Wana Taki live-on boat

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Monday 3rd July
I got a transfer boat to the Wana Taki, which is a big old ferry converted to sleep about 30 travellers. It has a bar, three meals a day (plus morning and afternoon tea!! LOL), kayaks, snorkeling gear, DVD player, air-con sleeping deck, HOT showers and you can jump in the sea from the top deck!! :-)

I met Jim and Abby - a really nice couple. We got a welcome drink and then got to eat lunch - and it was fantastic! Especially after the food at Kuata!!

We went out in a little boat to snorkel with manta rays. As we approached the channel where they feed we saw a fin come out of the water - looked like a big shark, but it was actually a wing tip of a manta. We then got up close - they are MASSIVE!! 5 to 7 metre across! Everyone was a bit hesitant when they said "Go, jump in"...

After we had jumped in we tried to keep up with these magnificent creatures. They are so slow and graceful with their moves, but so powerful that they easily left us behind - especially with the strong current that attracts them to the area - forces lots of food down one channel. I managed to get a shot, but when we got back in the boat I noticed the seal on my waterproof camera case had got caught and had let water into the case...

I gave my camera to one of the girls going back on to the Wana Taki and got dropped off near the boat to snorkel our way back over the coral. It was one of the deepest snorkels I had done, but being with about five others I felt safer than I would have on my own at that depth.

I then got back, put my camera in the engine room, wrapped in tissue paper, hoping it would dry out.

I spent some time chatting to two Chinese girls while fishing off the side of the boat. They told me how it was living in communist China. They have been in New Zealand for three years and it has really opened their eyes to how suppressed their media and internet access was. They talk to friends and family back in China and it is a totally different world, but a changing one. More and more young people are experiencing the 'Western Way' and wanting a bit of it. So old China is changing.. slowly with a new generation of people, all looking West... We didn't catch any fish :-(

Time for some cocktails...And jump off the boat... twice (turn your head to the left)...

Tuesday 4th July
The next day a German guy was persevering with the fishing - he could see some by the boat (no one else had caught anything the day before). We stuck our heads into the water with snorkel masks on to see three strange looking, almost small shark-like fish swimming about. He finally caught one, he was so excited he was trembling. Turned out it was some strange head-sucker fish - not good for eating so back it went.

After lunch we went to swim with the manta rays again (no camera - still drying) and I had one come out of the murkiness straight towards me - its huge mouth wide open, with three little fish swimming in the opening! It dived down and underneath me. Another amazing and unforgettable sight! Shame the camera wasn't with me!

I got back to the Wana Taki and took out a kayak to a nearby beach, with my kite in the bag, hoping for enough wind to fly. I got to the beach and pulled the boat up to be greeted by some local fisherman who were resting in the trees by the beach and wanted to watch. I got the kite up but there was so little wind it so came down - and landed right on a burial cross sticking out the sand and knocked it over... Figured I may have just deeply offended someone! So I packed up and scampered round to another beach where others on the boat were snorkeling. Went out with Jim and Abby and saw Christmas Tree worms, which look like tiny brightly coloured Christmas trees... Also saw a huge puffa fish.

Got back to the Wana Taki and got drunk again with the Ozzy girls (Karen et al.) and Jim and Abby - on my new favourite cocktail - Satan's Father. Then drank a few coconut shells of Cava listening to traditional songs the crew were singing. Heavy night!

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Photos

Kayak n Wana Taki
This is view from the shore I paddled to, showing the Wana Taki boat we stayed on in the background

'Herby' Hermit Crab
and the Wana Taki in the background

The beach
That I paddled to...

Manta Ray
Huge, magnificent creatures. Some up to 7m across!! A very memorable experience to swim with them!

Friends on the Wana Taki
Thanks for the photos Karen, see you in Oz!