HOME RUN

HOME RUN

Position: 19D57'.660S 157D55'.500E

Countdown to Australia - 420 nautical miles

Monday, October 31 - It's Halloween today but we didn't have any neighbours children trick or treating in our anchorage off Chesterfield Reef. Colin from the yacht Papillon did deliver a freshly caught mackeral to our boat for lunch though. Arthur cooked it on the BBQ in foil and it was definitely a treat to eat. We've all had such a nice visit to this remote reef in the South Pacific. Yesterday morning we took the dinghy over to the deserted island and watched a green turtle returning to sea after a night of egg laying. We photographed different species of booby birds nesting with their eggs and young chicks, frigate birds and terns. Mid morning Arthur and I went scuba diving on a huge isolated coral bommie about 1 mile out from the island. Before we started our descent I looked under the dinghy to check the current and saw a good size black tip reef shark then a huge turtle swam underneath us. During the dive we saw some large reef fish, a sea snake and a variety of hard corals. Ian and Arthur then scrubbed the hull of Faraway in their snorkelling gear to make sure there was no growth for our arrival in Australia. We then took some beers ashore and watched a beautiful sunset. We got up early today to look for turtles again then went for a 2 hour walk along the island chain. It was a breathtakingly beautiful place and about as close to nature that we will get for some time now. We went back to Faraway for breakfast then out again for a 2 hour snorkel along the reef edge. Ian and I snorkelled almost as far as we went on our long morning walk and saw lots of unusual marine critters. We really enjoyed our last moments of solitude on the island. In the afternoon we made the painful decision to pack up and try and sail to Bundaberg. We said goodbye to the 2 other yachts anchored next to us then left our beautiful anchorage at 3:15pm and motored across the lagoon for 2 hours avoiding coral bommies and reefs then cleared the passage and set sail for Bundaberg just before sunset. The weather window isn't quite as good as we hoped for but we decided to take the opportunity to leave while there is at least a few days of some wind. We plan to arrive in Bundaberg on Friday, November 4. I'll keep updating Spot regularly so you can track our progress (and compass heading). I'm coming home.

Chesterfield Reef

CHESTERFIELD REEF (Taking a break)

Position: 19D53'.080S 158D27'.810E

Countdown to Australia - 450 nautical miles

Saturday, October 29 - Arthur's perspective on our journey so far. 'All I know is it took 4 days to

Chesterfield Reef through some calm weather and some very rough weather and

when we got here we had to navigate through an uncharted reef. If we had

run aground we were the only people here and we are still 450 miles from

civilisation. It was a very real possibility as there were coral bommies

everywhere but luckily we got through.....and then we saw a humback whale

with its calf in the lagoon tail slapping and breaching. A magical moment.

Then we anchored next to a chain of islands enclosed by a fringing reef.

As soon as we had anchored I had a quick check for Tiger sharks and then

jumped off the back of the boat into crystal clear waters to see 2 sting

rays followed by a reef shark and a large turtle. No Tiger sharks. We took the

dinghy ashore and saw a colony of Booby birds with young chicks and picked

up some amazing shells before going for a snorkel with a beady eye out for

tiger sharks. Ian spotted 2 lobsters so tomorrow we might go back and try and find them for our BBQ. Fantastic day...all is good....not yet eaten by a tiger shark. Life is good!.' It was a good decision to break up the passage to Australia at Chesterfield Reef. This place is so remote and amazing except for the yacht that appeared all of a sudden and happened to anchor right behind us on a 14 mile reef after we had been enjoying the solitude for only 2 hours. Luckily it was our friends that we met in Tonga on their yacht called Papillon. We hope to catch up with them tomorrow as we were mutally exhausted from our passages. We told them about our adventures during the day including all the amazing sea birds that are nesting on the island and our shark feeding experiences. I had made ham sandwiches for picnic lunch on the beach but the bread turned out to be old and disgusting. We decided to feed the sandwiches to the fish. All of a sudden a black tip reef shark appeared and ate everything except for the bread including lettuce, ham, cheese and tomato. This proves that even sharks have a discerning palette when it comes to fine food. There wasn't a blog for Thursday or Friday because we were either motoring and miserable or battling huge seas and strong winds.We also discovered a tear in the hem of our main sail which is a sign that we really need to get home and start getting repairs done. Ian and I even postponed our 5th year wedding anniversary on Friday until today so we could toast it with a bottle of bubbly that Arthur kindly provided us with in a calm anchorage. We didn't buy each other gifts. It is the tradition to celebrate the 5th year anniversary with a gift of wood. There was plenty of wood on the beach so we were both happy about that. Tomorrow we plan to get up early and go ashore to find turtles returning to the sea after laying their eggs. We found a lot of tracks and nests today on the beach so hopefully we will get lucky. We are all off to bed now at 9pm to enjoy at least 8 hours of comfortable uninterrupted sleep. Arthur reckons he is going to sleep in tomorrow and not come ashore but I think he is just worried about having an encounter with a tiger shark discerning palette or not.

