Monday 17 November – off to Waybatan island

We decided we did not want to stay here for the next two days waiting for our provisions, it was perfectly alright but nothing special, so we headed about 10 miles south to Waybatan island which has loads of good snorkelling spots. Rowan had got in contact with an Australian guy anchored there who said he would help us with stern ropes in the little anchorage where they were. It was a motor across even though there was good wind, it was from the wrong direction. It was a pretty tricky anchorage, we had to get in between two islands which had reef on either side. Just space for us to turn around next to Rob’s catamaran. Then we reversed in after dropping the anchor. Thank goodness it was so well protected from the wind outside, as it was very tight. Rob got our stern lines tied on no problem, we invited him and his wife Pip over for tea and cookies. They are from Western Australia, they’ve lived in their old Catamaran for 5 years and have just sailed it up to explore Indonesia having retired from his job as a tug driver. No wonder he wasn’t daunted by the anchorage!

We went and had a good snorkel in the afternoon, it was pretty choppy with the wind, so the visibility was not the greatest, but there was great fish life and coral. Rob and Pip invited us to join them on their afternoon ritual of going to a little beach at 4pm for sundowner drinks. It was very pleasant even though they said this was the windiest day by far in the 7 days they have been here. The cyclone off Australia seems to be affecting the weather here. Turns out they brew all their own alcohol, they have a distiller on board, he makes whisky (with flavouring) and she makes Vodka. I guess it keeps the cost down! We had some calls to make so we were back on the boat by 6:30pm, just as well as rain arrived.