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Educational, Eric's Posts, Gulf of Aden & Red Sea

Suakin, Sudan in April 2018 by Eric

May 1, 2018 admin 8 Comments

This article is also posted on the World Cruiser’s Noonsite website under Soaking in Sudan.

April 8, 2018

Before leaving Massawa, Eritrea, I emailed Mohammed Abubaker, Port Suakin’s wonderful yacht service agent, via inReach SE satellite text of our pending arrival. He had arranged a tourist visa, hotel, and transportation for my brother Nick Rigney who flew into Port Sudan from U.S. to join us. No commercial carrier offered flights to Khartoum, where visas are more expensive/complicated and U.S. State Dept considers the city a Level 3 security risk.

Kandu motoring into Port Suakin, Sudan. The ruins of Suakin Island as a backdrop.

Mohammed Abubaker awaiting Kandu’s arrival.

Hailed Suakin Port Control on VHF Ch16 and 14 an hour before arrival. Not until 06h30 when we were almost at the entrance did we get a response, which after answering the standard questions (port of registry, size of yacht, number of crew and nationality, etc.), came immediate port entry permission and a kind welcome. Once well within the channel, we hugged the ruined city of Suakin Island to avoid the shoals of the channel’s opposite (western) side. Nearing the end of the season, we were the only sailing yacht except for an unmanned yacht anchored and covered in Red Sea dust. We anchored just south of the island, before the fishing skiffs, in about 20’: good holding on mud bottom. We were so guarded from swell that below deck, I thought we were in a well-protected marina.

Mohammed Abubakar and Eric Rigney clearing customs and immigration in Kandu’s cockpit.

Per my most recent email arrival estimate, the friendly Mr. Mohammed Abubaker (

mo****************@gm***.com

) was there to greet us, fresh local bread in hand. His English is excellent. He’s tall, handsome, cheerful, and has a deep bass voice, features worthy of a character-actor movie career. His white fiberglass panga/skiff served as our dinghy dock, from which he boarded our dinghy to our yacht, and efficiently collected our documents:

1 passport picture per person for the shore pass
1 passport photocopy per person
1 crew list

Charge for clearing the four of us in, including his commission, $220 USD.

He returned with our shore passes within a couple hours. Additionally we requested 600 liters of diesel (US$0.70 per liter delivered to shore in our gerry jugs), 2 10GB data SIM cards (US$15 ea), and to exchange US$140 (25 Sudanese pounds to the USD, an excellent exchange rate with the understanding that he’d buy back what we didn’t use). Our diesel jugs returned full within 3-4 hrs. Mohammad lent us his portable WiFi hotspot device gratis, so we could spread decent Internet joy among the crew installing one of the 2 SIM cards into the hotspot. (We hadn’t had Internet since leaving India, as Eritrea doesn’t really have anything useable).

Suakin Island ruins. After 100 years of no maintenance, the coral block buildings fell apart.

Visiting the Ruins of Suakin costs 10 Sudanese pounds per person (US$0.40) for an all day pass. Each time we walked around, we bumped into a friendly local authority ready to describe the ruins in his best English; very kind. After visiting the local museum a few days later, a short taxi or motorized rickshaw drive away, we had greater appreciation for what we were seeing, how old the site was and how quickly it fell apart.

That evening, Mohammed drove us in his worn four-door Mercedes to an excellent local herb-grilled chicken restaurant. Reading how traditional Muslim Sudan is, whenever ashore, Leslie opted to wear her full body Muslim dress and head scarf so as not to draw too much added glares against herself and the family in general. We saw many more men than women out at night (women made up only about 5% of those out after dark). Our tab for the delicious dinner of 4 chicken halves, 3 bean plates, fresh bread, 5 small water bottles and 2 Cokes was $14 total. No flatware or napkins, yet all food establishments have set up a water can with working spiget and a bar of soap to wash before and after. Air dry always.

Eric Rigney, Mohammed Abubakar, Nick Rigney at Port Suakin in front of Mohammed’s car.

BBQ Chicken Restaurant in the adjacent village.

Mr. Mohammed answered all our questions and solved all our visiting requests. He was our dream official and guide. He drove us to the open market for fruits and vegetable provisioning, as well as shops that sold UHT boxed milk, pasta, and canned goods. He then drove our provisions and us back to the “dinghy dock.”

Leslie wheeling and dealing the local Sudanese merchants for quality produce.

He found a replacement 30l gerry jug for one of ours which its lid no longer held tight. And he arranged a taxi fellow in Port Sudan to act as a city tour guide (Mr. Gafar’s English not so good, so he called Mohammed to clarify whenever necessary. It worked fine). We took a 1hr public bus from Suakin to Port Sudan (US$1/pp). Mr Gafar met up with us and drove us around the port, took us to a fish market, to a wonderfully rustic restaurant for grilled lamb, and an open market for more fruits and vegetables, (we didn’t know how to ask to see the handicrafts bazaar), and drove us back to Suakin Island. There, he took us to the museum and to an awesome local bazaar to buy smaller aluminum jebbanas for serving Sudanese coffee. Total cost for driving us all around: $20.

Leslie and the boys decided to relax on the boat, while my brother, Nick and I went ashore to find some local dinner adventure. We stumbled across a small popular shack serving among other items a traditional bean dish, sprinkled with cheese, topped with fresh chopped tomatoes, onions, and greens, as well as a medium spicy oil sauce. They called it the “special.” Served with the local leavened pita-like bread, we dug into it with relish tearing pieces of bread to dip like tortilla chips at home and drinking small glasses of hot, sweet mint tea. Total cost for two, including 2 teas each: US$2. Note: I’ve been traveling awhile in ancient-culture nations, so I’m perfectly ok to eat with my hands, no flatware, communal plates, bread tossed on a rickety table, flies everywhere, goats, donkeys, etc. Tourists love it, tolerate it, or hate it. I happen to love it . . . a lot. The locals watch us with curiosity and esteem when we partake in their ways.

Early the next morning, Nick and I went to a flimsy blue coffee shack Mohammed recommended, and enjoyed strong ginger-flavored Turkish-style coffee served from a small aluminum jebbana, complete with a filter of dried grass stuffed in the jebbana’s spout. The ceramic shot glasses were half filled with granulated sugar. We spoke in informal international hand language. Flies, goats, donkeys, cats, hawks, local stares, dirt floors, rickety old timber construction, table about to fall down? . . . Loved it!!!

