There's no doubt about it. The little island of Pulau Weh at the northern tip of Indonesia is a tropical paradise. Jungle-clad mountain sides, beautiful clear waters, some of the finest in the world for diving. And the little town of Sabang is certainly picturesque, its harbour busy with small fishing boats.
We've arrived there after a superb run across the second part of the Indian Ocean from Galle in Sri Lanka, achieving 950 miles in just under two days. Here on the quayside to greet us is Ton, the Dutch owner of Lumba Lumba diving school, our contact for the stop. He's arranged everything - our fuel arrives promptly, and he presents us with our water provisions, courtesy of Lumba Lumba.
Then the fun begins. I'm the first one to be taken off into a nearby office to complete a pile of paperwork - the usual crew list with passport numbers, and details of the boat, with ports of call. Then there's a medical form - do any of the crew suffer from communicable diseases? Has anyone died on board? I'm tempted to say "not yet", but answer with a simple "no". Any occurrences of plague?
At the end of it, I'm told there is a 25 dollar "fee" to pay for the quarantine paperwork. Yeah, right. But this is only the thin end of the wedge. Alan Priddy gets it even worse. He's taken off in a van to "complete immigration papers". It involves a 15 kilometre journey around the island to a secure compound, where he's interrogated by three or four different people.
At the end of each interrogation, they let him sit there, while six or seven people take it in turns to come in, poke him in the arms and laugh.
"Then a guy comes in," he says, "probably only 17 or 18 years old, and takes my cap off me. I thought he just expected me not to wear it indoors, but then he says 'I want your cap'. I tell him he isn't having it. He then says 'I want the cap or you'll stay here'. I tell him he still isn't having it. Someone else comes in and says 'I want your shirt.' I tell him he isn't having my shirt, and that I want to clear immigration. Then another one takes a fancy to my watch."
This goes on for about 40 minutes, a process which Alan finds very intimidating. Eventually he's taken to the head honcho, who's sitting there pretending to read the paperwork. He then agrees with the others how much Alan should stump up. "It wasn't a verbal request, either," says Alan. It was a written request on the back of a napkin - 75 dollars."
"When I ask them if that's it, they say yes. What I didn't realise at the time was that I'd just purchased three packets of crisps at 25 dollars each! I was taken to some little old lady's house to collect them, where the guy tells me 'I've just made this lady very happy'. I was taken back to the boat on the back of a motor bike, and by the time I arrived, there was a queue of people holding their hands out for dollars."
"Our fuel bill was 437 dollars, which is OK. But then there was a 25 dollar quarantine bill, a 75 dollar immigration bill, 30 dollar harbour bill, 15 dollars for something else and 25 dollars just for tying the rope to the bloody pier. Countries like this have no future until they come into the real world," says Alan. "This is daylight robbery, and I've had enough of it."
So could this be yet another world record for Spirit of Cardiff - for purchasing the most expensive potato crisps ever? It's the usual story - local people couldn't be nicer, but the officials corrupt and rotten to the core. After a stay of just two hours, at least now we're on our way, heading for the Strait of Malacca, and Singapore.
Clive Tully
FACTBOX
Galle - Sabang
Time of leg: 1 day 23 hours 48 minutes
Distance covered: 950 nautical miles
Average speed: 19.87 knots
Fuel consumed: 2,029 litres
Average fuel consumption: 2.13 litres / nautical mile
Next stop: Singapore
ETA: Wednesday evening
Copyright Clive Tully ©2002
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