We got going after our second cup of morning tea, ie before breakfast! The forecast was rain and squalls so we wanted to get to the next anchorage up the lagoon in the morning. Hardly any wind, just current coming in and out the lagoon. We agreed it was time for me to do more driving the boat, especially navigating between obstacles. It was a very scenic motor up the channel just inside the reef.
We finally spotted Lella and Profasea, we had to cross one narrow spot, Kruno had marked a bommie we needed to avoid. A lovely anchorage, the anchor set nicely into a big sandy patch that Rowan found. We opted to be a bit further out to catch some breeze. Not long after that the squalls arrived. It was actually a relief as it had got so hot without any wind.
The usual stream of canoes arrived, so hard as you want to support them, but our trading goods are running low, Rowan’s wardrobe pile that he cleared in Mettingham is looking very low. We usually just give them rice and tinned meat that we bought a load of. Our reading glasses have gone like hot cakes.
We invited everyone for supper, Jen and Carey the crew on Profasea are vegetarian and Anthony on Lella is Vegan. Rowan cooked up a hug pot of beans, with a big chipotle chilli, with some brown rice and roasted local pumpkin. Around 5pm we were surprised to see a trimaran pull in next to us. Turned out to be live aboard sailors, Rowan had noticed he had contributed loads on various forums, about sailing through the Solomons and Papua New Guinea. He is Belgium and they have been sailing for 30 years around the Pacific in their 40 year old boat, an astonishing trimaran ketch (two masts – for the non yachties!). We invited them to join us, he explained to Rowan that his wife had a mini stroke a month ago, they flew to Brisbane from PNG for tests and scans. She is much better but struggles getting some words out. They are in their 70’s with three yappie little black dogs, a Belgium breed called Schipperke, they were bred as watchdog and rodent hunters on barges, so are excellent boat dogs. It was an interesting evening listening to Luc talk all about their travels, luckily it was interesting as nobody else got much chance to talk! They are on their way to Vanuatu so going the opposite direction to us, heading back to French Polynesia to live there for a couple of years, less hectic than Indonesia. His wife Jackie is from California, she looked Asian in origin, she coped remarkably well in the crowd, but definitely reticent, a difficult situation for them I should think. Goodness knows where they will get good medical care for her.
X marks where we were and our route up the channel to our next anchorage
Looking back down the channel
Motoring down the channel
Great scenery along the way
White sandy islands everywhere
All part of the Marovo lagoon
The canoes are even out here on the outer edge of the lagoon
Lella and Profasea in the anchorage
Squalls coming
The line of rain moving across
The little sand bar in front of us had a raptor in the tree that looked so like our African fish eagle from a distance
I identified the raptor really easily on the Merlin bird app, this is the only brown and white raptor here. He fitted all the criteria
Sun catching the island with dark clouds and rain behind
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