Clearing out with Mohammed was equally as simple. The cost was low, don’t remember because the 30l jug filled with diesel was included in the over all price. Another boat arrived, a French charter captain who’s sailed this part of the world for 14 years. Mohammed highly recommended we speak with Captain Jack. Jack gave us advice that we are exercising:

On the way to Egypt, stop at Sanganeb Reef & lighthouse to snorkel, buy a T-Shirt (US$15 ea. supports the workers), and tour the lighthouse. Per the Red Sea Pilot Guide, we just tied up to the lighthouse pier’s bollard for a couple hours as the current and wind gently kept the boat off the pier. We did all that Captain Jack suggested, enjoyed the pristine beauty and then easily untied and took off. Wonderful experience, super friendly people.
Check into Port Ghalib, cheaper, faster, and friendlier. Make arrangements with one of the two Egyptian Suez Canal agents before proceeding. Visit Luxor.
Skip Hurghada where a new bureaucrat charges boats a lot to check in again and all other costs are high.
Check/clear out of Port Suez after visiting the pyramids.
Stop in Ismailia, required anyway, and visit the wonderful yacht club but don’t leave it to go further ashore as we would have already cleared out of Egypt from Port Suez. Stay until the weather is good, but hopefully spend a couple days at the club: laundry, showers, etc. Hire a pilot.
Drop the pilot off in Port Said, but for the sake of your boat, sanity, and wallet (damage due to ship’s wake, clearing out is harder, more expensive, etc.), keep on going, preferably to Cyprus. From there, cheap flights can take you to the rest of the eastern Med for a lot less money and hassle than arriving by boat.

Suakin, Sudan ruins

Well that’s our experience and learning. We were one of 28 boats this season to stop in Suakin. We heard only 18 stopped in Eritrea. With Mohammed’s help, nothing could be simpler, easier, and more enjoyable than stopping in Suakin, Sudan. He really made it a great experience. If you have more time, I hear you might wish to see Sudan’s pyramids, precursor to the larger, newer Egyptian “copies.” If you want to scuba dive, you need to make arrangements ahead of time through the dive companies in Port Sudan. Most scuba operating boats are liveaboards and in high season, depart for a week at a time. We didn’t dive because all the boats were booked and there were no day trips available. We don’t carry our own dive equipment on Kandu. Just no space.

Educational, Experiential, Indonesia, Leslie's Posts

Bintan, Sumatra, Indonesia, Oct 2017

May 1, 2018 admin 3 Comments

The Bintan Sail Indonesia Rally 2017 Committee treated us to a couple special days sightseeing the area starting with a speed boat tour of the local Bintan mangroves. Entering deep into the forested areas, not only did we get to glimpse several coiled vipers sometimes directly overhead, Blue Kingfishers, and endemic Grey Herons, we saw up close the twisted mangrove tree roots that seem to morph into different shapes in front of your eyes.

Our guides then brought us to a previous tin mine, now tourist attraction, that boasted lovely visuals of aqua blue waters and an archery range where ‘the boys’ amused themselves. This tourist area also had our favorite local drink which seemed always to be available: fresh chilled coconut water cut open directly in front of you – a welcome healthy treat to quench our thirst countering the hot humidity.

Later that day included competitions celebrating a local festival: boat racing and kite flying. I enjoyed tremendously experiencing the locals being sportive and having fun.

Then wonderful local food was provided for us along the river front, which involved entertainment that I was prodded to participate in, all in good humor.

During our last day in Bintan, Indonesia, we got a chance to visit 500 Lohan Temple aka Vihara Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, a Buddhist temple with 500 statues (arhats) representing the different transformations in male form of the Goddess Guan Yin, each one human-like, unique and different from the next. “Guan Yin or Avalokiteśvara is one of the most popular and well known female goddess in Asia and probably in the world. Guan Yin is the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion in Mahayana Buddhism and also worshiped by Taoists.” They actually refer to this temple as the temple of 1000 men as the original order from China was for 1000 statues, but they changed the order upon realizing they didn’t have enough land space to accomodate so many.

Our farewell dinner to Indonesia and the rally was over-the-top fun. During an outstanding local food buffet, we were once again entertained with beautifully costumed dancers. Eric was crowned with a special Malay hat for having spoken on behalf of the cruisers. After dinner, we were ushered to the beach-front where loud DJ music blasted out beats. We all danced to our hearts content, especially Trent who thought it was one of the best nights EVER. To top off the night, the entire beachfront was lined with tiki torches lit afire. Passed out to the crowd were paper lanterns to send off into the sky. Lighting the lanterns and letting them rise up into the dark night was truly magical. None of us had ever experienced such a unique wonder watching them float away over the ocean. It was a spectacular end to the Sail Indonesia Rally 2017. We left Indonesia having been wonderfully guided through the bountiful and colorful cultures of the country while being spoiled rotten by their generous hospitality. We couldn’t have had a more enriching experience if we had tried to visit Indonesia without the guidance of the rally.

Eric's Posts, Experiential, Leslie's Posts, Log Notes

Delorme LogNotes: Ketawai & Bangka, Oct 2017

March 10, 2018 admin 7 Comments

Oct 10 2017 – Arrived at Ketawai, small island à la Gilligan’s Isle, anchored in shallow water, rather exposed to the mostly benign elements. Hope the wind doesn’t turn on us.

Oct 12 2017 – Organizers of the Ketawai rally stop boated over a make-shift stage, pavilion, kitchen, & store to this uninhabited island. Fed us all day yesterday, guided us on snorkeling tour, and had a young dance troop perform trad’l Indonesian/Sumatran dances for us accompanied by trad’l orchestra. Plus another band of excellent contemporary musicians & singers performed hits from Beatles, Bob Marley, country, & today. L & B took turns performing on stage. Earlier in the day, the boys & Uncle Nick had fun getting up to speed flying the drone, capturing cool images. Boys & friend Rainer r camping ashore tonight.

Today, organizers plan to shuttle boat us to main island, Bangka, for a town & mangrove tour. Marine police r on hand to guard our boats while gone. Mostly in case of weather, but maybe to keep the fishermen honest. The gov’t really takes care of us, insuring we’ve nothing but good experiences. It’s been off-the-charts great, especially the friends we make on each island. Astounded how quickly solid friendships can be formed over such brief periods. With sailors, I get it, but with locals, 2-3 days & you have a possible lifelong friendship. I think often the community’s brightest people are paired with us and those that speak English, of course, since we only know a couple words in Bahasa. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy.

Oct 13, 2017 – A police boat brought us cross the channel to main island Bangka. Police escorted our 2 busses to mrkt place. More police in mrkt including undercovers to insure nothing goes wrong. We are considered tourism emissaries, thus must have nothing but good to report. Indonesia even has its own special tourism police branch to help tourists, often young & attractive, English speaking.

Arrived to this harbor

Get your Chicken!

Marketplace goodies

Dried fish

Eric charming the police!

