A croc was laying on the bommie in the background. This photo was taken the time before when snorkelling here.
This lovely cove provides a windless shelter from the S to SE tradewinds but if the wind turns any N of East, be prepared to get out, as we learned during a night squall which was enough to put the rudder above the reef flat, luckily at high tide. The exit is broad and deep so no problem there, especially with a GPS track
The light marked on Lagholon Island(easternmost on the pic) of course does not work and is a rusty remnant of the old colonial times.
Let’s face it, this anchorage itself is really to steep to be an anchorage but good for a lunch stopover. Drop the pick off the marked position in 35m to 25m of water and run a stern line to the coconut tree directly off the position. That’ll put you a boat length away from the reef.
Kuna with sternline to a coconut tree
Assume sand and rubble with a few coral heads, but again didn’t check that one because as the KUNA approached, motoring slowly, a crocodile was watching, unfrightened, laying on a coral bommie, in bright daylight!!! They are everywhere and I found more footprints on small coral islands to the extreme north of the lagoon.
Though wild, all these islands are imprinted by traces of human occupation: small camps, now abandoned are noticeable from the time Beche De Mer was harvested.
From there, a lot of the northern lagoon could be explored by kayak. Mangrove trees grow in the middle of crystal clear coral waters!
A good snorkelling spot with shallow nooks and crannies is just 500m NE of the anchorage spot. Hanasivi Island is thickly wooded but with some windy openings (the anchorage spot is windless) and the sound of a chainsaw resoned during the day: a small camp with four people harvesting timber with a portable saw (small scale initiative). It was interesting to hear that they are also opposed to the large logging companies, which are currently opening large roads in several places on the main Russell islands but small bribes that the village chiefs receive from the loggers makes them helpless to prevent the damage.
Mangrove growing on coral everywhere...
