Monday 29 December – off to Yanggelo

We left after breakfast for Yanggello island which was only a few miles away. We tried to anchor in the same place as last time but some park wardens chased us off there and sent us around the corner to a mooring ball. We could not use the ball as it was too close to the coral so we tied up front and back without the anchor out. Milly and Luke went out in the dinghy to tie us up, Milly’s sailing experience came to good use with her Bowline knot tying. I think it is a good idea what the locals are doing to preserve the area. The place was heaving compared to last time with loads of dive boats out and about, and a few Phinisi boats moored out at sea. We went for a snorkel shortly after anchoring sadly the current had brought in a load of rubbish into the channel, so we opted to go out to the sea side. There was not much rubbish out there but the visibility was pretty murky and with the mangroves all around the coast line we were on alert for crocs. A little scary for some but we told everyone to keep close to the dinghy. We did see a decent size Black Tip Reef Shark! The coral was great and plenty of fish although not many big fish.

Back on PolePole, it seems that Rowan has caught a nasty flu bug from a snivelling Italian on the Dive trip. The kids came from the English flu hotspot and 48 hours of travel with no bugs, only to get it from an Italian on holiday here! Such bad luck as in this heat it is doubly worse! Luke is covered in bites and blisters from his flippers, I have an infection on my thumb around the nail, which ChatGPT says I should take seriously and start antibiotics. I was using tea tree which it said I should stop immediately, as it is a bacterial infection that can spread easily. My thumb is red hot and really painful, so I’m on antibiotics that thankfully Grant and Judith brought us from California. Phoebs’s glands are up. What a sorry bunch we are, but it has not dampened our spirits!

A quick afternoon snorkel to cool off. We have the little bay to ourselves in the evening, the bird sounds are just magical. We have a big Sea Eagle flying about creating panicked squawks from the cockatoos. The Brahminy Kite it also cruising around, making large schools of tiny fish leap out the water in one big group, with a huge splash. We keep thinking the splash is a croc entering the water, but nobody has seen one. There was a lot of card playing going on after dark while I caught up on the blog.