John's Fishin'

August 1

I was pretty smug about my fishing success in Prince Rupert. Our host Marty
deserves the credit, but I still feel pretty good about it.

But today at Refuge Cove, John had some good fish luck too. He managed to
bring in a halibut and a coho. WITHOUT the use of a rod. The fish even came
cleaned and filleted. He's MR. CHATTY on the docks, and that's what happens.
I was happy to be able to offer up a few banana muffins in thanks for the
coho. The halibut was a gift from a fellow Campbell Riverite. I'll have to
keep a batch of cookie dough on hand, just in case he gets lucky again!
Yippee...fish for dinner!

Prince Rupert Photos

We sail by Marty and his crew as we enter Prince Rupert Harbour

The Magnificent Skeena River

My catch - minus the ling cod

Marty gives us a tour of the North Pacific Cannery

Good Starfish, Bad Starfish

We are always learning on this adventure. We've learned that not all
starfish are good. The Crown of Thorns starfish are interesting
critters...central body with 'legs' similar to other starfish. But the
number of legs is more than 5. And not necessarily multiples of five. They
eat coral. They are eaten by Napoleon Wrasse and other big (and locally
absent) fish.


Here on Majuro Atoll and adjacent Arno Atoll, these starfish are in the
midst of a population boom. The scientists don't really understand very much
about them and are not sure what causes these localized explosions. But they
do know that where these leggy critters are in abundance, the coral is
decimated.

An instructor at College of Marshall Islands (CMI) and the local fishing
industry association (MIMRA) have joined efforts in an eradication program.
We were asked to join in the effort. So John, Mike (my brother), and I
joined five cruisers and 10 others and jumped on one of the local fishing
transport boats to nearby Arno Atoll. Even though we were planning to stay
only one night, we were loaded to the gills. On board was dive and snorkel
equipment for everyone, 2 dozen tanks, food, coolers, sleeping equipment and
so on. We could have stayed a week! The trip was fast, travelling at least
20 knots - we arrived in less than an hour, propelled by two huge 150hp
engines on the back of this open vessel.

We arrived and staked out the accommodations at a local B&B. Shortly
thereafter, we had a brief intro from Dean, the CMI instructor to discuss
what we were looking for, how we would capture them, and how to avoid being
stung by their sharp thorns. We were diving at night, as that is when they
are most active, and will be easiest to capture.

At 8pm, we all (remember - 18 of us) jumped into the back of a truck for the
ride to the boat. We spent an hour sorting out our gear and getting suited
up and then the boat dropped us onto the reef, just 100m away from the dock.
We worked in pairs or triplets, with some people responsible for scanning
and searching for animals, others wielding the long handled bbq tongs for
their removal, and all of us with multiple straw sacks tucked into our
BCD's/wetsuits that we were to fill with dozens of creatures.

After an hour of searching John, Mike and I had caught one starfish. ONE.
Most other dive teams had similar luck, with only two or three animals. The
snorkellers were having much better luck in shallow water, but we didn't
know that until we all rendezvoused back on the boat. Our trip definitely
added to the knowledge pool on this creature: shallow areas were preferred,
rather than the deeper sites; animals remain hidden and are not especially
active during the full moon; and coral with bleached spots may indicate a
nearby starfish.

All in all, it was a good trip. We did some snorkelling the next morning,
and a few more Crown of Thorns were added to the 45 that we collected the
previous night. The coral at Arno is some of the most beautiful we've seen
anywhere in the Pacific, such diversity and explosions of colour. Fabulous.

A Few Images of Kanton

The Moray Eel are their favorite fish

Eric sews up a Kiribati courtesy flag

Hermit crabs feast on shark

Rooting around amongst the junk

A fire extinguisher from the 50s (?)

A tribute to the Samoan Clipper

Katua and Davis show off their afternoon catch

Tires are a common toy around here

Cutting up the cake tabacco

The daily slaughter - tonight we're eating Trevaly

Eric at the tiller of the USS President Taylor

A few of the bullet tips we collected on the beach

Fish drying in the sun

I've also added a few pictures to the blog posts from Kanton - look back in the blog to check them out.

Kanton - Snorkelling

Well, we've had amazing snorkelling on this trip, but I think this place
tops the charts for abundance and size of fish. John, Eric and I snorkelled
near the pass and were amazed by the variety, size, and courageous these
fish were. They had no fear of us, or of the boys' spear guns. Eric was
having a good day with his spear, and shot two parrotfish, plenty for
dinner.

