kudat to TIGABU island 02aug2012

early start on a fine day.lots of islands and reefs.motor sailing on calm seas = a good time for coffees,and doing laundry and ipad emailing in the cockpit.dropped anchor at 2pm at Palau Tigabu.we can see a row of stilt houses on the beach behind us,with palmtrees behind,below low yellowgreen hills.we can hear childrens voices calling welcome.reef on both edges of this small island,with huts built on stilts over the reef.several colourful fishing boats at anchor.a big navy ship steamed past-we are close to border with phillipines ,.we saw several polis and army boats today and there is a small army outpost on this island.we took dinghy to a jetty.once ashore we saw that the stilt houses were poor,but the people happy and friendly.there is a fuel depot selling diesel forA60 cents a litre.they get their water by hand from well in the sand-looks clear and clean.the children followed us on our walk,were laughing but shy and kept their distance.we saw fish drying on racks.their main source of food.no livestock.a few ducks and chickens.a surprising number of mangey dogs,who didnt bother us.offshore were extensive rectangles made by walls of coral rubble,most with a stily hut in middle.then the wind started coming up so we rushed back before storm.big waves getting off jetty onto dinghy ,with about 25 lov=cals being very helpful and enjoying the show.after sunset a big wind came,with no wind,lasted a short while,30-35 knots,maximum gust of 47knots.OK o/n.