Disaster averted – relaxation and recharge – Salty tales from Bali Hai on Sunday

We have just had the most amazing week of swimming, snorkelling, eating, drinking and generally relaxing, anchored off tiny Hoga Island in the Wakatobi Group.

After a near disastrous entry into this rather tricky-to-get-into island we made up for the stressful moments by staying for almost a week and relaxing totally.

The snorkelling on the Hoga Island reef is spectacular. Even people who have dived on reefs all over the world were impressed with the vast variety of corals and the hordes of fish of every colour and pattern imaginable.

Apart from a couple of walks and some delicious lunches and sundowner drinks at the low-key dive resort, we only made one trip to land – to the much larger sland on the other side of the bay – to buy some food.

We also had a wonderful trip to the nearby Stilt Village which could only be reached by boat. A dive instructor from the resort was a resident of the stilt village and he took us round, introduced us to his very large extended family and answered all our questions.

It was great to have some time to relax and recharge although we were sorry to miss the festivities in Wanci due to the very shallow entrance there. As our keel is deeper than nearly all the boats on the rally, we weren’t willing to take the risk of running aground. It was a great excuse to stay put!