One of the many dinner fish caught by John and Eric

Unfortunately, during dinner, Eric felt a bit of numbness on his lips. A
symptom of the toxin ciguatera found in some tropical lagoons. Although
Davis assured us that there is no ciguatera in the lagoon, we decided to eat
more pelagic fish in the coming days. No problem. Tuna, barracuda,
wahoo....these are all delightful too!!

Good bye Beautiful Samoa

We're leaving Samoa. 

"It's easy to say hello, but hard to say goodbye". That is what our cab driving friend Tiali told me today. How right he is. We've had a great time here. We've met incredible people. We've seen stunning natural features and landscapes. It is an incredible country. 

But, our pocket books, calendars, and livers are all screaming for a break...so tomorrow, we head for Canton Island, in the Phoenix Group of Kiribati.

We will not have internet again for many months. Please hold off on emailing us with your photos for a while. We will continue to update our blog via the satellite phone. Unfortunately, I won't have enough time to update the blog with all our Samoan adventures, but here's a few images of Samoa.

Dancers at the Fia Fia

Dancers at the Fia Fia

Daniel cruising down at the Sliding Rocks (photo by Michelle)

Renova disappearing in the swell (photo by Eric)

Here is Renova and Evangeline bobbing about as we left the harbour during the Tsunami warning. (Photo by Eric)

A few of the interesting items at the fish market (photo by Dom)

Fire dancing (photo by Dom)

The sunset dinghy derby. FISH ON.

Earlier this week, I've added a few other posts of our time in Samoa...but you'll have to scroll down to see them...they are backdated. 

When was the last time...

That you had to bring in a flat bed truck in order to take home the fish you just caught??


Well, I have to admit that I've never had to call in a truck for my fishing exploits. In fact. All the fish I've ever caught (in my life) would probably fit into the trunk of my Civic.

SO...that provides a bit of context for this...

I'm sitting in the boat, cleaning the galley (guest is coming, remember), and this is what I see out the port hole!!

 

Without doubt the biggest Marlin I've ever seen. The young guy, Ryan, caught the fish.

It took him 2 and a half hours to bring it to the boat. And then they had to drag it to the marina, as they couldn't bring it aboard. Whew. It weighed 198 KILOS!! It was a Blue Marlin. Beautiful. Amazing. Humongous. And Sad.

On the move again...

After an incredible 2+ weeks at Suwarrow, we're now on route to Pago Pago in
American Samoa. We've got a beautiful breeze from the stern and we're
sailing along wing-on-wing. We left yesterday with La Familia, and although
we may be slightly ahead of them, they are winning the fishing derby.
They've just caught a nice mahi mahi. John has switched lures and we're
hoping to catch up. After all...there is some good chocolate promised to the
winner!

Dolphins have visited on John's watch, all is well on board. The trip is
about 450 nautical miles, so we expect to arrive Sunday night, or Monday
morning.

Current Position is:
1015 Samoa Time (-11GMT)
13 24.1S
164 39.1W

Demain, Demain...

Tomorrow, tomorrow... That is the common refrain when asked when we plan to
leave this paradise. As it turns out we really had the boat all ready to go,
when a big potluck feast was planned on the beach with all the boats. It
didn't take much arm twisting to convince us to stay one more day.

John, Kleng and John (the park caretaker) took on the task of catching the
evening's fish. First they attempted to harpoon them on the reef
traditionally - remmber Tom Hanks in Castaway?? Yep. Like that. When that
didn't result in more than one small parrotfish, they returned to modern
methods and took the tin boat out to the pass and trolled. They came back
with a nice size grouper. The caretakers prepared this fish, and some
previously caught wahoo, four different ways! Marinated in soy and sweet
chile, secret flour recipe and fried, poisson cru-style, AND smoked.
Delicious.

Ranger John shreds coconut for marinating the fish

James (the other caretaker) showed me how to husk sprouted coconuts to get
the soft part inside, in order to make uto pancakes! YUM.

James teaches me to make Uto Pancakes from the sweet coconut flesh

What a feast we had. Everyone contributed and we enjoyed a great night with Didier and Anny
on SV Lulu (?) (France), Alex on Kashmere (Fr), Anna, Kleng, Liva, and Edgar
on La Familia (Norway), Caretakers James (NZ) and John (Cook Isl), and us!

