Monday 25 August Jellyfish but no mantas

The rally fleet had been asked to anchor in Tanjung Batu in preparation for a tour. Today's trip promised to be a top tour – a speed boat to take us to Sangalaki islands to see mantas, Kakaban island to swim with stingless jelly fish and then Maratua for snorkelling. That was the plan. Despite leaving Batu at 7am the tide was already too low at Sangalaki to get the speed boat in to the anchor spot so we had to abort and merely gave at where the mantas might have been swimming. On to Kakaban where we did swim in the lake with jellyfish. I believe this is one of only three such lakes in the world. The others are in Maratua and one in Palau and came about when the land was uplifted from the sea with jelly fish trapped in the new formed lake. Over the years they've lost the ability to sting.

Kakaban lake

harmless jelly

Our third island visit was to Maratua, a picture postcard vision of turquoise water and white sand with a lovely dive resort to walk around. The first information we were given was we had 25 minutes which wasn't enough to go and find some snorkelling so we had a walk and returned. Then it was going to another 30 minutes while we waited for the visiting Regent and his entourage to finish lunch. We'd be allowed to leave after he'd left. Our lunch was a box lunch; rice, vegetables and a duck egg which had been packed and loaded onto the boat early in the morning. Finally the Regent came to his boat and powered away. We powered after him 10 minutes later.

Maratua island

We thought we'd do the one hour journey back to Batu and return to our boats but Bobbi our guide had another surprise. We were invited to a cultural show and late lunch on the jetty at Tg Batu with the Regent.

The local people had spent much effort preparing a tent for everyone to sit in the shade, fresh fruit for refreshment as we listened to the speeches and watched the dancers. We were then invited to make a line and the Regent presented us each with a sampan hat and a necklace of welcome. It was hot in the sun but the hats are beautifully made and must have taken a lot of work.

the band

nouvelles chapeaus

cruisers in hats

Our final event was a cruisers favourite – food time! The ladies had excelled with rice, vegetables, chicken and grilled fish for all the guests and dancers.

It had been a mixed day of disappointment on lack of planning and information which meant although we saw three islands we only experienced the delight of one island, the others we either didn't step on or just sat and waited. Our hosts in the town had made us most welcome with their smiles and generosity.