Thursday 30 July 2015

31st July - Doom Island - more children on board….

Friday 31st July 2015

Our cheery children jumped ship, literally, at 4pm.  We were happy to see them go, all things considered, but in the late afternoon…about 5.15…a happy little face in the doorway.



Eco, with some of his mates from the village – Ranal, Ganang, and…Ben Hur!


And his lovely sister Miri, who immediately got to work with the scrubbing broom.



We gave them an hour on 2XS, and then tossed them overboard, with their bits of flotsam, 


to swim off home to their village, waving all the way.


This morning we are leaving 2XS to its own devices, and we are going into Sorong, to sit…and sit…and wait…and wait…in Immigration, to renew Pete’s visa.  Or so we hope…

30th July - Pula Doom (Sorong, Papua) - children on board

Thursday 30th July 2015


So what happens on a DoomDay??

00 degrees 52.969S
131 degrees 14.195E
Pula Doom
14.7m

This is a lovely anchorage, at Pulau Doom, off Sorong (mainland Papua.)  Not to be compared with the marvelous islands of Raja Ampat, but calm, pleasant convenient.

All was quiet and peaceful on 2XS until about 11am, when I decided to go for a swim.  Just the required 26 laps around the boat (1000m).  The tide was turning and the current was strong; I didn’t really want to go along the coast and find myself being towed back behind an outrigger canoe… The swim around and around the boat, this way and that, was actually quite challenging and I had to concentrate on not getting swept away – good exercise, which was the point of the…well the point of the exercise…


We are an ever-fascinating spectacle to our boys...
When I was about halfway through my circuits I saw black shapes in the water, around the ladder…aha!  Our naughty children had arrived!  Just Eco, and a few of the smaller cuter ones…By the time I had exhausted myself sufficiently and had clambered back on board, all five of them were busy as could be.  Scrubbing away at the deck.  Some had found buckets and sponges and those green scotch-brite type things.  Eco had the big scrubbing broom, twice the size of him.


Eco being scrubbed down in turn
I was so impressed with their industry that I decided to make pikelets rather than (not very yummy) popcorn.  These went down extremely well and I ended up feeding about 25 very hungry big and small children. 


They are just gorgeous, so cheeky, funny, full of life.  Very loving and polite EXCEPT when it comes to food!  I had to hold the pikelet plate close to my chest and make sure they only took one at a time.  It was a bit like feeding half-tame wolves, I imagine.  Snatch, grab, push, shove, shriek.



I played some music and ignored them all for a while, and then I went out and cut up my shallots and garlic in preparation for dinner.  The shallots are delicious but very small and fiddly; it is nice to have company while I am doing this task.  Once again, however, I ended up with a whole production line of willing workers.  Do they line up to help their mothers peel and chop??  I have a teensy inkling that…maybe not! 


One of my boys was very keen on chopping the garlic.  I said it had to be very very small (kechil) and he spent at least an hour reducing five large cloves to fine shreds.  But he had competition and I had to get more knives.



It seemed like a wasted opportunity, having all these keen kids on board, so I decided to give them a small English lesson.  They have a lot of trouble saying what their name is.  Well no; they all say MY NAME IS Denis, or Yusuf, or whatever, but they also point at their friends and say, My name is Janus, or Eco, or whatever.  I just wanted to them to learn to say, “My name is Mikhail; his name is Ishmail.”  And also to say How are you/very well thank you.  Not sure how well they learned any of this but there were many screams of laughter so it was a good lesson!  We ended up singing If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands, a resounding success.  And then I put on Don’t Worry, Be Happy, and went back to my shallots.

Senior members of the invasion, Janus and his sister, Enrika

Wednesday 29 July 2015

25th - 29th July - Pulau Arborek - dive - manta rays - sharks - Pulau Agusta resort - dive - back to Pulau Doom and internet connection

Saturday 25th July 2015

Yesterday was an excessively Attenborough Day for 2XS.  In the morning we went diving, with Barefoot Conservation, based on Pulau Arborek.

Our dive master was wonderful José Cortez (formerly of Lisbon.)  He is a joyful man, and the most careful dive master I have ever come across.



Gita, who also works for Barefoot Conservation, came with us, and also Paul and Michelle, from the Czech Republic. 



We had the most fabulous morning.




First up – the manta cleaning station, where mantas can be expected at certain times of day, cleaning themselves on a cluster of coral outcrops, with the help of keen little specialist fish.  We did not have high hopes – the mantas do not always turn up to schedule.


Pete with MantaFriend
But – joy!  We spent an hour with at least two (recurring) or possibly six beautiful mantas. 


Marguerite - at home in the deep!
They weren’t in the least bothered by our presence, although they didn’t hang around and dance wingtip to fingertip, as did my very own beautiful manta near the jetty on Arborek.


Marguerite and MantaFriend
Michelle and Paul were so very delighted.  They love diving, and try to go somewhere warm with beautiful coral and fish every year.  They said that yes it is possible to dive in the Czech Republic, in the lakes. But…it is cold, dark and muddy… Hmmm…I can understand why they saved up to come to Raja Ampat.  And I am very pleased the mantas came out to play.


Pete and Marguerite, creatures of The Deep!
After a restorative cup of tea on a little beach on Mansuar Island, we got back in the water to dive along a steep reef wall.  Before we got in José said, firmly.  “Here you will see beautiful beautiful coral.  NOT just coral, but BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL CORAL.”



And he was right…it was glorious.