La Familia, Kashmere, Lulu (?), Renova and James and John enjoy a potluck feast!

Rangers have arrived

John helping the rangers to ferry their gear to the beach

The National Park Rangers have arrived. We're happy to see them. They will
stay on the island for 6 months, keeping a record of visitors, recording
wildlife and vegetation, touring yachties around the islets, checking
visas/licenses, and so on. Their only supplies will be brought in by
yachties, and they will likely trade for fresh caught fish, or excursions
around the atoll.

We helped James and John to unload their supplies from the beach up to their
shack. As a result, we were rewarded with a tremendous dinner of wahoo -
half was marinated in fish and chile and cooked on the bbq. The other half
was marinated in coconut juice and lemon. Fabulous. Stranded on a deserted
island isn't so bad.

We spent part of the evening browsing through their logbook from last year.
They recorded oer 100 boats that came here last year, many of whom we
recognize from our travels. James has an amazing memory, remembering them
all, with stories about their boats and adventures!

But, our time here is coming to an end. La Familia is moving on. And we
won't be far behind. We're waiting to sort out a few things, so we have a
better sense of how long we'll be in Samoa. But we look forward to fresh
food again. It has been over a month since we've seen a grocery store: it's
been weeks since we've had veggies, we ate our last eggs this morning, and
we're baking on borrowed flour. So I guess it is time.

Red-Footed Boobies!

A Red-Footed Boobie

This title is not solely an attempt to increase blog hits, but I suppose it never hurts!!

Bernie and Yvonne are avid and knowledgeable birders, and they had offered to take me out this morning to an island on the far side of the atoll to explore some lively bird areas. What a treat. This worked out well for John and Eric, as they wanted to do some fishing in the same area, and they were much more comfortable with another dinghy in the area, in case of outboard trouble.

(An aside - our outboard has been giving us trouble lately. Again. Strange knocking sounds this time. We expect it is just a matter of time. But...Eric lost his prop here a couple weeks ago, so now we're sharing - his inflatable dinghy with our outboard!! Hurrah!)

We had a fabulous time. We saw lots of Frigatebirds - both Lesser and Greater, Red-footed and Brown Boobies, all of which were nesting in the trees not far from head height! We also had the treat of seeing Red-tailed Tropic Birds nesting on the ground. I'm still working on sorting out the Shearwaters and Storm-petrels, but there certainly were hundreds, if not thousands, flying around us.

Bernie and Yvonne

Eric and John had success fishing, and caught three nice fish, and great stories of a too-eager shark which chomped down on John's fin, in his attempt to claim his rightful portion of the fish. After birding, Bernie, Yvonne and I also explored some of the gorgeous coral, which was the most colourful and healthy since the Tuamotus. We also saw lots of sharks, most were black-tipped reef sharks. Quite harmless. But after Bernie speared a nice fish, we were also investigated by a Lemon Shark. Not the harmless variety. I nearly choked in my snorkel as I beat my fin in its face, and flung myself towards the dinghy. Afterwards, I felt quite selfish (not to mention cowardly) for jumping in so quickly, without regard for Bernie and Yvonne! But as seasoned cruisers, they knew it wasn't friendly, but weren't nearly as paniced as I was!!

Tonight, we're off to the beach for another round of coconut crabs. Dinner will be some concoction of the various fish we caught today - Parrotfish, Jackfish, and Yellowlip Emperor (I think).

A Jack, A Yellow-lip Emperor and a Coral Trout

Arrival in Suwarrow, Cook Islands

We've arrived in Suwarrow!! Without any wind, we decided to run the motor for 8 hours overnight, putting us just 20 milles from Suwarrow atoll at day break. How wonderful to be so close to land again! At 9 am, the radio sparkled to life, and we heard Bernie's familiar voice asking us how far away we were. At noon, as we approached the pass, we were thrilled when Bernie and Yvonne came out in their dinghy to greet us and guide us in.

Bernie and Yvonne dinghy out to the pass to meet us at Suwarrow

We felt truly welcome, as Eric was running down the beach alongside us snapping pictures of our entrance. Both boats have put off their departures, in order to wait for us to arrive. We were absolutely thrilled to see them!

