Weather

Our heavenly break at the southern anchorage was broken by poor weather which had developed over night. We had expected the winds to shift to the north but we were hoping they would die down to. We got the wind shift but the winds remained firm. This meant we were receiving the chop picked up as the wind traversed the interior of the lagoon that were being compounded by the currents in the area which, until then, had been the source of such delight. Our main reason for staying at the southern cut was to go diving and we figured that the northerly winds against an incoming current may cause problems for us.

So we made the decision to up anchor and move east for the protection of the atoll which curved around there. We were in no rush though. I visited Imagine to wish them Happy Anniversary and to help out a couple of things on their computer. While I was there, John dove on our anchor/chain to assess the extent to which we were wrapped up in the coral heads.

Back on the boat we made ready to leave. We held back to allow a squall to pass over. Once it was we headed off. We were wrapped around one coral head but we knew this in advance so getting off was straight forward. As it turned out we were one of the last boats to leave the anchorage as practically everyone else had come to the same conclusion and had either headed off east or north to the village at the other end of the atoll.

We had planned to have the folks from Renova over for the evening. They were a young couple with a couple of relatives aboard who we first met in the Galapagos and bumped into a few times since and always meant to get to know. They had moved with the pack that had gone to the eastern corner so we moved near to them so they didn’t have far to go in the evening.

The eastern anchorage was much calmer from the one we’d left so we settled down for lunch. After a rest we headed out to a nearby marker for a snorkel. After the rich area we had just left this snorkel was incredibly tame and a little boring. We tried to find a coral head we’d seen on the way in but from the reduced height of the dinghy we were not successful. Before returning to the boat we landed the dinghy on the beach and walked to the shallow area to the south of us. The shallow area was filled with smallish brown sea cucumbers/slugs looking like something less than pleasant. Wading through the area was tricky to say the least.

In the evening we had Naomi, John, Amy and Strawn from Renova over for nibbles and drinks. As ever, the time was good.

We won’t be going back to the southern anchorage as time is limited. Our intentions are to take about three days to make our way up the inside of the atoll to the village/town at the north end where there’s internet, a pearl farm to visit, some excellent diving and some small commerce.