Adventures in Pulau Weh!


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Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Banda Aceh
May 20th 2008
Published: June 24th 2008
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ScubaMon and ScubaJoe!ScubaMon and ScubaJoe!ScubaMon and ScubaJoe!

Look at Mon's fringe!
(There is a blog missing which covers Malaysian Borneo, including Miri & Sipadan. This will be added ASAP)

We flew from Tawau to Kuala Lumpur and then had an 8 hour wait before our flight to Medan. Medan is the capital of Sumatra - the furthest east island of Indonesia which happens to be the most populous Muslim country in the world. During the long wait we got Mon's eyes checked out by the airport medical centre and she was given some cream and drops for conjunctivitis. Her eyes had been getting increasingly swollen, pink and itchy recently. After that we had a Whopper with Cheese, Fries, Onion Rings and Coke. Mmmm... Junk food! The rest of the time we spent hanging out in the airport with Joe pushing Mon around with the backpacks on a trolley. Incidentally, this was a trolley which you could take up and down the special escalators! Wicked! Mon refused the ride on the escalators though.

We arrived in Medan and it was already dark. We took a taxi to one of the less rank sounding sleeping establishments. This place was recommended in the Lonely Planet, so obviously was full. We managed to find
Mon and her Gammy eyeMon and her Gammy eyeMon and her Gammy eye

Just before Joe wheeled her around in the trolley
another place nearby. From the outside, the hotel looked modern and decent. The look of the reception area continued the illusion of it being a nice place and all this was fully supported by the price tag which was given. It was only the small, dirty, pissy, cigarette smelling, windowless hole of a room that gave the game away. We managed to get ourselves moved to a half decent room and got some decent rest after a long days traveling.

In the morning we got an Indonesian SIM for the dog then headed off to catch a bus to Banda Aceh the gateway to the island of Pulau Weh - our next destination. We had already had a small taste of the Medan touts around the hotel but when we arrived at the bus station we got a proper masterclass. We were delivered by the taxi straight in to the grasps of the worst touts we had come across. They hassled us all the way to the ticket offices and tried to sell us a ticket for 120,000 each. We tried to bypass them and go straight to some of the other offices, but they ran ahead and said
The only way to get aroundThe only way to get aroundThe only way to get around

Everyone here goes around on a motor cycle taxi with side car.
something in the local tongue and we were told 120,000 at each desk. As the coach was literally pulling away someone said they would accept 100,000 and the coach stopped and reversed back and we jumped on with our backpacks which was a squeeze but we found a spot for them behind the backseat.

The journey was loooonng and tedious. By now we had started to discover that every male over the age of 9 in Indonesia smoked like a chimney. The local cigarettes which many of them smoke have clove in them so they smell a bit herby. They last for about 15 mins rather than the usual 5 mins or so of a normal cigarette and contain 40mg of tar with no filter. Nice. Towards the end of the afternoon, we stopped for food and then about 10 mins later it pulled up outside a travel-mosque, which is like a normal mosque but has special parking for passing coaches like a Little Chef. 30 mins for the faithful to do their thing then we were off again. When we arrived in BA it was dark and late so we were straight into a little motorcycle taxi with side car and zooming around looking for a hotel. One place we looked at was too expensive but had a big picture of the hotel, which is a couple of km from the sea, with a massive fishing boat in the car park taken after the Tsunami. Banda Aceh was the closest city to the epicentre of the quake which started it and was virtually destroyed. We found a place and got some sleep. In the morning we had a wander round and our first taste of proper Indonesian food then were off to the ferry port. We got there at 1pm, nice and early for the 2pm departure. Not many people around and the counter was closed. Hmmm... Only at 3pm did the counter even open and there was a mad rush of people elbowing biting scratching and climbing their way to the two counters. Joe valiantly tried to hold his place in the “queue” but was always 4 or 5 people from the front no matter what happened. After 15 mins of this he noticed another counter which was turning people away. It turned out this counter could only sell “business” or “executive” seats which were more cash
Our home!Our home!Our home!

We decided to splash out for what was meant to be 4 days and turned into 12 days! The room was 20Euros a night which doesn't sound like much but when you are on a budget it is a fortune. It was worth the money though and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there.
- 2 quid rather than 1.50 - so Joe got 2 business class tickets. When the boat finally arrived at 4pm we discovered that the main difference between the normal and business seats was that the business class seats had no ventilation and 3 poxy fans rather than the open sides of economy which meant a lovely breeze for all. Joe ended up hanging out in economy for most of the trip anyway. Mon refused to lower herself and sweated it out instead.

We were soon on the island and bouncing along the shitty roads towards Gapang Beach where Lumba Lumba dive shop was. We argued about the 50,000 per person price tag for the journey at first but after we saw the wear and tear on that poor mini bus in just one journey we wondered if 50,000 was enough! We were offered a basic room for 80,000 when we got there which is not a bad deal, but we decided to check out the dive shops own bungalows which were supposed to be really nice but a bit pricey. As soon as we saw the newly built, clean, spacious, luxury room with fridge and ceiling fan with veranda and outdoor seating we were sold, despite the nearly 300,000 price tag. That is still less than 15 quid a night.

