Wednesday 26 November – Clint and Xavi arrive like Father Christmas

Clint and Xavi arrived on time and were out the airport by 7am, Noor picked them up and then us at the hotel. Once on the boat with their big suitcases, laden with goodies for us, we were off, thankfully we got out without any drama, Noor kindly cast our ropes off for us. We have virtually employed him full time the last few days, he is always so cheerful and helpful, a brilliant find.

It felt like Christmas receiving all the goods that Clint and Xavi had brought us, including a new drone and underwater camera for Rowan. In good Gormley tradition, Clint bought them in Rome, but forgot to pack them, but he managed to buy both in their stop over in Jakarta. Rowan was thrilled with his new toys, especially as he has ditched the Go Pro for the equivalent DJI brand. The girls managed to send a Baron Bigod Brie out with them which was a wonderful surprise, such treats. We received loads of other goodies including loads of chocolate which we are very excited about.

We started with a little wind and got the sails up, but that was short lived, we were soon motoring over to Kri about 30 miles away. The very sad thing on our way was the amount of rubbish and debris in the water. It all seems to collect in the currents and then makes long streams of debris, full of logs too which we kept hitting. Rowan had reserved a mooring ball for us, there was a little panic as it looked like there was a boat on it, but it was all ready and waiting for us. It was an extremely hot and sticky day, as soon as we were settled we went for a snorkel to cool down. Rowan and I have done the stretch before which was a real highlight, It didn’t disappoint us, there was so much to see, it was a very long drift snorkel. We saw plenty of fish, a turtle and a shark, so a good first snorkel for the guests, who did incredibly well coping with jet lag.

We had a beef tenderloin on the BBQ that Rowan bought in Sorong, along with a delicious bean dish made by Clint and a fresh lettuce salad with feta, all things we have not had in ages!