The Equator Crossing, Part 2 (6/15)

A brief glimpse in the rain showing the location of safety beach.

On the opposite end along Kawe's southern coast, Tiak was also stunned. 

At one point during the night paddling, a gigantic creature rose from the water. It breached the surface without a splash and aimed down towards Tiak. He looked up to see a man-eating flower bending towards him. 

Night paddling was always risky because we could not see. Everyone carried a strobe for individual marking, a waterproof headlight for searching, and a small pin light for reading. The moon tonight was a barely visible waxing crescent among the star burst. Everyone had their strobes on. 

“Guys, please switch off your strobes....just follow the lead...”, with so many blinding strobes firing in every direction, it was disorienting. It was Pete’s strobe which caused Tiak to briefly hallucinate. 

While we did not see the flower monster Tiak saw that night, what etched in our memory was nature’s display of lights in the skies and water. We had never seen so many shooting stars in one night, the sudden streak of brightness above us. Below us, the plankton rich waters glowed with the disturbances of our paddle blades. Voluminous bubbles of glowing green followed our kayaks as they sliced through the waters. The waters of Pulau Kawe was so rich that whenever we shone our search lamp into the waters, hundreds of fishes, big and small, jumped and splashed, agitating a sea of bioluminescence. 

At 10pm, I went into another area of darkness, an indication that it was a bay or cove since we could not see the outline of cliffs. The tides had receded enough for me to notice a strip of beach with manageable surf. It was surprising getting very cold. The highlands of Pulau Kawe was sending down lots of cold draft. 

“This can do.”, it was cold relief rather than excitement as I spoke to the radio.

The rest of team silently paddled in as I shivered and fumbled for my jacket. No words were exchanged as the bags were emptied out of the kayaks and into the vegetation. Pete went over to Rosie, gently gave her a peck on the cheek, and a warm rubbing hug. 

~

There was still no word from the separated kayakers at midnight, after we had our dinner. The two satellite phones were with us, so there was no way to call them. They were probably on safety beach. The worst case scenario was they got swept away towards Sulawesi. But the weather was fine. Even if they were off course, they had enough food and water to survive without support for 6 days. They knew how to come back with the navigation gear they had. Although unlikely, it was the thought of worst case scenario that caused worry and stress. 

At safety beach, they could stay and wait for us to re-establish contact, which was most likely. But they could also move, either to meet us at E12 or straight to the next agreed E-point at E9. If it was the former, they would come by the western shore, which was as shorter route to E12. If it was to E9, it was shorter to take the eastern route, passing by E10. I assumed they would not be worst off than us, and they would elect to continue paddling tomorrow. But where?

I would paddle towards safety beach tomorrow via the eastern coast. This took care of two hypotheses. To intercept them, I must start earlier than them. If they decide to paddle to E12 along the western coast, they would eventually crossed path with the rest of the team, who will proceed tomorrow to E9 (Selpele village) as planned. It was not yet a rescue mission. 

I could sleep easier once I had this plan thought out. I had no urge to set up a tent for a few hours’ sleep. I lay on my hammock and repeated the scenarios again until I could almost feel them close by...but little did I know that even if I had made it to Safety Beach tomorrow, Johnny and Bhas would not be waiting there, nor would they paddle to any of the E-points as I thought they would...