One weekend, as we were looking for an adventure, it occurred to me that an activity on water, that’s been going on for over 500 years, probably involved wooden boats. So we rugged up and climbed aboard our bicycles and cycled south.

As with all wooden working boats the "albuferenc" boats (or "barcas" as they are know locally), have been designed by their function and environment, rather than individual people. They are flat-bottomed allowing them to work in for the shallow waters of the lagoon and the canals running between rice fields and they're quite different from the heavier fishing boats once used used along the Mediterranean coast and on the beaches just a few miles to the east of the lagoon.

Dozens of canoes have been built in an initiative designed to reconnect Indigenous Kanak people with their maritime heritage. Tikoure says the boats also help the “start of conversation” around ocean rights and environmental policies.

In Bali, the jukung developed as a fishing vessel, its design being adapted to the island’s coastal waters. Lightweight and highly maneuverable (by compasison to other traditional vessels), it could handle surf launches and landings and was relatively stable in rolling seas. Traditionally, jukungs were carved from a single dugout log, usually jackfruit wood, with added planks and bamboo outriggers lashed on with natural fiber ropes

Were is a boat building village. This year we again visited while sailing a non-wooden yacht through the Indonesian archipelago. This time with a camera, on the beach we found numerous smaller craft, dugouts, small fishing boats with outriggers, and larger planked boats…