Jake Paterson

Trip 3

DAY #1
Tuesday 20 April

It was an early, unexpected start from the hotel. We had word that the swell was up and the boat wouldn't be in port until this afternoon because the boys on the boat wanted one more surf. I didn't mind, a sleep-in sounded great after the night before, going completely mad at Matt Hoy's bucks night in the middle of Sydney. It wasn't to be. Horny (Jeff Hornbaker) was banging at our doors at about 7.30am, yelling and screaming, "Lets go, come on you little Aussies, the swell's up and we want to get a surf this afternoon." So like headless chooks we ran around and got all our stuff together.

About an hour later we were down at the harbour loading the boat up. About six hours later we were at one of the best setups a surfer's ever going to see. A bay like setup with a left at one end and a right at the other end. It was only small but super fun. I started at the left only to find out it was only about six inches deep so Martin said later that I was most probably the first one ever to catch a wave at that spot. I surfed with Todd Morcom, Danny Wills, Lee Winkler and Strider Wasilewski. Danny got the barrel of the session. It was about two to three foot with the odd bigger wave coming through.

Meanwhile, Mick Campbell and Wayne Dart were surfing the left which looked like a lot of fun as the tide had come up. We surfed until dark and everyone was stoked, especially Todd Morcom and Strider Wasilewski who were meant to get off the boat when we got on but stowed away for a couple of days. I was pretty bushed so after a bit of night fishing I was off to hit the hay, so looking forward to the next day I almost couldn't sleep.

DAY #2
Wednesday 21 April

I woke up looking out the porthole in mine and Mick's cabin to see the water moving, which meant we were on the go. The swell had dropped. The left and right, which we surfed yesterday, was hardly breaking so it was off to this other right that we passed on the way that picked up a little more swell. We arrived only about half an hour later (God knows how long I slept for), to find a righthander about five to six foot, a little bit of cross chop but still pretty smooth. So it was bacon and eggs on toast then out for a surf.

The sun is that hot you've got to put on 10 layers of sunscreen and wear long arm rashies. I already had major sunburn from the first day. I only surfed for about 30 minutes. All the boys seemed to have fun with Micky C getting the barrel of the day.

I had a freedive when all the boys were out surfing, taking Martin's five foot speargun just in case I ran into some unfriendly creatures. The reef was alive with everything - the most colourful fish I think I'm ever going to see. I swum over to the boys sitting in the lineup. Until this point the only big fish that I had seen was a barracuda about three foot long. I hung in the lineup watching the boys take off from under the water. If you ever get a chance to do that, do it, you won't be disappointed. It was amazing seeing through the wave and the way the surfboard moves through the wave but it was shortlived because I spotted a shark about 10 metres away which meant I was out of there. It was only about three or maybe four foot long. I think it was a black-tipped reef shark. Nothing to worry about - well that's what I told myself. I told the boys sitting in the lineup and no one seemed to give a stuff, but I can tell you that the 100 metres to the boat seemed like 1,000.

The afternoon was taken up by fishing in the tinny. Danny Wills, Jeff Hornbaker and myself all caught a barracuda each, along with a couple of other fish that we released. Nothing worth bragging about anyway. The wind had come up more onshore so it was back to the mother ship (Indies Trader). It looked like a bit of weather was coming in so the mother ship moved to a sheltered bay for the night. I did a little bit of fishing before dinner, catching a huge red fish which no one had seen before. I gave it to the Indonesian crew members for dinner who seemed happy with it. Then it was a couple of VBs with dinner and off to bed hoping for swell.

DAY #3
Thursday 22 April

I awoke pretty early only to be disappointed to see the swell had all but disappeared. It was one to two foot. I didn't surf. The call was to go back to port, fuel up and drop the two stowaways (Todd and Strider) off and make a move for our next destination.

We watched a movie to try and fill in the six hours of boating time. It only lasted two hours. Horny hooked up with a marlin for about 10 seconds which got me excited for about the same length of time. So in other words it was a long trip back to port.

