April 15 Friday
The others really enjoyed the drift snorkel through the pass. When they left the dock in the boat I walked around the water front to see where the boat went. The pass is only a couple of 100 yards wide and a couple of hundred yards long. For $35 each they got dropped off in the middle of the pass and snorkeled back to the dock. Cheapskate me grabbed my snorkel gear, walked along the water front and swam out to nearly the same place the boat put them in the water and snorkeled back to the dock. Total cost $0. It really was one of the best snorkel spots I have seen in a long time. Heaps of fish, about six Noahs Arks (sharks) and lots of nice coral.
It was Jacquis birthday and we decided to have a bread party. Jacqui was going to bake some fresh bread and we invited the crew from the other yachts to join us. Bring your own topping for the fresh bread, and drinks. It was a really great night.
Jacqui also cooked some Brownies as a treat. She put them on a plate to serve them and covered them with bits if chocolate. The sad thing was that when she was walking them to the group at the front of the boat she lost her balance and lost the Brownies, the chocolates and the plate over the side. I could see the plate floating but slowing sinking. By the time I removed my shirt and jumped into the water it was too deep to see the plate in the dark. If I had of left my shirt on I would have made it in time.
Luckily Jeremy could see the plate the next morning and did a free dive down to 35 feet to get it. What a hero. Thirty five feet is one hell of a free dive. He told me later that when he was at the bottom and looked up and saw how far he was from fresh air he thought that this was not a smart thing to have done. Anyway he made it to the top and all is well.
We motored upwind to return to the North end of the Atoll. Today we did not leave for Toua but spend the day resting and fixing the anchor windlass (winch that raises and lowers the anchor). The down button at the front of the boat was not working. It was not critical because we can also lower the anchor from the control at helm station. We found the problem to be a partially broken wire near the down button. We repaired this and it works well again.
Another problem with the windlass is that the counter which tells us how much chain we have out is not working. The control unit at the helm states that the sensor ( that counts the revolutions of the winch ) is not stable. We have checked the wiring but and contacts but all seem OK. It may be the sensor itself. This is not a show stopper but it is very inconvenient not to have this function.
Tomorrow is an early start at 5:30am to get to the next Atoll in time for best light and to get a mooring before they are all gone. One of our friends is going to put their dingy on a mooring to hold it for us. It is great to have friends to do this for us.
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