Police goodwill

Many photos taken of us by press & locals wanting selfies w/us. We made the paper twice. Gov’t wants to show they are developing tourism in their remote regions. Vocational High School went crazy for boys again, especially when Rainer quickly kissed a girl’s hand. CRAZY!!!

Once again Kandu Crew is surrounded by the ladies!

This region is more conservatively Muslim, but no feeling of tension, perhaps because we dress & act appropriately. Indonesian smiles are infectious.

Organizers had us take a panga boat thru narrow, windy mangrove waterway to an eco center for lunch. Elevated wooden walkways thru thickly forested mangroves, made for a magical adventure as we made our way to a treehouse restaurant.

Red Cross volunteers were completing training in the water while we were there, all dressed in red Tshirts, black pants. The First Lady of the provincial governor was there to meet us & support the Red Cross volunteers’ graduating ceremony, placing red baseball caps on their heads as they exited the waist-high marsh.

The speedboat ride back was quick. The dinner ashore was bittersweet as we bid farewell to many. Some boats leaving that we won’t likely see again. Rainer, the boys’ buddy from Santa Cruz CA flies out today & Nick flies out tomorrow. So last night’s dinner was a farewell celebration, with promises of meeting up again some day and keeping in touch.

I must make reservations for the next 5 marinas in Malaysia that are part of the Rally, plus Thailand. 75 boats are signed up. Not enough room for us all in each marina. We expect to meet & make more friends & find the group to transit the Red Sea. Although so many boats have registered for the Malaysia Rally, experience shows us that less than 25% stick with it. In our Sail Indonesia Rally, USA boats were a minority, but almost all stuck with it, making US boats the majority.

Slow, easy day today at Ketawai. Three of the 7 yachts have left. Breakfast was eaten Indonesian style, on the beach under palm trees, served over banana leaves. We had a great time releasing baby turtles into the ocean. An entire crowd gathered around to pray for them and see them off. Evidently, the surviving turtles will return to Ketawai after 10 years to mate. Evening entertainment: a great 5 piece contemporary band, a traditional band & young dancers, speeches, and gifts of handmade batik scarves.

We’ll miss Ketawai. After brkfst on the beach tomorrow, Nick will depart aboard a speedboat loaded with a suitcase full of our junk to store in our storage space. He will be taking a plane to Central Java to visit the incredible Buddhist and Hindu temples. Kandu will also depart and sail two days to North Bintan, our last Indonesian Rally stop. Lots planned for us. Few boats remain.

Oct 15 2017

This is Leslie @ 3:40 am on watch. Stars showing in full force. Motoring as no wind. Experienced most fab time at latest stop Ketawai. Ketawai is similar to a motu. Very small fishing and tourist island for locals from bigger neighbor island Banka to get away for the day.

Nick’s visit was way too short. He left this am to Java to visit the Buddhist n Hindu temples near Yogyakarta. He brought us stuff and is returning w/ stuff as usual. The boys loved their bday cards as did I and the very nice letters you sent. I spent at least an hour pouring over your letters/notes. Very sad to say goodbye to Rainer. Boys really enjoyed his N. California Santa Cruz flavor.

Eric's Posts, Experiential, Indonesia, Log Notes

Delorme LogNotes: Belitung Indonesia, Oct 2017

February 26, 2018 admin 6 Comments

Oct 2 2017 – Sailing to Belitung. AIS transponders are required by Indonesia of all cruising sailboats, but by int’l maritime law, they cannot require it of us. Some cruisers only have receivers. No penalties are imposed. Ironically most Indonesian commercial fishing, freighter, ferries, cargo, tugs & barges do not transmit their location over AIS, something that is required by int’l maritime law. They are invisible to our receivers, a fact that keeps our watches more vigilant. Fortunately they carry the proper lights and are visible to radar.
Oct 9 2017 – Had another spectacular & generous visit, this time on Belitung island. 2 day tours: first day driving West, the other East. Busses, guides, catered meals, shows, cultural expositions, dance, Chinese lions show, museums, religious centers and temples, unique geological features, local specialty coffee cafes w/ amazing singer & interesting introductions to unusual animal life. Best of all: the local people.

‘We Kandu’ participates in the events when possible.

Bryce taking it seriously!

Eric & Bryce canning eachother

Belitung Chinese Temple

Entrance Chinese Temple

Chinese Temple door decoration

Chinese Temple Alter

Lion guarding Chinese Temple

We are treated like superstars: press coverage & interviews, honored guests, front row seats, personal guides & interpreters, and always the screaming school girls seeking B&T’s photos & contact info on Instagram.

Bryce and Trent at the center of Indonesia’s best!

The anchorage is extraordinarily beautiful, with gorgeous rock formations that the boys enjoyed jumping off and filming.

Leslie kept receiving compliments on her Polynesian palm frond hat that she made in the Marquesas, so gave two classes on how to make them to the locals. The tour bureau even published an article on their site about it.

We leave Belitung today w/Nick who arrived here yesterday. Ketawai is our next stop: 3 days on an isolated island with all meals provided as well as a shuttle boat over to tour the neighboring large island, bordering Sumatra. After that will be Bintan, then Malaysia.

Bus visit to mining site

Boys chatting w/ police

Boys in trouble?

Special greeting & lunch with Belitong officials.

Lunch w/ officials

5 people share

Belitong coffee shop

Coffee shop entertainment

Fabulous singer w/ Leslie

Jr High School Greeting

Given royal welcome

Jr High students

Students dancing

Girls enacting a skit

Bryce greeting students

Speaking in a class

Nick arrives!

Market bananas

Tarsius

Eric's Posts, Experiential, Indonesia, Log Notes

Delorme LogNotes by Eric, Tanjung Puting, Kalimantan Sept 2017

February 9, 2018 admin

Sept 30 2017 7:12 am – Fab 3d trip up jungle river, close up viewing of wild endemic apes, macaque monkeys, Proboscis monkeys, birds of all sorts especially hornbills, reptiles, insects, & plants. Inland excursions day & night to witness scheduled and much anticipated Orangutans feasting on bananas and milk at the feeding stations. We traveled, ate, & slept aboard 3-decker Borneo river boat w/ Captain, guide, cook, & 2 deck hands which meant we did little but enjoy the experience. Went with 2 couples from 2 boats, so 8 of us. No cooking – food and drinks provided. Another 2 yachtie couples rented a smaller river boat for their 5. We buddy boated up & down the river. Smaller boats maneuver better. Saw many boats with just a couple on board. Recommend the experience highly. The key is a good guide w/strong English, or you miss half of the education and things you can/might see.

We went w/Mr. Bain. His guide, Usup (like YOU-soup) is great. Cost 2M rupiah ($180) pp all expenses included. We booked only 2 days in advance. Celebrated Trent’s 14th on board, rafted to other boat, tied off Eco Lodge dock. 1 sailor had toured western Amazon during rainy season said Amazon had much more life. We’re in the dry season, & the park is smaller. But he thought the Tanjung Puting National Park was fantastic & thoroughly enjoyed the different and truly extraordinary wildlife. Took lots and lots of pics.

