Category: Carstensz pyramid

Being back in Belgium now after this major expedition I can finally look back at this. It amazes me what I’ve done and I’m very proud of it. It actually doesn’t seem real what I did. Here’s just a small recap of what I’ve done to get to my 3rd summit of happiness. It’s quite a bit so I try to keep it short. For those with not too much time here’s a small video about it, for the ones with more time: the 22nd of February I’m presenting this expedition with stories and pictures in Dendermonde (Belgium).

Cycling to Indonesia

After the summit of Mount Everest I cycled from Kathmandu to Indonesia. I did this with Benjamien, a Belgian friend. It was the first time someone was joining me on this project and we had great fun. We crossed over to India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. A trip of more than 8000 km in quite good conditions. Mostly we found enough food, water and places to sleep. Although this was the first warning about the heat and I passed the equator by human power!

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A whole new adventure!

After cycling all the way to East Java, Malcolm (Australia) and I set off by rowboat. The goal was to follow the Indonesian archipelago to reach Papua. Everything wasn’t going as planned and we found lot’s of delays getting the boat to Indonesia by container ship. Still after a while we could start rowing and made a great first part from Java to Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa. We mainly slept on the beaches in our hammocks.

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From Sumbawa to Flores my girlfriend came along to get a good push along the Komodo Islands. There we got a good taste of the waves hitting the beaches as we arrived in the evenings. The rainy season was full on which pushed us in the right directions but creating bigger swells and crashing waves while landing. Here I realised that this one was gonna be an extreme experience an expedition.

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From Flores, Steven, a Belgian friend joined me for about a week. Great experience to be rowing with him as the swell and wind were getting bigger. After he left I had about a month on my own from island to island.

Learning the hard way

In this month I realised the impact of being alone. It is very difficult to get the boat on land (200kg) and when it is anchored I don’t sleep that much. I need to recover from the past efforts but it is hardly possible. I got to know the real strong currents of the Indonesian through-flow which scared the sh** out of me a couple of times. Especially the crossing of the Alor strait with immense tide rips. Due to time limitations I had to cross this during full moon when the currents are strongest. I was extremely grateful for having such a good boat, I got very scared over there on my own.

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Help is coming!

In Alor Koen De Gezelle (Belgium, boat builder) and Gerhard (Netherlands) came along to join. There we did our first bigger crossings of 70km (11hrs) and more. We mainly rowed at night during these crossings so we could arrive with daylight. A very smart thing to do because while sleeping in a village at Pulau Wetar we heard about a fisherman being eaten by a crocodile that same morning… Another reminder of the dangers ahead of us.

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Just the 2 of us

After 2 weeks of rowing we say goodbye to Gerhard, sadly he got injured in his back and he makes the smart decision to fly back home. Koen and I carry on and we make great progress. By that time I’m already more than 3 months in the expedition and Koen is just getting in the rhythm. The big crossings are taking it’s toll and I get sick of it all. The biggest one so far was about 90 km which we did in 16 hrs, a real struggle since on every crossing I start to vomit when the sun comes up, mainly from exhaustion. The problem is that you just can’t stop, so I vomit and get back to rowing immediately, for a couple of hours more.

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Getting sick and sick of it!

By the time Koen goes back from Saumlaki to Belgium, Mark arrives. We follow the main Island North to Pulau Larat. A comfortable row because no big crossings here. When he leaves I’m preparing for the next big crossing, 120km of open sea, the biggest one yet and alone. But my body decides differently and by the time I am at the crossing I’m already too weak and caught a tropical virus. I decide to go back to Belgium and leave the boat in a village with friends (thank you Poppy!).

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Back to serious business

After this period I get back in October 2018 to finish the final phase. Again I’m alone to cover the big crossing. During the first part everything was going well, but I had 10l of good water and 20l of not so good water. By the time I started the other water I had to vomit every time I drank it. After 24 hours of rowing I started to hallucinate and after 35 hours of non stop rowing I got pulled off the sea by a boat (and 16km off shore). That was a brutal day and I needed to recover from that. I recovered and decided to get me brought back to the same place I got saved. In this way I was able to cover the lost distance and continued solo to Seram Island. I loved this trip as the seas where calm (except for some currents) and I felt getting stronger and stronger. The whole area is quite remote and I encountered some strange places…

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The final rowing push

In Seram island George Eden (UK) comes over to help me row. The last big crossing is to be made of about 90km. We discover a tiny island at about 20km offshore where we can take a couple of hours rest. This crossing takes us to the start of Raja Ampat, a true divers paradise. This was the most calm and impressive rowing I’ve done in Indonesia. Just a week longer and we reach Papua (Sorong). I get a bit emotional because of the amount of effort I’ve put in there to get to that point, +4000km of rowing in really tough conditions, becoming the first one to do such feat! There we swap our oars for bikes and set off for another new adventure.

