Grey and Windy.

Greetings :)

We left home for many reasons, but one of the "benefits" of coming to the tropics was supposed to be continuous sunny weather ... it turns out that this is not the case! (Of course, I knew this, but today has been a good reminder). We have had lots of greyness, rain, and squalls over the last two days ... it felt more like NS in summer than a tropical holiday location. [A low pressure system is in the process of passaging to the south of us. Friends further west in FP have had gusts to 30 kts and lots of rain when the front passed]

We thought we would do the pass dive again yesterday, hoping to see the Manta Rays again, but when we got there, it was really choppy & windy, so we came back to our anchorage, where there is a reef a very short distance from the boat, and snorkelled there. Much calmer! There were loads of fish, but to make a list, I would have to wake the children and ask them what they saw, as they have better memories than I do for all things fish-related :)

We have had a nice couple of days of socializing with our Belgian friends: drinks on Fluenta last evening, while the four kids watched a movie together (even Benjamin got a little screen time, hanging out with the big kids); a beach visit this afternoon (unfortunately we timed our adventure perfectly with a squall, so there were some soggy children needing to run around by the time we got to shore - V&J had started out paddling the kayak, but we towed them once they started moving backwards...); drinks on their boat this evening (the girls watched The Sound of Music on Fluenta, while the boys watched another movie together on their boat). We are all making plans to go to Fakarava next, possibly as early as tomorrow afternoon.

The beach near this anchorage is quite windswept and scrubby. Johnathan managed to harvest some coconuts, so we will bring them to enjoy on our passage. Max and Victoria kayaked around the little motu, which had a few exciting moments when the current was against them near the pass. Victoria was quite excited to tell me about it when they were through.

As of this afternoon's expedition, a gecko named Spotty has joined Charcoal the Salamander. We don't see either very often, but every time I think that Charcoal has expired, he shows up somewhere. I hope they are going to enjoy our culinary offerings (bugs, bugs, bugs!) I have heard of geckos living happily on sailboats for quite a while, so I am hopeful that this is the beginning of a fun relationship.

That being all the news, and in preparation for being on an overnight passage tomorrow, it is time to call it a night now.

Love to all,
Elizabeth
-----
At 7/10/2014 7:52 PM (utc) Fluenta's position was 16°50.83'S 144°41.77'W
-----
At 7/10/2014 7:52 PM (utc) Fluenta's position was 16°50.83'S 144°41.77'W

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com