On cruise day 5, having traveled for only 4 hours last night, we arrived at the Lusancay Islands. These islands are mainly coral atolls and only a few are inhabited. We awoke to see that we were at anchor beside a beautiful uninhabited sand and coral island, with palm tress and some undergrowth, surrounded by coral reef.

We dream about tropical islands like this

Today was a fairly relaxing day, with 3 snorkeling tours for Ted and a beach visit for Jo. During the snorkeling trip we saw less interesting coral than in previous excursions because it was mainly grey, almost appearing to be dead. It can’t have been dead though because the fish life was just stunning, much better than we had seen in other locations. We saw every imaginable colour of fish ranging from tiny finger nail size to large reef sharks. There were also large fish such as barracuda , grouper and cod and also a turtle.

While we were snorkeling the scuba divers were enjoying the same success. They have dived twice a day since the cruise began and apparently every dive has been great. One guy went spear fishing and came back with a huge coral trout. People have been fishing every day, usually trawling from the tend boats and sometimes twice a day. For the first couple of days they caught nothing – since then they have caught several including trevally, coral trout and barracuda. Once they have caught enough for our meals they catch and release and they say they have a had a great time. The chefs have produced nice meals from the catch of the day, including sashimi so we have been very lucky.

Late in the afternoon we all went ashore for a swim and sunset drinks.

Sunset drinks on a tropical island

A few local people had sailed over from an island about 20 km away on their seemingly flimsy but apparently very sturdy outrigger sailing canoes. They are returning to their island tonight, navigating by stars or, if the cloud remains heavy, by wind. If the wind is in the wrong direction they will paddle for 10 hours to get home.

Another great day, as we have come to expect.