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A great cycling adventure

From Sorong we set off in the unknown. We get some help by locals to find bikes, get our permits and maps. The problem but great thing is that nobody has ever cycled here before. We have no idea what the roads are like (no asphalt at all) or how many villages we would pass by to find food. Very soon we discover that this will be a very challenging ride. Lot’s of mountains, heat, jungle, rain, mud and so much more make this a difficult crossing. After a couple of days our bikes start to break down reducing our daily distances significantly. Every now and then a truck passes by and George tries to get a ride to the next city like that. The whole ride is amazing and I feel great on the bike. It is very though and we get very strange experiences there. From Papuan rebels to encounters with the strangest animals, construction sites in the middle of the jungle to special forces for protection. A very interesting place for sure and I really love the people there! In the last 3 days I head more into the mountains to Enarotali. These 3 days I cover about 8000 altitude meters in 270km, extreme!! An average tour de France covers 5000 altitude meters in a week…

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To the mountain!

The sad part is that recent tensions between rebels and the Indonesian army (even when we where there 16 people got killed, with more even coming up, including civilians) made it impossible for me to continue to the mountain human powered and I had to stop at Enarotali. I had to helicopter to Carstensz Pyramid (only 70 km) with an expedition. A great way to be climbing with more people from around the world. In the end we are 7 people going to the summit on the 1st of January. The climb itself is technical but for experienced climbers not very difficult. I enjoy the whole climb and in the end I try to arrive alone on the summit. I need this moment for myself, to think about what I’ve done here. For 2,5 years I trained, prepared, cycled and rowed every day to get to that point! For 10 minutes long I cry on the summit, take some pictures and descent back down, looking forward to get back home with friends and family…

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Special thanks to my sponsors who made this unique adventure possible!

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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After my recovery time at Savana Cottages I set North-West to Ceram, an island almost 500 km further. Getting there was supposed to be more relaxed as there’s more little islands on the way there where I can take my rest for the night. The biggest crossing which needed to be done was about 45 km which is funny. About 2 years ago this seemed like a major undertaking and by now it seems like a small crossing that I can easily do on my own (which I still take very serious).

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Everything looked promising with very light winds and calm seas. My progress during the island hopping was great, despite the extreme heat. That’s one of the downsides of rowing without wind, it gets extremely hot!

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It all seems like a rush now getting to the islands, arriving at land. Getting all the village to gather around me, getting invited by so many people to go and eat, drink tea, sleep,… They’ve been so kind, understanding and helpful to this tall white man in his rowing boat.

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In Pulau Tioor I get lot’s of people around me and the lady takes care of me like it would be my mother. She gives me a room in the house so I can rest and people can’t bother me there. Most people are so curious they want to see me but this means I’ve got less time to sleep, here they understood my need to sleep. In the evening her husband arrives from a whole day at sea with his canoe. He caught one fish that day and he really wanted me to eat it, it was hard to convince him to eat at least a part of it as well. It touches me how the people are here. Just before that dinner I even had dinner (rice and pig) from the neighbours but they said I had to eat a lot so I would be strong to row the next day, and so I did…

This part of Indonesia is rarely visited by tourists so I’m obviously the main attraction when I arrive. The whole rowing in this area is great, small and beautiful islands with many dolphins, turtles, sea snakes,…

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On the Watubela islands I visit kampung Ilili, a nice little village on the north side of the island. I decide to spend the night there and have a good rest. Just in front of the village is a shipwreck that, according to the locals, arrived here without people inside 30 years ago. It’s a Japanese fishing ship they say and probably the people inside got killed and the boat abandoned, only to land on the reef in front of their village. A bit later someone wants to show me around in the village and takes meets some others. They make signs to slid someone’s throat. I get a bit scared I must say but according to my limited Indonesian and my dictionary they take me to a place with skulls. One of them brings a machete and we start to walk outside the village. I get a bit nervous but he starts to chop a way through the jungle and 5 minutes later we are at a rock face with more than 40 skulls at the bottom. They say it’s already more than 200years there and when I see the skulls they obviously are not that recent. The skulls are from locals apparently but I have no idea why they are there. Still this was a very nice village with so many helping people again.

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After that I set off to Ceram and a couple of days later I arrive there. The goal was to reach Bula a city where we will make the big 90km crossing to Misool from. The night before getting there I wanted to stop at a remote beach so I land there. I wasn’t sure about crocodiles but then I saw a village further up in the jungle so I walk there to ask the village chief if I can sleep on the beach. Immediately he refuses and I have to go. They walk me back to the boat, the chief seems tensed and scared, he thinks that I’m with a ship there and more people. They are quite surprised to see me alone with the rowing boat but still I have to leave. By then it’s already dark and I decide to continue rowing for an hour, then throw the anchor and sleep in the boat. I didn’t want to risk landing in a place where there might be crocodiles at night, the sea was calm so I installed myself for a surprisingly good sleep.

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The next day I start early to reach Bula in the end of the day, one day earlier than planned, now I can rest and eat well before I set off with George on the next phase, from here the final 1000km start…

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Slowly I’m getting my confidence back after the rescue at sea the last time. I had many doubts and fears about reaching my goal. Luckily now I’l have a companion to row for a month, George is a Brittish rower who was fulltime rower and stopped competing recently and is up for some adventure rowing. We try to get as close as possible to Nabire or even get there by the time he has his flight back, let’s hope for the best!

