Saltwater islands and a deserted beach

The crew placed big rubber mats across the floor, then provided pillows.  The rubber mats, I believe, were actually harder than the solid wood floor.  But the rocking of the ship let me sleep a little.  There was some grumbling the next morning, but I think the cabin passengers may have been worse off.  At least we had a breeze.

ring island

Early in the morning we anchored off a little island to the north of Sumbawa.  We took the little boat over the coral and climbed up and then down to the saltwater lake in the middle.  The island is a donut.  Everyone swam in the lake and then climbed up the donut to get a view of both the lake and the ocean on the other side.  Pretty strange.

the salt lake takes up the most space

We came back to the boat for breakfast and then jumped back in for some snorkelling.  It was pretty good snorkelling, if a little deep.  A live-aboard dive boat had pulled up in the area and some divers were going down underneath us.  The group let off giant streams of bubbles that rose to the surface.  Swimming through the bubbles was pretty fun, almost like being tickled everywhere at once.

We had a long day's sailing ahead of us, so we relaxed on board and watched Sumbawa slip by to our right.  It wasn't until almost sunset that we stopped at a deserted beach in the north of the island to take a break.  We walked along the beach looking for crabs and shells.

the sea and the lake from atop the island

Tomorrow morning we will be at Komodo Island.

~Travis

looking through the trees into the lake