Well, guess we are back in Indonesia again (didn’t believe
this was to happen after Bali!). And it was such a good decision! This part of
this vast country is just beautiful and amazing, people are so warm and
friendly. We even managed to stop a total stranger in the middle of the night
in the storm to take us home. And he did it with the smile! Did I mention there
was a power cut and it was completely dark? Totally and completely different to
feeling we had in Bali. Not to mention how clean and tidy it was (again,
completely different to Bali).
So, a little about the place. Pulau Weh is a small island on
the north-west of Sumatra, in Aceh region. Historically, it is from Aceh that
Islam spread to rest of Indonesia. Today it is still one of the most
traditional and conservative regions of this big country. You get there by
taking the ferry in the capital of the region – Banda Aceh. These days with direct
flights from KL with AirAsia Pulau Weh is getting to be more and more popular
in the diving community. But it is still a small, sleepy place in the south of
the Andaman sea. It does take a flight, bus, ferry and then another bus to get
there after all, you know.
Now, to the important part – diving. As it is the first
destination after Palau we decided to go easy with our judgement (we trashed
Sipadan last time and it really wasn’t fair). It is hard to compare even after
the typhoon. So, our opinion? It is a very nice diving ground – nice coral
(especially gorgonians), very good small fish life, not bad visibility.
However, what really struck us was evident lack of big fish. We did see a tuna
or two, few giant trevallies and a shark or two in the distance (dive guides
got so excited when sharks were passing! So different to Palau where they just
don’t bother to point them out… well, they are all over the place there…). But
that was it. We probably will not be promoting Pulau Weh to our favourite
places, but it was a nice place to go for some relaxed diving and few
afternoons off just lying in hammock and reading a book. The later part was
superb actually…
What we didn’t bargain for is that Pulau Weh would turn out
to be a culinary destination! All praise goes to Justin – doing what he likes a
lot (sport fishing) he provided some first quality fish. Now, we do feel bad
for eating wild fish, but our defence is that this is sustainable fishing
unlike the big commercial operations. And we will not be eating fish in
Australia , so hopefully it evens out.
One week passed in no time and in no time it was time to go
back to KL.
Now, this should be the end of the post, but as ever it is not the end of Pulau Weh adventure. On the morning we got to the port and tried to board the ferry we were told that all tickets were sold out. To our horror guys refused to let us in. This is definitely something we were even considering! Missing this ferry meant missing the flight to KL and subsequent flight to Australia. A lot of pleading and negotiating (sounds better then pleading, doesn’t it?) and some financial incentive proved to do the trick (€15 goes a long way in Indonesia…). But that was stressful! We finally got on the boat (think some locals were asked to take next ferry to allow us to go) to be asked to leave 15 minutes later. This would be by another guy. So, our ‘travel agent’ then arranged it (probably had to share the profit, but that is life for you). After that we found a corner and looked down until the ferry departed. With half hour delay! In the end we barely made the flight as it is. So leaving Indonesia, again. For a while this time. But it was good decision that we went to Pulau Weh, our perception of the country improved drastically.
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