Indonesia has some of the most beautiful islands in the world.  Much of it is undeveloped and has yet to be explored.  To the left, you see a view of several of the islands we sailed to.  I had intended on doing a lot of Scuba exploration.  Instead, I spent several weeks sailing with the anthropologist Horst Liebner, assisting him in his research.  Together, we visited remote villages to research their seafaring habits.  Needless to say, I had the experience of my life.  Several of the islands we visited see foreigners only once every several years.  On one island I helped several of the local girls fishing on the shore with their nets.  Little did I know that  this was their local custom for courting.  They thought I wanted to marry them!

Below, you can see the boat we sailed in.  It is a traditional Makasar boat built by Horst himself.  The boat was truly traditional, it had no radio, motor, or electricity of any kind.  We were entirely dependent on our own sailing skills.  Horst did this on purpose.  His goal was to learn how the local villagers lived in a seafaring environment.  Whenever we sailed into a local village, the villagers were quickly impressed to see us using such a traditional boat.  This made it much easier to be accepted by the villagers and talk to them.