The paradisical Hermits

It was another calm and beautiful day that saw us sail (read motor) into the Hermits.

The fishing here was crazy - we were catching so much fish the freezer was full, the locals had stopped fishing and we discovered the dingy was too small for Hermit Island fish.

 With the weather remaining calm we headed to the south western rim of the atol to a place we called Bird Island. All eyes were underwater as we dived the outer edge of the reef. We saw turtles, spotted eagle rays, white tip, black tip and grey reef sharks, a huge array of reef and schooling fish as well as an abundance of critters. The water was so clear, at 30m you would think you were still in 10m.

When we weren't diving we were exploring brid island. Covered in Noddy's, Booby's and Frigates nesting. It was a bird lovers and photographers paradise - here are some of Simons shots.

Still hot on the trail of fish, our table was always full.

I guess all good things must come to an end and while waiting for some wind we've let time get away from us. It's Xmas in 3 days - if we were to leave now we could get to Madang by Xmas eve but we'll probably motor all the way. Do we want fish and lobster with tinnned veges for lunch? What to do...

Chilling & Diving Heina Atoll

Heina is a small reef atoll on the eastern edge of Ninigo. The entrance is narrow but we made it through with a few centimetres up our sleeve at low tide - definitely one for good light. The water here was crystal clear and we wasted no time in getting our feet wet.

A bit quieter here, our lazy days were spent diving, swimming, eating crayfish and collecting coconuts.

We had varying techniques and degrees of success on the coconut tree climbing, including one tree being felled under the weight...

 Not content with eating turtle - we decided to move onto another precious species - the coconut crab. They might look bad, but wow, they taste incredible. Besides if they make us as cut as Rellen and his brother, bring me more!!! After a final BBQ we were waved out of the atoll and sailed south east to the Hermits.

Ninigo Islands

The tall tales of the wonderful Ninigo group were all true! We've truly reached the South Pacific. We were welcomed on arrival by Slim and invited to anchor off Mal Islands where we befriended Steven and family. Our friends here were unbelievably hospitable - we thought we might stay forever.

We were always invited to share in treats - one morning this happened to be freshly caught turtle. Caught by spear - vegos be warned - and while the butchering was a little startling, the taste was really delicious. The Ninigo Islanders have been eating turtle since forever, with such a small population to feed, turtles and food are in abundance. Not one part of the animal was wasted too - even the intestines were used - as balloons for the kids!

One day we were invited to sail with Dominic and his father aboard their hand built sailing canoe. With logging on the increase on mainland, stray logs washing up on the Ninigo beaches has brought about a resurgance in the use of traditional sailing canoes. This boat could move - even with the 4 of us we were skipping over the water at over 10knots.

Mr Krein took us on a tour of the local school, traditional style buildings with wide open windows looking over the clear blue sea. Not sure I could focus on the blackboard here!

The launch of a newly built canoe was a big affair including Steven, our host on Mal Island blessing the new boat, singing, flowers, a feast and a canoe race in which we featured as guest crew. What an amazing day spent with beautiful people. Steven even gave Simon the shirt off his back - the one he is wearing while blessing the canoe.

Steven's fmaily taught us how to make coconut milk and oil, grinding the coconut then squeezing the grindings. It was hard work but the oil was delicious, flavoursome  and super useful - cooking, oil lamps, the body... Like I need an encouraging on the benefits of a daily coconut! Thyme was now bursting at the seams with fresh food too. Everyday piles of produce would be rowed out to us, while the families expected nothing in return we had stocked up on some supplies for trading and basic goods are in desperate need here. I hate to confess for fear of backlash but a packet of ciggies buys a lot of crayfish!

A supply ship arrives only once or twice a year, and as you imagine money on a small atoll a few hundred miles out to sea is not easy to come by, nor much use most of the time so trading was well received. Max and Nadine's bag of clothes has finally run out.

Tears were definitely shed departing Steven and his family on Mal Island, Ninigo, but with no wind on the near horizon we had better bite the bullet and keep moving closer to our destination - next stop Heina Atoll.

Whale Sharks in Cenderawasih Bay

We continued sailing south, pausing at the friendly Napenyaur Village where we were welcomed by the elders, loaded up with bananas and introduced to the production of the popular sago dish.
At first light the following morning we were tied up to a nearby bagan  enquiring about whale sharks in between being welcomed aboard, shown around and loaded down with cumi cumi (squid) by the very friendly crew of the bagan ‘Putra Merdeka 03’.
Bagan - a large fishing platform constructed with a central long boat and timber beams floated with bamboo. They are fitted with drop nets, rigging and lighting and crew can stay on these for up to 3 months at a time with a fish buyer coming and collecting the catch daily. They fish at night using the lights to attract their catch. We have seen this style of fishing mostly in Borneo and Indonesia. The Hui Bintang (Whale Shark) is thought to bring good luck to the fisherman, who throw out bait fish to keep them close by.

