Sunday 21 July – Ongea’s incredible coral waterfall

It was a pretty uncomfortable night so we were very happy to move down to the south of the island to see the coral waterfall. It was a spectacular anchorage with incredible colour water with the roar of the coral waterfall in the distance. Once we were settled and anchored we had a nice long snorkel although a lot of the coral was not in great shape. We dinghied along the waterfall as far as we could go, before it got too shallow.

We had Rob and Frances over for a curry supper, a game of Farkle and then a new card game to us called Skipbo which was fun and certainly more challenging than Farkle.

Keeping the writing brief as the photos do better justice to the scenery.

Rowan captured the moon setting early this morning

Almost daylight and the moon disappears

Our passage in Ongea, through the pass, then up north, dinghy pass shown with a shark fin at the top of the island and then down to the waterfalls at the south, about 5 miles

Leaving our rolly anchorage

Looking out the main pass to Fuluga (pronounced Fulunga!) Three boats have seen whales cruising up and down

These huge swells and waves crashing on the reef are why we had a rolly night

The gap between the two main islands

Two boats in the anchorage when we arrived, they left with the afternoon slack tide

So idyllic it looks unreal

The water is incredibly clear, creating crazy patterns, and the coral waterfall in the distance, we snorkelled the coral in the photo, it was quite disappointing, but we did spot some nice little fish, clams, a lobster and a sleeping reef shark

Fat lips of a medium sized clam, good to see

Another medium sized clam

Our sleeping reef shark totally oblivious to Rowan’s camera

At low tide this coral shelf becomes a waterfall …the kids will appreciate this as Rowan loves a good waterfall!

Take a look at the breaking waves at the outer reef

We explored with Alia Vita, good news for us as we are running a little low on fuel….. at least 10 days before we get to any kind of a shop and fuel

Curry night on board PolePole with Alia Vita

Fiery sunset makes up for the mild curry! It was a bit wimpy for the Bolton duo!