We spent a fantastic 12 nights at Lumba Lumba and did some quality diving. The first day of diving was a Friday and because of some local Muslim rule you are not allowed to dive from the boat on a Friday morning because all the local boat and dive crew should be off at mosque. Amusingly, as we walked out the diveshop with all our gear on, for a shore dive on the fantastically good house reef, everyone of the locals who we could not dive with as they were at mosque were sat there chatting and smoking fags. The dive was really nice and the local dive guru, a Japanese chap called Sonny, was our guide. He was fanatical about fish and diving. He showed us lots of cool stuff down below. The afternoon dive was at a place called Shark Plateau. Joe asked the ever helpful Ingrid, the dive instructor who was running the shop in the owners absence (they were away.. on a diving holiday!), what the divesite was like and was told it was an underwater plateau with sharks. Cheers Ingrid. We were briefed on the boat by our guide Collette (a local guy) that there “might be a bit of current” down below and what to do if there was. With normal diving you plop into the water with loads of air in your BCD and float around on the surface while everyone fucks around with their masks and makes last minute adjustments to their equipment. However, because there was also a strong surface current we had to do a “negative entry” which meant emptying your bcd of air, getting completely ready on the boat then dropping in at exactly the same time and going straight under. We then followed our guide as he kicked down towards the reef. We kicked down after him and were at 30m in about a minute! As the reef came into view it took a few seconds for the brain to piece together exactly what it was seeing. The reef appeared to be whizzing by at 100 miles an hour. Then it clicked that there was indeed “a bit of a current” and we were being blown across the top of it. Our guide, who had
Another anenome clown fishAnother anenome clown fishAnother anenome clown fish

Mon made us upload this one...
been diving the island all his life and was great, soon found us a bit of shelter where we could hang on to the rock by our finger tips and catch our breath (stop hyperventilating!). The rest of the dive felt a bit like rock climbing underwater as we clambered over the rocks against the current. Neither of us had ever dived in current anything like this and it was a bit of a eye opener and a bit scary at first. However, once we got over the initial shock it was actually great fun! We tried in vain not to touch any coral or anything delicate but in that current we both came up with scratches on arms and legs and Mons finger tips where the current had swept us into stuff. The end of the dive was more sheltered and we got to see some fishies. We both came up with big smiles on our faces wanting to do more! We didn't actually see any sharks though!

We did some other great dives there. There was a site called the Canyon, which was 3 big underwater canyons which went down to about 50m with loads of massive
Lizard fish!Lizard fish!Lizard fish!

Look at his little fishy teeth!
sea fans although we didn't go far past 30m. We saw a massive napoleon wrasse and then swam through a cool arch at about 20m (worth going into deco for :-). Towards the end of the dive we were about to start our safety stop when suddenly a manta swooped into view! It was a breath taking sight and we watched it swim around for about 2 or 3 minutes before it disappeared out of view. WOW! We had finally seen a manta!!!

We had been told about a wreck called the Sophie Rickmer which sat in 70m of water not far from the diveshop. It was a massive freight ship that was deliberately sunk by its German captain so that it would not fall into the hands of the allied forces. It was over 100metres long and the top of it was at about 42m. There was a dive planned and Joe signed up, although Mon was not so keen. Before the dive Sunny took Joe and Andy (an instructor from Koh Tao) for a deep check, which involved taking us to 45m and making sure we were OK and didn't spaz out due to nitrogen narcosis which
Mullet Mon!Mullet Mon!Mullet Mon!

Mon looks like she has a proper mullet in this one. Her fringe is still growing out, or so she reckons.
is a real factor below 30m. Nitrogen Narcosis affects different people differently but the usual signs are impaired mental function and slowed down thinking but also false sense of security and sometimes foolish behaviour accompanied by either euphoric feelings or sometimes paranoia. All sounds rather familiar! When they got down there Joe felt good and in control and a bit like he was buzzing, which was great! Sunny was happy with us both so we were on for the wreck! Andy was extremely cautious and went through all the details of the dive with Sunny and insisted on having 2 of everything! 2 tanks, 2 regulators, 2 dive computers, 2 slates for making notes! Normally the guide would have 2 tanks and the divers would have their single tank and drop tanks (tanks hanging in the water at the appropriate depth) would be provided for extra air for decompression stops. The dive was a planned according to the Canadian Navy Tables for decompression diving. The tables dictated that we could spend 18 minutes at 51m (our target max depth, just below the deck of the boat) and then had to do 1 minute at 24m, 5 minutes at 12m (this was normally only done for 2 minutes by the dive shop, but Andy insisted on the full 5), 5 minutes at 9m, 8 minutes at 6m then the loooong stop of 25 minutes at 3m or until our dive computers said it was OK to surface, whichever was longer.

