Sabang, Weh Island … Indonesia

New-to-us port #42.

Today’s port of call — another replacement for the canceled 3-day call on Myanmar — brought us to Weh Island … off the northern tip of Sumatra. The earliest descriptions of the island can be traced back to Ptolemy in 301 BC.

Sabang, where Insignia docked and where we spent the day, is the northernmost and westernmost city of Indonesia. As this was Insignia’s first time calling here, the morning started out with an official welcome on the pier with some of the ship’s officer’s in attendance.

Our research for this port pointed us to the beach. But not any beach. Due to Sharia Law, we had to find one where western-style bathing attire was allowed. That’s how we ended up at Freddie’s on Sumur Tiga Beach with Sonia & Boris and Younga & David.

Freddie, who used to own the resort, but now works for the new owners, had arranged transportation for us. Once we turned in the required customs forms and disembarked the ship, we walked the short distance to the parking lot where Hasyim was waiting for us for the short 10-minute ride to the resort.

I’ll admit that our initial impression of the beach was not great. We had to walk down to it via Freddie’s Skywalk — a wooden bridge of sorts. The beach was narrow … there were no lounge chairs … there were no umbrellas. And there was construction on the lowest level of the property overlooking the beach. We were disappointed enough that we even had Hasyim take us to another resort just down the road, but access to the beach from there was even more problematic … the beach even narrower. So we decided to make the best of things by returning to Freddie’s.

In the end, we had a great time on the beach. Freddie had some lounge chairs placed in a nook under the trees and three umbrellas were set up to give us additional shade. From our vantage point, we could not see the construction … just the lovely ocean with amazing shades of blue from turquoise to navy. The surf got a bit rough as the morning progressed, but the rope out to the pontoon served as a handhold for those who wanted to take a dip and do a bit of snorkeling … coral and colorful fish were abundant out by the pontoon so Mui was a happy camper.

Around 11:30a, we collected our belongings and went up to the restaurant for lunch. It would have been nice to dine al fresco on the terrace, but the tables that were in the shade were already occupied. So, we went up to the restaurant instead. Open to the ocean breezes and the view on one side, the setting was lovely.

Service unfortunately wasn’t the greatest. I’m not sure if that was because the staff is not used to having people order a selection of dishes to share or if they just need more training now that the property is under new management. It took several requests to get some small plates for our “shared food.” And a few more requests for forks and knives. Those who ordered fruit juices were not pleased with their choices. But the local Bintang Beer was good … if on the warm side. The food itself was tasty. The pizza, prawns, and steamed veggies disappeared in no time. Unfortunately the nasi goreng (fried rice) turned out to be way too spicy for our palates.

All in all, today’s beach experience was a mixed one. But we made the most of it.Read more