Thursday 2 October – an even better snorkel!

After more epoxying of Profasea in the morning we went for a snorkel again at midday. Gary didn’t come as yesterday was more time he had spent in the water than in the last 10 years! We went across the reef again and headed a lot further along the edge. It was another fantastic snorkel, the visibility was good, the fish were out in abundance, it really was an amazing experience, most probably the best snorkelling we have done in years. The conditions were so good too. I spotted a manta ray briefly, really deep down that everyone else missed. We saw turtles, a few sharks, one quite big and the highlight was seeing a couple of giant clams, now so endangered, it is a privilege to see them out there in the wild, and not planted. So many fish and different varieties we have not seen before.

In the afternoon our internet cafe was busy again, we gave them short rations as we are leaving at 3am for our next set of islands, also an atoll called Ninigos. We have given Silum money this morning for their baby which is due in 7 months, Rowan had invited him to come back in the afternoon with Rose his wife. He came with another large lady eating beetle nut who wanted wifi, which was not what we had intended! Rowan invited them all up to the trampoline and gave Rose a chair, he saw her scratching like mad and asked her what the problem was. She said she had scabies, this gave us both the absolute heebie jeebies, we had a great excuse to get them off in very quick time, saying we were getting up early. I used the last of our insect spray to nuke the seat she had been sitting on. Scabies in case you don’t know is highly contagious and caused by little mites! We managed to tell Rose we had given the money to Silum for their baby, and nothing else!

It was a lovely last evening out on the turquoise water, we need to leave early tomorrow to catch the little wind there is. It is a slightly tricky entrance to the Ninigo atoll with loads of bommies about so we need good light, definitely need to arrive in daylight. The next set of islands is our last stop in PNG, then a three to four day passage to Biak in Indonesia. We have to take the opportunity while it arises as the winds and currents turn at the end of October and then we would be motoring into wind and current, extremely uncomfortable! As the weather is being totally unpredictable we are not taking any chances.