INDONESIA - MOROTAI - D'ALOHA AND SOUTHERN ISLANDS - 12 FEBRUARY TO 14 FEBRUARY 2019

I woke and thought 'time to leave Morotai … need to surf BUT firstly I will visit the southern islands'.

I said my goodbyes and caught a share car to D'Aloha Resort near Daruba in the south of Morotai.

I settled into my room and caught up with my friend Norma. In the afternoon, I had a walk along the beach and the nearby town. It was a fun walk along the beach, chatting now and again to a few locals. The walk through the village was great. The people were friendly, ready for a small chat and wanting their photo taken. Two kids followed me for ages, I took their photo and they ran off happy.

Back at the resort, I had dinner on the beach. It was a 3/4 moon. The moonlight was quite pretty reflecting off the water.

Back in my room, I organised onward plane tickets and hotels for my next destinations.

The next day, I did the boat trip to the islands. it was 1 000 000R but worth it. I had the boat for 7 hours and the boat had three motors (always good in case of problems) and a cabin.

Norma was my guide. We had fun sitting on the cabin roof, walking around the islands, wading through the shallow water and being silly.

The first island was small and sandy with no vegetation. Small waves were breaking from all directions either depositing or withdrawing sand. We walked around the island (a couple of minutes) and I had a swim in the clear water.

At Kokoyo Island, I had a snorkel next to the pier. The water was clear and there were massive schools of fish, pretty coral and a sea snake. The fish were so numerous that I couldn't see through them but they parted for and around me as I swam through them. Very magical.

After that, Norma and I walked around part of the island along the shore and through the shallow water.

Dodolo Island was really two islands at high tide connected by a sand spit. We walked around the islands crossing over on the sand spit. The sand was blindingly white. It was so pretty.

There were a number of places to stay on the islands. We had lunch on a cabana in the shade.

The last stop was between two small rock islands in the middle of the ocean. the water was shallow between the two islands and was ideal for snorkelling. There were lots of fish and coral. the visibility was good but it parts the sand movement obscured vision.

It was a great day on the islands. I got back feeling good tired, had a shower and dinner then off to bed.

The next morning, I had my final walk along the beach. I said my goodbyes and drove off to the airport. At the airport, I had problems with the charging of my surfboards but it all sorted out in the end.