What a great day! I’m sitting here finishing off the day watching a dramatic sunset off to the west and an almost full moon coming up and shining off the still water of the lagoon in the east.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dramatic because we seem to be sitting in the middle of a low pressure zone which means all bets are off as to the weather. It’s been fairly still but cloudy today. There have been periods of rain and the wind has shifted out of the north but I’m holding my breath that it doesn’t all just fall apart and leave us having to make a hasty exit to avoid being as exposed as we are. Fortunately our anchor is still buried deep (Ann dove it a couple hours ago on a late afternoon snorkeling expedition. She also saw two stingrays and numerous fish around the bommie she swam over to investigate.) This is an amazing place, and somewhat protected from the ocean swell by a barrier reef, but it’s 10 miles across, so if the wind builds from the wrong direction-we’re in a bad place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, I digress. The day started with a huge squall at 0600. I thought that meant the day was shot but by 0800 the squall passed and it became partly cloudy with boobies. Yup, I was sitting in the cockpit having my morning cup of coffee when an adolescent booby (he still had some white down feathers on his head) did a fly by. Before I could get up to see where he was going to land, he landed on the dinghy tethered about 10 feet behind us. Silly bird. He sat there through breakfast and would likely have stayed all day except we had other plans. I pulled the dinghy in to put our gear inside and the booby didn’t budge even though he clearly saw I was pulling the dinghy in. I called Ann to see. She said hello to Mr Boobie, took a picture and then I decided I’d see what it would take before he became the least bit concerned. Seemed that throwing some of my gear in the boat was the deciding factor. Wow. That’s a bit of an example of how far we are off the beaten path right now. I don’t think this bird really sees much boat traffic and was very unconcerned with our presence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, we finally had weather that cooperated enough that I felt comfortable going ashore. It’s almost a mile across the shallow reef from Charisma to the beach, and I don’t like being so far away in really poor weather. Anyway, the wind moderated from yesterday’s 15 gusting into the 20’s so off we went picking our way through the coral. As we approached the beach we could see a figure walking our way pointing us to a good landing spot. We received a most enthusiastic reception from Matea. He and his uncle Mo are the only two people who live here and they haven’t seen another boat in over a month! Matea was so excited to talk with someone other than his uncle that we had to wait about 10 minutes to get a word in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the short version of their story: A decade or so ago there was a village here. We’re not sure why everyone left (we think maybe a cyclone destroyed the village), but for about the last ten years there’s only one person who has actually lived here and his name was Tiko. Tiko was Mo’s cousin, but Tiko passed away last year. Mo has lived here on and off for six years or so and now Matea has moved here with Mo and their plan is to make this home. They are not only fixing it up, but working to make the island an example of sustainable living. Matea is very articulate about making sure he is not using resources faster than they can reproduce. They are developing compost to help create vegetable gardens -these small atolls don’t natively support veggies as they are all coral (limestone). It takes effort to make soil that vegetables can grow in. Matea is in his thirties and Mo is 68, 69 on September 5th -Ann always finds this info out- and we were made to feel like members of their family. We were given a very, very warm welcome that just made this trip worth the effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We mentioned that we would like to see the windward side of the island and before we could utter another word, they both grabbed their machetes and we took off. What an adventure! Machetes were definitely needed. With both of them slicing their way through the jungle, it took almost two hours to go what I would estimate as about ½ mile. At most. The jungle/rainforest was so thick, we could hear squalls pouring rain overhead in the forest canopy, but not a drop hit us on the floor. I’m not sure we’ll ever experience anything quite like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On getting back, Matea went and got a bunch of green coconuts for us to feast on. The milk refreshes and the meat inside is delicious and very filling. I could go on and on, but we’re going back tomorrow and no doubt will have more to say about these wonderful folks, so I’ll leave it here for now. They are going to supply us with bananas, papayas and coconuts and we’re going to bring in some supplies-notably sugar which they are yearning for in their tea. We’re just hoping the weather holds as we would like to stay here two more days. One day to go back to visit and spend more time with our new friends and one day to just snorkel the bommies out here where we’re anchored. Since we’re literally inside a coral reef surrounded lagoon in the middle of the ocean with nothing else anywhere close, the water clarity is just amazing. I was taking my afternoon bath on the deck and could see a starfish 30 feet down on the bottom as if it were in my hand. Just stunning.