Friday 11 July Whoops! wrong country

Our good friends on Delos arrived and anchored next to us yesterday. Brian, Karen and her brother Ragnar are young and adventurous. Brian and Karen are divers too so when they suggested taking a look at the island 3 miles north of where we are for a possible dive we said yes. Around Silingan the coral is shallow and not particularly good. On the north side of Limibah island there is fringing reef and a sharp drop to over 25m. We anchored here and took the dinghy to dive on a point near a small islet. I don't think we went deeper than 8m because the coral was on a slope – there was one of the largest hawksbill turtles I've seen asleep under a ledge and some pretty small stuff. A nice, relaxing dive, warm water and nice critters.

David and I decided to go back to Silingan for the night – we felt too close to the reef and it was too deep should a storm develop overnighter – and didn't step ashore. Delos stayed and visited the village next day. What they discovered ashore they revealed to us two days later. Limibah is across the international border in Philippines water. Without realising it as the border wasn't shown on our navigation charts we've been to the Philippines. Like Turtle island, they too have an army presence.