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This is a blog post with some delay because of connection issues here, sorry for that but finally here it is…

About two weeks ago I left Belgium to continue my human powered journey to Carstensz Pyramid. A couple of month’s ago I had to abort my previous expedition due to a tropical illness. Now I feel completely recovered. I trained very hard for the current and hopefully final phase of this Asian episode. The goal is quite challenging; rowing about 1700 km to Nabire. Unfortunately,  I was about to do 120 km crossing all by myself in one shot because no rowing partner was available for the longest and heaviest part. I knew upfront, this would be a tough one.

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When arriving at my boat, which was stored for four months at the military in Pulau Larat, it was luckily still in perfect condition. Many thanks to the ‘boat keepers’, and specially Miss Poppy Lim.

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After full preparation, I left to Pulau Fordata with a heavy loaded boat. This time I brought more food, bars and isotonic drinks compared to the previous trip. Key was to have more energy providers compared to the plain rice I ate for months last time.

The last night at the beach before take off wasn’t ideal but when I woke up, I was nevertheless ready to start the trip. The weather conditions seemed perfect with only an annoying side wind and swell at the end.

This exhausting journey from 120km was estimated to perform in 24 to 30 hours. The first part was already beautiful, but the further I got away from land, the spectacular the environment. Everywhere I saw dolphins enjoying the rare view of a lonely rowing guy in his boat… Having this mental picture in mind, you can probably imagine the trip started amazing.

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But during the night I started to get tired, and at about 3 am it became more and more difficult to stay awake while rowing. I took a small nap and saw only afterwards that I was drifting away by the current and wind towards the Banda sea. The progress became less and by 3pm the next day I was completely exhausted.

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At that moment, I started to hallucinate and dehydrate. Two of my water bags probably contained bad water, from a well in a village, which made me sick. At that particular moment I realised I was stretching my limits and started to check for local boats if they could pull me out to the next island. While continuing to row and vomit I was about 16km away from Tanimbar Kei, which was my goaI. But at the same time, I felt the current getting even stronger. I became too weak to fight the current any longer and made no progress anymore. With mixed feelings, I sent my girlfriend a text message if she could find an owner of a local boat on the island to pick me up. Maybe I could continue the trip, but at the same time the risk to get drifted too far away was too big. Although still feeling somehow in control I didn’t want to push it too far since I had already crossed my limits.

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Within minutes, Inge found the telephone number of Gerson from Savana Cottages on the internet. He immediately took action in calling the rescue team from Tual, the capital city in Kei. They didn’t hesitate a second and came for me in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, I knew I was gonna be picked up so I stopped rowing. I fell asleep and got drifted away, but after a while I woke up thanks to my radio where Gerson was trying to take contact with me. In no time, they found me, picked me up and brought me to Tual. I want to stress the fact that the whole crew, boat and equipment was very professional. You can imagine it’s no surprise I was very pleased they picked me up.

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After the necessary intervention, I took a few days of rest at Savana cottages. Off course I had to continue my journey at the exact place where I stopped rowing. Gerson, some locals and even Belgium tourists where supportive about my plans, although they think I’m completely crazy. A few days later a boat dropped me off so I could finish this part of the trip.

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I have no regrets about the decisions I took, I think I had the correct reflex in calling for help before it became a real emergency. Currently, I’m still charging my batteries in order to be fully ready for the next line towards Carstensz Pyramid. Many thanks to Lucy and Gersen from the Savana Cottages for helping me out so much!!!

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See you soon!

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We arrived on a beautiful inhabited island, that seemed like paradise at first. Until the sun was gone and mosquitos started to attack us. We tried to cover up with clothes as much as possible, sprayed deet (insect repellent) all over us and yet we had to run away to a dry part of the island at low tide to finish our dinner.  After fleeing in our tents and hammock we could finally sleep in peace and quiet. The trip for the next day looked promising, as I was checking out the maps and google earth. We would row across an enormous patch of reef in the middle of the sea, with a small island in the middle. We rowed for hours over this beautiful place. That day we tried to reach Pulau Sermata, because that was not too far and would allow us to have an easy day before the big crossing to Pulau Babar.

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We slept on a deserted beach this time, because most of the time people here are so curious that they disturb our sleep to be able talk to us. I love it here and everyone is very helpful and generous, but on the other hand we sometimes are tired and need rest. The lack of sleep is starting to be very difficult here. Many nights people just flash their lights in the tent or hammock to see who’s there, play loud music or other things that keep us awake. This time we need to be well-rested for the big crossings that are coming our way. 

