28-Jul-2002 -- I had to go to Singapore on business, so checked for nearby confluences. 1N 104E appeared to be off the coast of a small island in Indonesia, not far from Singapore.
I took a ferry from Singapore to Batam, Indonesia, and looked for a taxi driver who spoke English (I don't speak any Indonesian, and this seemed like to complicated a thing to do with hand signs). I eventually found one (Mr. Eri Anggi), and negotiated a price of S$ 70 (US-$ 40) for all day transportation and translation.
We talked for quite a while about what I was trying to do. At first, he tried to talk me in to going to other parts of the island that were easier to get to. He got out a cellular phone and made 5 or 6 calls to figure out where a boat might be. He didn't find anyone who had both a phone and a boat, but he apparently got some advice from some friends on where to find one.
He then drove us across the island to a fishing village less than 3 miles from the Confluence, but no one there would hire out a boat to a foreigner with such a strange destination.
We backtracked north about halfway up the island, and then left the pavement. We drove about 5 miles down muddy dirt roads, often sliding sideways in the turns. Eventually we got to another fishing village that was actually closer to the confluence.
Again, the people with the boats were somewhat confused as to what I wanted to do. One woman asked him if I had lost my mind, but seemed to think it was funny rather than alarming. Mr. Anggi had refined his explanation though, and managed to convince them it was a good idea.
We waited around for about 30 minutes as the men of the village decided which boat we'd take, and who would go with us. They selected a beautiful handmade wooden boat with a Honda outboard, Mr Anggi and I got in, along with 4 guys from the village, and we headed off.
The boat was almost out of gas, so we made a side trip to another village that had a gas station. This consisted of a house on high stilts with a bunch of 5 gallon gas cans inside. Gassed up, we headed out to the confluence, now about 2 miles away. Mr. Anggi explained how the GPS worked, the guy in the front of the boat took it from me and guided us the rest of the way.
Once we got to the confluence, we made 3 passes trying to get as close to all zeros as possible. Eventually, I decided .002' and .007' would have to do, and took the pictures. We headed back to the village, where we were met by a big group of children.
Mr. Anggi took me to his house for lunch, and then back to the ferry terminal.