Mon 26 Feb
We deliberately went to bed early enough to still feel like we were on Sydney time, we were getting up at 0430 Jakarta time and it only felt like 0830 to us.
It was dark and rainy outside, not a good omen, and we'd heard a lot of serious thunder in the night.
We had breakfast in the restaurant at 0500 next to the main hotel lobby, it was advertised as a light breakfast but there was a very wide selection, cereal, toast, croissants and then lots of other stuff like rice, noodles, Indonesian cakes, fish and cheeses.
We tried to get a cab at reception, unfortunately the reception thought we wanted the hotel shuttle to the airport, the bellhop realised this eventually and called us over a "taksi".
The taxi driver didn't speak much English and he had trouble locating an ATM finally taking us into an apartment complex near to where we were going to get access to one.
Having got money he dropped us off at the pier for our boat ride to the island.
We were a bit early, the taxi journey was estimated by reception as taking 2 hours, and even hunting for the ATM we'd made it there by 0615.
We wandered around the building site that was the dock, eventually we walked in to what looked like a tropical fish display place, there were some sofas and tables and chairs to sit, so we sat down, texted our contacts and waited.
At 0700 we texted again using our Three mobile number, in case Orange wasn't getting through, then we texted the backup number, then around 0730 we started calling the numbers. Some calls diverted, some just hung up.
We knew the boat left at 0800, by 0745 we were starting to think we weren't going so we got up and started looking around.
Karen recognised the logo of the ferry company above an office alcove where some girls were doing officy things, one girl checked our reservation and told us where to go outside, it had stopped raining but there was a bit of flooding around the dock, we had to use loose paviers as stepping stones to get across one big puddle.
We waited for our names to be called out in a crowd of Indonesians, I heard an English sounding name called out and saw a family go up and get on the boat, then I heard a mangled version of "Karen Powell", our turn then.
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| the two boys behind us were sweet, travelling with their father who was in uniform |
The boat was a bit scary, lots of life jackets, but not particularly durable looking ones.
The English sounding family turned out to be from Boston in the US, and teachers on mid term break with their two sons. The two hours boat ride let us swap travel stories and show off some photos from New Zealand.
After dropping off most of the rest of the passengers at other islands we arrived at Pulau Macon to be greeted be Oche. She gave us a quick run down of the island, it was small. 2 minutes to walk the perimeter, wear wet shoes in the water due to the corals, and nothing to do but swim, kayak or paddle board.Or as she said " here you just float".
Karen picked this island because of their commitment to helping restore the eco systems of the islands, to clean up the pollution and preserve the corals around these islands.
Because there hadn't been any guests on the island the night before we got our rooms early, so we got changed and went for a snorkel off our deck straight away.
we snorkeled around to the bay where the boats arrive and then out to the bonus island attached to our island.
We snorkeled back around the other side of the bay, and had lunch. The food was great.
After lunch we tried to borrow the stand up paddle boards but the staff from our island said it was too windy so we borrowed kayaks and paddled around the small island near us, before going back to our hut to get dry, enjoy the sun and catch up on the blogging for Sydney. The sand was brilliant white coral sand, and was gorgeous.
At 1500 there was a trip to snorkel off the reef of another island. The other island had been a resort in the past but now just had a security guard and was a protected marine reserve.
When we got back we sat at the bar for a beer before going back to our hut.
We enjoyed the sun going down and watched the tide going out. I walked as far out as I could until I got to the denser coral around the edge of the reef around the island.
We got changed and went back to the bar for dinner. We played a game of Jenga with Ian, Cathy and Owen. Theo was wiped out with all the exercise and jet lag, and snoozed on one of the couches near the bar.
We ate dinner by the bar, and then sat talking for a while before heading to bed.
We'd been up so early and were still on Sydney time so it was no struggle to go to sleep. We unhooked one side of the front of our hut so that we just had a split bamboo screen between us and the sea, set the fan blowing across us and went to sleep.
After dropping off most of the rest of the passengers at other islands we arrived at Pulau Macon to be greeted be Oche. She gave us a quick run down of the island, it was small. 2 minutes to walk the perimeter, wear wet shoes in the water due to the corals, and nothing to do but swim, kayak or paddle board.Or as she said " here you just float".
Karen picked this island because of their commitment to helping restore the eco systems of the islands, to clean up the pollution and preserve the corals around these islands.
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| communal area where food was served |
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| hammocks |
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| driftwood makes even prosaic buildings beuatiful |
Because there hadn't been any guests on the island the night before we got our rooms early, so we got changed and went for a snorkel off our deck straight away.
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| Roofless bathroom |
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| If you kept the wall up and door open, the view was straight to sea (however as other guests swam around the island too, probably not the most private thing to do) |
we snorkeled around to the bay where the boats arrive and then out to the bonus island attached to our island.
We snorkeled back around the other side of the bay, and had lunch. The food was great.
 |
| bar and seating area |
After lunch we tried to borrow the stand up paddle boards but the staff from our island said it was too windy so we borrowed kayaks and paddled around the small island near us, before going back to our hut to get dry, enjoy the sun and catch up on the blogging for Sydney. The sand was brilliant white coral sand, and was gorgeous.
At 1500 there was a trip to snorkel off the reef of another island. The other island had been a resort in the past but now just had a security guard and was a protected marine reserve.
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| blue starfish |
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| this green rock fish stayed incredibly still |
When we got back we sat at the bar for a beer before going back to our hut.
We enjoyed the sun going down and watched the tide going out. I walked as far out as I could until I got to the denser coral around the edge of the reef around the island.
We ate dinner by the bar, and then sat talking for a while before heading to bed.
We'd been up so early and were still on Sydney time so it was no struggle to go to sleep. We unhooked one side of the front of our hut so that we just had a split bamboo screen between us and the sea, set the fan blowing across us and went to sleep.
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| Jenga |
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