While there was no whale sharks at our first bagan we enjoyed the visit and departed with big smiles and waves as our new friends took turns at sipping from our gift of arak (rice wine).  It took 4 more bagans using my little Bahasa Indonesia and sign language before we hit pay dirt. No sooner had the fisherman said, “yes, besar ikan” (big fish) and pointed below, before we were jumping in the water.
It was amazing! Not waiting for the ladder, I dived off the side only to have one whale shark gently come right up to my face. At first we were nervous as maybe we could be on the menu, but after a while we realized how gentle these giant fish were.

At one point Simon almost collided with one coming around the side of the bagan net, but it slowly stopped and waited for Simon to move before it continued on it’s path.

Jean was still a little nervous and hung back for a while before we could finally snap a photo of her. She was even more nervous when the Jayapura constabulary pulled up fully armed with machine guns and knives. Turned out they only wanted to swim with the sharks too!

The whale sharks were like babies, coming up to bagan waiting to be fed. They were covered in remoras and had a school of small fish that swum permanently in front of their mouths. It was an amazing experience to be able to spend so much time swimming with these gentle giants. Unforgettable!

With increased popularity and awareness of the Birds Head Seascape more people are visiting the bagans due to the good chance of swimming with whale sharks. While there are no strict regulations in the area that we could see, we respected both the whale sharks and the bagan fisherman. It will not be long before more and more tourists come… With time to reflect in the peace of our surroundings we hope that it can remain an unspoiled paradise in the remotest corner of the world.

The following morning we say one last farewell to whale sharks and fisherman and set sail with the first rays, headed for the east coast of Cenderwasih Bay on our way to Jayapura.

Wonderful Waigeo - Raja Ampat

Our stop at the equator involved more diving. This time some high adrenaline dives with swift currents and some big fish – we even managed to spot the Raja Ampat walking shark. Out of the marine park the boys couldn’t wait to get out the spear gun and catch some crays for dinner.

Instead of fireworks, our equator party included a call from Daryl on Metana advising that he had to administer CPR to Toni after she had suffered some kind of fit and could we get some assistance on the radio. Thru the trusty HF, we put out a PAN PAN and got NZ radio, who called Australia, who called Indonesia who sent out their Sea Air Rescue boat to assist. Nice to know someone is out there in emergencies.

Setting sail for Aus, we farewelled Metana and Gadfly for the last time and headed for a leisurely tour of Alyui Bay, sailing between a narrow karst cliff lined channel, diving with hundreds of solar powered nidibranchs at the White Arrow dive, visiting the local pearl farm, navigating through the mangroves to fresh water streams, collecting fresh oysters and checking out ancient rock art. We even squeezed in listening to the Sydney Swans win the grand final on the HF radio.

After a hot tip from the Pearl Farm and keen for some land adventures, we headed further into the bay for a walk up a mountain. We were surprised to find pitcher plants.

Unexpectedly, we've not seen a store now for about 2 weeks. Fresh veges were becoming a memory, lucky we like coleslaw and baking was becoming our favourite past time, homemade crumpets were a hit one morning. We were even resorting to desperate measure with the coconuts – taking from fallen trees!

With Simon suffering from the mystery illness again we made a push for Sorong.  At one point his fever reached 39.8 and he was delirious and shaking. Thank goodness Scotty was aboard, his calming influence was greatly appreciated – Simon spent 3 days in bed, arising only for entering or exiting anchorages or winching the tricky dinghy up before returning to his death bed. Simon awoke on day 4 with no idea as to where the boat was or how we got there! While you were sleeping, we saw no reason not to mix travel and nursing with exploring – Scotty and I dived in mangrove lined reefs, drift dived narrow channels with names like Citrus Ridge & Palau Yum where I spotted a huge sleeping Wobbygong, enjoyed bird watching and forest walking and visited a small island which resembled the south pacific more than Indonesia. Wish we could share the amazing diving but with no underwater camera – you’ll just have to come and see it yourself to believe it!

Farewell Malaysia, hello Indo

With Przemslaw and Basia from Poland aboard we completed our outward paper work and headed off, first stop the mouth of the Kinabatangan where Sloop caught up with his the Probiscus Monkey friends.

