Commodore
January 3, 2023

Tuesday 3 January – Zapatilla island National park

We woke up to a glorious day which was a cheerful change from yesterday. We headed straight over to the two Zapatilla Islands.

Zapatilla 1 and 2 as they are called

There were two boats at the anchorage, we carefully gave them a lot of distance and by the time we were settled they had both departed. People don’t stay long as it costs $50 a night to anchor here in the National Park. You cant anchor at Zapatilla 1 as it is now a turtle sanctuary, and rather reassuringly we have seen our first turtles bobbing about. I think it is money well spent if it means they preserve the area a bit better. We wanted to get the midday sun for snorkelling so we wasted no time getting out there. The first spot near the boat was a bit disappointing so we headed round the corner and found all the boat taxis that have buzzing around. The place was already very busy, I guess because nobody went yesterday. We went and snorkelled towards the outside reef, there was some good coral and bigger fish, but the visibility wasn’t great.

Is driving with a mask on against the law I wonder?

Showing off my newly beaded sunhat, that took up an hour of yesterday’s rainy time

Beautiful coloured water again

Thick lush vegetation on the island

Heading around the corner

….and found all these water taxis

So bright!

Rowan checking out the outer reef for us

We decided to go and have a walk on the island, Rowan kindly dropped Phoebs and I off at the jetty while he went and anchored JeldiJeldi among the waiting water taxis. It was a bit alarming watching him swim back through all the boats. We then had a wonderful walk through the island, the vegetation is amazing, it reminded us of the the rain forest in the Daintree, you have to keep to the pathways otherwise you sink into bog.

Cleaver path of used coconut shells covered in sea sand

Amazing plants taking over the tree trunks

Happy Gormley ladies!

Lovely reflections

A fallen tree has sent us at least 4 major tree trunks

Just for the colour of the water

Very cute – in the dense green vegetation

Gorgeous palms

Strange plants

We headed back to PolePole for the searing heat of the mid afternoon, it really was roasting. Rowan had a little play with the drone and took some lovely shots. The hordes all started departing and we were got the island to ourselves. Everyone has to leave at 5pm, so we waited until then to go back and have a walk on the beach. We walked along the beach as far as we could around the other point. Another sail boat had arrived and we met them on the beach, Canadians with 4 male teenagers. We had planned to have a BBQ on the island but decided we might be breaking the rules, we asked the Canadians if they knew if we could. They replied that they didn’t adhere to rules and that they had bonfires here when they visited last year. Observant Phoebe pointed out to them that it was obvious they didn’t adhere to rules as he was spear fishing in a National Park! The boys all chimed in that it didn’t matter because their dad isn’t very good with his spear gun and never manages to catch anything!