The swell has been pretty calm so the first day we arrived at Treasure Island we surfed a break called Turtles that is head high when everything else is pretty dead. We had our first session with the whole crew in the water and we had the break to ourselves. It was an awesome session and I think everybody bonded being in the water together. We motored around to a bay on the other side of the island that night to anchor. On the way there Nigel caught a tuna and a mackerel and made a delicious coconut curry with the meat, it was probably the best meal weve had so far. Jessie and I also tried to teach the Aussies how to play Settlers of Catanthat didnt go so well. Everyone was already pretty drunk and they didnt catch on too quick. Hopefully well have luck getting them to try it again. The next day we checked out another break called Cobras, which can barrel and get really fun, but there wasnt enough swell for it to work so we headed back to Turtles. Pulse was there with her Kiwi crowd and we all surfed and hung out together. Jessie and I went spearfishing and I got a big dark snapper and he got some sort of jack (the jack was much tastier). Unfortunately the picture of my snapper got lost somehowit was bigger than the jack 😉 The next day we surfed another morning session at Turtles and then went on a jungle hike to a turtle conservation camp. The camp was deserted and pretty disappointing but the bare-foot jungle trek was really cool. We had dinner and then set sail after dark for Nias, which was a 12 hour passage and got us there the following morning. In Nias Jesse and I went ashore to resupply on fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, batteries, meat, juice, and other provisions. We dont actually have an Indonesian cruising permit, so technically were in the country illegally, so we have to stick to off the radar areas that dont have a harbor master. In Nias this meant that we needed to find a ride for the 30 minute trip in to town. Luckily as soon as we got off the dinghy we met a local who spoke very good English and introduced us to his friend, who agreed to drive us in for our shopping trip for just $20. We found everyone in Nias to be extremely friendly and helpful and were really surprised at all the churches on the island. Sumatra is predominantly Muslim, but over 80% of the population on Nias is protestant. Most important, this meant we were able to find something that we had not seen in a long time; pork. Buying meat in Indonesia is always difficult, and Nias was no different. A lady who called herself Hellen offered to take me on the back of her scooter to the pork butcher. I hopped on the back to go find meat while Jesse took care of some other shopping. After a short ride we came to a small house, and after greeting us a small child ran to the back to get her dad. While we were waiting I had a look around, and while I didnt see any pigs, there were a couple dogs in cages. I asked Hellen if they eat the dogs too and, with a big smile, she told they do. eventually the butcher came out, opened a refrigerator in front of this house that was half full of black bags, and opened up a few of them me. They were full of extremely fatty cuts of what appeared to be pork. Each bag was a kilogram and I bought two, which came to $7.50. While the whole thing felt like a weird, sketchy drug transaction, we ate the meat for dinner the next two nights and its actually not bad. We spent the night in Nias and set sail the next morning for the Batu Islands, a group of islands between Nias and the Mentawais. Well spend the next few days there, including my 29th birthday, doing more surfing and fishing. Posted from sea using Sailmail. ————————————————- 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: 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