Commodore
October 31, 2024

Friday 1 November – a wonderful walk around the island

We got the kayak out and pumped up, as the beaches here are difficult for a heavy dinghy without wheels. We had a great paddle in, with our hiking shoes in a dry bag, it all worked out well. The walk around the island was fantastic, I’m going to let the photos tell it all. The island is a scenic reserve, which they are actively protecting from pests and allow no dogs or pets on the island. We met a conservation lady checking the traps, she had a conservation terrier, for hunting stoats, which apparently are good swimmers and can swim to the islands. It was an up and down walk, going up and over headlands and down to beaches. It took about 2 and a half hours with lots of stopping. We did some serious panting going uphill, we are pretty unfit. Our first stop was at a WW2 look out where we met a couple who were very pleased to meet the owners of PolePole. They were on the other cat in the bay, from Belgium, but spent many years living in Burundi, so they knew a lot of Swahili, and knew the word PolePole. The lovely thing about the walk was all the bird life, which we have so missed in the Pacific Islands. We were serenaded most of the way by the Tui birds who make the most incredible sounds, with their double voice box. We also spotted a red crowned parakeet which is now uncommon and only found on islands without predators. We also saw two North Island Saddlebacks which are also endangered. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk, we were amazed how each aspect of the island had different vegetation.

On our way back to PolePole we went over to a fishing boat that had come into the bay to see if we could buy some fish off them, they said they were not allowed to but they would give us some anyway. So we suggested a trade for some beers which they were delighted with. We are too unstable in the kayak so we went back to PolePole. Rowan went over in JeldiJeldi with 8 beers and came back with two big red snappers, a John Dory and a huge crayfish, they don’t seem to call them lobster here, we are not sure of the difference. What a catch, all in a container of ice that Rowan had to take back. He returned it with a few more beers and gave a red snapper to the Belgium couple. Rowan had to clean and gut them which brought an ever increasing flock of seagulls to the boat. The John Dory had this huge bulge in it’s stomach and I was very concerned it was pregnant, but then remembered fish lay eggs! Rowan opened it up and discovered a whole small red snapper in perfect condition. It was the poor old John Dory’s last meal! We put all the fish fillets into the freezer and made a fish stock with all the carcasses.

We had just cooked the crayfish at 7pm when Rowan decided we should move as there was quite a swell coming in that was potentially going to get worse with wind. He also had a 3am board meeting, so he wanted a good sleep before then. Luckily it gets dark after 8pm, so we picked up the anchor and headed back to the island we had been to yesterday but headed to the other side, so a little further away. We were just setting off when some dolphins came to play in our wake, much bigger dark looking dolphins. As we headed to shallower water they departed. We finally got to the bay Rowan had chosen for good protection and found quite a few boats had the same idea. There were 5 boats and another came in just behind us. It is good thick mud here so good and easy anchoring. We were safely eating our supper of crayfish and salad, just as it was getting dark, it was absolutely delicious.