30th June 20916 - last day in Waisai - off along the coast of PNG heading south east

Thursday 30^th June 2016

Beautiful tunnels under Fiver Rocks

Yesterday it rained nearly all day.  Our water tanks overflowed just a bit which meant that all of the towels I had washed and dried so beautifully are now wet and yucky again but never mind!  Rain is good!

Nudibranch!

It stopped for a while and I went in to see Hamka in the pulsa shop.  He twiddled about with my modem and readjusted the settings of my latest load so that my new $50 worth was revitalised.  I caught an ojek (motorbike) back again, and my driver, bless him, plopped a helmet firmly onto his head and rode off completely disregarding the fact that the helmet had no straps at all…

We have a neighbour on the marina, a catamaran called Jumpa Lagi, from Bali.  The owner, Norm (ex-Melbourne,) came over for a drink at five.  He was full of good cheer, good stories, local knowledge.  He shared our interest in Wallace (scientist, contemporary of Darwin,) and in Jared Diamond (popular science writer,) who apparently comes here for a month every year. 

We are leaving at about 9am, very civilised.  Time for cups of tea and toast and coffee.

We should have internet somewhere along the way but this is always a curious and delicate affair, capturing a signal.

29th June 2016 - Waisai marina (Raja Ampat) - hostage Tess released (Philippines) - WA whales

Wednesday 29^th June 2016

Today is a Waisai marina day, with much frantic use of the internet for reading, writing, downloading.

The Soggy Paws rat, Waisai, Dave triumphant

There is some sort of good-ish news.  Abu Sayyaf have released Tess, the only female hostage from Ocean View.  They still have Kjarttan (Norway.)  And poor Tess is shattered, no doubt, and bereaved.

Tess

On the SV Labyrinth Facebook page today, I read Jase’s account of sailing down the coast of Western Australia.  Worth sharing!

Sailing south down the WA coast in winter against the Fin Whale northerly migration is kind of like driving across the Serengeti at night with no headlights surrounded by invisible elephants who you can only see when they suddenly jump 10m in the air.

Jase, by the way, has published two novels recently – The Silent Circus, very weird and evocative (WWII), and A Dirty Peace (East Timor.)  Worth a read, both of them.

27th - 28th June 2016 - Agusta resort - many dives - Kabui passage - back to Waisai

Monday 27^th June 2016

Very early am

Agusta is so very wonderful.  Just a little island, in the midst of the other Raja Ampat islands, with a small cheery resort, run by the incomparable Marco.  (And Mara, but she is at home in Italy, showing no signs of returning in any big rush.)

We are moored near the beach, in a whirling swirling current, with whirlpools, clear clear water, surging tides.  Thank God for Marco’s sturdy mooring!  He is endlessly cheery and hospitable.  We were only going to stay for two days but every evening he says, “Just one more day, Peter!”  And he entices us with visions of fabulous dives and delicious dinners…So we stay!

Italian food is my very favourite…and I can heartily recommend making pesto with cashews if you can’t find pine nuts – yummo!!  We also have very nice company.

Guido and Giorgio under the water 

Marco’s son Guido is here, by happy coincidence.  Last year he was here with his gorgeous girlfriend Camilla; this time she is home, studying for her first year exams (Medicine.)  So he is here with Giorgio, who is doing his very first dives.

Guido and Giorgio above the water 

Simonette has arrived, from Italy, to spend fifteen fabulous days diving with Marco.

Stefano works here, as technical officer.

And then there is Melissa, who is waiting for her husband to find a job in Switzerland so she can go and join him.  BRRR…she would rather they found jobs in Raja Ampat.  (Unfortunately no photos of beautiful Melissa…)

But I do have a photo of our Papuan helpers, over and under the water

We have done two dives each day.  I am happy to report that I no longer having trouble going down, although every now and hen I nearly bob up to the surface again, like a cork…Not sure what I am doing differently.  I have the same amount of weights, but now I hop into the water and think, DOWN and…I sink like a stone!

Pete underwater

Not sure what the difference is…

Marguerite underwater

We have seen so many wondrous creatures of the sea.

A pillow seastar, with resident shrimps (tiny)

Sharks

Very rare black cowries

Fish

clown fish

An enormous clam

More fish…

lion fish

It is all just sensational.

Marco wears a distinctive hood so we don't lose sight of him!

And even more so, doing it with Marco, who is so very knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

I look like someone else entirely, under water!

The last dive yesterday, off Sawandarek Village, was amazing.  There is a very strong current and we were swept along, sideways, backwards, forwards, downwards, at a very rapid rate.  I had no control at all…Every now and then I would hold on tight to a large solid lump of coral and let the current swirl around but mostly, I just went with the flow!

Mother and daughter planting corn in the village

We were all together, like socks in a washing machine, and those of us with cameras were trying very hard to go clickety CLICK while rushing past our subject like a steam train.

A gorgeous huge coral formation

10.00 am

We have left Agusta and are now anchored at Pulau Frewin, another of my very favourite places.  The internet seems to be working – yet another thing to love about Frewin Island!!  (Never mind that it is PELTING down with rain…)

Fabulous white fan coral

3pm

Marco and crew, on the dive boat, with Guido, Giorgio and Simonette on board, turned up just after we had dropped anchor.  They took us for two more dives, absolutely fabulous. 

beauytiful coral at Five Rocks near Frewin

And now the internet isn’t really working any more…

Tuesday 28^th June 2016

We have been rushing around.  I got up early and had a last swim off the boat around the coast of beautiful little Frewin Island, and then we set off for the Kabui Passage, to fill up with fresh water from the pipes which feed from a waterfall high up on the hill.  I washed everything washable and now it is all clean, dry, away in cupboards – of the joy!

We didn’t stay in the Passage, neither did we go for a dive with Marco and Team, who found us there just as we were leaving in the late morning.  (It was VERY hard to say no to one last dive…)

But we had business to do – we were bound for Waisai.  And now we are tied up again in the little marina, hoping very much that the Soggy Paws rat didn’t leave any friends and relations on the pontoon, keen to try life on board a catamaran…

Marco's namesake Marco in the village

We bought fish, potatoes, random veggies, and loaded up our devices with pulsa so now we have internet again.

We leave either tomorrow lunchtime or early the next morning.  All is well on board except – oh woe – the autopilot doesn’t work.  It is completely kaput, beyond fixing every by Pete McGuiver Headlam… So we will be steering by hand, like real sailors al the long long miles across the top of PNG.  The other woe is that Pete seems to have broken a rib – he did this leaning over the railing on Marco’s dive boat to rinse out his mask.  He just leaned too far and crackety crack.  This is causing him a lot of discomfort and unhappiness.

Pete instantly drawn to a hardware shop in Waisai.  They didn’t have what he needed but he managed to fix the errant fan by McGuivering it, very cleverly

I hope that a nice dinner of fresh fish, potato casserole, steamed veg, plus some judiciously administered cans of beer will make him feel a whole lot better.