Our arrival at Tual on the island of Pulau Kau Dulah was on the morning of our 8th day of travels after clearing out of Australia at Gove. The non-stop passage from Jensen Bay in the Wessels to Tual took 77 hours for the 440nm that we travelled, an average of 5.7 knots.

It was a scenic spectacular to arrive here early this morning, passing very close to the turquoise fringing reef of the northern tip, and then running down the windward side towards Tual, staying as close to shore as possible in order to view the numerous villages, with gold or silver clad minarets on the village mosques, stunning white beaches with beautiful clear water.

There were many bamboo structures along the coast, and the nature of these is unclear. Many contain buildings, and seem to be surrounded by fish traps, so we suspect that these may actually be the homes for some of the locals.

We have anchored opposite the busy Tual port, with ships and ferries coming and going, and locals moving about from village to village in longboats, while we wait for our appointment with customs and immigration officials before we can leave SeeBeeZee and explore this city.