A Trail to Wayag, part 2 (4/15)

The clear waters of Capsize Lagoon at Wayag Islands.

“I chartered this boat so that I can talk to you!”, SH raised her voice.

She had injured her shoulder attempting to cross the surf. When she could not continue, Halim took her to the CI (Conservation International) field post, the only permanent structure at Wayag. SH had told him she would like immediate medical attention. Halim could not decide and wanted her to talk to me. She chartered CI’s only boat to find us at E1.

“Sorry, not the best time to make a decision. You are already safely landed. It’s late. Go take a good rest and we talk tomorrow.”, I needed time to think.

“My decision will be the same tomorrow!”

“OK, we talk tomorrow. Good night.”

After dinner, I called for a team meeting for a consensus regarding SH. We had an obligation to help a fellow team mate along. If she had to be towed daily, load would have to be re-distributed to everyone. We should start and finish as a team. However if she indeed had a recurrence of her shoulder injury, she should be evacuated and seek medical attention. 

With this consensus, we paddled to the CI field post early next morning and woke SH. I told her about the meeting and the team’s consensus, and asked for her decision so that we can continue with the expedition. SH shared her reasonings and pains. I listened. After two hours, she decided to evacuate. Halim made the arrangement, we wished her luck, and we paddled back to camp. 

“Best possible outcome for everyone.”, Halim said as we paddled back.

~

When we finally paddled into the lagoons of Wayag, it was a different world that we could not had imagined still exist. 

To be surprised by a place still pristine and see it with our own eyes betrayed our lack of faith with our human path. If pilgrims walked miles to restore their faith, then Wayag was a shrine that partially restored some of mine. There were still some places in this world evolved to its balance harmony and left untouched.

Wayag was a temple with silence as its guardian, enforced by a protective reef that fend off the most vicious waves. Inside this special grounds, creatures and corals abound. We didn’t come with spears and vroom, just a paddle. To enter Wayag on a kayak was to seek out the blessings of this guardian. Quietly with bow heads and earnest eyes, we saw life beautiful if we let it be, left it be. The untouched wonders of Wayag revealed to us, not just life underwater, but the sounds of unidentified birds, the colors of wild flowers that cling to the sharp limestone edifice. There was no map, just a following of one beautiful thing to the next.

~

At night we treated 60 liters of water that we bought from the CI field post. The CI staff had to collect them from a waterfall on Pulau Kawe, which was also where we would be paddling to tomorrow. E12 was located on the southern coast of Pulau Kawe. Fresh water were scarce on most of the limestone islands of Raja Ampat. There were none on Wayag. The other islands were either too small or the limestone too porous to retain sufficient fresh water. On Pulau Kawe however, the 2000+ feet mountain range could support small streams and provide fresh water. 

Max Ammer, an veteran expat who had lived in Raja Ampat for 20 years, helped us when we met him before the expedition. He had marked out the beaches on Pulau Kawe and also warned that illegal nickel mining on Pulau Kawe had made some areas restricted. It had also dramatically changed its landscape, stripping whole slopes of forests, and open cutting its mountains till they bled. It could not be more different from the nature paradise of Wayag that we were in, just 18km away.

It would be our longest crossing of the expedition. Crossing was always risky as it left the team exposed to sudden changes in weather and water conditions, in open waters, with shelter some hours away. I pointed out a beach on the northern coast marked out by Max to Johnny and Chan. That would be safety beach - if all hell broke loose.

After spending two nights at Wayag, we prepared to move the expedition from the northern to the southern hemisphere. For some of us interested in maps and geography, it meant we were crossing the equator line. We did not expect to see a line on the sea or transit to a different dimension. It was just special to see the GPS unit displaying all zeros for the longitude and latitude readings. It was seeing these zeros that made the crossing a little more interesting. I thought we should stop at the equator and take a picture as a souvenir, since it was the first equator kayak crossing for all of us.

We did cross the equator tomorrow, but was swiftly moved out of the way.