As soon as we dropped the hook, everyone clammored aboard Renova for welcoming cocktails. What a treat it was to share stories of the past weeks' crazy weather, and hear of the great fishing and birding they've been enjoying. They have already planned a beachside feast of coconut crabs for the evening, followed by fish soup for dinner aboard Australia 31. What a treat after a long passage!!

An afternoon picnic of coconut crab and cocktails

Without much delay, John and Eric were in the water with their spearguns, and I was getting the boat ready to be home again. Moving all our gear from the v-berth up front back to its usual hiding places, and setting up the settees to be couches again, instead of our sea berths. After only a couple hours, we knew we would like it here!

Interestingly, Eric has now been here almost a month, and has seen very few other yachts. 3 other boats in that whole time, besides us and Australia 31.

And...later in the afternoon, two other boats made their way into the pass. So here we are - 5 boats in total. Canada, USA, Australia, Italy and France. Wonderful. The Italians weren't up to a shared dinner last night, but the single-handed french sailor, Gigi, joined us. He didn't speak much english, but his french was good. Eric and I have some french (Eric more than me), but Bernie, Yvonne and John didn't speak french. But, Bernie and Yvonne had some spanish, and Gigi had some portugese, so we were a melting pot of languages throughout the evening, enjoying a wonderful fish stew!

Already, it's been a fabulous landfall. And there are more stories to come! We'll save that for a future post. But for now, know that we've arrived safely!

Our position is:
13° 14.94S
163° 06.52W

For those of you interested, here are a few stats:
Total distance: 580 nm (nautical miles - I know, it's been a while)
Distance actually travelled: 602 nm
Time: 121 hours - just over 5 days
Average Speed: 5 knots
Motored: 13 hours
Boats seen: 0
Fish caught: 0

We lie in waiting....

Wearily waiting
Relentlessly raining
Continually collecting
Stealthily swatting
Languidly lying
Randomly reading
Hopelessly hoping
Creatively cooking
Ever eating
Patiently putting
Wishfully watching
Wearily waiting

These remora hung out below the boat constantly. An odd looking fish, apparently their dorsal fin has evolved to be a large sucking device...enabling them to latch onto large fish/sharks/etc and perform cleaning services!

Swimming with Sting Rays in Moorea

Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

One of the big attractions for all the honeymooners here on Moorea is to swim with the Sting Rays. Mike and I joined up with a few other cruising boats - Dignity, Scream, Sidewinder, Escapade - and took our dinghys to check it out. First, we stopped to snorkel around some tiki heads in the bay, then made our way to the 'big show'. Steve and Ben had the foresight to bring along some old tuna, and we had a great time swimming with the rays and sharks. Who would have guessed that their skin would be so silky smooth!?!?

At first, every time they came close, I was a bit jumpy (remember Steve Irwin?).... But soon enough we were enjoying the experience, and getting excited about these beautiful animals. Their skin really is as soft as the finest silk. And it was quite a surreal experience to be hanging out in waist deep water with these beauties. Just at the edge of the sand bar, the sharks lingered around, waiting for the fish head that the big tourism boats brought along. I've seen lots of reef sharks on our travels here, but it was Mike's first time and thought it was super cool.

Diving the Cessna

Yesterday had a great dive on the wreck of a Cessna airplane nearby. It was a shallow dive, so we shared equipment among 8 of us. Nice to get in the water, as it was smokin' hot. After our dive, we floated around, enjoying our cool beverages. It will be hard to leave here.

It's been great having Mike here - we're off today to explore the market, and take in some of the celebrations for Heiva - the month-long festival. Tonight we have tickets to see some of the dance and singing competitions!

Toau - Lobster for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner!

After Amy and Strahan left us, we grabbed a few more provisions, loaded up at the bakery, and attempted to weigh anchor. Of course it was stuck among several coral heads, and I needed to dive down to investigate, and to direct John in the direction to steer the boat in order to untangle us! We were shocked that we had managed to get so ensnared, as we had only just dropped the hook the night before. Oh well. We managed to get ourselves free within about 45 minutes, we were on our way.

We had a calm day, and motor-sailed about 20 miles to Toau, a small atoll north-west of Fakarava. We headed to the south end, where we anchored with Capaz and IO. Once we arrived I did my usual snorkel to check on our anchor, and changed our zinc while I was there. This zinc only lasted two months...we sure go through them fast in these tropical waters.