Bryce anticipating our movement into Sekonyer River.

Entrance statude to Tanjung Puting Nat’l Park

SV Ocelot and Grand Cru stopped to gawk at male orangutan. We joined in too!

Orangutan male isolated in the jungle

Rare sight to see proboscus monkeys swimming in fright.

Two male proboscis monkeys

Young female proboscis monkey

Leslie Rigney catching a glimpse of a female proboscis monkey and baby.

Dominant male proboscis monkey.

Upclose view of female proboscis monkey and baby.

Male Proboscis Leader watching over his group

Guide made Leslie a fern hat .

Playing Uchre

DCIM105GOPRO

We plan to sail tomorrow if we can repair mainsail furler. If not, will limp along with trysail instead until we can get to a place where we can repair it. Not the end of the world. Just means we travel a touch slower.

BTW: Nick Rigney is scheduled to join us on the 8th. Woohoo!

Sept 30 2017 13:48 – Repaired the furler. Transferred fuel from port to stbd tank. All is well. Decided to leave earlier for Belitung. Must go slowly. Less than 4.5 kts over 300 nm to arrive at daylight 10/3, 3 days Anchored. Squalls, lightning, countercurrent, & headwind suggested to me that we anchor the night & start first light, WITH the elements. So happy with our decision to wait out the storm!

Wild male orangutan in Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan, Indonesia.

For more Indonesia Orangutan photos, visit our photo gallery!

Eric's Posts, Indonesia, Itinerary, Log Notes

Delorme LogNotes by Eric, Kumai Kalimantan Sept 2017

February 8, 2018 admin 1 Comment

Sept 23 2017 – Kalimantan (Borneo) & upcoming plans:

Travel up & anchor in a river next to Kumai town.
Tour a traditional Dayak village with Sail Indonesia Rally 2017 and tour Kumai all organized by the local rally committee.
Learn about orangutan conservation @ Camp Leakey
Find & try bird’s nest soup
Reserve a Klotok river boat, guide, etc for a 3 days cruise to take us to Tanjung Puting Nat’l Park w/wildlife stops and onboard meals along the way, observing from & sleeping on the elevated deck.
Find a “boat boy” to watch over Kandu, living in the cockpit while she remains locked up; a common Kumai practice
Prepare to celebrate Trent’s 14th Bday with some “forest people/orangutans.”
Head off for exotic Belitung Island where Nick will join us.

That’s what’s planned for next week starting 9/25. As always, twice as much will occur over what is planned. There could be a welcoming dinner with trad’l dancing, a museum or temple or two, geological points of interest, food items, etc.

Sailing at night, we must pay close attention for little red & blue flashing LED lights affixed to wooden scaffolding fish attracting devices. Also, few Indonesian boats have AIS, even the larger fishing boats, ferry, tugs, & cargo vessels, which by int’l maritime law they are required to. Makes for a very attentive watch. FAD’s are invisible to RADAR and can cause great damage to a sailboat, esp the prop & rudder. Also have to be on look out for the occasional large ocean obstacle – in this case a random buoy.

Random open ocean buoy in Indonesian waters.

Sept 24, 2017 – Celebrated Bryce’s 16th bday yesterday with chocolate brownies instead of cake! He loved the specially wrapped gifts of the items he’d picked out in Yogyakarta!

Arrived Kumai to unexpected gift. M/Y (Motor Yacht) Restless M owned by Claire and Errol White, longstanding friends of Eric was anchored in the river waiting for us. We anchored up to their huge yacht, enjoyed dinner together while BnT entertained us boat jumping and swimming in the muddy river water.

Sept 27 2017 – After reading about and hearing the sounds coming from swiftlet bird’s nest buildings, our imagination was peaked. The bird’s nest are highly sought after in China and they sell for large amounts of money per kilo. We bought 2 bird nests after 2-day tour of S. Central Kalimantan (Borneo).

Black swiftlet in nest

More bird nest infos

Edible swiftlet bird’s nests.

We were introduced to local tribes, sultans, & culture, including playing with blow darts and rice wine. During tour, took narrow 4-person river boat tours up a large stream to visit a local market place. It was like we were sent back in time.

Entrance Guardian

Dart games using bamboo

Rice wine served in bamboo

Sticky rice cooked in bamboo

Dayak tribe in costume

Dayak drummer

Dayak dancing

Leslie w/ Dayak woman

Trent & Dayak Guardian

Older Indonesian Man

Palm oil pod

Belitung river

BnT & Rainer on riverboat

Riverboat passengers

Open market egg carrier

Open mkt vegetables

Open mkt chicken

Open mkt fruits

Then orangutan conservatory lunch. A Jr. High School visit had special local music and dance. After the show, our boys were signing autographs like rock stars, girls screaming like at Beatles concerts. Leslie was asked to sing center stage to introduce them to opera. Then we headed off to the Kumai Tourist Center where we enjoyed more dance and music. They truly spoiled us!

Orangutan conservancy

Yawning orangutan

Incredible jungle lunch

Jr High Welcoming Committee

Junior high school presentation

Jr High Dancer

Jr High Band

Trent trying stilts

Scouts in Borneo!

Jr High Teachers

Jr High students

Meet n greet

BnT Superstars?

The second day of the Kumai rally tours brought us to a fancy Indonesian outdoor buffet held on Dayak communal grounds. The performers entertained us on a stage set-up under their Dayak house. They were beautifully trained middle school dancers and musicians. We felt thoroughly spoiled and honored. After lunch we were off to visit the local sultan and his family. The eldest daughter and wife were dressed in the most beautiful yellow gowns. She took a liking to Leslie and walked with her arm in arm around her grounds to Leslie’s absolute delight. They couldn’t talk to one another except in facial & body language yet the overall sentiment was equal admiration. It was a GREAT 2 days.

Kumai student tour guides and dancers.

Kumai middle school dancers.

Kumai middle school

Hornbill hat.

Starting tomorrow we will live on local river boat cruise for 3 days w/friends on all-inclusive excursion into Nat’l wildlife jungle park to glimpse orangutans in the wild, probiscus monkeys, macaque monkeys, birds, etc. We’ll be 8 to a river boat, communal room sleeping. They have a cook & r providing the food plus a guide. Leslie is happy – No cooking & cleaning!!

Some work to do on Kandu when we get back. Main Sail furler is turning roughly & we must clean port side fuel tank.