Pete along thereef wall
The photos are all down to Gita.  She snapped away and took great shots, I think.


nudibranch
She saw lots of nudibranchs, which I particularly love.  I am embarrassed to say I only saw one of them…the rest of them were seen by Gita’s eyes only… They are very small and I haven’t trained my eyes to notice them in amongst all of the colour and spectacle on the coral reefs.


Another nudibranch
00 degrees 39.176S
130 degrees 17.372E
Pulau Fam
4.4 metres depth
Sand patches amongst coral

In the afternoon we left to go to Pulau Fam, highly recommended by other sailors visiting Raja Ampat. 



We arrived just before sunset and I got in for a bit of a swim but…I had used up all of my swimming energy.  Also, for some inexplicable reason, I didn’t really like it there.  No reason at all – it is very pretty; there is lots of coral; it was a good anchorage.

00 degrees 39.002S
130 degrees 34.625E
Pulau August mooring
8.8m depth
strong current

So we packed our bags and left this perfectly nice anchorage.  Pete had met the owner of a new resort on Pulau Agusta, not far from Pulau Arborek, on the jetty (while I was swimming, no doubt.)  Mara had said, DO come and see us!  So…we did! 



The resort is on a lovely little island, and has only existed for twelve months.  It is still under construction, and will soon be the only resort in Raja Ampat with a swimming pool.


under construction
I think they need a swimming pool because the glorious crystal clear water is a bit of a maelstrom…I tried to swim but ended up clinging pathetically to the ladder.



The resort is just lovely.  We arrived, very fortuitously, at lunch time and were invited for a wonderful Italian meal.  (Italian food is my very favourite cuisine…)


Pete with Marco and Mara
Marco and Mara are very hospitable and we enjoyed sharing a table with a whole party of Italians. 

In the afternoon Pete and I walked right around the island.

We saw the Leaning Lighthouse of Agusta…



a majestic kingfisher



and many squealing little red parrots.



What a lovely island!

Wednesday 29th July

AM

00 degrees 46.495S
130 degrees 53.263E
Pulau Batanta (mangrove) anchorage
11.5 metres

We had three nights at Agusta Resort, in the company of excessively stylish, good-looking Italians, who made us very welcome indeed.

Their dive centre is brand new and all of their equipment gleams.  I think I was the first person to use the set which they organised for me, on our first diving day.

Aaahhh diving…

Raja Ampat is a perfect diving location.  The water is clear and clean, the fish are plentiful, the coral is glorious.  Couldn’t be better if it tried.

After our dives at Pulau Arborke, with our wonderful José Cortez, I was positively euphoric.  I had made diving my bitch!  Water was my element; the diving gear no problem. Up and down I went, effortlessly.  We zoomed along the reef wall; I was so very happy, so very pleased with myself.

Pride…yes it goes before a fall…

Marco and Mara are not only building their resort, cooking, looking  after their guests, trying to get the internet and phone to work but also they are dive masters.  They take people out for two or three dives a day, with boundless energy and enthusiasm and kindness.

On our first diving day I mentioned to Mara, just casually, that I need a lot of weight on my belt and that sometimes I have difficulty getting and staying down below the water.  My body has a tendency to pop up, like a hot air balloon.  OK, she would monitor this…and oh dear…I couldn’t stay down at all… Mara had to link arms with me to keep me from bounding inelegantly (and dangerously) up to the surface.  This must have been very difficult; she probably weighs 45 kilos and…I weigh more than that…

The dive itself was just fabulous.  We swam along a reef with so much sea life it was breathtaking.  Lots of fish (black-tipped and white tipped sharks and another bigger bulkier one I couldn’t really identify) and a large school of barracuda circling lazily.  Fabulous coral; tiny nudibranchs, and many turtles, which didn’t seem in the  least concerned by our presence.

No matter how lovely it was, I didn’t want to go in for a second dive.  It was just too exhausting, and embarrassing – I felt like such a liability, although, of course, Marco, Mara and the crew were very kind and uncritical.  So…back in I went, with, I think, nine kilos on my weightbelt.  This time I stayed down but I was a bit unwieldy and found it hard to swim horizontally; I did a bit of flailing and flopping, but at least I didn’t have to be led by the hand…The second dive, off Pulau Mansuar, was just as fabulous – this really is a spectacular part of the underwater world.

Sad to say my two difficult dives took their toll.  I have been absolutely exhausted; wiped out in fact.  I hardly took any photos, and didn’t write any blogstuff at all from Sunday until today (Wednesday.)  Great fun, I have been!

I did go with the troupe on the next day, to Kabui Passage, our old stomping ground.  Pete was disappointed that I didn’t dive but it took all the energy I had to get into the water at all, or even, really, to get out of bed at all, to tell the truth.  I had already swum down the channel, with Pete following more slowly in the dinghy, but this time I followed the divers way down below, and enjoyed it very much.  (Not too much energy required, to swim with the tide…)

We left Agusta Island yesterday morning and met Marco, Mara and Claudio plus crew near a beautiful little island about one hour away, so Pete could do another dive.  He is indefatigable!  He said it was wonderful, diving over a wreck, with an almost completely intact plane – the pilot had managed to ditch the plane and swim to the island.


PM

00 degrees 52.967S
131 degrees14.204E
Pulau Doom
14.7
metres




And now we are away from the beautiful little islands with the clear blue water…back at Pulau Doom, near Sorong, ready for another step in The Adventure!