Commodore
April 7, 2023

Friday 7 April – amazing snorkelling with Black Tipped Reef sharks

So lovely to have a relaxing day, not totally relaxing as we have a mammoth amount of laundry to do! Our washing machine only works when it is stationary, we haven’t managed to do any in ages. I did 4 loads, luckily in this heat and wind it dries on the line in about half an hour.

I forgot to mention yesterday that when Rowan inspected the anchor yesterday he checked the hull where we hit the whale/shark and he has found that it was a pretty big strike as it has removed the copper coating from the hull and a bit of the dagger board, but thankfully no damage. Poor thing do hope it survived and we are very pleased to have a very strong hull, mainly carbon fibre, it might have been more serious damage in a fibreglass hull like Raindancer (the boat that sunk on our Pacific crossing that hit a whale).

Around midday we met up with the other boats, Pippin, Blue Sunshine and Salt for a beach explore. Kostas the Greek crewman on Salt organised a beach clean up too. We all then visited the Kon Tiki island together and found the plaque in a clearing in the middle of the island. Loads of little terns were nesting there and making a big noise. We had a lovely swim in the channel and great snorkel in the crystal clear waters. The coral is not in great shape, but the coral heads that are alive are amazing, full of colourful fish and big colourful clams, plus plenty of smallish Black Tipped Reef sharks who are very curious. Any time anyone jumps into the water from the boat the sharks come rushing over.

Blue Sunshine organised a beach bonfire in the evening, which was very atmospheric, under the full moon. A couple of Arc boats were anchored a few miles away and came over in their dinghies. It was a very jolly evening, getting to know everyone a little better.