ALBATROSS

ALBATROSS

Position: 21D31'.399S 161D58'.639E

Chesterfield Reef - 233 nautical miles to go

Countdown to Australia - 820 nautical miles

Wednesday, October 26 - The strong winds died during the night and by 3am our speed was down from 8 knots to 2.9 knots. We took the sails in and motored and motored and motored until around 4pm in the afternoon. It was really disappointing not to have any wind after all our planning back in New Caledonia. It was very hot inside the cockpit and the air was still. Arthur and I read books while Ian did a few odd jobs around the deck including patching up a weak area on the hem of the main sail. We hadn't seen any other ships or marine life (except Arthurs big catch) since leaving New Caledonia. We were all pretty restless and anxious to get sailing again so we could reach Chesterfield Reef early Friday morning. This fringing reef has a big lagoon with a few sandy islets. We are planning to anchor near Long Islet in the south east corner of the lagoon. The area has a large variety of sea bird colonies vying for resting and nesting space and also turtles can be seen laying their eggs on the beach at this time of year. I can only imagine what the snorkelling and diving will be like in this remote part of the Pacific. This afternoon we had a nice encounter with a pair of birds that I believe to be Albatross. Ian and Arthur called out from the bow (where they were chatting) to say that a couple of white booby birds were on the ocean and to take a look. I stuck my head out of the cockpit and saw 2 huge white birds the size of swans with grey/black wings and big bright yellow hooked beaks bobbing past Faraway. I ran down to get my camera but by the time I had returned the birds where too far-away. I couldn't believe it but when I mentioned it to the boys they doubted it was possible for Albatross to be in this part of the Pacific. I also remember from natural history TV shows that these birds fly an incredibly long way but I can't remember it ever being mentioned that they sit on the water for a rest and a bird chat. It is my mission now to spot some more and hopefully positively ID them either way. After the bird show we decided to put the sails out and give the engine a rest. We managed to get 4 to 5 knots in light wind which was pretty good to take us through the night. Unfortunately the speed wasn't enough for us to arrive at Chesterfield early Friday morning. After some quick calculations Saturday morning definitely looked more likely. That evening I made roast chicken, potatoes, vegetables and gravy for dinner. Arthur was pretty impressed to be having a baked dinner miles out to sea but it is one of the easier more satisfying meals to make on a passage plus you get great leftovers the next day.

Mahi Mahi

MAHI MAHI

Position: 21D54'.409S 164D54'.607E

Countdown to Australia - 820 nautical miles (less 90 nm sailed already today)

Tuesday, October 25 - Today we set sail for Australia via Chesterfield Reef (halfway point in the middle of nowhere). The plan is to sail for 3 days and arrive at Chesterfield Reef early on Friday morning in order to navigate our way through the reefs and into a safe anchorage inside the lagoon. After spending a few days relaxing at the reef (diving and fossicking) we will continue sailing on to Bundaberg in Australia. We enjoyed our visit to Noumea but unfortunately it was too windy to sail to any of the outer island anchorages and we spent most of our week in the marina or in Bay Maa anchorages which were both protected from the 20 to 26 knot winds to some extent. We did have a good chance to stock up on fuel, water, food, and drinks. We planned for a 10 day journey to Australia which would put us arriving in Bundaberg around November 3. With that in mind Arthur wanted to start fishing in case we ran out of food. We put the trawling line out and attached the rod to the holder on the back of the deck. Meanwhile we rigged up a 'cruisers fishing line'. This was the average man's version of a 'Rex Hunt' trawling line and certainly was effective. We used a snap shackle attached to a cleat with bungy cord, venetian blind cord (like you would naturally have that on a boat), fishing line and a trace with a lure (that Ken from Cosimo kindly gave us) to catch our fish on passage. Within a couple of hours I heard the extra shackle that we attached to the bungy cord jingling across the deck and wondered why Arthur and Ian were still chatting and not pulling in the catch. I alerted them to the fact that a fish was on the end of the line and Arthur started pulling the line in. He got to the end of the rigging and we could see a large Mahi Mahi fighting on the end of the line. The Mahi Mahi was over 1 metre long and weighed around 50 pounds. Ian humanely killed the fish and filleted it so I could put some aside for dinner and the rest for the freezer. We don't enjoy killing fish so we brought the other line in as the Mahi Mahi would be sufficient fresh food for us at least until we reached Chesterfield Reef. With the action over early in the trip Ian and Arthur had a midday snooze in the cockpit while I stayed on watch. We goose winged the headsail and the mainsail and enjoyed excellent downwind speeds between 7 and 8 knots. The afternoon ended in a bright orange sunset over the horizon towards Australia. We were getting so close but it still seemed so far-away.

