This morning we stopped to snorkel at Pulau Besar and the tenders took us to the channel through the reef. It was similar to the last few days in terms of visibility and the reef, but it was warm and very calm and made for a relaxing swim. While I did this with most of the passengers Lynn largely had to run of the ship to read and potter about.
I got back just in time for lunch, and then we had a short while to read before going ashore in the town of Sawai. This village is at the base of steep mountains that disappear into the clouds, and there is jungle growing on every available surface. The seafront is so small that the village extends out into the bay on stilts, with jetties and fish pens adjacent to the houses. Everybody had come out to watch us arrive and we traipsed down the narrow street to a small concrete square where there was dancing and drumming. As usual there were speeches on a speaker system that so distorted the voices we had no idea what anyone was saying.
We walked up a small hill to a point where we could see over the town. It looks like most houses have electricity but not running water.
Then we walked back through the town to a stream which the village has tiled for a short section, where the children swim and families do their washing and collect water for cooking.
After this it was back to the ship for the usual quiet evening routine.
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