Low tide was around 9:40am local time so we chose then for all three of us to go out and snorkel the reef. The thinking being that at low tide we would have minimal current coming over the reef which turned out to be correct. We first headed over to the nearest section of reef to pick somewhere where Ben and I could go out snorkeling after dusk. We found a suitable spot and made a waypoint on the GPS. We then headed over to the wreck of the fishing boat liberty which stands out on the reef to our NE. As we reached there it began to rain a little. Ordinarily this isn’t so bad but we realized that we’d left the hatches open. As Helen normally leaves the water well before Ben and I she opted to dinghy back to close them. One her own the dinghy travels about 3 times faster so this was not too big a distraction.
Swimming around the wreck one could see a tangle of netting around the propeller. Perhaps the vessel fouled on it’s own nets and lost power and ended up on the reef before the problem could be resolved. The wreck had attracted a lot of fish even though the water around it was only a couple of feet deep at low tide.
Helen returned and was soon in the water. She also marveled at the clarity of the water and how far we could see.
Back on the boat we rested out the morning. After lunch Ben and I put on our wetsuits to clean the growth off the bottom of the boat. Our paint is now practically gone and I’m surprised we were going anywhere as the growth was extensive, even after just three weeks or so. I think the cost to us on our passage here must have been much more than the half a knot I first estimated. We’ll see when we next sail.
In the evening we watched the movie ‘The Zodiac Killer’ which was a long one. This didn’t finish until after 8pm – a good time for us to go out. One of the reasons we chose to come here was for the ‘abundant’ lobsters and a night swim was our last chance to find some. Wet suits on again we dinghied out to our waypoint and went into the water. At night everything looks quite different. There are fewer fish and those that are around are quite skittish. The parrot fish are asleep in their nooks and crannies under the coral. The urchins are out and about. Strange critters are on the move too. At one point we saw some sort of slug about 5 inches in diameter with four tentacles/antennae at the front. It had a flat rear sloping off at 45 degrees with a back side that looked like a small rocket nozzle. It had a groove along it’s top disappearing into a hole about a two thirds of the way along it’s body. Unlike most sea slugs and squirts it was quite mobile. Alas we saw no lobsters despite a cold hour in the water. Nevertheless it was a great experience.
We’ve made the decision to leave here today and head to Niue. Another front is due over around midday. We debated sitting out the front itself and leaving tomorrow. However, behind the front are 2-3 days of 20+ knot winds starting from the S but clocking round to the ENE. On the balance we don’t want to transit the pass out of the reef in strong weather so we’ve decided to weather the near edge of the front out at sea and arrive in Niue tomorrow. In our favour the initial southerly component (forecasted) of the wind will make for a better sail than ENE which will right behind us.
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