Noumea and My Birthday

Friday, October 21 – we were all set to sail to a beautiful anchorage early in the morning. I got up at 7am and opened some birthday cards and presents. We decided that an early morning coffee and croissant with Arthur would be a great way to start the day. It had blown a gale all night and we thought that by the time we had breakfast the weather conditions would have improved. We were so wrong as they actually got worse. It was gusting 20 to 25 knots in the marina! There was no way I wanted to go out to sea and battle with the strong winds and swells. We decided to spend the day in the marina and make the most of life on land. After some debate we came up with a plan to go to the aquarium. Well it was a strange decision as New Caledonia has some of the best coral reefs in the world and I had a plan to dive on the best of them. Off to the aquarium we went armed with a backpack full of chicken baguettes that I had made for lunch. The aquarium was quite impressive and you can see from the photo that Arthur and I actually went diving! After the aquarium we headed to the beach to watch the windsurfers zipping along in the gale forces winds. See the photo of Ian and Arthur bracing against the wind. It then started to rain so we retreated to a beachfront restaurant for a round of beers. It was a bit early for sundowners but we were at a loss at this stage as to how to spend the rest of the day. All of a sudden we heard a commotion on the road with lots of car horns tooting and cameramen flashing. It looked like somebody famous had decided to get married on the road (or on the road next to the beach). Arthur and I jumped out to take photos while Ian hood behind the beer garden table. The girl was beautifully dressed for a wedding and her husband was in some kind of military uniform. I’m sure they were famous for something either in France or New Caledonia. After the drinks we walked the 4km or so back to our marina. During the walk we came across a movie set and watched a ‘pregnant lady’ getting in and out of a car several times with shopping bags while a cameraman filmed her. There were 2 bouncers that managed to keep us and everyone else out of the movie set. We kept wandering along the path and came across a huge propeller which made a good background for a photo. We arrived back at the marina and climbed on board Faraway at around 4pm and started our sundowners. It was a very busy day of basically doing nothing. Arthur cooked my birthday dinner and Ian assisted him when required. The good news was that in spite of the slow day we had come up with a plan to leave Noumea and head to Prony bay the next day. Hopefully the morning would bring lighter winds and we could sail the 20 miles to the anchorage and start doing some real diving and enjoy ourselves.

Noumea

On Tuesday, October 18 the winds were so strong that we were virtually able to sail into Port Moselle Marina at around 3pm. It was our first visit to a marina since leaving Panama five months ago. We managed to squeeze into our marina berth in fairly strong winds but unfortunately sustained a scrape on our starboard side as the wind pushed us onto the dock before we had secured the lines. The sailor who invented fenders was a total genius and luckily for us we have a lot on board to protect our boat and other large objects in these situations. Within 2 hours we had cleared immigration, quarantine and customs. Unfortunately quarantine confiscated all our fresh fruit and vegetables as well as a freezer full of meat. If the meat wasn’t purchased in New Zealand or Australia it wasn’t permitted into New Caledonia. We were both really tired from our journey so we secured Faraway and had a power nap. We were meeting Arthur Jackson later that evening so after our sleep we decided to explore the cosmopolitan city and get a bite to eat. The weather was cold and rainy and for the first time in a year we pulled out our jumpers and rugged up. We had a tourist map and walked along fairly dark streets looking for a place to eat. After a lot of walking we didn’t see anything that caught our eye or it was too expensive so Ian decided that McDonalds would be the best option. I wasn’t too keen because I had read about all the beautiful French style cafes and restaurants that were in Noumea and thought we had hit rock bottom with this dining option. We soon found out we had. Ian left me to try and order in French and he went off to find a quiet table outside. I secured the fast food and found Ian but within moments a guy sat at the next table and started rambling on in French. We couldn’t understand what he was talking about but this was probably a good thing. During the course of our meal he got louder and louder and the customers started to sit elsewhere except for 2 young guys who came and sat on the table in front of us. We were eating pretty quickly because we had to meet Arthur at his hotel. Ian had almost finished and I was certainly keen to leave when the young guy in front of us sneezed in our direction. Ian exclaimed ‘good shot mate’ as he wiped moisture from his hand and fries. There was no apology and it certainly brought a rapid end to my meal so we both got up and left to be met around the corner in a dark street by a guy wanting money for a taxi fare home. At this point I was still hungry, tired and not in the mood for obliging him so we politely made our excuses and took off for a well lit street. The thought struck me that being out at sea was probably a more pleasant option then being back in an urban environment. We met Arthur at around 9:45pm and he was happy to see us. We had a quick catch up and a beer and arranged to meet him the next morning. He had a good flight except for a missing bag that we were able to track down later before sailing. Wednesday and Thursday was spent mainly provisioning for food and liquid refreshments. The bread and cheese were deliciously French and we bought fresh fruit and vegetables from the markets. We also bought some lovely tuna at the fish market and that evening Arthur cooked a delicious meal for us all. We have now finished all our other odd jobs such as washing down the boat and getting the laundry done. Tomorrow we set sail early for the Isle de Pines. We will snorkel, scuba dive and relax there until we get a good weather window for the passage to Australia.