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That night we leave at 4 am to get the crossing done to Pulau Wetan (about 70km). Because our course course is NE, we ended up with a sideways swell and wind. It became a very hard day and I had to vomit a couple of times in the end. When we arrived at Wetan I was completely dead, no more energy, but I still had to get trough the jungle to find some people to help us pull the boat on the beach. After that, I felt really dizzy and realized I had been too exhausted. After the necessary talks with the head of the village and such we could finally rest, drink and eat, again with 20 people watching everything we do. It gives a hard mental stress here to have constantly people watching you. They all gather around, leaving no space to get fresh air so you’re sweating a lot. Each time we arrive in a village, it takes a while before we are able to cook food because of all the formalities. I sure understand why the people are gathering around: some of them never seen a ‘white person’ in their life, but on days like this after total exhaustion, I just want to eat, drink and sleep. 

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The next day was an ‘easy day’ of 20km, the sea got rougher and I was in a very bad mood. I just couldn’t push myself anymore and just wanted to quit. The whole day I was looking forward to getting to Babar and find a place to sleep and take a rest day. Koen – still in good energy – understood that 3 months of this expedition are taking it’s toll on me. 

Without people coming along I wouldn’t be able to do this, it takes such an amount of energy both physically and mentally that I’m very happy people are joining me on the way. They always bring new energy in the expedition, which helps a lot. On the other hand, this new energy is tiring because those people are in the best shape when they arrive, while I’m getting more and more exhausted. But I have to keep on going in the same rythm (and in the mean time I speak some indonesian so I am  the one who has to do the talking in the villages).

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In Babar we have an obligatory extra restday because of bad weather, I’m not sorry for that and try to rest and eat as much as possible in the homestay where the only food option is white rice with a piece of chicken, nasi goreng or fried noodles. I’m getting sick of the lack of food too, maybe I’m spoiled but some variation or extra calories would do me good, especially as I’m burning at least 7000kcal a day here. Luckily Nina, koen’s girlfriend, had spent hours on making some dehydrated food which was an extremely good variation, thank you so much!

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From the east of Babar we plan the next big crossing, a 90 km from Pulau Daweloor to Jamdena. This would be the biggest one so far and I’m a bit nervous about it. First we need to make a 30km crossing to Daweloor early morning, there we take some rest during the day. Daweloor is a really beautiful island with many cliffs and extreme landscapes. After rest, food and making pancakes we try to sleep a bit. But the rain that night gave me no other chance than to cover at Koen’s tent where it got too hot to lay down comfortable with 2 people.

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After a hard night we get up at 23h to start our 90km at 00.00h. The first part goes well and we make a speedy progress. From about 3 am we’re getting difficulties keeping our eyes open, the lack of sleep is taking its toll and I’m starting to have dreams while rowing. Doing the same motion over and over again. By the time the sun comes up we’re more than halfway and the weather is still as good as predicted. Only then I need to vomit again and feeling sick. This prevents me further to eat and drink enough.

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***No picture of this, I was too busy keeping my head out of the boat***

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Despite that we still keep going strong and about 15hrs later we arrive at our destination. I had no energy left and felt miserable. The only things that got me through were the supportive messages my girlfriend wrote me every hour on my satellite tracker, just to keep my focus. There we eat and go to sleep, the next day we have another 30km to cover the distance to Sera, Koen leaves back to Belgium and Mark, an adventuer who’s preparing to cross the atlantic ocean by rowboat, is joining for a week. 

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We don’t have much time since Mark needs to catch a plane to Sorong after a week. The plan was to row to the Kei Islands and do the biggest crossing of the expedition. Too bad the weather and some delays made it differently. We made it to the end of the island where we left the boat with some extremely helpfull people.

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From there I fly to Bali to see my girlfriend. At first, the first plan was to row together, but I have to extend my visa and I really need a break for a while. So that timing is good now. I hope to find the mental strength again to continue this expedition..

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The first couple of days didn’t go as planned after the arrival of Koen and Gerhard. Koen fell ill and Gerhard and me capsized the boat in front of the beach. Nothing bad happened, just a bruised ego and a lost Gopro. Once Koen felt better we decided to start our journey. The box containing our gear didn’t fit for 3 rowers so we had to take turns, 2h row and 1h rest. It felt nice to take rest once in a while, although it is not relaxing in this extreme heat. We started off pretty good with some nice progress till the end of Alor.

There we were delayed for a day because we wanted the absolute right conditions for the 70km crossing to Wetar. After some planning we decided to row in the night, it’s much cooler then. After about 11 exhausting hours we reached the shore of Pulau Lirang. I had some difficulties keeping me awake while rowing. From there everything went difficult. We couldn’t camp on the beaches because it is full of crocodiles and all the locals warned us about that. The current in this channel is always going west in this season (according to the locals and it felt that way). We had a slow progress but the beauty of the rugged island made it more bearable, as well as the people who were always helpful to us crazy whites (Bule Gila).

After wetar the next island was Kisar, a small island but was always to interest me during the preparations. Another hard day of 50km crossing but after all it went well. There Gerhard decided it is time to go back home. He has some issues with his back the last couple of days which seem to get worse. A good decision because from there he still had the opportunity to find transportation back. It was nice to row along with him and sad to see him leave.

