Day 5- Hoga Island

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Elly: We are now set up in our little shack in the middle of the rainforest. The ferries were certainly an adventure, but perhaps not one to be repeated. The second (overnight boat) was wooden, and we slept on plastic mattresses laid out on slats, with layers of people on top of layers of people. There was very little breeze and I don’t think any of us have ever felt so grimy and claustrophobic! One of the tanks in the loo was gushing water into the boat, and it took me and another girl a good while to work out whether this meant we were sinking or not. There was some lovely bioluminescence, thanks to the flying fish jumping around the boat.
Claire: To say we slept well on the second boat would definitely be a lie… The loud rumbling sound of the motor was enough to wake me up on several occasions, and being surrounded by bodies and shadows under the layer of slats made it an interesting evening. I woke before light with an ant colony having a forage on my side, however it was good timing as I stayed up and watched the sunrise. About an hour or so after sunrise we spotted a group of dolphins! (Striped I think). At this point we were only 3 hours away from Hoga, and the other larger islands of Wakatobi could be seen on the horizon!
Elly: After landing we were giving some food and then subjected to a series of lectures emphasizing that most of what we do and don’t do on the island is likely to kill us.
Claire: Again, almost everything we see can kill us. King cobras have been spotted on land. Man-o-war jellyfish and box jelly fish floating in the water, and sea snakes that bite, as well as poisonous fire coral and territorial clownfish. So we are looking forward to our first adventures with the ‘local wildlife’. We’re about to meet our supervisors, I will confess to a complete lack of knowledge of what I am doing for my dissertation.. But will hopefully be pointed in the right direction!
Claire: Internet is v limited. We have paid enough for an hour which runs out after three days, so after Saturday we won’t be on for another week, and then write up the weeks events. This way money won’t be spent on facebook but diving!

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