What you are about to see is the most beautiful place we've ever been.
This is Moonrock Bay, because up there is a great big boulder that looks like it
comes from the moon. And there it is. So named by a yachtie who decided that at night time
when the moon shone, it lit up and he said it looked like a rock from the
moon! Well, so the story goes... Anyway it is visually one of the most stunning bays
here. And right at this moment on that beach just over there
Liz is doing a bit of beach-combing. She's gone off in the kayak. I've been
flying the drone, just getting in some stunning scenery.
The one disappointment, which I didn't mention last week but should have,
was that when we passed another yacht we were talking on the VHF. They were
going to an anchorage we just left, and they explained that they just come from
this Bay. And one of the local fishermen had stolen their anchor and chain from
their dinghy when they went to walk up to the Moonrock. When you hear
stories like that it's always very disappointing. But more than that, when we
then come into the bay you are forever suspicious of the fishermen, the local
fishermen here, who have obviously been coming here for years. 99.9% of them are
probably very nice and friendly, and as we've come to expect of the Indonesians we've
met wonderful, wonderful, honest, beautiful people. But it takes one incident like
that to mar somewhere like this. And it's just a disappointment really, because now
whenever you look at any one of these fishermen anchored up here you think, was
that the one? Maybe it was him who stole it...
You just don't know. Maybe the person was a chancer and came in just
the once and took it and has never been back since, who knows? But I think what
these guys obviously don't realize is that the yachting community is a very
small one. Most people know each other, especially in this part of the world.
We've pretty much met all the other boats. And you're in communication with
them. And, sadly, it means that when we pass notes and give advice on people
coming to Anambas it might just be that Moonrock bay becomes the one to watch out
for, because local people take stuff from your boat. It's just a bit of a shame.
For both Liz and myself it's been at the back of our minds since we've come in here.
We're now very careful. We lock up (we always lock up the boat anyway) but
we now remove anything on deck that could easily be grabbed by passers-by.
We don't want to have to do this, but that's what happens sometimes. That aside...
That aside... Let's just take in this view one more time, because it really is
possibly one of the most visually stunning bays in the Anambas.
I'm going to leave Liz to do a bit more beach-combing, whilst I go off over to the
north side and do a bit of snorkeling...
So you can see these guys here. They've got a little net down in the water which I'm
about to go over, so I need to move the boat, one minute. "That's it, yeah give us
a push." These three guys are just splashing around in the water as a way of,
frightening the fish into the net. Not seen this done before... Oh look!
There we go!
Good man!
"Ikan?"
Ikan.
Yeah, lots of fish.
Looks like they're doing a good job of it, as well.
That is the sound of me being speechless. Speechless in amazement and wonder at
this rather stunning 360 vista which I have on this spit of land. Sorry, I can't help
but rub it in. But look at this place! I mean it really is just absolutely, just
so beautiful it really is, isn't it? With this little desert island here connected by
this little spit of land, almost. Beautiful clear waters, palm fringed shores,
blah...blah... blah... But what is quite interesting is that I just walked over
to this bit of land, and I thought "that's a bit odd, why would anyone cycle a bike
along here?" And then realised, it's baby turtle tracks!
So be interesting to see if we can come down here at night... although I'm not
sure we would, because it's a bit dodgy coming down in the dinghy with the
reef, but I imagine this is one of the spots where you're likely to find
turtles nesting, and baby turtles hatching and running down to the water.
We've got this rather curious looking thing here which looks like a little
model boat that's been stuck up lengthways, and underneath it (and this
one's for my brother, Marcus, if he's watching)...
Well... It's a bit sh!t here really, isn't it? (Laughs). We think probably we've found our favorite spot so
far, which is here Sagu Dampar, known to yachties as a Moonrock Bay. And it's a
series of small islands, with lots of little sandy beaches, loads of
coral... reefs... and it's simply stunning. Nobody lives here, it's deserted. We have
seen a few fishermen... I don't know... it's just... I can't really explain... it's just so...
perfect.
So we've come around the corner from Moonrock Bay, which is sort of over there.
And into this beautiful Lagoon here. And in between this
island and a couple of other islands to the southeast, I suppose,
is a great big reef. And this reef sits on its own. It's huge! It's the size of a
small island. But nothing protrudes on the surface. And I actually only noticed
it when I was flying the drone over the top and could see it from the air.
So we brought the dinghy round. And Liz brought the kayak around, of course. She's spent all
morning in the kayak. We're gonna go and snorkel this place, because it looked
pretty active. There'squite a lot going on. We've seen turtles already, and
there's a lot of fish jumping out of the water. But as we've gone over the top of
the reef, and I've stuck my head with the goggles on underwater as I've gone by,
and Liz has seen it as she's kayaked over the top of it... it's looking pretty healthy.
So we're gonna go down and have a look.
Well I think in terms of fish activity, that is the most fish we've ever seen.
So many fish. The profile of the reef is such that it's very, very flat across the
whole of this area. But it drops away quite deep, so it actually making a good
dive spot as well. I saw a huge trigger fish, which fortunately was somewhere
away from me, and fairly low down in the water, a few meters. So stayed well away
from him. And very, very big parrot fish as well.
Lots of them nibbling the coral. And lots of that table coral as well, which we see
everywhere. But very beautiful, very pretty. Some parts are dying; some parts
are dead. But most of it is very healthy... But the amount of fish down there is
amazing. It's truly incredible
Oh gosh, that was just fantastic. We could have spent a month there, couldn't we?
I mean... when I was editing that I could tell how visually impactful this
was going to be. And I have to say, it brought a lump in my throat, and a tear to my eye
every time I watch that. It's just... I mean it's just mind-blowing. Never seen
anything like it in my life. No, no. The first time you showed it to me I was
gobsmacked. that underwater footage, and the drone footage. It really did look
like that (that's why I really want to go back)! But we should just mention, by the way, at
the beginning of the episode we talked about someone's anchor being stolen from
their dinghy. We want to make it absolutely clear that this kind of thing
happens all over the world. It happens in Europe, it happens in Thailand, it happens
everywhere. (Caribbean). So it's not specific to Indonesia, or to the Anambas.
So please, don't go away thinking that that's what it's like everywhere. I mean
this was one instance in the whole time that we were there, so please bear
that in mind. OK. Now I think, Liz, you wanted to quickly
mention something... Yeah, I wanted to mention this decision about where we go
next! Because we're throwing it open to Patreon next month. Providing our goal
has been reached, we will be asking them to vote on where we go next. And we have
had quite a few suggestions here on YouTube, from a lot of our followers... and
Japan has raced to the top at the moment! Which is very exciting! Hmmm. And then
we've had Madagascar (a little bit worried about the plague there at the
moment) but, yes sure, across the Indian Ocean - various routes. Possibly Papua New
Guinea. Just to let everybody know, we can't go to Australia and New Zealand
because they don't want Millie (who would not want Millie?) Quarantine rules are just too strict.
So it's all very exciting! And next month we'll be having the vote on Patreon, and as soon
as we get the result we'll be announcing it here on YouTube. Probably do a special
little video about it for everybody. So anyone who happens to be a Patreon at
that time next month, is going to be in with a chance to to vote.
Yeah. So let us know!