02.00hrs Skipper and aileen were woken up by a voice shouting in the distance, cripe's where is that coming from! The shouting began to get nearer, so we went on deck to investigate. Criky, there was this little local motor launch ( no more than 20' long ) just ahead of us, about 6 guys in the water with lamps on their heads and diving up and down to the bottom.
The lads had no diving gear, just the lamps, and the boat had huge lights shining into the water, and a strobe red and white light going also. They got closer and closer, until they were only 5 feet away from " A Lady" . The lads, still diving up and down to the bottom, and bringing up sacks of something. They looked like sand bags, but that has to be a wrong guess. As they were so close to us, skipper asked what they were doing, but NO answer. Scotty joined us on deck to witness the milee........ they had to push our rib out of their way, as they got so close, but they were very intense in what they were doing. They made a lot of noise, and for us, they were fascinating (once we got over the idea that they were pirates and coming to attack us). So what ever they were diving for was hardly illegal. Otherwise, why all the noise? After 45 minutes, they raved up and shagged off into the dark. And, Fats and Margaret slept through the whole thing... Well we know that nothing will disturb Fats and his solo Orchestra (snoring).
08.00hrs All up and about, another beautiful day in Paradise, and every one was feeling much better today. Yesterday, every one was slightly wrecked from the drink the night before, and thats not good on a boat full of crocks, Fats recovering from his " Cook Island Tatoo ". Margaret recovering from a knee replacment operation, Skipper suffering from hip trouble.
And to boot, on top of all this, the chat much of the time is a about our parents, who are really crocked.
* Skippers mother " Gladys " is 93 and lives with Rom & Verna. His emails about her are very funny, she is a bit deaf, a bit forgetful, a bit fragile, but still going strong. She is as thin as a whip.
* Aileens mother " Peggy" is 90 and lives in a nursing home in the lovely "Killarney" She is as strong as a horse, but her memory has left her completely.
* Margarets Mother is 88, lives in the U.S. and is still hail and hearty, but as thin as a whip also.
* Margarets father is 85 and is now in a nursing home in the U.S. and very unwell, but thats men, they don't have the staying power of women.
10.00hrs We sailed out of "Vaka'eitu" and headed around the corner to another Island called "Avalau" this is a small island with lovely beaches, coral reefs, and pale blue water.
11.30hrs We dropped anchor in 8.5m of water, and believe it or not, we got the Rib "painter" fouled on the propeller! How could we be so stupid, elementary stuff , Watson.............................. How dumb, dumb, dumb! Anyway, Scotty got into action and jumped over the side and cleared the ropes from the propeller.
The girls did a light lunch, and then went ashore for some paddling and swimming, while skipper took a short nap, Fats took his usual afternoon Ziz, and John went snorkeling.
15.30hrs Skipper snorkeled around the Island. What magic corals, some like " antlers" some like giant " nuclear clouds" and all different colors, even green ones, and of course lots of beautiful fish. The SE, South, SW part of the Island had the best corals. This little round the Island trip took 2.5hrs and skipper was almost numb at the end... the hands had gone white at this stage. Because the skipper was missing for so long, the girls sent Scotty off in the rib to search for him, thinking he had drowned or his radar had broken down and had lost his way..........
18.00hrs The girls prepared dinner, yupeeeee! A change of personnel in the Galley... We had large helpings of Fillet Steak with onions, baked sliced potatoes, baked beans, green beans, & Whiskey jelly. We ventured a glass of wine again tonight to wash down the lovely food, prepared by the two lovely ladies.
Later, we watched a DVD, or two.
Then hit the scratchers.
zzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzz
Signed :- Stephen Hyde (Skipper)