After a quiet night at Pulau Akat, we woke to a calm morning, with glassy seas and not a breath of wind. The forecast for the day, across all of the available models, was for continued calm, so we decided to stay another night and spend the day doing maintenance jobs and cooking.

In the afternoon, we attempted to escape the heat by going to shore to have a swim on the enticing beach facing us from the island. However, we found the beach littered. There was every type of plastic; from the ubiquitous thongs and water bottles to plastic nappies and rope. There was a dead bird. There were weeds and junk everywhere. But we had a swim anyway. The air temperature is in the low 30’s and the water the same, but it feels a lot hotter with the humidity. It does feel a little cooler when you’re wet, so a swim is good. Back on board later, we continued to stay wet by pouring buckets of sea water over ourselves to maintain some cool in the tropical heat.

The island appears to be uninhabited, with people visiting from nearby Seram in their long boats, and leaving with coconuts and vegetables. There is a fairly new jetty recently built (which is already missing some piers) and there is a masonry toilet and shower block that has been stripped of all plumbing. While a scenic and peaceful anchorage, it left us with mixed feelings.