Ann has become an avid snorkeler (snorkelette?)

What a beautiful spot in which to snorkel

The day started off well when Pat from The Rose paddled over in her dinghy with fresh, sourdough, apricot cinnamon rolls, hot out of the oven. She showed up in a rain squall no less!

The squall delayed our wanting to go ashore, so after she delivered more rolls to Orcinius we all agreed we would stay on the boats “another hour to wait for the rain”. In reality we wanted another pot of coffee to enjoy with the lovely cinnamon rolls.

About 1030 we all rendezvoused ashore and jumped in the car for a planned day of snorkeling. We had packed picnic lunches and planned to hit a couple spots along the coast where we could hike down to the water and swim. The only hitch? A flat tire along the way.

An hour later, the rental company brought a new car for us to use. They figured that would be the easiest way to get us going again since our car didn’t have the right tools for changing the tire. Even if they did, the spare was one of those “little” ones and the roads here are a bit rustic and hard on tires.

While the switch was being made, Ann, Lisa and Pat walked off down the road on a geo-caching expedition. Once we got the new car, we caught up with them. They had zeroed in on an area and were looking intently for the cache. Us “boys” decided we would retire to the conveniently located Coral Gardens Motel and Bar for a cool one. They had a nice little bar out back on the cliff overlooking the Pacific. Beautiful view, nice company, cold beer. After the first beer, the “girls” came back empty handed but they knew they were close and wanted some help. OK, says we, but first another round. After another beer, we all headed across the street and into the jungle. After half an hour of tromping through the jungle and the spider webs, John from The Rose found the cache. Success! Okay, we had help from the cache creator too – Stafford, the owner of the Coral Gardens!

After taking pictures of us with the cache box, adding stuff to the cache and putting it carefully back in its hiding place, we headed on down the road. There are a bunch of dive spots and we found a nice one. Exceptionally clear water, some caves, lots of fish, a nice picnic spot and the poisonous sea snakes the island is famous for. They are beautiful black and white stripped and about three feet long. I found one and followed. They are very poisonous, but their mouth is so small they really can’t sink their teeth into a human, so not as dangerous as they sound. This one wasn’t all the aggressive either, so we just followed it until it swam into a cave.

After a swim and our lunch we were back in the car for some more sightseeing. We found our way down into our first island chasm complete with steep cliffs and caves! Very fun to explore. All-in- all a very nice day. More of the same expected for tomorrow after Ann, John, Lisa and Pat go to church.

Enjoy your weekend!

(By the way. To our families; our cell phones don’t work here and the internet is dog slow, so don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from us until somewhere in Tonga about 10 days from now.)