“‘Back, back back!’ I shouted, as a wall of rock about three metres beneath the water’s surface reared up from a deep blue lagoon. I could see the bright colours of sergeant majors and parrotfishes swimming beneath us.
Jamie slammed SY Esper into reverse. We were on our own in the middle of the uninhabited Penjalin group of islands in the north-eastern corner of the Anambas archipelago. We couldn’t afford to make a mistake.
Situated in the South China Sea, half way between mainland Malaysia to the west and Borneo to the east, ‘Kepulauan Anambas’ falls under the sovereignty of Indonesia. Its isolated position means the Abambas has remained almost untouched by tourism, and very few yachts have visited the area. But with the advent in December 2016 of a new port authority in the capital, Terampa, all that is about to change…”
If you want to know what happened next, and you would like to read our take on the last undeveloped tropical island archipelago in the world, you’ll need to pick up a copy of the March 2018 edition of Yachting Monthy.
When they approached us to write something for them, we suggested that readers would be interested in this little-known area of the South China Seas. Currrently serialising our six week adventure to the Anambas on our YouTube channel, Yachting Monthly jumped at the chance to have a piece about an area no-one else has mentioned.
If you have watched any of the videos we have uploaded, you will know that the Anambas has the warmest of welcomes from its local people, some of the best coral we have ever seen, and shells the size of basins scattered along its pristine white beaches. It is the nearest thing we have found to heaven.
Peace and fair winds!
Liz, Jamie and Millie xxx
🗺 3°13’32.1″N 106°12’53.7″E
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