Koen and I set off after a rest day and saying goodbye. The next crossing seemed like an easy 50km to Pulau Liram but it wasn’t. A very demanding day with currents against us but the locals at Liram promise us that from there it would go east again. There it is Island hopping to the east, not very simple and we start to feel very tired. I must say this is a very demanding expedition, now I’m already here for 3 months and getting sick of it. The heath, exhaustion, being scared and so much more. Still I find a way to continue and push myself, luckily people sending me some messages of support which helps a lot here. Now writing this from an uninhabited island on the way to Pulau Babar.

It’s been a while since I had decent internet access. There is so much I’ve been doing in that time, so many experiences, good and bad. I learned some hard lessons but it was worth it going out on my own

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After a couple of first ‘easy’ days the wind and swell picked up. The first day in this changing weather there was a lot of rain and suddenly I got caught in a thunderstorm. I saw a mass of black clouds coming after me, very fast. I rushed to land but it was too late, fortunately it was over as fast as it came and I could continue. That’s the first time I felt really vulnerable in the boat being alone. It is a fantastic boat, being stable, but with the high winds it became really difficult to keep control of it on my own.

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The next days were hard until I reached Lato beach. There I was able to row in between some bigger breaking waves on the coast and with a correct timing landed pretty well. There I pitched the tent and heard that the upcoming week more wind and swell was to be expected. The villagers suggested taking my boat to Larantuka by truck. I didn’t want to lose too much time so I said yes, I only needed to do that part in another way. I borrowed a bicycle and cycled/walked the 50 km to Larantuka. A crazy day full of disaster, the bicycle broke down completely but at least I did this part human powered as well…

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From Larantuka I headed South to get more shelter, its seemed that the NW winds would still be going hard and I thought to get to the south coast. That first day everything went well but crossing the second strait to Pulau Lembata I had to round a cape. The currents where creating quite big waves there and I got a couple of them over me. The wind going so strong I was afraid getting blown to the rocky faces, just to make it worse I lost an oar in the water which I was able to retrieve. The next village I decide to stay until the weather clears, I don’t want this anymore. I learned from the locals that the cape (dragon’s cape) over there already took many ships to the bottom of the sea. I should’ve stayed north obviously, I did much more research about that part. After a couple of days sleeping at the beach of minga village, where I got welcomed extremely well, I left. The villagers helped me get through the surf which still pounded at the beach ( I learned that this is a great surfing spot).

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As quickly as possible I wanted to get out of the big swells and wind so that day I pushed it into the Alor strait, a place notorious for its strong currents.I decide to follow the beach north-east and cross at the narrow part which is only 10km. One of the local fishermen said it would be okay to cross at a wider part and let the current take me north, it seemed logical. But that timing the moon was at its greatest declination which creates the strongest currents. The tide rips where creating too much breaking waves I had to go back to the coast again. Damn I felt miserable there. I was completely sick of it all and just wanted to quit at that point. I followed the coast more north where I found a quiet beach to land with some beautiful green grass to camp. I felt good again and got energy to cross the next day, only 10 km (about 2hrs) from there.

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I decided to push hard and go for it the next morning. The tide was going out (creating a north going current) to help me push out of the channel. About midway I thought, this is it, all or nothing there is no turning back. And then again a big tidal rush pushing me from the side with lots of breaking waves, not too big (50-60cm) but lots of them. I decide to continue along with the waves so they don’t hit me from the sides, but I don’t feel safe at all. Honestly I’ve been very scared on this crossing. I tried to calm myself and keep focus, the more north I would go the less this current should be. And it was. When reaching the shore about 2Nm from Pulau Pantar I screamed it out that I made it. The boat did a great job, any less stability and it would’ve capsized, different waves rushing over me from different sides.

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Now the extreme currents are over and I’m waiting for Koen ( the guy who built the boat) and Gerhard ( a Dutch rower) to join me from Pantar to Pulau Jamdena (or even Kai Ketjil). It’s been both a great and terrible time here alone at sea and I must confess I made some mistakes. I should’ve sticked to the route and I shouldn’t have crossed a strait which is notorious about it’s currents at the moon’s greatest declination…. What will come now is a row with bigger crossings, the largest one being about 120km depending on currents. Therefore these 2 strong rowers are joining, and therefore I was rowing in the rainy season in Indonesia. Many locals told me I chose the wrong season, but I know why. The season should be calming down in March, just at the timing we will have to do the bigger crossings. Then I should have a calmer 2 months, still a get daily weather updates from Karel Vissel who has been a great support on this trip. Check out this website www.kayakweather.com Together with my lovely girlfriend they provided me with essential information about route and weather on my route, thank you very much!!

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I went to Singapore to get a new visa, eat, drink and sleep a lot. There I met Grant Rawlinson, a Kiwi adventurour who has rowed from Singapore to Australia, cycled from west to east and is preparing to cross the Tasman sea. Then it’s back to Bali to meet Koen and Gerhard and go to the boat where we’ll continue with 3 people. Definetley looking forward to that!

