Fun in the sun

We had a day of snorkelling! First around the bay we were anchored in. Found some live coral and lots of little fish but not much else. So we dinghied out about a mile to a big reef in the center of the atoll and threw the small anchor out there. Bigger fish and lots of live coral but did not see any sharks! Maybe just as well!
The following day we were being lazy on board. The two small boys paddled out on their surfboard and we let them on board. They were about 10 years old and fairly well behaved, curious about everything on the boat. In the distance I saw someone working in the water on a reef near shore...turned out to be our friend RiriFatu who paddled over in his outrigger and offered us the fruits of his labours! Seems he was shucking these giant clam shells and had a bucket full of the meat. He put a pile
of it into a bowl for us and was invited on board. We sat and talked about lots of things...the community, their religion...it happened to be May and every Saturday in May was special to the Catholics. He explained how the town was divided into four sections representing the four Evangelists...Mathew, Mark, Luke and John! I thought there was a Ringo but did not mention it. We gave him lunch and shared our last two Mexican beers before he paddled back to shore. That night we pressure cooked the
shellfish and curried it in coconut milk. It was interesting! Later we walked into town and picked up some fresh baguettes. An airplane had landed this morning but we missed it while re-anchoring...did I mention the chain wrapped around the coral so tight the bow was dipping? Came off fairly easily but with a little coaxing and lots of turning around!
Today was Mother's Day and the service at the church in town was a spectacle! The children sang and everyone had flowers hung on them. The locals were sporting their Sunday best and more jewellery than you would see in Harlem on any night!
Every day we plan to leave but today 'Tin Soldier' arrived and we have not toured the pearl farm yet. We went on board the Dorothy Marie, had drinks with Sally and Glen as well as Dennis and Janet from 'Shilling'. Not long before the guitars and piano and saxophone came out and music was wafting across the pond!
Reading a hilarious book they lent us called "Sex Lives of the Cannibals" by J. Maarten Troost.....if you can get your hands on it....you might enjoy it!
Anyway my job is to get up early and try to set up the pearl farm tour tomorrow for the whole gang....so stay tuned!