It was another reasonably early start this morning . . . but with an altered plan as, apparently, the swell is too great to safely land the Xplorers on the beach in Sibang Cove. So instead of swimming, snorkelling and ‘hiking’ to Nagudungan Hill, one Xplorer anchored off the beach and those who were interested could swim to shore and then hike.
We chose the other option – a two hour ‘cruise’ around the point and towards a local village. It was very interesting and we heard some expert commentary from the various experts and locals on board. Apparently, the locals do not want to rapidly expand the tourism industry. Instead, they are happy for it grow very slowly. We saw a ‘hostel’ which costs USD10 per night and there are some home stay places where guests live with families.
A continuing challenge for this community is the fact at there is no college education and the talented youngsters need to go to the mainland for higher education – and most don’t come back, or if they do it is later in their lives.
We came across a bloke spearfishing in the water – he said he was getting lunch for his family. Not many of the other fishing boats were out as most of the community were on the beach doing a big clean up. Plastic rubbish is a huge problem here as it is in many other parts of the Pacific and other places.
Then it was back on the boat, lunch and some more lectures - of varying quality. Instead I went to the bridge and received a lesson from the captain about how they keep the boat in ballast by pumping water around the many tanks located all around the hull and under the floor.
Dinner this evening was a BBQ upstairs and we joined some people we had met on a previous trip and created the noisiest table on the boat! The food was very nice and the wine flowed freely all evening.
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