Wednesday 17 December – going to check out the passage

We are in a huge bay, there is a narrow passage that links this bay with the sea the other side. It looks really interesting and will bring us out at Pef Island that had the lovely Raja4divers Resort on it. It saves doing a very long trip around the island. There is an anchorage at the start of the passage where we headed to before breakfast. The anchorage is amongst loads of eroded karst islands, there is an abandoned homestay, and that is it. Incredible to have the place to ourselves, except for the long boats going back and forth through the passage to a village on the other side, this would definitely be the shortest route for them to Waisai.

The passage looks pretty narrow and there is a lot of information cautioning bigger boats going through. The current can run up to 5 knots, with the tides. It is fairly shallow at times so must be done at highish tide and with the current going against us so that it is easier to control the boat. We went out in JeldiJeldi for an explore around midday, we went all the way through the passage to the other side, it is only just over a mile to the other side. It was stunning scenery. It certainly looked doable. We rushed back to PolePole before a big squall hit us.

We had passed a big cave full of bats and decided to go back there for evening drinks to see the bats leaving for the evening. Just after 5pm when the rain stopped we took our G&T’s and some houmous that I made in the afternoon to the cave. We tied up to a tree and sipped our drinks hoping to see some bat activity, it didn’t materialise. I think we missed the bats departing for the evening. We had a very enjoyable time anyway plus we tested out the high tide timings so we know what time to leave tomorrow. We will have to leave about an hour before high tide to have the current against us.