This morning we had to play the waiting game. We couldn’t go
anywhere until Lenny returned our (hopefully full) jerry cans. I also wanted to
go and have a chat with the skipper of Sapphire about Raja Ampat, and also hit
him up for some fuel as well.
Eventually around 09:00, Lenny and his engineer (from
Indonesia) came over with our full jerry cans. (100 liters of diesel) What a
nice guy for doing that for us, we were so lucky to meet him. We chatted for
quite a bit and eventually they had to race off as they were moving to
Naturalist Island this morning to do a passenger change out via helicopter to
the Mitchel Falls.
Another very large passenger ship was also doing a passenger
change out and there was a constant stream of helicopters going back and forth
all morning.
I quickly filled my main fuel tank with the fuel from Lenny
and pored the remaining petrol from two other jerry cans into the dinghy fuel
tank, so I had another five empty jerry cans to hopefully get filled from
Sapphire latter on.
The skipper from Sapphire went crabbing this morning, so I
had to wait for him to return a couple of hours later before going over to see
him. In the meantime, I went for a troll in the dinghy, but as it was high
tide, nothing was interested in my lure.
I went up a side creek and a large crocodile followed me in,
as I was coming back out it was sitting in the middle of the narrow creek waiting
for me and as I approached, it did the usual slowly sinking thing, so I sped
past and left him in my wake.
Eventually the skipper of Sapphire came back with a few mud
crabs. I went over to have a chat with him and asked if we could take up his
offer for 100 liters of diesel and he said “sure, no problem”.
He got his crew to pump the diesel directly into my dinghy,
so I didn’t have to carry the fuel cans, or more to the point, so we didn’t
spill a drop of diesel onto the beautiful teak decking.
Fuel done; I was escorted to the bridge to see the captain.
WOW, this mega yacht was out of this world, the bridge was huge and so high
tech and opulent. I was invited into the captain’s quarters and we chatted for
quite some time. He even phoned a friend of his for some advice for me and sent
me all the information I was after in an email.
The thick pile carpet felt so funny under my grubby feet
after months without shoes on in the boat. He asked if I wanted to check my
emails while I was here, he was so kind and generous to me, but I knew that he
was very busy and about to move the boat to Naturalist Island this morning
also, as “THE BOSS” was flying in from Bangkok for his wild Kimberly trip.
So, I thanked him profusely and we shook hands and said
goodbye. He came and let my tender rope go for me and I waved him goodbye.
There was a very large tawny shark hanging around the back of the boat that I
patted several times before departing.
The generosity of these two guys in the middle of nowhere
was outstanding. What goes around comes around they both said, so maybe one day
we can help them out too.
A pair of mud
skippers that have been traveling with us for the past few days
When we headed off, we dropped in quickly so see Lenny
again, as Putu had made up some chili paste, and a bag of noodles for the
Indonesian guy, and I threw in a bottle of red wine to say thanks for looking
after us. They were really moved by our token jester.
It was a late departure for Rainforest Ravine, and along the
way I wanted to check out some sea caves I had heard about.
I put the sails up as there was a nice breeze for a while, but
it didn’t last. After about twenty miles, we dropped anchor in this small bay
where I heard there were these cool sea caves, and we headed ashore in the
dinghy to try and find them.
It didn’t take long to find them, the entrance (s) was
small, but inside they were huge and went back into the cliff a very long way in
several different directions. They were really cool, but not so cool if there
was a crocodile up the back sitting in the dark waiting for lunch.
After exploring the caves for a while, we headed back to the
dinghy before the tide went out too far and we headed off to Rainforest Ravine,
only three miles away before it got dark.
We dropped the pick in four meters just as the sun was
setting, and we prepared dinner and had an early evening as both of us were
very tired tonight.
The wind came up tonight and it blew about fifteen knots all
night long, but the anchorage was very secure and quite protected.
Track Sirocco’s
progress
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