Rolly Road to Rakiet

We believe Moyo Island is very beautiful, but because the anchorage was packed with rally boats anchored in deep water on a lee shore, we decided to give it a miss and carry on around the corner to a more peaceful place where we anchored in 15 metres of sand on the lee side of a superyacht. Our friends Frank, Olivia, and Anthony on Windsong joined us a bit later. They, too, were going on the whale-watching trip with Mr Balong the Explorer.

After an evening of semi-gluttony, we made an early start the next day in an attempt to get to Rakiet Island before dark. The wind was nominally in our favour, and we were able to sail all the way by utilising a technique we hadn’t used in a long time – something called tacking. I know, we can hardly believe it ourselves. We tacked for almost half a day –  all the way from Pulau Moyo to Rakiet Island. It was satisfying to get there under sail power alone, but because we ended up doing twice the distance at the same speed as going direct, our estimated arrival time of 2 pm ended up revised to a distinctly dark 7 pm.

Sailing around this area, in particular, will send the adrenaline levels of the coolest-headed sailors off the charts. There are squid boats, fishing boats, and FADs all over the place. With the exception of the squid boats, with Las Vegas-esque illumination, there is no guarantee anything else will be lit. Fortunately, our anchorage ( 008°37.961S, 117°59.667E for sailors) was large, quiet and unencumbered. We could just about see in the gloom, and we used radar to see anything we couldn’t spot by eyeball power. We also managed to anchor in one attempt in 15 metres of sand, so we will call that a victory.

Balong The Explorer picked us up the next day at 0415 am by carefully approaching our stern under paddle power. The ubiquitous single-cylinder diesel engines fitted to most of the boats around here don’t have the subtlety for close-quarters manoeuvring, so that was the only option. They did it well. And then, with all of us aboard, one of the crew hand-cranked the thumping great engine, and we were off to see the whales.

Whale Sharks

The whale sharks feed off the krill that is washed overboard from the squid boats. We arrived early enough to see the crew raise the nets on the Barca boat. The owner appears to be a keen Barcelona FC fan – hence the name.

After receiving clear instructions on what to do and what not to do in the water, it was time to snorkel with them. Whale sharks are estimated to grow to 12 metres and weigh up to 20 tonnes. I’m not sure how big some of these were, but the video at the end (courtesy of Balong the Explorer) gives some sense of perspective. They are harmless to humans because they only filter feed, but that doesn’t work in reverse. Due to overfishing, bycatch and boat strikes, these lovely animals are endangered.

Where mothers give birth to their pups and where they spend their early years is unknown. They can dive up to 1000 metres, so you might well find the answer to that mystery in the deep.

We had a great time with Balong the Explorer. If you ever fancy a whale shark watching trip, you can contact them at +62 853 37214814.

And that was the end of our excellent trip. We were back on our boat by 0900 and soon on our way to Badas, where we hoped they sold T-shirts.