Location: Cocos Keeling
When we left Bali on the 5th of October, we also left behind the cafes, beach restaurants, and Sanur shopping malls. Argo had been tied to a floating dock bolted to a long causeway, which stretched out from the Inspirasi Mertasari temple grounds and into the bay. The harbor was full of spider-like fishing boats, and a sky full of dragon-like kites had begun to feel like home. Now, we find ourselves hundreds of miles away, anchored in a gap between the reefs of the Cocos Keeling atoll. Instead of a short walk down the dock, we have to drive our dinghies two miles each way through the reef to get to town. Today, we all went ashore at Home Island. The little community there features small, modern-looking houses laid out in a grid of nicely paved roads and tidy grassy lawns. The people of the town are friendly and can be found either walking or driving golf carts and ATVs, as there isnt anywhere far enough away to need a car. In terms of the main street, theres a supermarket, two convenience stores, a hardware store, a pharmacy, two restaurants, a museum, and a post office. We heard there was wifi at the restaurants, but both of them were closed by the afternoon. The museum was also closed. As we walked around looking for something to do, we could hear the call to prayer echoing across the flat little island from the town mosque. We stumbled upon a Victorian-era mansion tucked away in the jungle to the south of town. Wandering through its open wrought-iron gates, we were greeted by two women in full beekeeping attire. They were busy tending to their beehives and harvesting artisanal honeycombs in little jars. They told us all about how the vibrations from bees can raise the vibration of the whole planet, which is a good thing. We were invited inside the mansion, whose interior was beautifully finished with tropical hardwoods from nearby Christmas Island, where Argo had recently been turned away from due to lack of available moorings. In the grand ballroom, which had once been the venue for 19th-century string quartets and formal dances, a man was testing out his new DJ equipment and blasting club music.
Once the beekeeping woman managed to get his attention, he paused long enough to give us a brief tour of the house. The building was the home of the founder of the islands coconut plantations, which were built in the 1890s and passed down through generations. In the mid-20th century, the owners were found guilty of using slave labor, and the property was seized by the Australian government and auctioned off. The man giving the tour confirmed that the house was indeed haunted when they first started caring for it, especially the library. Today, it is listed as a hotel on Airbnb. After trekking back to the boat from our excursion in civilization, we prepared for our camping trip on Direction Island. During World War 1, the island had been the location of a strategically important telegraph station. The Australian and German navies had fought a battle here, resulting in a daring escape out to sea by the defeated German commander. Today, it is a public recreation area. We ate burgers and hot dogs on picnic tables as we watched the sunset across the anchorage. We were greeted by Riley, a 7-year-old boy from Australia who had sailed to Cocos Keeling on a catamaran with his parents. He had spent the previous night sleeping alone on the island, equipped with a fishing rod and a VHF radio. He had kept in regular contact with his parents throughout the night over channel 71, which just happens to be the channel that Argo is often set to receive. We had heard all of the transmissions between him and his parents and so were already well acquainted with him upon reaching shore. He and his parents joined us around the campfire for squeeze and story time. In the light of the fire, we saw a massive coconut crab scuttling off into the shadows of the forest. Riley warned us not to sleep on the ground that night in case our heads got mistaken for coconuts. We all climbed into our hammocks and drifted off to sleep.