New Caledonia

Position: 22D22'.120S 166D58'.714E

Tuesday, October 18 - I woke up at 5:30am bleary eyed to take over watch from Ian and saw the outline of New Caledonia through the grey cloud covered sky. There's nothing like the sight of land after 5 days of sailing to get you motivated again. We had a pretty uneventful journey from Suva after our delayed start that resulted in us leaving late on Thursday afternoon. We motored most of that night until we managed to pick up the wind for 2 days on a direct heading to the south of New Caledonia. We were making excellent progress between 7 to 8 knots in winds that averaged 16 knots on Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately by early Monday morning the winds started to drop off and the ocean became as smooth as glass. We had no choice but to turn the engine on and motor until the winds picked up. I had started to become fascinated how the winds could just start and stop on the ocean if by turning a switch. I had never taken the time to observe this before back on land. The life in the cockpit was very hot as there wasn't a breath of wind. This was in contrast to the cloudy and overcast days that we had experienced on most of the journey. Ian and I read books and kept a good look out as there were ships about. Around 4pm in the afternoon we both went and sat on the aft deck to admire the view (no white caps in sight). I was gazing into an indigo blue sea when I spotted a Nautilis shell bobbing past the hull of Faraway. I screamed out to Ian that we had to pick it up but at that stage I wasn't sure how. I got a bucket out of the lazerette and tied a rope to the handle. Ian motored back on our track line and I took a scoop but the shell evaded the bucket. The second attempt failed as well but on the third and final attempt I managed to collect it. There was no animal inside and the shell was in good condition except for the end which had been broken probably when the creature met it's demise. Ian recorded the lat/long as: Position 21D38'.805S 168D03'.780E. After picking up the shell we watched a beautiful red sunset and I went below to make prawn pasta. We are now in the Havannah Pass sailing around the southern tip of New Caledonia up to Noumea. The landscape is incredible with large rolling mountains and large expanses of tall pine trees with coconut palms and white sandy beaches. Ian says it is like British Columbia meets French Polynesia!

Bad Luck and Wind

We were just about to leave Suva at lunch time today as the wind had finally arrived. We spent the morning getting last minute supplies and more diesel. Our friends on Saba left and called us later on the radio to get sailing as they were getting a steady 15 knots of wind. I went below to but our supplies away while Ian worked up on deck. I was putting our groceries in the cupboard when I accidently dropped a bottle of soya sauce on my foot and the glass broke cutting the top of my foot. I called Ian and he thought it was serious as there was sauce all over my legs and the floor. We cleaned up the cut then decided to go to the Doctor and get it checked because we didn't want an infection to start while on a 5 day passage. Lucky all is well now and the Doctor just put a butterfly clip on it and gave me some antibiotics. It's 4pm now but we still plan to set sail as soon as the dinghy is up on deck and everything is stowed away. Unfortunately Ian now has to do all these jobs on his own so it will take longer than our usual preparation time. We aren't looking forward to starting a passage with a night sail but we really need to be in New Caledonia soon to pick up our friend and next crew member Arthur Jackson. To make matters worse it is raining heavily again so the visibility is poor. We just hope that we can relax a bit when we arrive in New Caledonia. The photo shows a cute sailing yacht and the mist covered mountains that bordered our anchorage in Suva.

