Guests on board LW2

Date: June 17, 2017
Trip #7 (#27)
Weather: Sunny 
Waters: Fairly flat, peak high tide at 7pm 
On board: C, A, J2 and R, with guests KH, J and ZQ 

C had extended an invitation for KH and his family to join us on board in the mid-year, when ZQ would be on holiday, though studying for his PSLE. 

So on this sunny Saturday, just a week after our last outing, we had KH and family with us, their first time on LW2, after having been on LW with us at least twice before. KH brought his fishing tackle. 

Skipper C invited ZQ to sit with him and gave him the job
of monitoring the water depth on the screen. 

We set out relatively late, after 1pm, and  made for Pulau Hantu, where we were last week. The waters were considerably clearer today, and we could see clear to the bottom. The tide was low in the lagoon, about 1.1m, but rising. This isn't the season for sargassum seaweed, but there was plenty of this other kind of weed in the water, brownish green floating scum that looked quite gross. 

A quick search of the Internet yielded no clues on the name of this scummy
type of seaweed. It was mostly brown, but had some greenish parts at the
end of some branches. 

The lagoon was so shallow that the propellers appeared to strike a rock or coral in our approach to the lagoon. There was no further trouble after that, and a check showed a slightly scuffed propeller blade.

The tree with the bare branches at the top had a second Brahminy kite in it this week. (It was a lone kite just a week ago, see last post here.) With the telephoto lens attached to her camera, A waded about 80m from the boat to get closer to the tree, and got the following shot: 

Much closer than the pic last week. Still not a Nat Geo closeup though.

J2 and ZQ went into the water, and ZQ prattled the afternoon away, telling stories about his classmates and school, and showing his prowess with the Rubik's cube, which took him no more than five minutes to solve. The boy is on the schools-level national team for Scrabble as well, beating both J2 and R in the course of the afternoon with some pretty strategic play. 

Horsin' around. 

KH went to the bow and cast his line using just a lure, no bait, live or otherwise. He came up empty. The lagoon seemed pretty devoid of fish today. 

Back at the marina later, C set the boy to work by flushing the windlass with fresh water.  We ended the day with dinner at the marina's Discovery Pub. 

An afternoon's fun didn't come free for this lad.
'Child labour' was used in the cleaning of
this boat, haha. 

An Africa-hot day out

Date: June 10, 2017
Trip #6 (#26)
Weather: Sweltering, then overcast 
Waters: Choppy in the Sinki Fairway, peak high tide at 1pm 
On board: C, A, J2 and R 
New gear on board: Coleman icebox and personal flotation device for A 

We headed out just before peak high tide and it was blazingly hot. The weatherman had described the UV conditions as "extreme" - and this was the day A forgot to pack the sunblock for re-application. 

We dropped anchor in the larger lagoon of Pulau Hantu Besar. The water there was just green murk. The depth gauge hovered between 1 and 2 metres, but we couldn't see bottom. There have been better days. 

PFD strapped on, landlubber A went to the water to cool off, and the jacket worked a treat. No need to tread water, one hand could hold a cold beer ...  just the thing for this mid-year weather. C and J2 went in too, leaving R to snap pix from the swim platform. 

Ah, the added security of a PFD. Despite being able to swim and
 tread water, A's fear of the deep is still there. Any waters over
 1.4m deep gives her the willies.   

R boppin' to music. 

Skipper C

Pulau Hantu showed us some majestic nature today. About 150m from where the boat was anchored, a bird of prey sat in the bare branches of a tree on Pulau Hantu Kechil, not moving much. 

With her telephoto lens, A could just make out the brown and white feathers.
Here, it seems to be looking directly at the camera. Going by descriptions in
the book of birds, it is a Brahminy kite.  

Almost an hour later, the bird took flight...  

This was the best A managed as it swooped over LW2. Other online
photos of Brahminy kites in flight describe a rounded tail base, 
splayed "fingers", warm brown body and black tipped wings. 

These unidentified raptors appeared to be hunting in a pair.
They spooked several smaller birds out of the trees.

The temperatures cooled quickly, and the sun went in. Further out east, dark clouds were gathering, so we hauled up anchor much earlier than planned and made the way back to the marina after an hour and a half in the lagoon. 

The sky seemed to change its mind about raining when we were nearly back at the marina, so we did a float there, and it was much cooler already. The relaxed fun on board continued for another 45 minutes or so.