Final strokes
December 29, 2018
After some time to relax I meet George. He is an English rower joining me to row from Bula (Seram) to Nabire. He’s been competition rowing for 7 years but this will be his first rowing adventure. Glad he’s totally up for that. Inge, my girlfriend, got a bit worried about what was coming up and wanted to have a partner for me to row. Thank you very much for arranging that!
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The first part was a 90 km crossing to Misool island which was divided by a stop on a tiny island. We rested there for a couple of hours, then set off during the night on the remaining 70 km. The tiny island was really nice, but got extremely hot without any trees. I hung the hammock using some driftwood to get some shade.
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The crossing itself went very well, we made a huge progress in the first part. A certain time I decided for us to wait half an hour and get some sleep. There was a big thunderstorm just in front of us and I wanted it to give it time to clear again. A good decision it seemed when we continued rowing under a clear sky again. In the morning we arrived at Misool Eco Resort where we were hosted for a night. The most luxurious crossing I had here, great food, a bed and an easy place to land with the boat. Thank you very much for the great hospitality.
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The first day gave George an idea about rowing here and the hardest part (and last big crossing) was finished. What a great feeling getting closer to my goal! From there on we took it easy and I had a feeling of a holiday. Clear waters, rowing through this part with amazing reefs, once in a while jumping in the water to refresh and snorkel. Like many times before the locals were extremely helpful and curious.
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After a couple of days, while camping on the islands, I see Papua. A very special moment to me because from there I’m starting to feel the end of this rowing adventure. With the right timing we even get great progress because of the strong currents pushing us further to Sorong, where we re-evaluate out trip. I’m really enjoying these last days of rowing to Papua, which could even be the last days of rowing in Indonesia. I start to visualise all the effort, pain, joy and so much more I had here which makes me pretty emotional.
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Once in Sorong I get to talk with Bram Darkim, a kayaker and cyclist in Manokwari. He tells me there could be a road going all the way to Enarotali, the village where the trek to Carstensz Pyramid starts from. After some research and talks with locals we decide to leave the boat in a hotel, find bicycles and cycle to Enarotali. There has never been someone to do this so this will be a great adventure which I’m very excited for!
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