Ovalau

We arrived in Ovalau anchorage late on Sunday afternoon. We wanted to clear out and sail to New Caledonia but we had missed the customs office and the rain had set in making the visibility impossible on the open ocean. Monday was 'Fiji' day and unfortunately we were unable to raise anyone in customs so had to wait it out for another day in Ovalau. It was just as well because the storms and rain rolled in and it was a bleak and grey day. In the afternoon the weather cleared a little so we were able to take the dinghy into town and have a walk. The village is very historic as Ovalau was originally going to be the capital of Fiji because ships could sail in and out of the harbour easily. The plan never eventuated but the high street buildings and the quaint churches that are left behind give an indication of a once bustling community. Sadly today the only real prosperity seems to come from the huge fish processing factory that is located on the dockside. All the shops were closed so we walked along the road to the next village stopping at various historic sites along the way. We had to chuckle at the telephone poles that were actually built in the water cutting across the bay as it was the most direct route between the villages. We had no idea how the lines would have been serviced. As we walked back into town we were amazed by the number of pigeons that congregated on the telephone lines in one part of the village. It seemed that they were trying to seek shelter from the rain as there was certainly no food available on the ground. We expected to see seagulls in town rather than pigeons so this was a bit of a surprise. We wandered into the only shop that was open and bought chocolate ice creams. The door of the Customs office was padlocked so we made our way back to Faraway and settled in for a relaxing night. Tomorrow we would have to be up early to clear customs, buy fresh bread, fruit and vegetables and start sailing to New Caledonia whatever the weather.

Makogai and Gannets

On Saturday, October 8 we left Savusavu at 9:30am and motor sailed down to an island called Makogai in an attempt to leave Fiji. It had rained all night and there was no wind. We joined 2 other yachts from New Zealand called Ruby June and Relapse. We ended up motoring for 9 hours to reach Makogai but it seemed more enjoyable in the company of others who were in the same boat! The yacht Relapse helped us get through 2 tricky coral reefs in the 'save a tack passage'. Their son Ash went up the mast to spot the shallow reefs so we could safely pass through the deeper water. If it wasn't for their help we would have gone around the reef which would have taken much longer in time, fuel and engine hours. We reached Makogai island at 5:30pm and managed to negotiate the last reef on our own and anchor before dark. During the 9 hour trip we were in visual and radio contact with the 2 other yachts. Relapse were catching and losing fish while Ruby June announced that they had caught 2 Booby Birds (Gannets) and were putting them in the pot for dinner after they had plucked the feathers off. I was horrified to hear this and said to Ian 'isn't that illegal'? We didn't really know the crew of Ruby June but fell for their story hook line and sinker. We invited both yacht crew over for drinks on board Faraway that night but said we would skip dinner fearing that Ruby June would bring over the cooked Booby birds and we would have to be polite and eat them. It was only after several drinks and a lot of concern on my part that Ruby June revealed that they were actually joking with us about cooking the birds and had made every effort to release them after accidently catching them on fishing line. What a relief and what a shame that we had been 'had' at the same time. The drinks went well into the night and we didn't finish up until 1:30am in the morning. Luckily the anchorage on Makogai island was beautiful and calm but the island had a sad history. It was a former leper colony in which over 1000 people had died. The next day I went over to the island and the locals performed a Kava ceremony (without women) then gave us all a tour of the island including the cemetery. The island was now a clam and turtle sanctuary. Unfortunately the last turtle had been released back to the ocean the week before we arrived. There were lots of clams being bred in large tubs that were once used as baths in the leper colony. They had 2 large clams in 1 tub that were 18 years old and they were used to lay eggs for the sanctuary. There were hundreds of 1 and 2 year old clams in the baths waiting to be re-homed on coral reefs owned by Fijian resorts. It was an extremely interesting tour and I learned a lot of facts about the colourful clams and the breeding program. Unfortunately it was time for Ian and I to leave Makogai and after lunch we said our goodbyes to the New Zealand yachts and lifted the anchor. We sailed in the late afternoon to Ovalau island to clear out of Fiji. The island was only 15 miles away and we managed to sail there in 2 hours due to strong winds. We didn't arrive until after 5pm though and Customs had left for the day so we decided to wait overnight and clear out on Monday.