Saying goodbye is always hard, especially now since I don’t know yet when we would see each other again. On the other hand I feel grateful to have shared this adventure with the woman I love.

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Two days after Inge’s departure, Steven arrives in Labuan Bajo. He is a physiotherapist as well and very experienced sea kayaker who wants to join me for 10 days of rowing. A great opportunity to make progress before heading off on my own.

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The weather hasn’t been stable since I got here but that’s all the plan, still we didn’t encounter major problems and almost every time we could row comfortably. The good thing is that from time to time we escape the heat with some nice showers, only with a thunderstorm we seek refuge on the beach.

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From Labuan Bajo we went up North, then east to follow the beautiful coastline of Flores. Since this is the rainy season now and then we get some refreshing showers and the land itself is green all the way which creates amazing sceneries.

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Along the way, like all other parts of Indonesia we get surrounded by plenty of people once we moore on the beach. They are extremely helpful and we feel always very welcome. Although this is very nice we enjoyed the peace and quiet during our camping on the inhabited beaches once in a while.

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The swell got up to 1 meter sometimes which isn’t difficult when on open sea, the boat can easily take more. Only mooring onto the beaches is a delicate thing, especially where there are mainly reef breaks 100m before the beach. One time we hit a rock so hard I thought there would be a leak but after a close inspection we just scratched it, amazing.  

About 70 km before Maumere it is time for Steven to leave and take his flight, we find someone who wants to drive him there on a motorbike. For the 2hr drive he didn’t want us to pay, after trying for a while we could convince him to pay for the gas 🙂

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After that I’m on my own, very excited but a bit scared of what to come as well. From here it’s just me and the ocean, a scary thought but well worth it and a completely different challenge. Until now everything went well, euhm sort of. The first day of rowing I made good progress but almost at the end of the day I suddenly started to feel sick. Suddenly I had to vomit for 3 times, just me there hanging out of the boat puking, I must have eaten something wrong. Luckily the next village wasn’t far away where I got hosted by Bertje, an English teacher who took good care of me. Now after a couple of days rowing on my own I feel good being here, just I realise this puts a bigger mental stress as well, being extra cautious but enjoying and singing along the way!

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The first couple of weeks in this adventure have been amazing. We had to adapt to the hot and humid weather again, in this climate we’re drinking more than 5 liters of water a day. As the wind and swells where getting bigger and in our favour it got more difficult to land on the beaches, we had to prepare our landings good. The breaking waves can easily capsize the boat but to my surprise it never did. Getting the boat on the beach was another hassle which caused once in a while some problems when the waves were hitting the land, luckily we always found people helping us to get the boat on land.

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After about a week a wave hits the boat and it bumps on Inge’s wrist. That day we row a full day and in the evening her wrist is swollen and painful. The next day it’s clear she has quite a bad tendinitis and she’s out for a couple of days. As we want to continue I decide to row alone as far as possible and she helps navigating. I feel strong and just before the more important crossings with strong currents she feels that rowing is an option. In the North-East of Sumbawa island we start the first crossing of many passages. We avoid the extreme currents by being here just in time with the right moon phase. We read horror stories about motorised vessels going backwards because of the huge currents. The first crossing took us from Sumbawa to Gili Banta, a small inhabited island and a perfect place to spend NYE with my love, just the 2 of us there on the beautiful island.

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The next day we realise that our water supplies are getting low and it would be good to get to a place where we can find water. So we set out for a 55 km rowing trip to Pulau Sebayur, a difficult day it was because of the heat. Because of good timing we got most of the currents right but only after 9 hours we reach the island, after taking the necessary stops on another island to escape the burning sun. The tracker showed a temperature of 53 degrees celcius that day in the sun! Quite exhausted we reach the island and find a resort there, we took advantage of it and took a 4 course meal and plenty of water before finding a nice beach to camp with the tent.

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The next day we start the last rowing trip for Inge and the burning sun (we left too late) killed us, every hour we put our shirts in the water for some cooling down and once we’re out of the strong currents we jump in the water. In Labuan Bajo we can finally rest and relax, Inge prepares here for her flights back to Belgium, while I’m preparing the next push with Steven to Maumere.

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After a good meal and a night in a soft bed at Sumbawa beach cottages, we prepared the boat to start the next stage of Jelle’s rowing expedition to the Carstenz pyramid in Papua. A local carpenter fixed a wooden bar to the nose of the boat to strengthen it for mooring onto rocky beaches and we scooped out a few liters of water after a day of extremely heavy rainfall. Because the rain had been going on for days, I started to doubt whether Jelle chose the right season to row. He explained the rain didn’t matter, but the currents did. In December the weather is worse, and the waves are higher because of the wind, but only then the currents are going east, which is needed for the bigger crossings.

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We planned to row about 20 km per day: a distance Jelle can easily make on his own, to spare me a little and to make sure I would enjoy the trip  For me, 20 km is 4 km longer than my longest training session on the ‘watersportbaan’ in Ghent, so Jelle told me I had to prepare to feel bad and try to enjoy it. Luckily, he called this distance ‘a mild training session’, to get into a good shape for the long crossings that are coming his way as he gets closer to Papua.

