12^th January 2013

After leaving the beauty of Yanggelo we moved onto the island of Pef, to find a natural deep harbour lined with shiny green mangroves. A raised wooden walkway where we saw a juvenile Black tip reef shark lazily swimming amongst the roots led to a lovely thatched resort. Steep pinnacles overlooking the adjoining reef were a beautiful setting for guests. Unfortunately they wanted us to pay $25 per adult a night to anchor in the lagoon so we made a rapid exit.  We enjoyed the tranquillity of the lagoon for the night having a late Christmas party on Muscat and a farewell to Totem who we will hopefully see in Malaysia again. The girls enjoyed doing their poems, dances and singing they had prepared for the entertainment and Jeremy joined them for the Time Warp!!

After an early start to leave without paying (tut tut) we have found the most idyllic spot on Waigeo (00:12.369S 130:15.076E). We are anchored in 25 metres of clear water, surrounded on three sides by steep rocky cliffs thick with trees, vines and ferns. Two pinnacle rocks with small sandy beaches lined with palms are on the four sides, surrounded by reef, thick with the wonders of the underwater world. Hornbills whoosh amongst the trees and other birds call to each other in the peace. It really doesn’t get better than this! The locals cruise by in their long boats, loaded with their families and sometimes firewood and produce. Unlike Papua New Guinea they keep their distance but are very friendly with a wave and smile for us! A garden with banana and sago palms around the corner is obviously their destination.

Every reef has some wonders to enjoy. Phoebe and I saw a white and black spotted Humpback grouper guarding its patch and an amazing array of feather stars collecting plankton from the current. Beautiful coloured sea sponges and soft corals with delicate patterns waved as the tide changed and the usual colourful assortment of small fish schooled over the protection of the hard coral. Huge Georgian fans sheltering in the protection and darkness of the pinnacles were beautiful in colours of red, yellow and orange. Jeremy even managed to  supply fresh coral trout and lobster for the evening meal having some success with the spear gun.  

The girls loved playing on the sandy beach where we disturbed a couple of Stone Curlews. Making sand castles, collecting shells, bashing the ball in beach cricket and skipping was a lovely way to spend the morning having not spent much time on a beach in the last few months. Willow is improving her skipping and Jeremy and I got our heart rates going with beach tennis. Observing hermit crabs and playing mermaids on the rocks kept the girls busy.

 The girls have enjoyed reading ‘The Goat who sailed the sea’ and learning about Captain Cook and Now we are onto ‘Trim’, the cat who belonged to Matthews Flinders. Our bit of history!  Science is covered by learning about the underwater food chain!

The girls liked getting their kayaks out again and paddled into the beach. Unfortunately a squall came up while they were there, so they got stuck there while Jeremy and I tried to stop the anchor dragging in the 30 knot winds. Impressively Phoebe and Hatty paddled against the wind back to the boat after trees started falling and Willow was in the safe care of Bev from Muscat. I picked them up in the tender, Willow rather freaked out, and we moved to a nearby mooring. Amazing how quickly the weather can change in the tropics, beautiful one minute, terrible the next. All safe and sound luckily and we need to keep our eyes on the horizon!