We arrived in port at about 4pm and stocked up with food but unfortunately we couldn't get fuel until the morning. It was a beautiful afternoon and we didn't want to waste it so we got pissed in the sun on the back deck. Some funny old stories came out and we all seemed to be having a great time. About 9 o'clock comes around and some of the boys decide it's time to go to town (town being all of about five buildings). I decide to stay on the boat and watch a movie with Danny. Halfway through the movie the weather changes, it starts to rain and the wind picks up. We didn't think anything of it. Then about half an hour later the boat starts up, so Danny and I get up to see what the hell's going on, only to realize the Indies Trader has been dragging the anchor and we were only metres away from cleaning up two other boats not even half the size of the Trader. With some fancy driving in the tinny by the cook Paul and some great captaincy by Martin we missed the boats and no damage was recorded. Didn't get to see the rest of my movie.

DAY #4
Friday 23 April

I tried to sleep in thinking it was going to be a long day of travelling. I was up and out of bed at about 8am. All the boys were on the back deck already having breakfast and laughing about last night's stories. A few of the boys had gone back to shore looking for action and let's just say the rest is Crossing history.

The time is 3.30pm and we're on the way to have a dive on an old war wreck. The ocean we're travelling over is called "Iron Bottom Sound" because of all the boats that sank in World War II. The reason why we're going for a dive is because we can't get to waves today. So we're going to go for a dive then motor all night to get to this lefthander that Strider and Todd surfed last week. Bruce rang today letting us know about a 20 to 30 foot swell that was between New Zealand and NSW. All the boys are so excited. We better get swell! It's forecasted to get here in two days, sick!

I slept whilst the boys had a dive. I've never been scuba diving before and I don't think diving at 120 feet for my first time would have been a good idea. Captain Martin said we should have waves tomorrow so I'm off to bed early, only two VBs tonight. Can't wait for tomorrow! We're motoring all night so we will be at the surf break on dusk.

DAY #5
Saturday 24 April

A long boring day today looking for surf. The swell still hasn't hit. We motored all day, didn't even get a fish on the way. However there always seems to be some form of entertainment on the Indies Trader. We climbed the rope to the tinny whilst motoring which was pretty hairy as well as pretty silly because if you fell you would've been knocked off by the tinny and then hooked up by a lure, but apart from that it was a good upper body workout that everyone needed.

We arrived at some place for the night at about 4pm. Martin decides to bust out one of his 1200 two-seater Yamaha jetskis. All the boys start to foam at the mouth. It takes about half an hour to get the thing off the Trader then Martin fangs around on it for about five minutes with me on the back and then packed it up. All the boys were pretty disappointed, including me, but if I'd paid a lot of cash for it I wouldn't want little shits stuffing it up either. The highlight of my day was catching about 10, well maybe five or six nice snapper for dinner. Off the boat I was doing a bit of night fishing and then last cast caught a nice black-tipped reef shark about three foot long. Also topping off the day was a superb roast lamb for dinner ... Praying for swell!

DAY #6
Sunday 25 April

Still no swell. We've been motoring, checking waves all morning and at 12 noon we have a decision to make: to hang and see if the swell arrives or motor on. However, the next surf spot is 24 hours away so we roll the dice and off we go, another 24 hours motoring. Lucky I'm enjoying the whole boat thing otherwise it could drive you crazy.

Still no big fish. We've been hit a couple of times - just enough to keep me interested. I'm spending most of my time reading and mixing mini discs and watching the fishing reels praying for a big old fish to have a go. Also spend a lot of time just hanging out with the boys talking it up and of course the odd VB has gone down - all in the spirit of a good boat trip I tell myself. It's 3.50pm and it seems that I've run out of things to write about. The ocean's pretty rough and there seems to be swell so here's hoping tomorrow's going to be cranking. Middle of the ocean, not one bit of land to be seen and we just saw one of the best sunsets you're ever likely to see. It was amazing. It made my day.

