We arrived at Seram Laut in the early afternoon, and had to navigate down a narrow curved channel to find an anchorage in 10m depth off the village of Maar. Laut is the Indonesian word for “sea” and this small island of Seram Laut is the seaward extension of the large island of Seram.
As soon as we arrived, the local children paddled out in canoes to ask for balls and clothes and ballpoint pens. We were not prepared with trinkets, and could offer them only a frisbee (which no one had ever seen) or some 3d printed whistles. They were later joined by adults that arrived in their motorised long boats. Some of these are outboard powered, and others with little Honda motors driving a “longtail” propeller. Being people of the sea, they were most interested to learn that we had built SeeBeeZee, and took a lot of time examining the photos in our picture book that outlines the steps and progress of the job of building her.
On shore we were able to inspect some of their long boats. Some are made from a single dug out log, and others are fibreglass, appearing to be moulded over the outside of an old traditional favourite. The biggest seem to be around 35′ in length, and are so narrow that a little 15hp outboard drives them at around 20 knots with a whole family aboard. These boats seem to be the only transport of the island villagers, and also their method for catching fish from nets and lines.
We were greeted on shore by almost everyone in the village. We were unable to communicate with any of the adults, but many children knew many English words, so it appears that English is being taught in their school. The children wanted us to visit their school, but that could not eventuate as it was now too late in the day, and there is going to be an exam tomorrow. The whole experience was so overwhelming.
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