This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @marc-allaria: Sulawesia - Stop#7 - Sewia...!

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Marc Allaria (@marc-allaria), a French guy.

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Inhabitants of Sewia

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I leave Maratua after a month of diving and before my new habits take precedence over my desire for nomadism. I follow the advice of my friends at the Nasubu Hotel and go to the Pasoso Islands in the North of Sulawesi.

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As soon as I leave the atoll, I understand that I have become too used to the flat calm of the lagoon of Maratua. The movement of the sea makes me lose my balance and puts me in this state well known to those who sail that makes all the usual tasks on board become less important and are postponed. We call it seasickness! Not the cartoonish seasickness where the sailor is on his knees the face down over the sea, but the one that interferes gently in life on board and that we pretend to ignore. Only remedy: stay active, take the helm, shower, look at the earth as long as you can and stay honest with yourself. «You're sick, you're sick, you know it'll take a few hours and it'll be okay!» And indeed, storms arriving quickly in this season, a little action to take a few reefs, to ease them off, and take the helm quickly heals the sickness.

I spend a night agitated by essential watches in Asia to avoid the fishermen, and by these damned thunderstorms that I sometimes manage to avoid following the indications of my radar, but which somehow succeed to reach me for some of them. My old mainsail also pays the consequences with a small tear that will cost me a few hours of sewing at my next stop.

The stopover happens the next day in the village of Sewia. A small bay and a tiny village are waiting for me. And yet, the tranquility of the bay fades quickly when I arrive. Quickly about twenty canoes come out of the landscape of the beach and come to meet me. Some boatmen try to sell me some food but that is not their first intention. Curiosity remains the prime motivation for their visit. The discussions are not obvious because of our differences in languages, but I still manage to make an appointment for the next day and get information on a dive site.

The school of Sewia

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Here the anchorage is very particular because I find myself exactly on the line of the equator. Tidal currents moving the boat according to what the sailors call the swinging space, I enjoy watching my GPS go from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere every 6 hours! I think I have never spent so much time crossing the equator in such a short time!

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01: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: Funny situations ...! at sea..., by @marc-allaria
02: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: The fishing file ...!, by @marc-allaria
03: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: The Cagayan Islands, by @marc-allaria
04: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: Seaweed...!, by @marc-allaria
05: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: The Bacuit Archipelago, by @marc-allaria
06: BORNEO: Kudat and the technical stop, by @marc-allaria
07: BORNEO: Kinabatangan River, by @marc-allaria
08: BORNEO: Maratua, part 1, by @marc-allaria
09: BORNEO: Big Fish School, by @marc-allaria
10: BORNEO: Diving in Maratua ...!, by @marc-allaria
11: BORNEO: The jellyfish lake ...!, by @marc-allaria