As with all the islands, each comes with own personality and ambience. Kamatal was no different. Here we were greeted by the family who permanently lived on the island - Jimmy and Jess, their son David and their daughter's grandchildren Kathy, Nancy and Abraham. Later we met some of the itinerant people who live on the island during the beach de mer collection season.
Jimmy, as with all the other islands had a visitors' book, but he also had something they didn't have - a yacht club! The club at the time of our visit was being renovated as it had been eaten by white ants.
David and Jimmy, during their many visits to the boat for their cup of tea and biscuits (who between them could scoff a whole packet of shortbread biscuits in about ten minutes) also talked about the good old days. They recalled when the yachts visited them annually, and Guy was running the Louisiades Rally. Would it ever come back, was the longing thought on their minds.
We were invited over to the island for a shared lunch. Jess cooked up a buffet of chicken, rice, yams and sweet potato in coconut milk. As we knew Jimmy and David had a sweet tooth, we baked a banana and date cake. Selina baked a chocolate cake that Jimmy asked to remain a secret, so his wife didn't eat it! All the huts were well built with wooden verandas, and they each had a separate cooking house as well. Jimmy had even managed to put glass windows in his home, plus a conventional house door that he padlocked to keep the itinerant visitors out.
When you see the reef around Kamatal, you will have to agree that coral reefs are one of the most amazing things created by nature. The reefs inside the lagoon, which I doubt are scarcely seen by many, have beautiful coral slopes dropping into clear turquoise water, all teeming with fish and other marine life. It didn't matter where you snorkelled, the fish density and coral cover were exceptional.
Unfortunately, this island, as with all the islands we visited were only, at most, two to three meters above sea level. Sadly, it made me wonder, what will life be like here for generations in the future with the occurrence of sea level rises? Where will they go, how will they have to adapt? For now, they are safe, but for how long?
We left Kamatal to return to Panasia Island. We knew it was a calm anchorage not too far away from the Duchateau passage and the weather was looking good for our trip home.