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Have you ever fantasised about quitting your job, buying a boat, and setting sail to a faraway tropical paradise?
For as long as he can remember Torren Martyn and his partner, Aiyana Powell, had obsessed over the idea of living on a sailboat.
He could picture it every time he closed his eyes: perfect waves breaking in crystal clear, warm water at a remote archipelago with nobody else as far as the eye could see.
For a surfer, it's what dreams are made of.
In 2022 the Byron Bay couple decided to make it happen — the problem was they didn't have a boat and neither of them knew how to sail.
"It certainly started as a sort of romantic dream we both shared," Martyn said.
"It snowballed pretty quick. Within a few months of really seriously thinking about things it all kind of took place."
12-month journey
Their golden opportunity arrived in the form of Calypte — a 35-foot sailboat owned by Martyn's father — that needed to be moved from Thailand to Indonesia.
They volunteered, diving head first into a 12-month, 9,000-kilometre journey from Pattaya in the Gulf of Thailand to Lombok, an Indonesian island east of Bali, a journey chronicled in their new independent film Calypte.
As keen surfers, both Martyn and Powell were adept at reading tides, currents, wind and waves but sailing was like learning a new language.
To survive at sea knowing how to operate a boat is not enough. You have to be a fisherman, navigator, meteorologist, and mechanic to take care of running repairs.
"You can't escape, there's sort of no tap out," Martyn said.
"There wasn't really an opportunity to ever pull the boat up to a marina or a mooring and leave the boat to have a break.
"We really wanted to be there and we wanted the challenge. It was the most incredible, challenging, rewarding time of our lives."
From brush with death to 'best moments in the world'
Loading...They learned on the fly, recruiting friends who were experienced sailors to give them a crash course for the first three months of the trip.
The trials and tribulations of Calypte's voyage included dodging bulk carriers in the Malacca Strait, bouts of cabin fever during weeks of wild weather, long periods without contact with the outside world, and months without a hot shower.
The most hair-raising moment was a brush with death during a 24-hour passage between islands off the coast of Sumatra when Calypte's bilge pump failed.
Martyn remembers the feeling of dread when he discovered the engine gurgling and spluttering, swamped by seawater.
It was the middle of the night and they were 50 kilometres from land.
The experience left them shaken but taught them a valuable lesson.
"Boats aren't designed to sink," Martyn said.
"It really … [gave me] the heebie-jeebies — that's for sure. It's hard to keep your composure at times but I think that's the key."
The ocean is unpredictable and the secluded reef breaks of northern Indonesia are fickle.
Their goal for the trip was to score one unforgettable surf session.
A solitary day of good waves with nobody else around and they would have been satisfied.
"We got to experience that a lot, which was incredible," Martyn said.
"They're just the best moments in the world when it all comes together."
Not done with adventure
Martyn and Powell now have a three-month-old daughter but don't plan on slowing down.
They're building a 30-foot Polynesian-inspired canoe catamaran they hope to sail up the Queensland coast and out to the Pacific islands.
When Martyn spoke to the ABC, he was on his way to Guatemala to inspect the Hans Christian, a 44-foot live-aboard Powell grew up on.
Their plan is to one day sail it "the long way" around the world back to Australia.
His advice to others with dreams of a crazy adventure is simple — there's no time like the present.
"I know it can be overwhelming — the big wide world out there — but the richest I've ever felt is the experiences that I've had with people in remote parts of the world and stepping out of my comfort zone," Martyn said.
"The waves are what takes us to places and they are the reward but the journey and the time spent connecting with the people and the places is what has stuck with me."