Tun Sakaran gave us a chance to give some of the kids clothes left with us by Max and Nadine to the local sea Gipsys much to their surprise and excitement.

 We took the opportunity to scrub below the water line in preparation for the crossing as well as snorkeling the outside of the reef.

 We picked the dive resort island of Mabal as our departure point and in between snorkeling trips pre-prepared our passage meals. With a windy forecast Friday evening worked out to be the best time to go even though as most sailors will know, its bad luck to set out on a Friday. We soon discovered that perhaps there is some truth in it with the autopilot on strike2 hours out and a sea water leak at the stern gland. After some discussion the decision was made that we could hand steer the 420 miles and as the water leak was only a problem while sailing and could be managed by the pumps.

 The wind was as expected and the first few days we were kept busy with pumping and steering,  thankful for the meals that we made before departing.

 As the wind began to ease Przemslaw (now called Chamois) made the mistake of whistling. This is also bad luck onboard, fabled to bring strong winds. The wind picked up again and he paid for his mistake by losing the contents of his stomach on a few occasions. The morning of day 3 brought the sun, swimming in water 4km’s deep and cleaning vomit off the side of the boat.

 Pleased to be back on land Chamois found himself with his first ever drinking coconut, instead of kissing the ground as promised. I think he was sold on the first sip - just wait till we show him what it’s like with a little rum. Everyone but me also got to snorkel with a Dugong. I thought Amanda was yelling Turtle and swam the other way. Shit.

 Bear Gryls I mean Chomois / Przemslaw attempted to light the beach BBQ with a flint before I had to show him the marvels of dingy fuel.  Finally a hooker dive and off we go for our inwards clearance in Talaud.

Diving with Bavarians

 

With the window job finally completed, the feta made,  4kg of smoked pork (a great recipe from sv Braveheart), and our new crew Max and Nadine we upped anchor for the last time in KK and headed out to Gaya to introduce our crew to hookah diving. What better place to start then scrubbing the hull.

With a few dives under our belts and a covert mission to the canopy walk behind the resort followed by a swim in the pool at the royal villa we began the trip to Sandakan with a stiff following breeze.

 

Our arrival in Kudat brought with it the usual jobs, fuel, gas, and ships stores. We did however manage to fit in a legal swim at the resort and catch up with Sarazan the golf caddy from last year while taking Sloop for an early morning stroll through the sand bunkers. Max and Nadine trying to escape the heat from in the boat slept on deck much to the delight of the resident mosquitoes.

Pulau Silk looked good on the chart and was chosen as the next stop. The residents of a water village were also the lucky recipients of some second hand cloths Max and Nadine had brought with them to give away

Tibakkan a sand cay on the way to Tigabu made a great afternoon stop. My lips are sealed…  We were also pleasantly surprised by the recovery of the reef. Snorkeling here was like swimming in a huge aquarium.

Amanda had printed some good photos from last year featuring the local fisherman who took us under his wing and showed us around. We gave them to a passing boat and an hour latter had a visit from a very impressed local clutching his photos. Unfortunately he was on his way out fishing so we only caught up briefly.

A snorkel in the area where Amanda had previously been sprayed with squid ink turned up a huge turtle scratching its back on a lump of coral.

We’re off southwards in the hope of finding turtles laying at Tegapil in the coming days.

Wildlife in the Klias Wetlands

One word best describes our trip up the Klias. Hot. Even after being in the heat of Asia for a few years we still found the temperature overwhelming. It didn’t help that swimming is out due to the presence of crocodiles. I almost got a look in a steamy palm plantation but the moat prevented entry.

Can you guess which of the following photos are upside down?

If you guessed all of them you would be correct. They are photos taken of reflections in the Klias.

After a bit of hunting around we did find some probiscus and silver leaf but not being used to tourists, they were a little more camera shy than their brothers in the Kinabatangan. An encounter with a curious black and yellow water snake that looked like it was going to climb in the dingy had Amanda and Hannu diving to the floor for cover.

 With time running short we stayed one more night seeing fire flies around the boat before heading back to Labuan to clear out and onto Brunei for fuel.
A local tourist operator told me that Brunei has 1.2 million vehicles which is considerable as the population is only 398,000. Could be related to no income tax and fuel at 21 cents per litre.
Brunei was where Maria and Hanu departed after kindly helping to refuel the good ship Thyme. With all that spare space in the forepeak cabin we headed back to Labuan to clear in and resupply.

With only 5 more sleeps before Amanda’s long awaited trip back to Australia for a 3 week visit, we weighed anchor and headed back to Kota Kinabalu for her flight.
I’m left the boss of the beer… oh yes and boat jobs.