After the Avon is launched with the shore party which includes Moritz, Phil D, Agus, Lesley and Chistian, we see a fishing boat in the bay so we instuct the guys to go to them and ask discretely where the river mouth is. They do this and are directed to the entrance.

Here, they find an operational truck and the road that leads to the town. The road is in good condition and on the river on the way to town there are fishing boats, dug out canoes and women doing their washing in the river. From the looks of it apart from the devastation in the low lying areas, people are getting on with their lives.

Once we arrived in the town (which is relatively unscathed due to being a little more elevated) the shore party finds the hospital and the MSF coordinator there. They are in desperate need of supplies and are grateful that we can get them in. They are completely cutoff by road. Although the coast here is exposed to the swell, Derek adjudges that unloading will be possible, though we may drift and not anchor, local boats are the best way to get the stores ashore and to the truck which can access the town.

I relay all this back to Pete in Banda Aceh. The calculations are done on the bridge and on two engines it looks like we can get back to Krueng Raya by about 1630 or so. If we can be met there by the trucks from the MSF warehouse and the quay-side is unoccupied we'll be able to get loaded and on our way again to be in situ off for tomorrow morning.

Unfortunately we hit a bit of wind against current through the top of Sumatra and things get a bit lumpy, we are slowed as a result meaning we come alongside at 1730, a little on the late side but we are ready to work into the evening. Main problem will be the weather, because it is completely crap with rain making things a bit slippery, as well as adding to the problems a couple of people have on board who are carrying colds. We need to watch this carefully.

Loading is underway as I write this, everyone is soaked and at 2200 we've still got two trucks to go. It was supposed to be three but it turned out to be five trucks, some very heavy stuff and subsequently some very heavy going, this is going to be interesting at the other end.

With luck we may be able to get out of here at midnight which will put us in to the next port around 0800, whew.

Back to it then, below is a report from yesterday by Abby and her trip to an MSF mobile clinic while we were in Meulaboh.

Cheers Rob