Enjoying Ngemelis

Sunday morning I awoke to a bright sunny day in the Rock Islands. LB fixed a nice spam and egg breakfast and we ate under the coconut trees on the beach. After relaxing for a while and fully waking up, I went snorkeling again out into the small channel. The current was even stronger than the previous day and I was unable to get up the channel. There was still plenty of fish to see and riding the current back to the beach was fun.

We returned to the boat and headed off on another fishing excursion. This time we were focusing on casting. Paul and Karen cast from the bow while Dave, Noah, and I took turns from the stern. Paul caught a couple of snappers and had a couple other big ones on the line that got away. Nothing was biting for the rest of us. Still, hanging out on a boat in the Rock Islands is great fun regardless of the catch.

We got back to the beach at noon and we still had a few hours before our departure so I set off to explore Ngemelis. I walked north along the beach. The tide was fairly high so the beach was not large but still walkable except for the occasional instance I had to walk in the water to avoid an overhanging tree. Needless to say, it was a beautiful walk. On the other side of the island I passed the Ibedul's summer house. He had apparently been there earlier in the day but had already left and there was only a senator and his family. I continued walking and the trees became thicker until I reached a coral outcropping blocking the beach. Had it been low tide I could have continued, but it was impassable and I didn't have shoes to set off into the jungle. I turned around and walked back to our camp. Along the way I met LB and we walked back together.

Back at camp it seemed everyone was napping, but LB had the idea to try to fish from the shallows. We took the rods and waded out to our waists and began casting. With the cove protecting us from the wind I could get a fair amount of distance on my casts, but again nothing was biting. It was still enjoyable to be casting and different standing in the water then from a boat.

With the afternoon getting late it was time to pack up the tent. We gathered the gear and climbed aboard the boat. The first part of the trip back was a bit rough, but once through Little Toi it was much calmer. We stopped at cemetery reef and a couple of us jumped out for a quick snorkel. At the deeper part there were a lot of fish, including a Napoleon Wrasse. It had been a while since I had last been to cemetery reef, so I explored around seeing the giant lettuce coral again. We didn't stay too long and I soon returned to the boat. We took the scenic route through the islands which is always a treat. Eventually, we arrived back at the dock. As we unloaded our gear the clouds burst and it was absolutely pouring rain. We all got soaked and loaded our cars quickly to get home. Ngemelis was a beautiful island and a wonderful experience.