Educational, Eric's Posts, Experiential, Indonesia, Log Notes

Delorme LogNotes by Eric, Borobudur, Sept 2017

February 5, 2018 admin 2 Comments

September 22nd, 2017

Upon arriving at the Borobudur Buddhist Temple entrance, we hired a Borobudur guide to enjoy and understand more what we were seeing as we climbed and strolled the ancient temple and the grounds museum. It was a spectacular visit learning about Siddhartha, the incarnate God. His life story is portrayed chronologically in the ancient rock panels of the temple as you walk around and up each level.

After walking back to our simple hotel, we hired a car and driver for the next 48 hours. He first drove us to another smaller temple where Buddhist pilgrims used to change clothing & worshiped before walking to the main Borobudur temple.

We lunched at a local cafe where no tourists go, enjoying goat brochettes & goat curry stew (regional favorites).

He then drove us to our meeting point for our river rafting adventure, a wonderful 2.5 hour playful journey down the river with about 10 other boats from various other raft companies.

The trip included a drinking coconut & local snacks at the halfway point. All along the way we had fun splashing & being splashed by other boats, and posing for pictures with groups from other boats.

Bryce Rigney, Trent Rigney, Natalia Ptasinska, Wojciech Maleika, Eric & Leslie Rigney taking a coconut break during river rafting.

At the conclusion of our energetic excursion we were hosted to a simple Javanese dinner, something we had not expected, but was included in the rafting package. The unexpected meal meant we needed to postpone seeing our third Buddhist Temple, the first of the three that were traditionally visited during an ancient Borobudur pilgrimage, until tomorrow. It was from this unplanned dinner that we headed off to photograph the Borobudur sunset & found ourselves in the midsts of our own celebrity/paparazzi experience.

Our last stop on our first full day in Borobudur was to be a higher end restaurant with a great sunset view of the temple & home of the sleeping Buddha statue. Just to take pictures, we arrived & the place was packed w/an event & special security. We snuck in just to catch some sunset photos of the temple when the owner approached us. I guess we were a bit conspicuous. He explained how this was a very important event hosting the nation’s minister of national businesses.

The woman pictured in front is the Head of National Business in Indonesia!

We had just finished white water rafting, so the six of us, including Natalia and Bolo, weren’t dressed our best. I apologized & said we would leave immediately. On the contrary, he was so delighted to have “bule” (European/Caucasian) tourists with which to put on display, that he & his bank officials begged us to join their ministry officials for dinner and their evening events, and would we please pose for press photos with the minister.

View from our vantage point looking out over the news media and guests.

Well how could I refuse, so we engaged. I didn’t have time to explain to the others of my party what was going on, I just insisted they play along with me. Once photos & newscasters were done where we posed behind the ministers, we were ushered to a special sunset dining area with various appetizers & beverages. An Indonesian Sarsaparilla soft drink was offered. They thought we wouldn’t like it. When I told the boys it was root beer, we drank all the ones at our table and that of the empty table next to us. Our Polish friends said it tasted like medicine, so more for us! Our hosts were delighted by our enthusiastic desire to try all their dishes, and pleased by our great approval.

When 7 girls & their dance teacher began to demonstrate for the invited guests their traditional dance, our event guide suggested we join them. To their surprise & delight, we did! Leslie followed me, & soon so did Bolo, our Polish friend. We all did our very best to honor their dance, and the affect was as if we had practiced. As the girls gracefully walked off stage, Bolo & I ended with an impromptu dossie-doe finale. The crowd giggled & applauded. We thanked the girls for allowing us to participate, exclaiming how beautiful they were via hand gestures and vocal tone.

While we were dancing, Natalia, Bolo’s girlfriend, played a middle-eastern game with some young people, a game she had learned in Turkey, and won! We were offered cups of their special coffee, the most expensive in the world, as the digested beans are recovered from the scat of a cat-like animal, cleaned, dried, & roasted. Coffee in Indonesia is served with the fine grounds in the cup.

Leslie Rigney in front of drying Lewak Coffee

Dried coffee unwashed Lewak scat.

Live Lewak, much like a cat, a little like a raccoon. This one allowed us to pet it.

This is the type of serendipitous, surreal events we experience on a regular basis, but have difficulty sharing. These events aren’t well captured in photos & are too complex to describe in a short Facebook posting. We don’t have time to write up and post quickly on our blog such events, especially w/limited Internet access. Well that night was the cherry on a spectacular day of touring Borobudur temple in the temple region of Central Java, Indonesia.

We later read how Indonesia’s economy plummeted 2yrs ago. I’m guessing the gov’t is working to develop tourism to attract foreign revenue. American tourists are rare in Indonesia. I suppose parading a real-live US tourist in front of one’s minister demonstrates how effective a business person or official is at attracting tourist revenue streams. This is my guess. I also learned that Indonesians have a class structure. To have photographs of oneself with a white person elevates one’s status among their family & friends. The affect on us is fun, surreal, sometimes annoying and a bit perplexing as to why anyone would care about us in this way. But we play along because it makes them so happy, and it sometimes makes for an extraordinary experience we’ll never forget. Sorry for the long text string, but I had time on my watch, and thought you might be interested in one of our crazy experiences. Eric

Educational, Experiential, Leslie's Letters, Leslie's Posts

Leslie’s Letters: Bali & Touring Central Java 2017

January 19, 2018 admin 4 Comments

Sept 20, 2017 Hello Dear Shannon – I love it that you wrote me to tell how things are going back in Ventura, California!

It was a fabulous piece of fortuitousness that we got to meet up in Sydney over the X-mas and New Year’s holidays (2016). I have great memories watching your daughter Hazel feed the koalas and wallabies, all of us eating together in downtown Sydney, and then having Charlie hang out overnight with Trent and Bryce. They were so happy together. Truly a magnificent X-mas gift for BnT!

The boys enjoy very much keeping in touch with Charlie through Instagram. Per what you said – high school seems to be working out for him. Terrific to hear how he’s doing in waterpolo. I really wanted that for BnT, but alas, there are a lot of things they are missing out on – their junior high and high school years. I just hope that what they are experiencing with us will work out well for them in the long run. So many people say what we’re doing is the BEST education our boys could experience – yet as a mother, I worry.

This last week here in Indonesia has been full of beautiful and arresting sights and experiences. For a reward due to all their hard work on the boat, BnT and I as chaperone headed down on a five hour drive to the southern section of Bali to catch some great internationally renowned surf (Ulu Watu and Padang Padang) staying in a hostel on the beach for four nights while Eric remained with Kandu in Lovina at the top end of Bali.

Trent and Bryce Rigney heading down to the Pedang Pedang Beach to surf Bali’s legendary waves in Indonesia sporting their Robert’s surfboards from Ventura.

