We decided to make use of a professionally run outfit called Sailaway Dhow Safaris for our day trip to the island. They’re slightly more expensive then some of the private enterprises, but are definitely worth the extra.

We all met at a central location at the docks where we were introduced to our host for the day – Jamie and the other folks making up the rest of our party. Sailaway has two different dhows, both thankfully larger than the precarious looking versions used by the local fisherman (about a twenty seater and a twelve seater). Once we had been kitted out with snorkeling equipment we headed off to meet our crew who were already getting the dhow ready for the day’s trip.

Our group consisted of a couple from Pretoria (Oliver and Henrietta), two mad fishermen from Durban (Ivor and Mike), ourselves and finally another Backpacker couple, Randy from New York and his girlfriend Tessa from the Netherlands - a great bunch of people who were soon chatting up a storm. This was made easier by the loud and boisterous behaviour of the two Durbanites who were feeling the effects of a very late night and were trying (successfully) to drown their hangovers in a few more beers.

About ten minutes into the journey we were forced to turn back as we were having some difficulties with the little outboard motor. As we had a goodly distance to go and the wind was against us this did seem prudent. A phone call later and we were met back at the beach by the owner and the spare outboard. This was quickly fitted, started and promptly died. After fiddling about with the fuel mix and a lot of muttering in Portuguese, we were finally underway about an hour behind schedule. A fire was quickly made onboard the dhow in a special sand pit type construction at the back and tea or coffee served.

The trip across to Magaruque Island took about an hour and a half, during which we were regaled by the hilarious fishing antics of our Durbanities which resulted in the capture of a tiny snake fish and finally each others lures. Many a beer and humorous story later the hazy form of the island began to take shape (with one slight delay when we got stuck in the sand below and were all crammed into the front of the dhow and the five crew members got off and pushed us across the sand bank).

On our arrival at the island we were treated to a school of dolphins playing in the natural bay that served as a harbour. The beaches were a dazzling white (the glare of which made it difficult to see even with sunglasses) and about as close to a tropical paradise as one could get.

Once we had docked Cath and I set off away from the rest of the crowd to do a little bit of exploring. We followed the natural ‘harbour’ barrier down to the other side of the island where we found an idyllic spot to lounge about in the waves and cool down. By the time we had finished and dried ourselves off, the tide had already risen so much that our secluded bay was no longer.

At low tide the island shore was dotted incredible bays for swimming.

We climbed to the top of a huge dune that overshadowed everything else on the island so that we could take a few pictures and get an idea of the lie of the land around us.

Not knowing or being able to estimate the size of the island we decided not to try and walk all the way around it, but rather to cut across country over the dune and sparsely populated brush to the furthest side of the island. This was perhaps not our best move. The brush became more and more dense and the blazing sun beat down on us without mercy. Eventually crossing the peak of yet another dune and still not seeing the other side (and not wanting to miss the fabled lunch) we cut our losses and retraced our steps back to the group.

As it turned out we could quite easily have walked all around the island (a circumference of about four kilometres) and there was no need for our cross country expedition :-( especially as we probably only had about two kilometres to go when we decided to go cross country. By this stage, the tide had risen so much that in some places our former path back to the boats was chest high.

We arrived just in time for a scrumptious lunch cooked on hot coals on the dhows. Lunch consisted of delicious grilled barracuda steaks, rice, tomato and onion gravy, a wonderful big salad and cold juice to wash it all down. Once completed we watched a unique method of washing up using the sea and the beach as a natural dishwasher. Just place into the sand like so and let the motion of the wave do their work. A quick turn or two and voila, clean plates.

After waiting the required half and hour before swimming again, this time we stayed with the group and explored the reef around the harbour.

Whilst snorkeling we spotted huge blue and silver fish (the name of which eludes me) easily four to seven kilograms as well as numerous smaller ones of all different colours and dimensions darting in and out of the various cracks and crevices – all seemingly oblivious to our presence.

Wind power was used for the sail back to the mainland which was by its very nature a bit rougher than the journey there but oh so much nicer. As we carved our way through the small swells we were served popcorn and more of the ever present deluge of ice cold beer. On the whole it was simply a wonderful wonderful day that will be remembered fondly.