Saya Island

November 5^th: Departed Pekacang at 5:00am for Saya Island, a tiny dot in the middle of the ocean. We are not sure what the island is like and if we can even anchor here but we left early enough that if it is not suitable we will continue on. Didn’t get much sleep last night, it was so hot.

Weather turned quite dark and thundery clouds. The wind picked up which made the ocean messy and choppy. For the first time we noticed that the charts were way off, Saya island was about half a mile East of where it was charted. We arrived at the island around 10.30am and there were about 6 local boats taking shelter on the South-West side of the island. We decided to stay and anchor up. I had a sleep and Robbie went fishing in the duck. He went over and chatted to the fishermen hoping to buy a fish from them but they were crab fishermen, that would be right Robbie said – there is no fish left. Anyway we didn’t buy any crabs but Lucy and Harry from Bounty did, they were very small, probably illegal in Australia.

We went for a ride over to the island and had a walk on the beach. There were two beaches, both tiny bays. Michele and Mariette from Mauskatti joined us and we spent a few leisurely hours just walking, collecting shells and chatting. Very sadly there was a lot of plastic and rope strewn on the beaches. Even worse, Robbie found a dead bird that had been tangled in rope and had got caught in a tree. This makes me so sad, and mad. Why people throw this stuff in the ocean just astounds me. Robbie and Michelle explored the beautiful bush and found where the local fishermen visit this uninhabited island to collect water from holes hand excavated in the ground in low lying areas for fresh drinking water. It looked like it was riddled with mosquitos and was a brown colour, not nice.

They also found a banana tree and harvested a bunch of bananas to share with everyone. Meanwhile Mariette and I had a relaxing time just mucking around collecting shells. There was an awful lot of coral on the beach and first of all I found a “J”, then an “O” and then would you believe I was able to find a love heart, and “R.O.B.B.I.E.”!! Ha ha, was really only mucking around filling in time. Anyway it made a good photo.

We headed back and called into Bounty where Peter and Heidi had had lunch with Harry and Lucy, had a cold soda water and relaxed for a while. Saw lots of birds circling around and as dusk fell little swallows were trying to come and nest on Bounty. We headed back to Southern Star in case they were doing the same, which they weren’t. Watched another 2 episodes of “Banshee” – it’s getting rather addictive!