We’ve been travelling with two other Australian yachts now for well over a month, and they had been travelling with another Australian yacht. We were all in Raja Ampat and near to each other, so decided to meet up together for a Christmas lunch.

After selecting a location for us to anchor and meet, we surveyed the area and found a nice little beach with room for us to have a picnic. High tide was early afternoon, and there was enough room for us to get our shoal draft cat in close to the beach, rather than travel by dinghy.

There were a couple of thatched fisherman huts on the beach, that provided us with a table space and an area to keep things up out of the sand. We all brought plates of food to share, and some had brought decorations and hats so they could really feel at home.

After a feast and a few drinks, we relaxed with a game of beach cricket and cooled off with a swim, before heading back to our anchorage before the overnight tropical rain began.