April 30th 2024: Into the blue

One thing I really like about heading into the great big blue of Indonesia is the chance to properly disconnect from work, the internet and my phone. The first few days are tough, but by day three the lack of communication and digital noise is surprisingly liberating.

As you're reading this, I am on my way to a small group of remote islands about 212km off the coast of Sumatra. I've never been to this group of islands before, but the long-range forecasts suggest we're in for some pretty amazing surf exploration. We'll be on the famous Mahogany, which is a floating Indonesian pirate ship palace.

At one point it did look like some of our team were going to have Starlink connected up. But in the meantime, Elon Musk and the Indonesian Government have fallen out over where the commercial profits fall and the implications for local internet providers. So while that is being sorted out, we're back in the digital dark, which I'm quite happy about.

The one downside is that your weekly Box of Light report for next week and the one following may be in jeopardy. Across the 13 years I've been doing this, I have only missed one – and that was my last trip to the Mentawais.

So if Box of Light doesn't ding into your inbox in time for your Tuesday coffee break next week, just know that I am in my element, most likely swimming in the balmy brine near the equator and completely stoked.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS The writing for my upcoming pie book: New Zealand's Best Gourmet Pies, had to be completed before I departed for this trip. Thankfully, a brutal few weeks of extraordinarily long days have got me to my deadline. It's a great feeling and the stories are awesome – this has been a really fun project, that has really captured New Zealanders' love of pies. You can pre-order your copy right here.