Random Update #2

Just remembered a small detail about the Pangkil trip - a near brush with death (mild exaggeration).

I was with a friend, and we were snorkeling around the island, lazily. Just around the bend were some large rocks jutting out of the water which we both thought we could navigate through to get to our side of the island, where our hut was. By 5 in the afternoon, the evening tide started coming in very fast, and the sea bed suddenly became very shallow, and we (and the sea urchins 3 feet below on the sea floor) began to get tossed about, so I began to panic. Somehow, we managed to battle our way through the tossing water onto the large rocks near land. We clambered onto the rocks (some as high as 2.5 storeys from top to bottom, and quite slippery from the algae). I noticed belatedly that I had gouged my finger, and palms from the coral, and blood was flowing everywhere. My friend was bleeding too, and for a while we couldn't figure out where the blood was coming from. Was probably very lucky there weren't any sharks nearby, (not that I think there are any off Indonesia). I was genuinely worried for our safety, and for a while contemplated seriously screaming for help. I was lucky that my friend was a climber, so he made his way first up the rocks whilst I held the masks/fins, then handed them over as I made my way second to the next rock. We did this for about 40 meters of rock, maybe. At the scariest point, we were on a high rock (the 2.5 storey one), making our way down to another rock dropping about 2 meters. The gap in between both was about 3 or 4 feet, so navigating that was certainly nerve-wracking, but we managed our way through it somehow, and ended up rattled and bleeding, but safe, on our own side of the island. A shower and some anti-bacterial cream helped, but I still found myself quite shaken that evening.