While we were away, Eric had fun cleaning out our water tank of dead cockroaches. Not! The surfing was terrific – the boys’ hearts and bodies were full of peace & happiness from their exertions – I too enjoyed special quiet time not having to follow orders, clean, and cook. I read my book: Blue Lagoon – a free classic kindle download that was made famous by the child star Brooke Shields. Truly fabulous read and made all the more special since I was reading it with the sounds of tropical ocean waves crashing ashore. Wow!

The night of our return marked the opening of the Lovina 2017 Festival. The Sail Indonesia fleet was invited for a Regent hosted dinner and then treated to a fabulous parade of local talent from the neighbouring villages, including drum troops, theatre like skits with masked performers, bamboo basket craft displays and a child marching band that was conducted by a young girl! The evening concluded with a professional troop of 12 Balinese female dancers enacting a beautiful and complex dance in traditional costume. It was truly spectacular!

The next day, leaving the boat for five days, Eric and I decided to end our pest problem once and for all by setting-off three roach bombs inside the closed boat. The poisonous air was so fierce that the four of us hastily escaped to catch a 17 hour bus ride (including a ride on a water ferry) west to Yogyakarta on Java Island for four days to visit the impressive Buddhist temple Borobudur and Hindu temple Prambanan both built in the 9th century. Our boat buddies Bolo and Natalia from s/v Wassyl joined us in the fun excursion.

24 hour busride to Central Java including a ferry ride.

The two temples were constructed nearby each other around the same time in competition (Borobudur was completed around 825 and Prombanan was completed in 850) and then 150 years after construction was completed, both experienced extreme damage by huge volcanic earthquakes and consequently were covered by thick ash due to the subsequent enormous eruption by the local Mt. Merapi volcano. The survivors left the surrounding area due to the bad soil quality – farmers could no longer grow food in the acidic ash environment. 150 years or so later, the environment became increasingly hospitable, but by that time, with no written records, the incredible temples were mostly buried until local Indonesians revealed their existence to British ruler of Java, Sir Thomas Stamford around 1814. Renovation was instigated by the Dutch colonisers in the late 1800’s, but the largest restoration project for Borobudur was between 1975-1982 by the Indonesian government, mostly funded by UNESCO.

Siddhartha needed a head!

Borobudur is the world’s largest single-structure Buddhist temple decorated with 2,672 carved panels and 504 Buddha statues – more than half of those are missing their heads. With a tour guide, we walked the incredible structure and learned by study of the panels about the early life of Siddhartha. Cool!

Hindu Prombenan of Central Java finished in 850 CE.

The restauration of Prombenan, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia was started in 1918 by the Dutch. They began with the centermost and largest temple which is dedicated to Shiva and finished the one in 1953. Once the first puzzle was solved, the other 8 god temples were then reconstructed. Of the surrounding 225 priest temples, just three have been reconstructed. The two temples and grounds are truly wonders to see and visit. Both sites are incredible in their stature, intricate carvings, symbolism and holiness.

Straight away, we visited Yogyakarta’s Sultan’s Palace to witness their special puppet shows: Wayang Kulit. The puppets help maintain oral history and also recount stories like Ramayana – which is the one we witnessed. The action is extremely slow accompanied by music – interesting for about 1/2 hour. We didn’t stay until the end, but headed off for a visit of the palace filled with historical significance and artifacts.

Wayang Kulit puppet show

Special Sultan Palace Guards.

Were Indonesian Sultans the inspiration for Spock?

Museum Interior of Sultan’s Palace.

Sultan’s Palace Courtyard

Last night we ended our stay in the colourful Sultan ruled Yogyakarta by enjoying the famous Javanese ballet, Ramayana, about Rama and Sinta, a Hindu “Romeo and Juliet” type tale. It was terrific to witness in person their highly stylised movements and to hear the live Javanese classical style singing and orchestra. I loved every moment of the hour and 1/2 performance and could follow along the story pretty well after having read the synopsis. The boys were a little less enthusiastic, yet they seem to be absorbing quite a lot about the Indonesian culture, growing to appreciate it more and more.

It was 24hr local bus ride to return to Bali from Yogyakarta with a 30-min inclusive dinner stop: rice, fried flattened tofu something, fresh vegetable soup, various chicken parts in flavorful sweet Indonesian kecup sauce, chili paste, shrimp chips, and sweet hot or iced tea. Excellent! After that it was only 10 hrs to go with a loud kung fu movie all in Bahasa! The traffic back was terrible and running very late, the driver was a crazy man honking and darting around scooters. It was miracle he didn’t hit one. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride!

Our luxury bus back to Bali. Huge compared to a scooter, right?

Before sailing here, I didn’t have any particular expectations of what we would discover except perhaps a bit of exotic asiatic influence. Indeed, the culture is asiatic as are the faces and smaller, generally lean bodies. Bryce and Trent are considered tall, as am I for a woman! LOL! Our last six weeks traveling from east to west have been full of amazing discoveries involving this country’s vast physical beauty and mixed yet well integrated cultures. If you didn’t know, Indonesia is 80% Muslim with the greatest number of Muslims living on Java, Sumatra Lombok and Sumbawa. The outlying eastern islands tend to be mostly Christian (Timor, Alor, Flores, Komodo, Rinja). Bali is Hindu with some Buddhist. I don’t know the statistics of Borneo, but I suspect it is predominantly Muslim.

Women everywhere you look have their hair covered except in Bali. When motoring on scooters, their colourful head & upper body coverings trail behind them, while the lower half is clothed in skin tight skinny jeans – an odd juxtaposition I must say….in the more conservative areas, we all wear long pants and I cover my shoulders and arms. I sometimes wear my red floppy hat, but in temples we’re instructed to remove hats. A little confusing considering the head coverings worn by the women. FYI – 35% of scooter drivers wear masks over their nose and mouth to protect against the carbon & burning plastic pollution. I find myself regularly sneezing and congested.

Young Indonesian woman transporting onions on her scooter in her skinny jeans and flip flops.

It is not at all scary here. We find the people generous, kind, modest, happy, and much less encumbered by stuff – although everyone has a phone! (The middle aged and older population tend to have a lot of missing teeth.) The most favoured shoes are thongs even when riding scooters. Scooters are everywhere with sometimes four people hanging on or a small kitchenette restaurant attached. I’m glad not to be driving myself.

BTW – the food is tasty albeit spicy. Much smaller portions than in the states: lots of tofu and rice. Meat is available but more like a supplement or flavor additive than a mainstay. Prices for us are fortunately inexpensive, however, bargaining is necessary to get the inexpensive prices! Outside the prominent sightseeing structures, kitch is everywhere for sale with hagglers holding up souvenirs and following you down the street to encourage you to buy.

