Trip to Jelly Fish Lake on Maratua Island.
26 September 2013 | Maratua Island
Bill
Robbie was set to pick us up at 1400 yesterday and arrived a bit late as there was no diesel fuel at the market. He asked for a liter of ours but I had no way to get any out of our tanks and I wasn't about to disconnect our fuel lines to pump some out for him given what we have gone through with our fuel lines and air getting into them. I called Azizah to see if they had any and they did so we put our gear into Robbies boat and headed over. Samia, the young girl that is traveling with Richard on Azizah was going to come along. Richard had a problem with his ears and didn't want to take any chances with it getting worse. Robbies engine is a "Mr. Motor" made in the Peoples Republic of China. At 16 HP, it's double the size of our outboard and 10 times louder as there is no muffler attached to it. I can't figure out how these fishermen aren't deaf. We could barely have a conversation on board as we went across the inlet without shouting. I took along my small GPS to see where the place was as it's talked about in some of the posts about Maratua but not where it is. It's several miles southwest of the anchorage along a rocky shore. It's a good trek to get to it once you get ashore. Someone, years and years ago, built a jetty out into the water but it is now reduced to just the posts coming out of the water. Strangely, this jetty is a way back from shore and other than at high tides, you would never get a boat anywhere near it. We worked out way through the mangrove trees, stepping on the roots as we went till we finally got to the other side of the "jetty". Up the path and up the hillside and down the hill side till you came to the lake. Actually it's quite a big lake up in the hills. The Jellyfish got trapped here thousands of years ago when the water receded and since they have no predators, they have no stingers. We put on our masks and fins and the three of us slowly headed into the water over the coral shelf that surrounds the lake. We've heard of these lakes and seen pictures of the jelly fish but there were small--3-6 inches in diameter Moon jelly fish that were clear with a white ring around them. Every where you went they would float right up to you. The problem was that the water was a bit murky green and it was an overcast day so they didn't standout as well as we had hoped. Samia had gone to the other lake on another island and said it was much better with clearer water. If there is time and I can get over my cold, we are going to try. We spent about 45 minutes in the water and then hiked back to Robbies boat. Robbie boat is about 35 feet long and quite narrow of beam. The engine is mounted in about the center of the boat and the throttle is on a line with a big fish hook that when pulled, the engine accelerates. It's kept at that speed when he hooks the hook at the end of the line over a cross beam near where he sits. To kill the engine, there is another fishing line on the port side that he pulls. As he goes along, he walks back near the engine and bails out water from the hull from time to time. All in all, a fun trip. I slept in the main salon last night in hopes of Tracy avoiding my cold. Not much luck but I had to try. Last night, we looked at the anchor chain on the bottom and decided we needed to get it off the coral bommie it was wrapped around. The water here is a bit murky here from time to time and this time we could see the bottom, about 15 feet down. This morning it was clear enough that we made a plan on getting it loose. Tracy would steer Zephyr forward and to starboard and I would be in the water getting it untangled and yelling up instruction on how to turn the boat. With mask, snorkel and fins, in I went and up to the bow. There was about a two knot current running so I had a bit of kicking to do with my fins to get there. Once I grabbed the chain, Tracy put her in gear and forward we went. Once the bow was in front of the bommie, I swam down and got it unwrapped. Tracy then put Zephyr in reverse and straightened out the chain on the bottom. Nothing says it won't happen again but for now, we are free and have a good length of chain out in front of us. The wind I have been writing about finally died off today even though the forecast is for it to continue for the next 5 days of so. I'm sure it will be back but since it quit earlier, we ran our generator this morning making volts and using the water maker to put some back in our tanks. Since it rains so seldom out here, it's nice having it. With the breeze gone, I'm sitting in the cockpit with a fan on me having a cool drink from the frig. I'm loaded up with Dayquill and an anti biotic to kill the sinus infection that seems to have come with the cold. Gee what fun!! Sitting in paradise and feeling miserable. It's now been almost three weeks since we have had actual internet access. I can't wait to see how many emails we're going to have to get rid of when we finally get back on line. I figure at least another week before we get back to "civilization". Tomorrow is another day.