The first day, I learned that ‘feeling bad’ would get a whole new meaning here. I definitely had to get used to being on open water. Although we’d been training a lot, rowing on open sea is quite different in ways I didn’t expect. I tried to pretend I was strong, but the constant swinging of the boat and the burning sun kinda got to me. Somehow two ginger pills and regular dives into the water helped me through the day. Besides the sea sickness, it went great and we arrived on the next island at sunset Moyo, a tiny beach resort facing one of the most beautiful sunsets in the area. This would be the last bed and real meal in a while.

The next days gave us good wind and swell, pushing us forward in the right direction most of the time. At one point the waves were messy and high, and the wind pushed us into a bay with a large cliff. Luckily we could get back to our course when we were rowing together. As more days passed by, we realized that the rowing conditions were best in the morning between 6 and 12. In the afternoon, the wind got a lot stronger each time, creating a scary swell. We once had to turn back after leaving Kore bay, and wait it out. That same afternoon a local boat got into trouble, because it was too heavily loaded with coconuts for conquering the big waves. It was a huge relief to be able to help get it back onto shore. Not everything was bad and scary that day though; we also saw a group of dolphins (‘lumba lumba’) from about 200 meters, and some dinosaur-ish like bats in a big tree.

I have to admit that most of the days I was scared to get on shore. Once we were alone to get the boat out, but a steep beach and a shore break made it difficult: the waves crushed onto the boat and filled it with water, making it too heavy for the both of us to pull it out. Luckily, that only happened once. All the other days many people helped us to get the boat onto shore and brought us to a local shop for water and drinks. In each village we were offered free food, pillows, places to sleep and bathroom, in return for about a hundred selfies and pictures. Everywhere we went, we heard them call us ‘bule’ (tourist), but never meant in a bad way. A local English teacher in Kilo was so honoured to meet us, that he and his neighbour gave us a sarong and traditional Indonesian clothing.

The weather forecast for the next days is looking a whole lot friendlier to me, with smaller waves and softer winds. Exactly what we need to make a first bigger crossings to gilli Banta, a small uninhabited island, where we’ll probably celebrate New year

Since the last trip I haven’t been posting so much, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been sitting doing nothing for the last couple of months.

The preparation for my next big adventure took a lot of work. I’m actually very happy that despite the disapointment I was able to convert it, just like my years on Everest. Every time I came back from a disapointment I was able to turn this over and see this as a new opportunity for a better preparation, it wasn’t differently this time.

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the new route to follow

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I trained harder, but more importantly I had lot more logistical and mental preparation. I followed some courses to improve my navigational skills at sea, scanned the entire Indonesian coast to the smallest detail in Google Earth to find villages, beaches to land on, etc. I tried to find as much information as possible of the whole area I’m going to, which isn’t that easy since many times Google searches showed zero to 3 results… A big resource of information I got from Sandy Robson, an Australian woman who kayaked solo from Germany to Australia, and Grant ‘axe’ Rawlinson who rowed from Singapore to Darwin on his Home2home expedition. They helped me out with their experiences in the area which I’m very thankfull of, but still little is described about currents and such. A lot of information I will have to try and obtain from dive resorts and local fishermen. Weather updates will be sent to me daily from another adventurer, Karel Vissel who supports kayakers around the world with his website kayakweather.com. Eelco Koudijs from Bali Sobek is also a great source of local help, the whole kayak community can help me find information about certain regions to come.

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Besides preparing my trip I’ve been doing presentations for sponsors and organisations. Secutec and Vayamundo are continuing their sponsorship and I’m very proud of being a part of their team. This is not justadventure but about trying to make a difference in the world and I’m very happy they support me in that, even more they give a bigger meaning to the project with core values like sustainability, international solidarity and multiculturalism. The money collected by the presentations goes completely to the Shangrilahome. This is a home for street children in Nepal for more than 20 years. Right now I can’t do them but you can always contact me for bookings next summer.

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Now I’m ready to continue my trip from Sumbawa to Papua, the next couple of days I will be preparing the boat for departure. The boat itself is made as sustainable as possible; the outer shells are made from Jute (a plant fibre) with a resin component and the inner layer is made out of recycled pet bottles. I’m very excited to start rowing on the Shangri-la again. It is the rain season in Indonesia but this means the wind and currents are mainly in our favour, but still I hope that we don’t get too much of a hassle with the rain. This time as well I’m not rowing alone, the first 3weeks my girlfriend will join me on the boat, this means we’ll most probably celebrate christmas and new year somewhere on an unhabited island. By the time she will return home a colleague and friend will join for the stretch along the coastline of flores and by the time we reach the bigger crossings Koen (the boat designer) and Gerhard will come to get these sections done with 3 rowers.

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presenting the dream team!

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I’m looking forward to this new adventure and I’m very excited to start this new adventure! Thank you all for following, the support and many thanks to my sponsors who make this ultimate adventure possible.