Rice fields are a constant vision, along with some corn and tobacco crops. We are experiencing arid heat during this dry season; it’s hot and dusty. The cities are mostly cement block houses and buildings sometimes colourfully painted. There are few sidewalks, predominantly two lane highways except in busy highway type thoroughfares where there are two lanes on each side. Like England, you drive on the left side of the street – or as they say here: the “correct” side. The overall look of most city areas is rather dirty, unkempt with crowded conditions. Plastic trash can be seen everywhere especially on undeveloped lots and in riverbeds. Sailing the waters, we see plastic trash regularly floating on the surface. We worry about our prop getting tangled by plastic bags and nets.

Well – that is a lot more than I bet you expected to read. But since you mentioned that you are interested in traveling here to Indonesia someday, I thought I’d write a bit more about our insights and experiences. Big hugs to you, Leslie.

Oh – almost forgot – in Central Java one day near Borobudur we had the most incredible time cooling off and rafting down the local river in the very capable hands of Mendut Rafting with our travel buddies Natalia and Bolo from s/v Wassyl. It’s one of Bryce and Trent’s favorite foreign adventures so far!

Bryce Rigney, Trent Rigney, Natalia Ptasinska, Wojciech Maleika, Eric & Leslie Rigney taking a coconut break during river rafting.

Experiential, Indonesia, Leslie's Posts, Trent's Post

Southern Bali: Padang Padang to surf

January 14, 2018 admin 6 Comments

https://youtu.be/tcCtcmE1lrI

“Bali is a popular tourist destination, which has seen a significant rise in tourists since the 1980s.Tourism-related business makes up 80% of its economy. It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking and music. The Indonesian International Film Festival is held every year in Ubud, Bali. In March 2017, TripAdvisor named Bali as the world’s top destination in its Traveller’s Choice award,” pulled from Bali – Wikipedia.

For all their hard work on the boat, Eric Rigney and I wanted to reward Bryce Rigney and Trent Rigney with a trip down to Southern Bali to surf the famous Ulu Watu and Padang Padang breaks with their s/v Ocelot buddy Rainer Dawn. Eric stayed in Lovina to guard the boat and I went with them as chaperone. Our 5 hour drive south included a stop at the Twin Lake Trekking Point with pretty lake views where the boys goofed off a bit, and a fellow had bats to hold for a photo-op.

Trekking Point: Rainer Dawn, Trent and Bryce Rigney.

Leslie Rigney in front of the Two Lakes, Bali.

Then we stopped off and had a tour of a coffee plantation specialising in Lewak Coffee (a little catlike rodent critter who eats the fruity coffee beans and digests them whole. After coming out the other end, the beans are then cleaned, roasted to perfection, ground and voila…delicious tasting coffee!).

Rainer Dawn, Bryce and Trent enjoying their coffee tasting on the road to Bukit Peninsula, Bali, Indonesia.

Lewak confined to his quarters.

Coffee beans growing at Subak Bali Agro Coffee Plantation.

Roasting coffee.

Hand roasting Lewak coffee beans.

Subak Bali Agro Coffee Plantation tour guide and Bryce.

Passing straight through Bali’s capital, Denpasar, and heading along the only route south, the Jelan Bypass Nusa Dua, past Bali’s Intl airport, we culminated our 5 hour taxi drive south arriving at the bottom of Bali on the SW corner of Bukit Peninsula.

SW corner of the Bukit Peninsula of Bali, Indonesia.

Just barely noting an unassuming wooden sign pointing the direction down a dirt road, our taxi driver hesitatingly drove the narrow route to a dirt lot on top of a cliff with a long dirt walking path heading down to the Bali Rocks Hostel. We unloaded the taxi and waved goodbye to our still unsure taxi driver. He was worried because the Bali Rocks Hostel was not a typical “hotel” with a typical hotel entrance. It is tucked away down a cliff – like most of the other homes/apartments/hotels along that beach, and literally hanging over the famous Pedang Pedang surf and beach, otherwise known as Labuan Sait Beach. The hostel manager was there to greet us with a smile and showed us to our very tidy two twin bed room with private toilet, sink and shower.

Two beds, two sleeping bags makes four sleeping accommodations – Bali Rocks Hostel was in the know!

We arrived just after noon. Having already eaten lunch along the way at McDonald’s the boys quickly got organized to surf. Leslie

Here is Trent’s journal account of the adventure:

The day after our boat Kandu arrived at Lovina Bay on Bali, Bryce, Rainer Dawn, myself and mom left to the southern end of Bali where there is great surf. On our drive, we stopped to look at really cool, tame bats. The bats were fruit bats. We could have held them, but I didn’t want to pay the money.

Tame Indonesian fruit bat ready for his photo-op.

We got hungry, so our driver stopped off at a road side fruit stand for us to buy curious fruits and packaged snacks. We bought strawberries, passion fruit and delicious rice snacks to tide us over for the next couple hours of driving.

Lovina Taxi driver extraordinaire!

Indonesian passion fruit

Road fruit and rabbit stand.

Rainer Dawn, Bryce and Trent Rigney munching fruit with baby rabbits.

Just past noon, we finally arrived at the end of a dirt road. I got all the stuff I could carry and walked down 50 stairs to our hotel which was perched on the cliff right beside the beach. We arrived in the early afternoon at Pedang Pedang, which allowed us to surf until low tide when the waves became too small to surf. We walked up the dirt road into town for dinner. It was really expensive! The next morning, we surfed at “Impossibles” which is a little big for my BIG Robert’s epoxy board (hard to duck-dive) but still pretty fun. “Impossibles” is good at low tide, and at high tide, we moved over to the beginner/intermediate surf break toward the beach area. That’s where I caught a lot of waves.

Trent Rigney back to the hostel after some good surf.

On our third day, we surfed “Impossibles” in the early morning as the tide was coming in and the other intermediate area at high tide later that morning. We broke late and ate linner. Mom discovered a snack restaurant at the neighboring hostel. Boy, that chicken burger and fries never tasted so good! We ended up eating there for most of our meals. After a little rest, the three of us decided to rent long boards because after 2.5 days of boogie boarding, Rainer was ready to surf! The three of us headed out for the beginner spot. Rainer did great and I caught even more waves than I caught the day before. I also got huge rashes on my legs because the board was made of foam. Rainer stood up for the first time on his long board. The three of us even caught waves together – they call those party waves!

Padang Padang Party Wave from left to right Bryce, Trent, unknown, and Rainer Dawn far right.

The next morning “Impossibles” was too big for me. Bryce had taken off before sunrise on his own to surf the famous waves of Uluwatu with his GoPro. Later we learned he caught a ride on a scooter and joined up with some French guys. He caught a gnarly barrel.

