeleu Island.

The freezer and fridge seem to be hanging in there, barely, but we are feasting on pies, chicken and sausage rolls in the meantime. We will leave the canned stuff for later in the journey across to Chagos and Mauritius.

OK, that's it from neil, teague and mike for now.