This is Pam relaxing on board the Silver Discoverer as we sail through the Timor Sea separating northern Australia and Indonesia. And sailing is pretty much all we have done since leaving Darwin on Thursday evening.
As a foreign-flag vessel, we cannot just sail around Australia, hence the long detour to our northern neighbour, in this case, the small island of Matakus. After sailing all day on Friday, we were greeted by Indonesian immigration officials after breakfast on Saturday and then offered the option of a short trip over to the island in a Zodiac.
Pam opted to stay on board (see above) while I chose to go swimming in the gloriously warm waters that lap a pure white unpolluted beach.
That’s our ship in the background. Here’s a zoom pic of it, which also shows the Zodiacs ferrying our group to the island:
Before the swim, the locals welcomed us with a dance, dressed in crazy hats. Not sure what that was all about but everyone was smiling and happy:
About two hours of swimming (for me) while most of the group opted for a 1km walk (in 35 deg heat — crazy!) to see the village, which everyone said was charming and extremely clean. And also Roman Catholic — accounting for 90% of the population apparently, which was a surprise.
Back on board for lunch and trivial pursuit and a snooze in our suite:
All while we set sail again — back to Australia. Left the island about midday Saturday and won’t arrive in Wyndham, WA, until 7 am tomorrow, Monday.
So guess what we did today? Ate, drank, napped, read and played trivial pursuit. Very relaxing. Actually, there was more than that: we have had numerous lectures each day from members of the expedition crew about everything from evolution to geology to history to sea grass. Riveting stuff. Honestly.
Sailing has been mostly fairly calm but a bit rough on Friday afternoon and evening before we arrived in Matakus. From tomorrow on, we’ll be in the Kimberley and hugging the coast as we explore this ancient and fascinating land.
More to share tomorrow night after our flight over the Bungle Bungles and our visit to Great-Grandpa de Raeve’s grave in Wyndham — all will be explained in the next blog!