The Equator Crossing, Part 4 (8/15)

Magostan of Salyo Village. Behind him the island of E10, and the hills of Waigeo.

Magostan was fishing in his home made Prahu when I spotted him from Bhas’ Crazies. I hesitated between paddling towards him and heading straight for the shade on Johnny’s Beach. How could he help?

“Apa Khabar Pak.”

“Baik.”

“Ikan? Besar?”

“Ada. Dari Mana?”

“Wayag. Pak, saya ta tahu sini di mana. Ada dua orang kawan ta tahu di mana. Tolong pergi bersama utara. Ada kawan di sana. Tolong?”, I pleaded with him to send me to Safety Beach with the best of my broken Bahasa.

“Saya kasih rupiah ok?”, I added.

Magostan jigged his line, which ran through his toes. He was lost in his thoughts and I was already thinking of a graceful goodbye.

“Situ?”, he pointed towards north.

“Ya...”

Magostan finally kept his line. He rearranged his life on his small prahu to make space for me.

“Tarik!”, he took out a rope and made a tying knot.

“No, no, atas bisa?”, I was concerned the weight of the kayak pulled through the Bhas’ Crazies would capsize it.

So with the kayak on board we crossed the Bhas’ Crazies towards Safety Beach. Every 5 minutes I would transmit my radio three times. If Johnny was in range and listening, he would reply.

45mins later and 2km from Safety Beach, the prahu sputtered to a stop. Magostan removed a plank and took out a liter of petrol. 

“Habis...Tak cukop. Ini balik.”

“dua kilometers sahaja. Tolong?”, I was already planning whether to launch the kayak or go back with him.

“Balik...saya tak kuat.”, he pressed his biceps, made a painful face, and pointed towards Johnny’s Beach.

By this time I was sure they had reached Safety Beach. The current was nowhere as bad and today’s weather had been excellent. Even if they were dragged off course yesterday, they would had made it to Safety Beach today. The search was over. Now I needed to do a recovery, and for this I needed a bigger boat that could take 3 kayaks. The team was on their way to the village of Selpele where I could rent a bigger recovery boat.

“OK balik...”

On the way back, I relaxed and dozed off in the afternoon heat and drumming motor. The petrol finally ran out just before the Bhas Crazies. I took out a swath of seven 100K rupiah notes for Magostan. His eyes lit up immediately.

“Satu lagi?”, he grimaced his hands together, then pressed his biceps.

I was grateful and tired and gave him without arguing. I dare not ask how he was going back.

“Mau Ikan?!”, Magostan excitedly peeled off another plank to show me his fresh catch of large red snappers and barracudas. If only I didn’t need to do another 4 hours paddle....

“No...terima kasih banyak...”, I said. 

“Tidur pantai situ. Makan. Besok saya tarik ke Selpele.”, he invited me to stay with him in his little blue tarp on E10 beach.

Instantaneously, I could see us enjoying smokey barracudas and pan-fried snappers on a nice beach. I could use the sat phone to coordinate the recovery. They could also recover me on the way back....but I regretted to inform you, Magostan, that I already had dinner plans.

“Rokok lagi...tolong?”, he grabbed a handful of kretek from my waterproof can.

Once the kayak was dropped, I set off to cross Bhas' Crazies for the third time.