After we had a chance to grab a bite to eat, we headed ashore to see if we could find lobster. Mike and Hyo (IO) were there, as well as Brad, Austin and Bryce from Capaz. As we headed in the direction of the reef, John and I chatted with two locals (they and their father are the only ones that live here), and they assured us that it was easy to find lobster on the outer reef. So we trudged off with our flashlights, and started looking through the ankle-deep water for the reflection of the lobster eyes. After trudging and searching with a success rate of nil, we found ourselves more engaged by Mike's awesome marine biology lessons, than the hunt for the invisible lobster. I'm sure we were almost as good as his students in Bamfield!!

We soon saw lights coming towards us, and our two friends, Martin and Jean, had donned their wetsuits, plastic go-anywhere shoes (I should write a separate blog post just about those shoes), Coleman lanterns, and big blue barrels strapped to their backs. When they caught up with us, they already had snagged several lobster and reef fish for the bottom of their barrel. The brothers tried to teach us how to spot the eyes of the lobster, but we were slow learners. I didn't spot one the entire evening. John spotted and caught a couple, but Jean took pity on him, and pointed him in the right direction several times. It would have been a bit of a comedy show to see all of us lurking through the waters of the reef, and then running after and trying to grab these lobster. We weren't nearly as good as the two pros, but at least we won't starve. In addition to lobster, they were also catching reef fish - mostly parrotfish. This was a new fishing technique...fishing with a machete! The guys could kill the fish with one slash of the machete. It was unbelievable. The only sad part about the evening is that my camera was out of batteries, and that Strahan missed out...he would have loved it! We arranged to meet the guys in the morning to go on a coconut crab hunt.

The next day, Mike and John went to the beach to hunt crab with the brothers at a remote motu (islet). After some time on the beach, they came out in the brothers launch to deliver lunch to us ladies who decided to sleep in and let the boys hunt. Fresh barbecued fish and lobster. WOW. Of course Hyo and I both ate ours immediately. We saved the rest to share later in the day.

Eventually, the boys returned with two coconut crabs, and we arranged a big feast aboard Capaz later that evening. What a night! Lobster, crab, and PJ even had fresh veggies!

Our Position: 15°57.8'S and 145°52.2'W

Fakarava South - Snorkeling with the Sharks

We left Kauehi atoll early in order to time our exit from the lagoon shortly before slack tide, and to be sure we arrived at the southern passage to Fakarava during the afternoon slack tide. Our passage was a nice day sail, with the exception of a short squall that piped up mid-way giving us a few minutes of excitement.
The hand line hanging behind the boat worked it's magic as we passed by an area of water that seemed to be of great interest to birds. Luckily, it was also of interest to tuna, and we had a nice tuna on the line which the boys brought on board, and then tied behind the boat for the remainder of the passage.

We timed our arrival perfectly, and entered the pass with a slight flood tide pushing into the lagoon. We had no problems avoiding several dinghies floating in the pass tied to their snorkeling owners. The anchorage inside the lagoon was easy to spot, as almost two dozen boat were nestled into this idyllic spot. We easily found a spot, and dropped our hook, avoiding the coral heads that were scattered throughout.

As we set the hook, Stuart and Shelia from SV Imagine popped by to say hello, and as we chatted, a large splash at the stern of the boat reminded us that we had forgotten to pull our tuna on board. To our dismay, the better half of our fresh sashimi dinner was taken in one bite by a black tipped reef shark. Hmpf. Suddenly, I didn't feel quite up to snorkeling to check on our anchor at the moment! Several other sharks were now circling the boat, in hopes of catching a few more bites. John managed to salvage the remains of the tuna, and we all watched in awe as the sharks fought over the remaining guts and head.

The anchorage faces a white coral beach, complete with palm trees and thatched huts. A small dive shop operates on the pass, and takes divers on drift dives through this area. There are a couple of pensions here, but not much else. A popular activity is to snorkel or dive the pass just before or after slack tide, allowing you to drift through the pass while you watch the incredible array of fish, sharks and coral unfold below you. This pass is reputed to be one of the better dives in the Tuamotus for its "profusion of small and large reef fish...dozens of reef sharks..." (Lonely Planet).

By the way, Fakarava atoll is considered a UNESCO protected area, due to the diversity of wildlife here. It is the second largest atoll in the Tuamotus, and we were surprised to be sailing in the lagoon, and not be able to see across to the other side.

