A Perfect Day (almost)

Instead of going all the way through to Maurole (or Mauseme – not sure which name to use; each and every place has either no name or two different ones) we stopped about three-quarters of the way along at a gorgeous secluded bay which housed only a few fisherman's homes and appeared to have good snorkelling with incredibly clear waters.

There were quite a few other rally boats there which immediately gave us all a great excuse for a get-together on the beach for sundowners enabling us to meet a few other people previously unknown to us.

As usual, we watched the gorgeous sunset but this time, we had the added vista of the Rokatenda volcano, the one that had erupted just two weeks ago on the island of Palue.  It continues to send out billowing clouds of ash so obviously remains quite active.

The following morning, all the boats departed leaving the entire bay to ourselves. Friends had mentioned that they'd had a great dive at the corner so we dug out our long hidden dive equipment, spent an hour or so checking that it was all still in working order and then submerged ourselves in clear, warm waters into an underwater paradise.

What a thrill to be down there again, we've missed it. The fan corals, in particular, were amazing and we dived along a small wall discovering several new fish, corals and sponges. The conditions were ideal. We don't have a compressor on board so just hope now that we'll be able to find someone who can fill our cylinders for next time as we definitely want there to be a next time.

When we surfaced, we noted that the winds had picked up (windy days have been very few and far between since we've been in Indonesia) so we quickly washed all the gear, pulled up the hook and set off for the last 10 miles in near perfect sailing conditions. To make it even better, we had three gorgeous dolphins playing around our bow for a good proportion of the time – it's always such a delight to watch them jump and flip in the bow waves.

Well, all good things have got to come to an end and that they did with a vengence. We struggled for close on two hours to set the anchor once we arrived at the village anchorage. No matter what we did, we dragged every time leaving us too close to the shallows despite dropping in waters that really were far too deep. As it was a lee shore, dragging towards it can be a bit worrying.  However finally, I think it was after the eighth attempt, we found a spot a little shallower, dragged about 20 metres and then stuck with still six metres under us – perfect. By this time, the sun was setting so we cooled off with a drink in the cockpit and watched the volcano puffing away. Phew, we deserved that drink, continually pulling up 70 – 90 metres of chain on our boat is not an easy task!

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