Island Life Newsletter: Made the News. Then the Police Came Knocking.

Andrew Dixon
Jun 19
4 min read

This is an archived edition of Island Life. Island Life is the bi-monthly newsletter and whimsical musings from the team at Nikoi and Cempedak Islands. You can subscribe to it here.

Making Headlines with Poto Island

In my last newsletter, I wrote about the battle we are having in opposing an industrial project on Pulau Poto - an island in our area. We received lots of encouragement from that, which is much appreciated. The story ended up on the news desk at Bloomberg and they took the time to write a great article which was their most viewed story that day. There has been plenty of local press as well. The Bintan police even came knocking on our door to check the veracity of the story, so clearly the message is reaching the higher echelons.

All of this attention has led to a small win: the Ministry of Environment has requested a number of conditions and revisions to the project. There’s still a long road ahead. But the team, along with members of the community we’re working with, have done a brilliant job dissecting the proposal and are feeling encouraged by this small win. This week, we’ll be back in Jakarta arguing the case for the environment and for the local fishers who have not been given an opportunity to voice their concern.

New Chapters Starting Soon

Following the success of Ubah Rumah - our artist residency on Nikoi, we’ve decided to launch a writers residency on Cempedak. Ken Kwek, who is a writer himself, is going to manage the program and we hope to welcome the first writer in the second half of the year. We felt the residency could do with a few props, so I started hunting for typewriters for sale. Several hours later, with nothing purchased, I figured I’d chance my luck and ask the team on the off chance someone might have one lying around in Bintan. Word spread quickly and soon came back: one of our team has not one, but seven typewriters at home. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the backstory there.

Two of the Seven.

How Our Boats Got Their Names

If you have been to Nikoi or Cempedak, you will most likely have been on one of our boats which are named starting with “Mana”, the Bahasa Indonesia for “where”. We often get asked about the origin of the name. It came about because the first boat in our fleet was built on an island called “Mana” (which made for some very confusing conversations when trying to visit the island to check on its progress). It was built from wood, styled on the local fishing boat design and was powered by a repurposed truck engine. In addition to hauling huge driftwood logs off the local beaches in its early years, it was used to transport guests. It dealt with any swell in its stride and, with seating limited, the favourite spot to sit was on the roof of the cabin.

As demand increased over the years, we added to the fleet and are now up to the 5th Mana. Our utility speedboats were initially added as tenders, mostly to help us navigate a bit of bureaucratic red tape. A few years back, when one of them was being refurbished, the crew that did the repainting spelt “Tender” as “Thunder” and the name stuck (or struck!). When we added a motorised aluminium barge to our fleet, we decided it was only right to stick with the storm theme and named it “Petir”, which means “Lightning” in Bahasa Indonesia.

Mana 5 pulling up to Nikoi during a recent whole island booking.

Independence Day Celebrations

For those of you who live in Singapore, you will have already started to hear the roar of fighter jets warming up for Singapore Independence day. Just 8 days after Singapore Independence Day is the Indonesian one. This year is the 80th year of independence, with President Sukarno declaring independence after Japan retreated towards the end of WWII. Indonesians take great pride in this and it has become a day of great celebration, going right down to the local level with festivities, flag ceremonies and traditional games. The staff on both islands love to get behind this and we give them a complete free rein. From sack races to pillow fights on pylons suspended above the water, just about anything can happen with plenty of laughs along the way. This year, 17th August falls on a Sunday, so if you fancy a fun weekend, do come and join us. We have a few rooms still available on both islands.

Last year's celebrations

The Next Island Wellness Retreat

Speaking of dates for the calendar… We’ve teamed up with Mae Kwan again for our third Island Wellness Retreat, following the success of the last two. It’ll take place from 19th to 22nd September and includes a full itinerary of wellness sessions, along with plenty of time to simply enjoy the island. Discounts are available for Island Club, Mandala Club and UNSTUCK™ members. More details here, and you can book by emailing the team directly.

Yoga on the jetty and sound healing on the deck at our last retreat.

Mangosteen Season - Yippee

Perhaps my favourite fruit of all is the mangosteen, and it is around this time of year that we start to see them being sold. There’s something quite wonderful about both the flavour and the look - the bright white juicy flesh sits inside a rather uninviting and mysterious deep purple shell. My only complaint is that their fibrous shell doesn’t break down particularly well, which tends to cause a bit of havoc in my bokashi composting system.

Hei Sweden!

Finally, thank you to those who send in replies to these newsletters. We do read them all, they often spark a lively coffee discussion in the office, and we do our best to reply. So if you’ve got something to share (a compliment or a complaint!), we’re always happy to hear from you. On a slightly different note, our newsletter analytics are telling us that a large percentage of our readers come from Sweden, which doesn’t really match our guest demographics. We’re not quite sure how this Scandinavian connection began, but to our Swedish fans: Hej allihopa! … and if anyone wants to shed some light on how we ended up in your inboxes, do drop us a line.