The following morning, Amy and Strahan rowed to the pass and snorkeled through the pass, but found themselves rowing against a very strong current on the way back to the boat. The snorkel was incredible, as they were surrounded by black tip reef sharks, and amazing coral and reef fish. They were followed by a "huge, friendly-looking" fish, which may have been a Napoleon??

John and I snorkeled briefly in the pass later that morning, and were shocked by the fish. We had been spoiled by amazing snorkeling in Mexico, but we finally felt that we had found comparable or maybe even better snorkeling! It was stunning. Our trip back to the boat was just as challenging as Amy and Strahan's, as our little outboard couldn't keep up to the power of the tide. We were making forward progress, but barely. Eventually the motor just gave up, and we were forced to row. Thankfully, SV Dignity came along and offered us a tow!!

One more snorkel in the afternoon was just as incredible, and we saw many sharks, three moray eels, two lion fish, and schooling tuna, among tons of other reef fish and stunning coral formations.

During the night, the wind shifted, causing an uncomfortable swell in the anchorage, and we had a less than restful sleep. In the morning we chose to move, as more of this Northerly wind was in the forecast. By early afternoon, we were settled into a new anchorage with several other boats, and found ourselves snorkeling and spear fishing in the turquoise waters. Although there was no success with spear fishing or dragging the lines, the boys went to explore the reef, in hopes of finding lobster terrain for a hunt after dark. Instead, they managed to chase a green parrotfish up onto the beach, and wrestled it into submission. We enjoyed fish curry for dinner, which was a welcome treat, given that our fresh food supplies are seriously diminished these days.

After dinner, we enjoyed drinks and nibblies aboard SV Dignity, with Steve, Helen and John, who we first met in the Galapagos, but keep passing as we go in and out of anchorages. It was a lovely evening, and was a real treat for Amy and Strahan, who had not been on a catamaran. They were astonished with the amount of space that was available on board. Dignity is one of the first sailboats with hybrid electric engines, so it was interested to chat with them about their experience with the new technology.

This morning, we moved again and started towards the north end of Fakarava, where Amy and Strahan will fly out of at the end of this week. We stopped mid way up the atoll, where we are anchored next to SV IO, from Alberta, Canada! The boys are now out looking for dinner with Mike, who had just talked with the locals about which fish are safe from the ciguatera.

Tomorrow, we plan to head to the north end of the atoll, where we can't wait to do a bit of shopping and refill our cupboards. Maybe even enjoy a meal the local snack. Lately, we've been rationing everything from eggs and flour, to beer and cheese. Well, to be honest, we ran out of beer weeks ago. Life is tough.

Our Position: 16°17.1'S and 145°31.4'W

Pacific Crossing - Day 8 - Dorado

[April 16]

Lat/Long: 06°01'S / 105°51'W
24hr distances: 143nm and 140nm

Well, at least the conditions are consistent out here. We continue to cruise along at 6 knots, and clock excellent mileage each day. We're out of chicken, so we managed to catch a nice Dorado for dinner a couple nights ago. Yum.

Not much to report. We're not very productive, as a result of the uncomfortable motion, but each day does seem to be getting better. For example, I haven't taken my daily gravel yet, and it is almost afternoon snack time!! As you can see, our days revolve around meals. Kind of like the hobbits, I suppose. But we usually have breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, dessert, and then various late night snacks as a way of keeping awake during night watches. No wonder we seem to be the only cruisers who don't lose weight on long passages! My mum send down yummy easter eggs, and we've finally finished those, but luckily, we seem to still have a healthy chocolate supply on board.

Images from the 'Slow Boat to China'

We not-so-fondly referred to ourselves as being on the 'Slow Boat to China' on our passage from Mexico to the Galapagos. Here are a few of the images that we captured along the way.

Dolphins visited us daily, and when we were moving fast enough, they liked to play in our bow wake.


I dove mid-ocean to cool off, and to check on the status of our zinc:Once John determined that I wasn't going to get eaten by a shark, he jumped in for a dip too:

This boobie isn't walking on water - he's riding on the back of a turtle. We know this because we were adrift beside him for over an hour!!


We caught this lovely tuna, and it made delicious sashimi!!

Boobies were forever trying to hitchhike a lift:
These guys also liked to travel beneath the shade of Renova:

We celebrated crossing the equator in style: