08:26.835E  119:34.110E

Sunday 19^th September

Gili Lawa Laut

Captain’s Log:

Sunday 19th September 2010 towards Gili Lawa Laut

We left at sunrise so as to catch the favourable tide and were lucky enough to get it about right.  A pleasant motor up to the anchorage where for the first time in Indonesia there was another yacht in our anchorage and we didn't have it to ourselves!  We also had to share it with several live aboard dive boats plus some visiting day boats.  I can well understand why the anchorage is so popular it was pretty outstanding both above and below the surface of the sea!  Spent the day snorkelling and climbing the hill.  Both Valerie and Ollie had their fins attacked by a large 1 meter long moustache trigger fish protecting its’ nest of eggs.  We later read that if it does bite you one generally needs to seek medical attention!!

Position 08:26'.83s 119:15'.96e

Distance run 18.5 miles average speed 5.8 knots

The next day it was sad to say goodbye to Rindja such a truly remarkable place, but fortunately the next anchorage was just as exciting, but this time more so under the water. Coming into the anchorage there were several large traditionally built Indonesian live-aboard  boats used for tourists to go diving.  This is crazy, as we haven’t been with any other boats the whole time we’ve been in Indonesia, I suppose they’re a bit like busses, you wait ages for one and then four come at once.

 Not wasting anytime, Valerie and I jumped straight into the crystal clear water to have a closer look at the coral. There we saw some, or possibly the best Coral and marine life so far! It was absolutely magical, with abundance in the larger fish, too thousands of juvenile fish and a great array of coral species.

 As I was swimming around trying to get a few shots with the remaining film on my camera I saw a huge Moustached Triggerfish, I immediately swam closer thinking ‘I have to get a picture of this’, it was more than half my length and was wider and broader than my torso (which isn’t hard, you might think, but just trust me, it was big!) As a grew very close I noticed that unlike all the other smaller triggerfish she didn’t appear to be that nervous of me, and hopefully I managed to get a good picture of her as I was only a few feet away. Then as I swam back to tell Valerie about her, I turned my head round to look behind me and to my horror the fish was blasting its way towards me its huge beak gnashing away! I started swimming as fast as I could, but it wasn’t fast enough! The fish was closing in, it reached my fins and gave them a few snaps and a butt with her head, then she drew back for another surge of teeth towards me, it was all I could do to keep my fins facing her and my fingers in, as her beak could easily snap them off! She chased me for at least a quarter of a mile against the current until she finally decided to leave. I was exhausted, I gave myself a quick check over and there were no chunks missing from my fins. All I can say is that thank goodness I have a tight wet suit to keep more important parts out of biting distance!

Here’s the bugger, which then attacked Valerie when we swam close to the same spot , Valerie thought I was tugging at her fin when it grabbed it in its’ mouth.

We checked with this live-aboard boat ‘ Aurora’ if they had seen any Manta Rays which are said to be seen in the area, no, none they said.  We later read that they congregate in large numbers in the Summer time to mate, and this is Winter, so wrong time of the year.

This is the first cruising yacht that we had seen since we left Saumlaki, nearly two weeks ago.   Simon and Annabelle had left the main group of the Indonesian Rally soon after leaving Darwin and arriving at the island of Banda, to do more of the out of the way stops on Sulawesi Island.  They told us that this anchorage was the first one that they had not had telephone reception at.  So I concluded that we have had more remote places than them, as we have hardly had any telephone connection for most of the trip so far!

Black spotted puffer fish was swimming along the sandy bottom, darting under the coral

Ollie saw a large turtle with a smaller one swimming so close, he managed to get a photo of it with his underwater camera

Plenty of anenomes had these false clown fish in them

Common lionfish seen in another anchorage

Capricorn coral

This is the comb eggs that we saw in another anchorage

After a cooling off snorkelling, we climbed to the top of the hill to get a good view of the anchorage.  Well worth the climb, here are the results:

By now there is only one live-aboard diving boat, Kanaloa, Thyme and a catamaran just arrived.

D&V on top of the hill, what a great view!

Ollie had better climbing shoes on, and went up the steeper hill even higher

Steep ridge which Ollie ran along no less

An even better view right from the top, with beautiful pieces of glistening quartz stone

We did succumb to a visit from one of the small local fishing boats selling their Komodo dragon carvings and fresh pearl necklaces.  We knew the price to beat them down to, and managed to keep them happy with a gift of clothing for their kids and spouse!

Whilst the divers had their sundowners under their awning, we enjoyed having a chat with Simon and Annabelle from Thyme