Sunday morning saw us visiting the church slightly south of the Post Office. The main church was still being renovated so the service was held in the church hall which was a fair size in of itself. The locals turned out in their Sunday best with a large number of individually unique hats in play. We had been recommended that particular church (out of many) due to the reports of their singing. And sing they did. The regular songs were sung with great enthusiasm. The last two, which we wonder if they were derived from traditional songs, we belted out with male and female parts alternating and overlapping in harmony. If the hurricane in February hadn’t have taken the roof off, the singing nearly did.
After lunch Ben and I took a dinghy ride to the motu nearest to us to the south which ended up being nearly four miles away – much further than we thought. On the way we stopped off for some snorkeling and spear fishing. At one point I shot by far the biggest fish I’d seen tucked away down a rock tunnel. I think the spear went through a small part of the fish as it jerked to the side and the line snapped leaving my spear far down the tunnel. Fortunately Ben was nearby so I had him standing by to pull me out as I wiggled into the tunnel, underwater, to retrieve my spear. I just managed to reach it obtaining some coral scratches for my pains. While down there I was given a huge fright by an eel that appear right before me while I was wedged in the tunnel.
On the motu we took a walk around. It wasn’t quite deserted as there was plenty of evidence of beach lunch spots set up by the few tour operators on the island. Many of them, however, were in tatters – probably due to the Feb storm. Towards the end of the walk we found a large collection of hermit crabs which we played around with for a while. We even managed to encourage one to move into a larger shell. It was quite fascinating seeing it pull it’s soft, coiled body out of one shell and insert it into the next.
In the evening we took it easy staying to the cups of tea in preparation for the passage to Palmerston.
Monday morning we went ashore to collect water, check out and buy some final provisions which had become available from the supply ship that arrived last Friday. The shop had received their order from Palmerston which they prepared while we took our stuff back to the boat. Back ashore one last time I met Ron, a direct descendant of William Masters on Palmerston, who drove the van to the dock with the small supplies we’ve agreed to transport to Palmerston – three boxes and some stuff for the freezer/fridge.
As soon as we were back we hauled the dinghy and were underway. With the current now off to the side hauling in the stern anchor turned out to be quite taxing but we managed it. We bumped a keel on the way out of the pass, this time on something not as solid as sand, which was a little concerning. The boat is not filling with water which we’ll take for a good sign.
We have light winds forecast for the whole trip. We have the Code Zero up right now and are making around 5 knots giving us an arrival time of sometime tomorrow night. We understand night arrivals are doable there as it’s all on mooring balls. They should know we’re coming as we have their supplies so perhaps there will be someone waiting up for us. We’ll see. On the other hand we may take down the Code Zero tonight and sail off at an angle on the main and head sail which will lengthen our trip but reduce risks to the sails. It is close to full moon right now so me may decide not to.
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