While writing this post, I got a double feeling about the past expedition. First of all I would like to thank Koen De Gezelle and Malcolm Cockburn for the great support for the start and continuation of this expedition. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to do this. The same goes for my sponsors, they give me such great support in many ways. Another major thank you goes to friends, family and my girlfriend who kept on helping out or just even anybody sending me a message for support in the difficult time of waiting for the boat. I’m happy to get this support and this really is a ‘human powered’ adventure, people from all around the world are helping and achieving this! Here is a short summary how those last 2 weeks of rowing were going. 

After waiting a couple of days for the new moon, we departed from the vila alba resort to the most eastern point of north Bali. An easy day and we decided to stay there for 2 or 3 more days depending on the weather and then cross to Lombok. The harbour master gave us our blessings when we payed him a visit and showed him how well prepared we where with all safety equipment….

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The 30th of May we started to row in the morning around 9 am, we want to get our planning right with the tides so we should be halfway at slack tide. I was very excited about this crossing since I heard and read so many things about it, especially the strong currents and traffic concerned me. I was fully motivated to get a full day of rowing and suffering. Everything went really well and we were able to keep our course easily. We headed up north east to go southeast again to Gili Trawangan. After an hour or 2 one of the speedboat ferries came straight at us. I got a bit scared but they changed their course in the right moment. Those guys knew we where on the water that day so they actually paid us a visit to wave at us and continue. Luckily there wasn’t too much of traffic and we never had to wait for safe passage. The whole crossing went a lot smoother than expected but off course thats due to the right conditions and decision making. After rowing a bit more than 6 hours we reached Gili where we take a well deserved rest day.

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During this rest day we try to find out where we still would be able to get to. Our visas expire on the 15th and we need a safe place to store the boat for a couple of months. The further we get the more difficult it is to find that. We decide to still push on to Sumbawa, the next island after Lombok. I found a resort there that is willing to store the boat there. The next couple of days go with ups and downs, when there is no wind we do easily 45km, despite the high temperatures and the burning sun. But when there is wind it’s mainly a headwind, slowing us down. One day we had strong winds, rowed for 8hrs non stop and had a progress of about 30km. Good things are that we get to see so many amazing things on our way; crystal clear water with such a beautiful marine life like dolphins and such. It makes me think again we should put more effort to protect these beautiful environments.

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This almost 3 month expedition has learnt me a lot. First of al it showed me once more not to give up that easily. This whole Vayamundo 7 summits is one of the biggest human powered adventures ever. Nobody did this before so things don’t always go as planned, that is adventure. I’m happy I didn’t give up (I was really close) and actually still made this progress. This first rowing expedition gave me a good first experience for the further stages and planning accordingly. For now I’m happy being back in Belgium, back to my friends, family and girlfriend. It were mentally a hard couple of months and I need some break in that. But soon I’ll get back into preparing the next phase of this great adventure….

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After spending time and arranging things in Bali, it was time for me to go back to Surabaya where the boat will arrive. A 16 hour bus trip at night with almost no sleep, I’m really amazed how locals use this kind of transportation and sleep.

For me this past couple of weeks were mentally extremely hard. Every day here I got bad news, personal issues and the waiting for something without information isn’t easy. I tried to get more and more info about the arrival of the boat, with changing results. Always getting new hope to have it torn down by the next email or phone call. I had a hard time being alone and waiting, waiting and waiting. Trying to find new possibilities or ways to get to my goal, without result. I got trapped here in this situation, there was nowhere to go because the boat could be arriving any time. Just waiting, until last week I got the news that the boat arrived the 15th of April at the port. The customs would take 5-7 working days and  then it would be here. So I left to Surabaya by bus immediately and called Koen (the boat constructor who would join rowing for 3 weeks) to come over by then. While writing this, the process is delayed because someone in the process didn’t send the right documents in time. But at least I can say that I can’t blame myself, I’m doing everything I can to get this sorted out, too bad this is not only in my hands. The company arranging things never had a decent communication, despite their experience shipping to Indonesia… (sorry, I’m still quite frustrated while writing this).

I’m very thankful to my Indonesian friends here, especially Peter James and Cak Mancal who hosted me here in Indonesia during this stressful time. Both of them took very good care of me and tried to find solutions. Despite my big frustrations, those people gave me mental and logistical support to make my life here a bit easier. My girlfriend as well helped me out in so many ways just to keep me going. Feeling isolated and stuck in a situation is hard, especially when there is nothing you can really do. Now I’m again waiting for the boat. But now it will be together with Koen and we will reschedule our plans.

The 15th of May he will set out to Belgium again and a couple of days later Malcolm, an Australian veteran, will join me to continue rowing. There is a small chance we will make Papua this time. Regarding the seasons and the big crossings to make we’ll probably make it till Pulau Alor or Pulau Wetar. From there I’ll have to go back to Belgium and return here after a couple of months when the sea is calmer in this area. But first things first and I really have to see this one in small steps at a time. I hope to bring you the good news next week and we could start to row the 7th of May….