Farewell Graham and Flynn

We sailed into the anchorage in front of the Tramonto pizza restaurant on a hill on the Norhwest side of Taveuni around 3pm on Monday, October 3. Flynn and Ian were craving for ice creams so we went ashore in the dinghy and walked over a mile to the only supermarket in Taveuni that sold ice creams. On the way we were followed by a friendly dog that we couldn't seem to get rid of. We had a lovely walk and came across the interesting weather forecast sign just outside Taveuni airport. The dog followed us all the way back to the pizza restaurant but we lost him when we went inside for food. We had to take a photo of the 'densely populated area - drive slowly' sign. There just wasn't a sole about and in town we only saw a few people. The sunset was a bit of a fizzer as a lot of cloud rolled in on the horizon and it became very overcast. We enjoyed the same lovely view but became concerned when we saw how much Faraway was rolling in the swell. We ordered beers and pizza and played with a mother cat and her kitten. The kitten had identical markings to the mother and Graham seemed to like squeezing it! After dinner we walked back down in the dark to the dinghy. It was too rolly on board to have tea or play dominoes so we all went to bed early. The boys had to be up at 6am for the 8:30am flight to Nadi then on to Melbourne. None of us had a very good sleep as the boat rolled all night. In the morning we were packed and ready to go on time at 6:30am but I wanted to burn some photos first for our visitors to take. This delayed us 15 mins and when we headed off to the beach the heavens opened up and it poured down with rain. We all got saturated including the luggage so it was a bit uncomfortable walking the mile or so into town. Luckily for us a local guy called Harry picked us up in his ute and gave us a lift to the airport. We left Graham and Flynn at 9am as the plane still hadn't taken off and we had to get sailing on Faraway to reach our next anchorage before sunset. As we were in the dinghy motoring out to Faraway we saw their plane fly overhead and the boys saw us and waved goodbye. We were lucky enough to get some wind and managed to sail and motor all the way back to the point at Costeau Resort where we anchored for the night. We cleared back into Savusavu on Wednesday, October 5 and we have been in the harbour waiting for the winds to take us to our next destination New Caledonia. We should be able to leave on Saturday, October 8 and work our way across to the eastern side of Fiji to meet the winds on either Monday or Tuesday. Well that's the plan at this stage.

Nasau Bay

On Sunday, October 2 there was no wind so we decided to motor along to Nasau Bay. It was a beautiful quiet bay with a small village and a resort. We anchored in a nice spot then decided to check out the snorkelling. It was absolutely incredible probably the best snorkelling that we had ever done. We couldn’t believe the water clarity and the colours and varieties of corals. We stayed out that long that we all managed to get sunburnt as well. After snorkelling we had an afternoon snooze then took a dinghy ride to the beach and went for a fossick along a secluded beach. In the evening I cooked up a nice curry and we played dominoes until 10pm. The next morning we were up early and Flynn had a lesson from Ian on coconut opening with a large machette. The coconut was delicious once we got the husk off. We then went snorkelling again on the other side of the bay. The reef was just as beautiful and I managed to spot 2 turtles underwater that disappeared pretty quickly. After a couple of hours we headed back to Faraway and got her ready for the sail back to Taveuni. Luckily the wind had picked up so we were able to show Graham and Flynn how Faraway actually sails instead of motoring. We arrived at the anchorage off the pizza place in Taveuni around 3pm and all went to shore.

Navolau Point

We woke up to a leisurely 7am start on Saturday, October 1. There was no wind in the bay and the sea over the reef was calm and mirror clear. I made pancakes for breakfast while we planned the activities for the day. We decided to go snorkelling again and it was excellent. Graham and Flynn really enjoyed exploring the reefs and saw lobsters and all kinds of reef fish. Interestingly we noticed a lot of crown of thorns starfish on the reef. You could clearly see the areas on reef where they had devastated the corals. We went to shore and collected coconuts and papaya from trees that were growing wild. Graham discovered some wild orchids growing and some other strange kind of nut that we haven’t identified yet. We had lunch onboard Faraway to escape the midday heat then Ian discovered that our generator had broken down again. Graham, Flynn and I went to shore for a fossick while Ian spoke nicely to the generator. Luckily he got it working again and came over in the dinghy to collect us. We had a lovely sundowners and Graham took over the BBQ duties from Ian. Unfortunately I lost my tooth crown to the last bite of my pork chop. It’s a bit of a shame really as I now have a missing tooth until we get to Australia. It did make Flynn laugh though when the tooth fell out on my plate! We played dominoes again and had an early night. We were glad about the decision to stay in this beautiful anchorage another night.