Telos

The day after my birthday celebration everyone was moving a little slow, but we decided to go for a cruise and check for some surf on the surrounding islands. There hasnt been any significant swells in the last couple weeks, but more exposed points will usually still delver head high surf around here. We spent the whole day cruising around but the only really nice wave we found had a couple charter boats already on it, so we decided to just head back to the anchorage. On the way back Annie hooked a huge cerro mackerel which made for the best fish dinner weve had so far. The fish probably weighed close to 20 lbs and there was plenty of meat left for fish omelettes in the morning as well. The next morning we sailed for the town of Telos, a small village but the largest in this group of islands. We had heard that there is a harbor master here so we were planning to avoid it due to our lack of documentation, but a Scottish sailor we met in Sipika assured us that there are no authorities there, and we really needed fuel. The town ended up being pretty cool, and after filling up on overpriced diesel we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking cold Bintangs in a little corner store. We went back to the boat for dinner, then Jesse, Annie and I returned to see what nightlife Telos had to offer. After docking the dinghy we ran in to a guy with a pellet rifle, and naturally I challenged him to a shooting contest. Im usually a pretty good shot, but Id been drinking all day and lost. After that we wandered around town until we ran in to a couple of young guys sitting on a bridge singing and playing the guitar. We bought some cold beers and sat there singing with them and Annie danced with a little 5 year old kid. The whole things felt like a scene from a Wes Andersen movie. The next morning we brought up the anchor and headed for the southern Batu islands, and full days sail away. We arrived before sunset at a beautiful spot surrounded by three islands with great exposure to the south-west swell. The swell made for a rocky night and I dont think anyone slept great, but in the morning I paddled out and surfed a super fun right hand point break with a couple of Aussies from a nearby surf camp. There are tons of different waves around here and I think well probably stick around for the next several days. —– At 8/4/2015 5:06 AM (utc) our position was 0034.05’S 09829.01’E ————————————————- Do not push the “reply” button to respond to this message if that includes the text of this original message in your response. Messages are sent over a very low-speed radio link. The most concise way to reply is to send a NEW message to: “Jesse Smith” <WDE6544@sailmail.com> If you DO use your reply button, be sure to delete the original message text and these instructions from your reply. Replies should not contain attachments and should be less than 5 kBytes (2 text pages) in length. This email was delivered by an HF private coast station in the Maritime Mobile Radio Service, operated by the SailMail Association, a non-profit association of yacht owners. For more information on this service or on the SailMail Association, please see the web site at: http://www.sailmail.com