Sunday

Greetings,

You know you are living on a boat (anchored off a south-pacific atoll) when ... you are halfway through the day before you think about what day it is (in this case, Sunday) The funny thing was that perhaps on some level I knew - we had corn pancakes for breakfast, buffet of leftovers for lunch, afternoon siesta, and turkey dinner in the evening. None of these were planned ahead, but the day was lovely. We even had a rare family card night after dinner.

I had another reminder that I was living on a boat as I prepared breakfast .. I found little black "friends" the size of flax seeds (weevils, I think) living in our corn flour. I call them cupboard bugs because they like dry goods in the cupboard; when I find them, I laugh and pull out my tea-sieve. Although Vodka-soaked paper towels seem to have kept them at bay in the vacuum-sealed bags, this is the second time I have found them in my plastic screw-top container of corn flour.

After breakfast, we moved a little way counterclockwise around our atoll (about 4 nm). Now we are in a more populated anchorage (five boats, including us) and we are closer to the pass (and to our Belgian friends with kids). Most importantly, we are better sheltered from the wind. Hopefully we will sleep better in this spot.

No snorkelling today, but the children went ashore with our Belgian friends this afternoon. They came back bursting with excitement because there are loads of coconuts on this beach and one of the other adults seems to be expert at opening them. Sounds like they made use of the chunks of broken coral on the beach to husk, open, and scrape the coconuts.

Benjamin is now sitting quite comfortably on his own. He will even sit for a few minutes and occupy himself while I do something. The downside if this is that he sometimes occupies himself by using a nearby handhold (of which there are many on a boat) to pull himself to standing! We are going through a bit of a separation-anxiety phase at the moment, so these few minutes provide welcome respite.

Dinner tonight was a turkey breast with potatoes and cabbage (and our own mango chutney on the side). I cooked the turkey in the pressure cooker. It was a bit of an experiment, but it seemed to be successful (ie everyone ate lots, including Benjamin!). It was much cooler than baking it in the oven :)

We are hoping to stay here two more nights [depends on when the wind shifts back to the SE in which case the other side of the atoll will be safer and more comfortable], which might even mean that we can launch Trickle tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Thank you for your emails! You read our notes over breakfast coffee and I read yours at bedtime :) It is so good to get your news.

Love to everyone,
Elizabeth
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At 6/26/2014 8:30 AM (utc) Fluenta's position was 16°52.00'S 144°40.00'W
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At 6/26/2014 8:30 AM (utc) Fluenta's position was 16°52.00'S 144°40.00'W

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