The Lagoon and the Beach

Our little boat has already entered the lagoon. See what a long, wild beach this is? On the sand to the right lies a single boat. Blue, long, plastic. There's nothing else here born of civilization.

To the left you can see a multitude of turtles. Turtles of this species are very skittish. They won't settle in places with even the slightest bit of intense human activity.

We've landed on a very quiet, peaceful, ecologically perfect island. Tranquility practically hangs in the air. Take a look at this gnarled, pink tree trunk fallen into the seawater. The water here is astonishingly clear. We're floating over a very large and picturesque mushroom coral. And from the deck you can see it whole, in full detail.

And here's a moray eel! Enormous! Thicker than my leg. How slowly and smoothly it pours itself from one hole in the rock into another — this fat, white, orange-patterned living fire hose.

At last our captain drops anchor. Our captain is a short, very thin, deeply tanned Asian fellow. He's exceptionally young and nimble. Look at the abs on him! Look at the picturesque rags he's wearing! Look at the dashing, huge knit beret in rainbow-flag colors on his head! We've moored, and now we're going to disembark.
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The landing has begun. Getting ashore here is no easy matter. There's no pier. Our cameraman jumped straight into the water from the special little steel ladder. The lovely Zhenechka hands him the bag with the camera. See how funny he looks wading toward the island, up to his waist in water, holding his precious bag over his head.

Through the clear depths you can see the unfrightened fish. Right beside the boat's hull stands a school of fairly large houndfish. The fish pay no attention whatsoever to our fuss.

Now Zhenechka has climbed into the water. She's charming in her bright new bikini, but I'm troubled by the huge, heavy backpack she's holding over her head with such effort. You're probably wondering what's in that backpack? I can only guess. And guess I do. And I also guess that carrying that backpack through the thicket will fall to me after all.
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Everyone but me is already ashore. Now it's my turn to walk on water. See you on the beach!
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We may congratulate ourselves on the first completed leg of the quest. We've reached the island. Now we need to make our way to Oleg Batygin's dwelling. As far as I know, it's not far from this beach. About a kilometer. Oleg's house stands on the shore. By the map, in a bay much like this one. But Oleg urgently asked us to put in right here. We don't argue with Oleg. It's important to us to meet him, and we try to honor all his wishes.

There's no mobile signal in this bay, so we have no way to call and report our arrival to our host. However, we arranged with Oleg Batygin that at four o'clock in the afternoon a guide will come to this beach and collect us from here.

"Zhenechka, what time is it now?"

"Two o'clock."

That means we have at least two hours to swim in this paradise lagoon. I brought a mask with me. I'm sure the snorkeling here will be stunning. Remember that huge white-and-orange moray eel? Morays, girls! I'm coming for you, my beauties!