DAY #7
Monday 26 April

Last night was long and rocky. We motored all night. Shit was flying through the cabin that I am sharing with Mick like we were on the moon or something. Nevertheless I had a pretty good sleep. I awoke fairly early to see Horny and Mick manning the fishing rods.

On the horizon I could see our new destination and a big old volcano just to the left of the island that we're going to. Captain Martin busted out the island book this morning to read up some information about where we're going and it said the south side of the island hasn't been explored since 1898. There was no information at all which makes it all the more interesting; let's just hope we can find some waves.

The fish that got away. Just after breakfast Horny hooks up with a baby marlin which was about five foot long. Horny put in a pretty good fight for about 20 minutes then the fish jumped, the hooks got spat, and we were all a bit bummed that we didn't get to have a closer look. Well that was bloody amazing. As soon as I had written the word, look, one of the reels went off and it was a bigger marlin than the last time. Mick got the pleasure and pain of winding the sucker in. It took about 10 minutes and Horny said it was a good 150 lbs/70kg and it was about six foot long. I got some great video action. It was a good release as well which made it all so much better.

Motored for the rest of the day looking for waves but there's no swell and no setups so we keep on going. We caught some great fish on the way. Well everyone but me that is. I passed some of my time by making some fishing line rings. I did a little bit of night fishing and all I got was a stinking shark that took all my tackle, so that was the end of that. The highlight of my day, besides all the fishing, was watching Captain Martin navigate his way into this lagoon in the dark using the radar, GPS and the echo sounder; it was unreal to watch a master at work. Four VBs later and some great dinner I was off to bed.

DAY #8
Tuesday 27 April

Well where do I start. Awoke pretty early, I'd say about 7am, to find about three or four local guys talking to Captain Martin. That's where my incredible day started. These guys had paddled about four kilometres to get to our boat, but I bet it's not everyday they see a bright orange and blue boat pass through their waters. The call was to go and check the village out; they had some hell story to tell about some guy getting taken by a crocodile so it sounded pretty good.

So off we chugged, it wasn't that far but I didn't have to paddle it in a dugout canoe. The whole village came out on the shoreline to greet us, it was unreal. We jumped into the tinny and off to shore we went. When we arrived they all insisted that we shake their hands, so about 50 people later I get my hand back. Then it was off for a guided tour of a village. It was amazing. All these people had to worry about was feeding their families. Life seemed simple. It's like what you see on the movies. They have a few chickens running around, the odd pig tied to a tree, and their veggie garden. No lights or electricity, just the good old bush fire to cook. No law besides tribal law, no taxes, nothing to worry about besides where their next meal is coming from. Well, that's how they lived.

Getting to this story about the crocodile. It was about 18 months ago that a man and his wife sailed into their village. They were from Sweden. They anchored up and the guy jumped overboard to make sure the boat would be safe, as you do. So he checked it out and everything was sweet. He sees this coral reef only about 50 metres from the boat so off he went to have a little look, as you do on holidays - you know check everything out. Little did he know there was an eight foot crocodile waiting for him; it grabbed him and before he knew what was going on there were about six small crocodiles coming in for the kill. The local villager told the story like it was yesterday. Anyway his wife saw the whole goddamn thing, poor woman. With all respect the locals laid the man to rest with a beautiful headstone made of wood. It had carved into it a picture of his boat, his name, dates and some other personal details. That all happened about one kilometre from where we anchored. Pretty good story if you ask me.

After lunch, Captain Martin busted out the jetski again because the locals were spinning out about it. The first time Martin took off the whole village screamed and roared. They simply couldn't believe it. Then we did a bit of skurfing to show off. All the people would gather on the shoreline and we would whiz past and spray them with the surfboard. They would all scream and laugh. It was amazing. The best part of my day was when five kids, all in this small dugout canoe, paddled out to the boat to say "hi". They couldn't speak much English. Well they didn't speak anyway but we gave them all a Coke each and I tell you you've never seen such stoked grommets in all your life. You couldn't take the smiles off their faces with a baseball bat. It made me feel good that something so little meant so much to them.