On the morning of the dive we set up our equipment, double checked everything and then Sunny gave us a really good briefing about the dive ahead. We got in the boat and were soon tying up at the dive site. It was in a sheltered bay so there was no surface current and we were told there should be very little current down below too. We descended down the line which was tied on to the boat and were at 45m within 2 minutes and soon exploring the boat. It was a bit colder down there, but little current and amazing visibility. We saw a MASSIVE 1.5m+ trevally swimming around inside one of the ships cargo holds. We also saw some other fish that were only found down deeper. Probably due to the nitrogen narcosis the whole 18 minutes was a bit of a blur for Joe and he
Sunrise over the beachSunrise over the beachSunrise over the beach

This was taken on another early morning walk. Not long after this Joe had a nail sticking out of his foot.
does not remember that much of it or exactly what the ship looked like! We were soon making our ascent and doing our stops. By the time we got to 12m (where the drop tank was) Joe had used most of his own air and switched to the drop tank, which was taken up as we went for the further stops. By the time we got to 3m Joe had enough of his own air to switch back to his own tank after the first few minutes and spent the stop bored and swimming in circles. We also had a competition to see who could blow the best bubble rings. We were soon all clear and back in the boat on our way back. Joe was sure to rub it in as much as possible to Mon that he had dived to 50m+ where as she had only been to 36m. Heheheh!

Over the next few days we relaxed, dived, ate, dived, drank, dived, slept, dived, etc... Joe had recently bought Mon a new camera (early birthday pressie) which was waterproof to 10m. Shallow shore dives were a perfect way to test it out and we took some nice
Standard treatment for rusty nail in foot...Standard treatment for rusty nail in foot...Standard treatment for rusty nail in foot...

Soak the affected foot in very hot water with antiseptic and administer pot noodle orally.
pictures with it, We also befriended some local mutts and they were our constant companions when we weren't in the water, much to the annoyance of the dive shop staff who tried to keep the dogs in the shop to the 2 who actually lived there: Mama an old female and her son Chicky. Mon named our 2 favourite strays Jack and Red. One morning Joe got up early and decided to go for a walk down the beach with Jack and Red. As he got to the end of the beach he started walking on the path that lead round to the next bay when he felt a sharp spike in his left foot and was surprised to find a lump of wood attached to it via a rusty nail. Without thinking he just pulled it out (which was quite difficult) and threw it away It crossed his mind to keep walking as it didn't actually hurt that much but he thought he better head back and get nurse Mon to take a look. She managed to get some disinfectant from the diveshop and we boiled some water and soaked the foot to remove as much of the shite as possible. A local guy came over and told Joe he should have hit the foot with a lump of wood as soon as it had happened which apparently would have caused it to bleed more and got the bits out. Later that day he walked into an anchor and cut the top of the same foot too so was limping around. We ate our meals at various cafes along the beach including one just off the beach which was a proper local place that did tasty but spicy Indonesian food. Nice! We ventured out to explore a bit one afternoon and explored a little bit of the island but most of our time was spent on the beach or under the water.

Towards the end of our time there, under Joe's constant bragging and coercion, Mon decided to give the deep wreck a go and Joe fancied another go as he didn't remember much! Mon did her deep check and was fine. On the day of our dive, Sunny did another excellent briefing for Mon and we were soon ready too go! Mon sometimes has trouble with her ears when descending so she was a bit worried about
Gapang Beach.Gapang Beach.Gapang Beach.

There were loads of tiny little crabs running around on the sand on this beach..
the quick descent. However, it was all good on the day. Joe was the first one down to the ship followed by Mon and Sunny. As we got below about 40m we were hit by water cold enough to take our breath away! After a few gasped breaths, we got used to it and were able to breath more normally. According to our dive computers it was about 23 degrees - not that cold but a big drop from the 30 on the surface. We saw the big trevally again and also saw a MASIVE grouper this time which was over 2m long. It is a regular visitor to the boat and has been named Him. We had our tour of the massive ship which was too big to see in one dive but towards the end of the dive the current really started to pick up until in the end we were having to carefully grab bits of boat to ensure we were not swept away and could get back to the line to ascend. We found the line and did our ascent and stops as before with Joe and Mon sharing the drop tank at 12m. At the shallower stops we started to see more and more small jelly fish and started zapping them with the air from our alternate air sources. Eventually all computers were OK and we were climbing back into the boat. Sunny told us that was the most difficult dive he had ever done there and the temperature and current were a surprise to him! But we had both enjoyed our adventure dive so all good.

Eventually we realised that we had to start thinking about leaving the island. The expensive room and diving had made a bit of a dent in our wallets. We did one last dive and then it was back in the bus and across the island then retracing our journey back to Medan on a refrigerated bus. Next stop was the jungles, rivers, monkeys and orangutans of Bukkit Lawang.


Additional photos below
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BoatBoat
Boat

This was on the way to the port at Banda Aceh
Joe waiting to get on!Joe waiting to get on!
Joe waiting to get on!

Notice the convoy of bikes behind
Meeting Jack!Meeting Jack!
Meeting Jack!

We met this mutt on a walk we were taking one day and he latched on to us. 12 days later he had made friends with the shop dogs and was hanging out with them much to the owners anger. We fell in love with him and wanted to take him home as he had SO much character.


4th July 2008

Awesome"ness"
The pictures are fabulous and you have given me the best idea of what the island is like to me and my friend Syamil...who would soon be going to Weh Island... makes me more eager to visit that little island!

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