Is Mother Nature trying to tell us something?

Video of Anak Krakatau shot by Mark

Our friends on another boat recently wrote us to point out that we seemed to be the common factor in a number of natural disasters that have occurred over the last year. The most recent was the tsunami and eruptions from Anak Krakatau.

We were there about two months before the big landslide and resulting tsunami that crumbled away two-thirds of the young volcano that was forming for over a century over the ruins of the original Krakatoa. Before that, we missed the earthquake and resulting tsunami in Donggala and Palu by less than a week.

Then there was the passage we had leaving Krakatau. For 3 straight nights we had amazingly violent electrical storms that behaved like we were carrying a storm magnet with us. We would make radical turns to avoid the worst areas whereupon the squall, which had been carrying on in the same direction for over an hour, would then turn to cut us off. At one point we had roughly 15 lightning strikes within 500 meters of the boat within about 10 minutes. This went on all night, 3 nights in a row. We were certainly taking it personally by the end of the third night.

Ahhh...calm sunset at Nai Harn Beach anchorage

Living so close to nature gives us a healthy appreciation for both its power and beauty.