411 Dive Log Australasia April 2025

Archeological research brought into evidence prehistoric occupation by two distinct human races around 5000 BP: the Australo-melanesoid and the Mongoloïd. About 7400 years ago, a group of Australo-melanesoid resided on the east coast of Sumatra. Related to a migration of the Hoa Binh culture from nth Vietnam, it lived by hunting fishing and exploiting the marine biota. Stone tools such as pebble axes, round adze, and pick-adze were found. Artifacts involved tusks used (as beads) for necklaces and remnants of bowls made of plaited rattan. The cave of Loyang Ujung Karang, near Takengon, revealed occupation by another group around 5080 +- 120 BP, associated with an Austronesian migration from South China into Thailand throughout the western part of Sumatra. Red slipped pottery was discovered to be similar to that of Band Chiang site in Thailand. Oval-shaped burials were excavated at Loyang Ujung Karang, showing flexed burial with funeral gifts: arrows, pot-plaited rattan, and decorated pottery fragments. Austronesian migration brought along Lapita pottery. These prehistoric findings support the identity of a Gayo culture. The Gayo Highlands are renowned for coffee. During the Dutch colonial empire, coffee was a delicacy reserved for the white men, no locals were allowed to drink it. Did you ever see the movie “The Bucket List”, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? Two aging friends venture on a special world tour of the ‘must do’ experiences. Nicholson introduces ‘Kopi Luwak’ to his friend, explaining that indigenous people realized that not only white men liked coffee but also a cute animal known as the Asian palm civet or musang “ Paradoxurus hermaphroditus ”. The creature loves to eat the coffee berries. The beans are then rejected in the feces after passing through the guts of the mammal. The locals found this way to make their own coffee! This is ‘Kopi Luwak’. The irony of it all is that, nowadays, the Gayo people sell this unique brew to tourists at a high price, around Us$10 per cup! Sweet revenge on the old days. Eight years had elapsed. I had not forgotten the terrible ordeal I had experienced in 2016. I had to rise above failure and be reborn like the phoenix. The slow passenger car ferry leaves Ulee Lheue port of Banda Aceh at 8 am, for a 1h45’ crossing to Pulau Weh. It is crowded with people when I step aboard, dragging my two pieces of luggage. I am the only foreigner on board. The Indian Ocean is like an oil slick. Expecting my arrival in Balohan, Yandi the taxi driver, transfers me to Iboih on Pria Laot Bay. A winding road, over a hilly landscape covered in lush jungle. The village now looked like a construction camp, uninspiring. A so called paradise for Indonesian and Malaysian Chinese tourists, judging by the impressive number of orange life jackets hanging in front of shops. The

snorkeling activity draws a substantial income for the

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DIVE LOG Australasia #411- April 25