Saturday 25 October Fam island

Yesterday we had a super sail, ie both wind and current in our favour for once, 30 miles west from Batanta to Fam island.  To reach the best anchor spot you have to cross a ridge of about 6m deep to enter a sandy lagoon. Once over the bar the lagoon quickly slips to 20m deep and a tidy spot to drop the hook.
We spent three days here; the first socialising with Sue and John Ocelot and Sandy and Jack Zorana, the second we walked to the village on the south side of the island and on the third we snorkelled.  
To reach the village we left the dinghy tied to a wibbly wobbly jetty and followed the footpath over the hill.  We had gone with money in our pockets just in case there was a shop or someone had bananas to sell.  The village appeared so poor we should have bringing them bananas; simple houses linked by sandy tracks and small stretches of concrete road leading from the upper path down to the village with a broken white line painted down the centre.  I doubt if there is a car on the island and we didn't see any motorbikes so is this a pedestrian separation zone?

Wobbly jetty

Path to the village

They people may not have material possessions but their houses and paths are all clean and freshly swept.  The lady we met sweeping their simple church was seemed too shocked at seeing white people all she could do was watch us, no words, probably spoke in a local language and definitely no English.  Like the other Papuans we've met these are shy, reserved people, polite and not accustomed to strangers walking out of the woods.
On our last day in Fam we snorkelled a pretty coal garden. I was looking for potential dive spots but it either too shallow or dropping off to a sandy bottom.  Still a pretty island to rest for a few days in the tropical sunshine.

Anchor  00 39.02S 130 17.14E  20m sand