DAY #9
Wednesday 28 April

It was up early this morning for me, 6am. Thought I might as well put the fishing lines in. Well we travelled all night so we could get to the next island and low and behold no waves again. I now know why this is called the Crossing!!! Anyway 6am and I'm up exercising on the back deck until about 6.45am when bang the rod goes off and I'm there in a flash. Five minutes later a 50lb wahoo was landed; well 17lb but never let the truth get in the way of a good story! So I'm stoked for the rest of the day no matter what happens. It turned out to be a great day for fishing. Mick and Wink also caught large wahoos, Horny hooked a tuna and we had about 10 other hits that didn't get landed so it was a great day for fishing.

Reef Check: It was lunchtime Reef Check and we all got to go scuba diving. It was the best thing I've done for so long. Eighty foot deep, it's the most insane feeling being at the bottom of the ocean. The water was so clear, fish everywhere, it was unreal. That also made my day. We ate my wahoo for lunch, deep fried with chips, and we ate Mick's wahoo for dinner, cooked on the BBQ on the back deck. A few VBs later and we were wondering what to do so we watched a movie, Godzilla. I would have to say the shitiest movie ever. Motoring all night again. Given up hoping for waves; it's all about big fish and scuba diving.

DAY #10
Thursday 29 April
Motored all night again.

I was up early again, 5.15am, doing my exercises and watching the fishing reels. Didn't get long to fish because we pulled into port to clear customs.

7.30am: Waiting for customs to come out and see the boat. Hope it doesn't take all day.

Bullshit sunrise this morning!

Well we stayed all day. The older guys went for a dive on this wreck called "President Coolidge". The thing is as big as the Titanic. It's the biggest accessible wreck in the world so we're staying overnight so we can have a dive in the morning. I can't wait. There's meant to be this huge 200kg groper that lives there and the locals feed it and pat it so I hope we get to see him tomorrow. I think his name is Boris, I'm not quite sure.

We did some bullshit night fishing tonight. Mick got a couple of big fish and I got a couple too. It was great fun. The highlight of my day would have been the sunrise this morning - it was incredible.

DAY #11
Friday 30 April

Well a little recap on last night. Mick, Martin, Paul and I stayed up until 3.30am. Captain Martin and Paul the cook told us some hell stories over a few VBs. They both have seen some life I can tell you.

Anyway, slept in until 9am. Not feeling the best. Darty, Don King, Dave (crew member) and Horny had already been for a dive on the wreck. Darty said it was bullshit and he even got to see Boris. Well that was it, it was the hungover dog's turn. Martin, Paul, Mick and I all went for a dive. It was awesome, a billion fish everywhere, every colour, every size. I didn't get to see Boris which I was a bit pissed off about but it was a great experience anyway. Not bad for my second dive ever, diving on the largest accessible wreck in the world - I was stoked.

After the dive it was time to push on towards the town where we fly out in two days' time. No fish, only a couple of hits, but I drove the boat with some help from Captain Martin which was fun.

Just before dark we got to this wave. It was a carbon copy of Haleiwa. Mick, Darty and I surfed for about half an hour. It was great to get in the water. Before we knew what was going on there was a group of about 20 locals on the reef yelling and screaming at every wave we rode. It was insane! I think it was the first time they'd ever seen someone surf before.

Then it was back to the boat in the dark, shitting ourselves at the thought of sharks. We were all so stoked to get some fun, three to four foot waves. Had a great big feed then a quick look at some of the home video that I've been taking. Right now it's 7.55pm and I'm bushed so I'm off to bed. We're motoring all night so we get to port in the morning. There should be some waves there so I can't wait.

DAY #12
Saturday 1 May

We arrived in port pretty early, about 7am. There seemed to be a little bit of swell so it was off to look for waves. We checked about 10 different reefs before coming to this little left that we surfed. It was about three foot with the odd bigger wave coming through. It was nice and glassy when we first got out and we got a couple of barrels. Then the wind came in and the tide started to drop so we were out of there. Packed up the Indies Trader and headed into town to pick up our plane tickets to begin the journey home.