Saturday 27 September – Rowan finally sees a Manta ray in the pass

We were out of bed at 6am to look for mantas, this is our last chance as we move out to the rim of the atoll to join Claudette in the turquoise water. Its a bit too noisy here as the banana boats charge through the pass between the main village and their homes on the little islands. I did not want to get in the water unless the mantas arrived, I have a blocked ear again, and really don’t want to get an infection, even though I’m fully loaded with antibiotic drops this time. The current was quite strong so Rowan would whizz through the pass with the dinghy. He saw great schools of fish creating wonderful fish murmurations. Just as he was about to pack it in a solitary manta sauntered underneath him, and quickly disappeared not to be seen again. At least his long swim was not in vain.

Then came the moment of truth, we were both dreading picking up the anchor as it was pretty obvious the anchor was lying in about 20ms, in dark water so we had not been able to establish if it was caught on anything. We had put out more chain than intended, 64ms, but we were floating 2 fenders and a fishing buoy, so hoping for the best. We got her all the way to the last 20ms and the winch began to strain, Rowan moved the boat right over the anchor and with a good old clonk, the anchor was free!. What a big relief!

We went slowly through the pass, not a lot of room on either side to spare, and headed directly over to Profasea at the atoll rim. We anchored in the most brilliant turquoise water, it is like a swimming pool. We didn’t even take the awning off. We had a lazy afternoon catching the breeze on the trampoline under the awning. I spent most of the afternoon covering the awning with a duvet cover I unpicked to give us denser shade. The shade cloth I used to make the awning is really a wide mesh, so it lets in a lot of sunlight, the colourful khanga cloth is also not thick. So the old duvet cover works a treat for some proper shade, we need it as it is seriously hot.

Claudette came round in the evening for snacks and drinks, she still sounds full of cold although she assures us she is loads better. We are beginning to think we all may have had Covid, I think my nose is still blocked from it which has caused my ears to block. Claudette had a really good passage, she loves the long solo passages, she crossed the Pacific all on her own, so this was nothing really. Although the rogue fishing boats that don’t have AIS on make her really scared, she thought to trawlers were heading towards her in the night so she did a 30 mile detour to try and lose them. She is delighted to be here, she is heading to Indonesia where she intends to spend at least a year. Her ultimate plan is to sail to Madera Portugal, via the Suez canal. She has property there that she inherited and has to build on it before losing the rights. She paddle boarded back in the dark, we spotted a light and it was a guy fishing from his canoe. We made sure she got home safely!