25 May 2010
I couldn't wait to get ashore to explore and in a small clearing among a coconut grove we found Tom's house, in front of which was a statue carved out of stone in his memory. It was of course very dilapidated having suffered from a quarter century of storms but low and behold there was a book swap in the very first room we entered. Amongst the general detritus that time and neglect bring to a place there was evidence of many artefacts and gave an insight into how he must have lived. Batteries to run a radio transmitter, a list of radio schedules and frequencies, but sadly we could not find the log book we had read about. The verandah of the caretakers house built 2001 was festooned with a colourful display of courtesy flags from all around the world. Ciao and ourselves added our own contribution. Hammocks were slung under shady coconut palms. It was the stuff of dreams. We walked the shoreline around the rest of the island and saw many black tipped reef sharks and the most wonderful shells I have ever seen in my life. Being a marine park you are of course not allowed to remove anything. Back aboard Voyageur five sharks were swimming around. We decided to postpone our swim. Next morning David informed me from the safety of the deck that there was one close by but they do not appear to be a threat as everyone has been in the water, swimming, diving, snorkelling. In fact we found them to be quite frightened, shooting off when you disturbed the surface of the water. I think, I hope that there is food enough for them within the lagoon.
Peter and Mandy invited the five rally yachts for a fish curry aboard Asolare. It was a great get together, another great opportunity for others to meet others. A multi national party which is what I like so much about rallies with a Scotsman, an Englishman, unfortunately no Irishman (we need Stephen of A Lady for that!) Slovenian, Portuguese. Liza came in in the dark although they did have the moon light and another yacht just ahead of them. Once they were safely at anchor they joined in the party too. In the morning, in the absence of a warden, Mandy and Peter acted as tour guides and led a group of us over to the islands in the north corner of the lagoon, to Brushwood Island, One Tree Island and Turtle Island. Sharing three tenders for the 2.5nm trip it took 30 minutes to cross this huge expanse of relatively flat and sheltered water. Ashore a walk of two hours took us around all three islands wading through shallow waters in between. The abundance of bird life was truly amazing. Male frigate birds with their puffed out pouches, nesting terns, and a whole colony of blue footed boobies. There were many more bird species that we were unable to identify. A search of coconut crabs proved fruitless. But they were there alright. Cracked shells littering the ground was evidence enough, but we simply could not see any. We walked out on the reef, a huge expanse of flat bed coral, coloured red in the blazing tropical sun. Taking bags with us we all participated in a big beach cleanup. It was absolutely amazing the things we found. Plastic water/drinks bottles formed the major part, but fishing net, buoys and floats came a close second. Two gas bottles, a starboard navigation light and a splendid homemade gaff were amongst the more unusual items but the most prized possession of all was when I found a bottle with a message in it! Sadly some of the ink writing had faded with the passage of time. Trying to extract it, the paper began to disintegrate so in order not to do any further damage we had to smash the bottle open. It was written in French and dated the 28th May 2000. We carried our bounty back and set fire to it all on the reef, the plastic rendered very brittle in the sun and disappearing in a very short space of time. We really had only scratched the surface, there was just far too much of it and it shows how much pollution is in our oceans but at least our little group were able to make a contribution even if it was only on a small scale. That evening, every boat in the anchorage, the six rally yachts and four other independent cruisers held a "pot luck" supper ashore.(I made a salad which included the delicacy "heart of palm" which I thought particularly appropriate for such an exotic location.)We took our lanterns and battery operated lights, ate and drank well into the night, sharing our cruising experiences with a young French couple, an Australian and American couple and a German single hander.
Susan Mackay