sailing2xs: 29th August to 1st September - Pulau Lembeh - Pulau Biaro

Monday 31 August 2015

29th August to 1st September - Pulau Lembeh - Pulau Biaro - Pulau Sangihe

Saturday 29^th August 2015

A tiny boat bobbing about on big waves

01 degrees 40.885N

125 degrees 09.249E

Pulau Lembeh

12.8m depth

The sea was rough, the wind was wild… We decided not to keep on our quest to reach this island or that and we were very happy when we saw two masts against the shore off Lembeh Island. Yachts at anchor indicated a peaceful place to stop, as indeed it was. Just beautiful!

SV Wairima

And it was very nice to see Spirit of Africa (Micki and Roland) and to meet Vicki and Alan (NZ) on Wairima.

Alan and Vicki

We spoke to Micki on the radio but missed an actual face-to face visit, unfortunately. But we did have a good time meeting Vicki and Alan and sharing information at high speed.

I spent our time at this lovely anchorage productively swimming along the beautiful reef and the steep rock walls dropping off from the island. It was just lovely, with coral in soft pastel colours and small pretty fish. Not like Raja Ampat but I must NOT compare!

Sunday 30^th August 2015

02 degrees 06.516N

125 degrees 21.356E

Pulau Biaro

17m depth

We gaily left Lembeh Island this morning, thinking we would just whizz up to another beautiful island or two. It didn’t look very windy or wavey…

But oh deary me it soon whipped itself into a minor frenzy. Fortunately both wind and wave were going in the correct direction so we went with the sea at over 8 knots most of the way. Had we been battling the other way we would have slunk back to Lembeh…

Farewell to the volcanoes

Bangka Island looked too bleak and miserable, de-forested and wreathed in smoke so we kept on going to Pulau Biaro. So far I haven’t formed any opinion at all; I am totally exhausted and feel the need to lie on the couch with a cup of tea and an undemanding book…