12th - 16th June - Pef - Wayag - Equator - Waigeo - Gam - Waisai

Friday 12^th June 2015

The resort on Pef Island is beautiful.  Maya (Switzerland) is the owner/manager/instigator.  She is an impressive person

and the resort is full of quirky artwork very pleasing to the eye.  I think it would be a great place for a holiday…

0 degrees 09.831N

130 degrees 01.471E

Wayag mooring

At last we are back in beautiful Wayag.  It is a bit blustery and choppy but we are safe and secure on our GOOD mooring.

We will have a few days here, just swimming and exploring in and out of the many little islands in the dinghy before we set off again, back south.

Because today we crossed the Equator – we are becoming Frequent Flyers of the Equator, on 2XS!

Yesterday we had a beautiful anchorage, on the NW tip of Waigeo Island.

0 degrees 06.495S

130 degrees 17.383E

Manetep, Waigeo Island

8m depth, sandy bottom

We found this by good luck and good management and we had a very happy afternoon there, and a secure night.  No alarms, no dragging anchors, no coral encounters.

John and I both went for a swim and were impressed with the coral – lots of beautiful soft muted colours.  There are several waterfalls pouring down the cliffs into the sea – this is very unusual, in these islands. 

At dusk there were hornbills squawking and flying home from their day of fun elsewhere on the island.  A beautiful anchorage!

Sunday 14^th June

We have moved around a bit around the Wayag moorings and anchorages.  It has been windy so we moved in to an anchorage, then today we have moved back to the original mooring.  It all sounds a bit hectic but…basically it has all been peaceful and beautiful here in lovely Wayag.

This afternoon Pete and John went off in the dinghy, in pursuit of a very big painted lobster which John had seen under a bommie on one of our first swimming forays.

They got back to 2XS with glad cries and I was ready with my camera…

NO lobster!

Yesterday we went in to shore in the dingy, with a view to climbing up to the top of the tallest hill to take photos.  But…I was not at all keen.  Going up the steep slope through the jungle would have been fine; coming back down would have been…hell!

Instead we waded around in the shallow sand exclaiming at the big schools of fish darting about.  Middle sized back ones, small silver ones, and, circling the lot, a pack of small reef sharks, working as a team.

The sharks are there, trust me!

There were also turtles, popping up here and there.  One of them was close in.  I was just as interested in taking photos of Pete and John, eagerly watching and waiting.

Tonight Pete has been cooking.  John relaxed on the couch and I prowled around with my camera.  

I wanted to catch Peter JamieOliver Headlam in action but… all I caught was Pete having a swig!

Last night we heard a boat engine – one of the Pef resort boats, with about 19 people aboard!  They were having a staff outing.  And this morning they powered up to the little beach where we had been watching the sharks and fish and up they went, right up to the top of the tallest hill, shrieking and laughing all the way.  We could have joined them…but we didn’t… John and I went for a long swim, snorkeling around all of the fabulous bommies, while Pete stayed on board to paint the anchor chain with markers (every ten metres).

Monday 15^th June

0 degrees 27.398S

130 degrees 27.911E

Gam Island

27 metres depth

We left beautiful Wayag early this morning and came to this anchorage, which is very d-e-e-p.  But…sheltered and calm.  After a bit of will-we/won’t-we, and a nice heavy downpour of rain, we deciced, after all, to stay here for the night.

I went for a swim out to the reef and found it to be a bit like the far side of the moon…a bit of an ex-reef, really…

Here is John with the mackerel he caught earlier in the week...

On the way John caught a bonito or two.  Pete REALLY doesn’t like bonito, so I dredged up my skills from MotherhoodDays and made…a tuna mornay (tinned tuna) for Pete, and a bonito mornay, for John and me… (Back in the day I quite happily catered for [a] a fussy husband who didn’t eat this-and-that, [b] a daughter who very obligingly ate everything – THANK YOU NICKY!!! – [c] a daughter who virtually ate nothing I cooked during her vegan stage of life [d] a vegetarian daughter [d] a son who didn’t like anything joined together eg casseroles, pasta sauce, tuna mornay…[e] sundry friends and relations coming and going.  So, just two variations on the theme – not too much of a challenge.)

Hopeful of more mackerel...

The bonito had been eating very vigorously.  In its stomach were squid – oh no NOT yummy!  They are saved in a container in the fridge.  Just in case, says John, darkly.  Maybe he has no faith in our catering abilities…

Tuesday 16^th June

We weren’t intending to be back in civilisation just yet – we had planned to explore the Kabui Channel on our way – but Pete is worried about our fuel so we have come straight to Waisai.  Not a bad idea…we can catch up on emails and bloggery, and we can buy some VEGETABLES and EGGS!!!  Woohoo!