Great Excitement! Tonight we are going to take the boat from Padang to Mentawai, a chain of several islands about 150km off the western coast of Sumatra. Mentawai is known for huge waves and a paradise for surfing.
Everything was planned perfectly, we had tickets for cabins on the boat where we will spend the up coming 10 hour journey (~10€), we would be picked up at the Mentawai harbour from the owner of the homestay we were going to stay and from former interns we knew Harris who is a local and promised to showed us the best places and beaches.....
Approximately 4 hours before we are supposed to be at the harbour for "check in" an earthquake occured just off the coast of Mentawai, magnitude 6.3
General panic among all interns.
The upshot was that 3 of the interns stayed in Padang because they were too afraid. So the remaining 7 of us begun the long journey. Arrival in Mentawai after 12 hours at 10am.
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| comfi cabin |
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| charge of bananas from the boat |
We were all still tired from the long journey and the lack of sleep and so we decided to just explore the beach (5min walk) and the "neighbourhood".
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| huge butterfly |
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Renting a boat and 2 surf boats (in hope of more wind and the possibility to surf) and heading to a close, small island. No wind but still worth it. The most "postcard-like" beach I have ever been!
Not much more to add. We didn't do much besides sunbathing (so far still sunburn free :) swimming, walking around the island...oh and snorekling! I wish I had my underwater camera with me. Huge coral reefs, 5-6 meters high, thounsands of fish in all kinds of colours and seize. Just amazing to see this undewater world in such bright colours and to see how all those tiny animals work and live together, creating a living ecosystem.
Some impressions :)
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| Joanna&I |
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| Marianna,Pia,Sebastian,Joanna |
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| Pia loves Mentawai :) |
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On the way back to the main island, we decided to buy fish for dinner. So Harris our local friend went to get fish. His answer to the question "what kind of fish is it?" he just answered "really expensive fish" :D Total costs for approx. 4 kilo fish ~ 9€ . This is what I love about Indonesia :)
Before we started with the BBQ we went back to our beach and were staring at the dark night sky, which was covered with stars. Harris advised us to go to the water and move our feet. We never expected what happend next. The water suddenly got illuminated around us. Thousands of tiny organism using bioluminescence (production and emission of light by a living organism (thank you wikipedia)).
Everybody was amazed by this natural lightshow. And I can tell you, taking a swim in the dark sea watching the water around you lightening up is a unforgettable experience.
Afterwards we were drying ourselfs on the bonfire and had the most delicious grilled fish...and a lot of fun :)
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| before |
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| ...after |
Day 3
After dragging everybody out of bed at 10:30am we realized that our time schedule for today is very limited. Our boat back to Padang was scheduled for 8pm.
But time for a little dschungel tour was still left. Destination waterfall
Not far, but the way there was quiet challenging...In fact, there was no way! So we were slippering and gliding through the dschungel until we finally reached the waterfall. Somehow they are always smaller as promoted and expected...but still nice :)
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| feet afterwards |
After the exhausting tracking tour all I wanted was a shower, food and water. I got all that, before we went back to the port, entering the "safety first" ferry which will bring us safely back to Padang
For those who want to see how Mentawai looks like when there are waves...and an international surf competition, check this out:
Part 1
Part 2
btw.: the cousin of our host on Mentawai was one of the participants in the surf competition :)
which losmen did you stay? any contact #? thanks a lot. i'm heading there this week. :D
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