Tuesday 9 December – elusive dugongs

Rowan had organised with Otto to go searching for dugongs, it amuses us that the locals have such Western names. We should have realised it was not going to be a slick operation as his communication with Rowan was rather fraught. He kept phoning to ask which Homestay we were at! Rowan got Kim and Gary to join us, as well as the other couple on a yacht called Platinum, an English lady and Australian husband, both on second marriages, that met crewing on the Clipper around the world race. Ugh it sounds like a horrendous race, really tough conditions, hot bunking for 10 months! Otto picked us all up and we headed around to the other side of the island, where he proceeded to tell us it was the wrong tide to see the dugongs! We went for a snorkel instead, the current whipped us along around the little island which has his rather dilapidated Homestay on it. The section we snorkelled over was really lovely, great colourful coral with loads of clams and quite a few anemones. Otto picked us up in the boat so we did not have to fight the current, that was the end of our dugong search! Rather an anticlimax.

The afternoon I spent sewing the rest of the duvet cover onto the awning. By midafternoon the anchorage had 7 yachts in it, two of them we had met in Batanta. One yacht had a South African couple who live in Thailand. Most of the yachts converged at a Homestay for supper, where we had a tasty chicken dish with vegetable fritters. The Homestay is on a lovely stretch of white beach, a lovely location. Sailor’s midnight is 9pm, everyone was gone just after 8pm!