Working as a young man in London, Mark Eveleigh knew he wanted to see the world. Working any number of odd jobs from security guard to truck driver, Mark was saving for his very first expedition to Indonesian Borneo, to be partially sponsored by Heineken.
Eager to be able to speak to locals and head into some of the most remote corners, he taught himself Bahasa Indonesia and headed east. That was his first taste of Indonesia and he’s spent the better half of nearly three decades working his way through the country’s most untouched places.
With an estimated 13,466 islands that make up Indonesia, it is said that there could be up to 12,000 that are uninhabited. That is a large amount of land that may never be touched by any other living soul. The ability to reach some of these foreign shores is thanks in large part to the traditional phinisi boat builders that work tirelessly according to ancient craftsmanship.
Having sailed quite a few times on phinisi yachts previously, Mark eventually made his way to visit the Bugis and Konjo people in South Sulawesi and get a close up view of how these stunning vessels are still built.
He shared with us, “to see how these huge tall ships and schooners are built on dry sand and beaches, then hauled manually on chains over sandbags into the sea and floated out to sea, is quite an amazing thing to behold. There are plenty of rich traditions they still adhere to – the fact they believe boats should take 9 months to be created, like a living being – shows the delicate attention to detail these master boat builders have.” A lover of the sea and venturing off the beaten path, these experiences make their way into Mark’s latest book, Kopi Dulu: Caffeine-fuelled Travels through Indonesia.
These undeveloped and underrepresented islands are crying out for recognition and tourism dollars. Yachts are able to gain access to these remote corners, but in a sustainable way that also benefits the local communities while not just simply passing through.
Mark has become one of the most sought-after journalists to cover Indonesia and for good reason. In the past couple of decades, he has zig-zagged his way across the archipelago in a distance equal to that of Seattle to Tierra del Fuego. During this time, he has been surprised by how much of the country has been overlooked. Considering it is the fourth most populous country in the world, people know little more about it than the tourist destination of Bali.
Mark wanted to bring that to light to really benefit the Indonesian people, and their culture and to show the world that there really is such an abundance of natural beauty and wonder to behold. Trying to narrow down his many memorable moments traveling the region, Mark shared with us one special trip aboard a phinisi that stays with him to this day:
“There’s an island, Pulau Kumba, it’s hard to be 100% certain, but it could be the most remote island in the archipelago. I couldn’t even see a rock on Google Earth closer than 50km off the island. And yet, as you sail past it, it rises straight up out of the sea – rising 1km high, 3km wide across the base – you’re greeted by a perfect volcanic cone that is smoking at the top, and is truly the most romantic image of a volcano that you can imagine. So remote from anything, no inhabitants, and very few people will have even set foot there and yet with a phinisi, you cruise up to this amazing landscape with dolphins and whales breaching close by. It was such an awe-inspiring moment to behold: floating in the middle of the ocean, sitting in front of an active volcano, with smoke pluming from the top with lava that flows all the way down the flanks to touch into the sea, setting off steam in the sea – you truly can’t get more in touch with the wildness and remoteness of Indonesia!”
While many adventurers, travelers and writers will admittedly thrive on coffee, this Bahasa Indonesia saying means so very much more to Mark. Having coffee first with locals came to represent the feeling of hospitality and local islanders’ way of slowing things down. Western culture has a tendency to hurry transactions along, focusing on the quantity of meetings and business over the quality. For Mark, it became the ritual he looked forward to the most when reaching a new locale. Arriving in a remote village, locals would immediately invite you in for a coffee and to sit and chat. A person can learn so much in those stolen moments sharing a coffee together than in any other formal setting or rushing off to the next island to tick off your list.
Coffee, Mark has come to learn, is also the great equalizer: no matter where you are in the world, most people like to sit down for a cup of coffee and talk. As a foreigner entering some truly remote lands, it can be a great way to break the ice with the locals, enjoy some conversation and slow things down to arrive on island time.
To read more about Mark’s 15,000km journey across 50 Indonesian isles, please check out his book here.
If you'd like more information on travel in Indonesia, please drop us a line at info@indoyachts.com or send us a message on WhatsApp at +62 811 88 22 82. We'd love to hear from you.
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