We had a crazy experience dealing with the macaque monkeys that morning. A bag of granola had been left outside the room from Bryce’s breakfast. A monkey must have found it, spread the word to the other monkeys, and it seemed like 25 monkeys swarmed the hostel to get their share. They made a terrible mess – turning over all the garbage cans, pulling out the trash, and scattering the oatmeal everywhere. Only a long stick or broom could actually scare them away. I tried to shew one away, and it lunged back at me baring its teeth. I dodged the male, but it spooked me enough, that I never approached one again unless I had the broom. I swept up the mess, and eventually the monkeys went away. Unlike the previous days, the beach in front of the hostel was swarming with all ages and sizes of monkeys the rest of the day. The local dogs had a great time chasing after them.

Agressive male Macaque monkey reluctantly allowing this photo.

Bryce returned later that morning. Because the waves were too big for Rainer and I, we didn’t surf again until after lunch. That afternoon, we all surfed the beginner spot. I surfed this time with my short Robert’s fiberglass surfboard and it wasn’t very fun. So I paddled back to the hostel and exchanged it for my boogie board and fins. I got a pretty cool barrel!

The next day our taxi cab driver from Lovina came to fetch us at 13h00. Unfortunately, “Impossibles” was too big in the morning and the other site wasn’t good either, so we didn’t go surfing. On our ride back, we went inside the coolest and biggest surf shop ever with a huge statue in front: Surfer’s Paradise.My mom wanted us to hold the bats, but when we arrived at the spot, they weren’t there. We took a detour to see a very special area of rice patties which was cool. The entire valley was so green. We also stopped off at The Temple on the Lake – Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. It was a pretty place and full of tourists. It felt good to be out of the car. The three of us joked around knowing that our buddy surf trip was just about over.

https://youtu.be/6BY-6K3VHb0

We dropped Rainer off at his aunt and uncle’s boat with the dinghy and unpacked to repack our sacks with clean clothes for our next adventure. The day after we returned to Kandu, we took off on another road trip to the neighboring island, Java. But this time by bus and ferry.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan – Temple on the Lake

Trent, Rainer Dawn and Bryce at Pura Ulun Danu Bratan

Pura Ulu Danu Bratan, Temple by the Lake, Bali.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan

Trent Rigney impersonating a funny statuette at P.ura Ulun Danu Bratan

Leslie Rigney at Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, Bali, Indonesia.

Three Monkeys at it again.

Experiential, Guest's Notes

Childhood Friends by Cory Norton-Frank

January 12, 2018 admin 9 Comments

Bryce Rigney and Cory Norton-Frank in uniform at Goethe Internation Charter School.

I met my friend Bryce Rigney when I was in 4^th grade at Goethe International Charter, a German Charter School. I remember I stuck up for him in class one day when some kids were giving him trouble. Bryce was small and kids made fun of him for that. I was bigger and nobody bothered me about that, so I had his back. After that we started being friends and when we realized we basically had the same personality. We didn’t care what people thought of us and we wanted to have fun.

Bryce was fidgety in school like I was. In 5^th Grade we both had stand up desks and they were in the back of the room. It was cool that we got to be ourselves and the teacher was ok with it.

Bryce and I used to write songs together when we hung out sometimes after school. Sometimes we would do this in my room. I was usually playing the guitar. We would write and sing and those nights were some of the best we had. And when we went camping at a place called Rancho Oso we sang for a group of girls and it was so cool to see their faces light up. Bryce’s voice was higher and mine lower so it always sounded like we had harmony going on. We really loved singing for anyone who would listen to us and music was a big part of our lives. It still is. And another cool part was that Bryce’s Mother was an opera singer.

Bryce and I both liked to play sports and I guess we clicked because whenever I went over to his house we’d go to his neighbor’s yard and play a game where we would pick characters that had special powers. We also played a game with his younger brother Trent. Two guys would stand on one side of the lawn facing one guy. The object of the game was for the one person to get by before the two could tackle him. We played in his neighbor’s yard because they had more room, no trees and a hill we could roll down. We loved to be rough and tumble. We loved to be physical. And we loved to laugh.

Cory Norton-Frank running in Goethe’s jogathon!

When we went into Byrce’s house to play, we liked to play Bay Blades. They were the newest thing that were “poppin’” back them. Bay Blades are small metal toys that you spin, similar to tops. You would try to knock out the other players’ Bay Blade. We put them in a little arena and we would spin them around and compete to win. We also played with nerf guns in the house and the yard. If we weren’t playing nerf guns we were playing video games. And we so loved to ride our scooters. We would ride down a big hill in his neighborhood and get a lot of speed. We also jumped off a ramp at my house on scooters. Finally, we both loved to talk about girls.

Bryce and his family planned to sail around the world once they got into Middle School. They moved away from Los Angeles to Ventura to live and work on their boat. I remember being on their boat before they left. They even let me steer the boat and it felt great to feel the boat push through the waves.

When I would visit them at Ventura Marina, we went hunting for crabs. We would throw stones at the crabs to kill them. I know it sounds kinds of violent, but it worked. We would then just crack them open and eat them, without even cooking them. We used to see one big crab at the dock sometimes. We called him, “Mr. Crab”. One time, we found a fishing pole and tried to catch him. We hoped to kill and roast him, but we never caught him.

I used to really like visiting Bryce and Trent on the boat. Sometimes we would dive off the side, which was really fun. They also used to teach me how to tie knots. Bryce and Trent were Boy Scouts and knew how to tie great knots. It’s important to know how to tie knots on a sailboat. One-time, I remember Bryce had a cool wrist-band and said if you needed rope for rock climbing or an emergency, the wrist band would open up and become 9 feet of rope.

Three years ago Bryce and the family decided to begin their sailing trip around the world. It had been their father’s dream before they were born. I still remember saying good-bye to Bryce and seeing them leave from Marina del Rey and not believing they would be gone for five years. I thought they would be gone maybe for a year.

From left to right: Trent, Kristin Norton-Frank, Cory Norton-Frank, Dan Frank, Eric and Bryce Rigney saying farewell in Marina del Rey, California.

They gave us crew shirts that say Kandu on them before they left. Kandu is the name of their sailboat. To this day they still want me to travel out into the world to meet up with them and sail back to California. Hopefully that can happen one day.

It’s been interesting to have a friend who was so important to me just sort of go away. For the first year or so I felt a sort of pain. But as time goes on, I’ve gotten more used to him being way. I still hope to see Bryce soon. I believe that wherever Bryce and Trent are, they’re having lots of fun and get to see many different cultures and ways of life and how people are living their lives.

Sometimes I wish I was on the sailboat with them, getting away from school and my troubles. But at the same time, I’m happy to be home having my life. I imagine they are sailing as I write and hope I can see my best childhood friend soon. I also hope they stay safe and that most of all Kandu is still holding up.

Cory