Wednesday 3rd March (Lini’s Journal)

Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Mon 8 Mar 2010 13:49
I’m sure Simon doesn’t sleep at all! Every time I wake in the night
there is space next to me in bed and when I get up in the morning he
is reading in the cockpit with a pot of tea. How does he keep going?
Lini the slug dragged herself up on deck taking some time to focus on
paradise before making breakfast. This morning we planned to go in
search of sharks!
I just triple checked that nothing out there was in danger of
eating me alive before we leapt in the dinghy. There are tiny buoys
all along the reef to prevent people damaging the coral with anchors
and a narrow dinghy channel cuts through the reef to the Atlantic
side. It is here that one goes to see grey nurse sharks. On the chart
the channel was easily noticeable but on the water we had no idea
where it was. The water was the palest turquoise I’ve ever seen
covering a massive area, with the dark area of the horseshoe shaped
reef clearly visible. We excitedly tied up to a buoy and sunk into the
crystal clear water. It will never seize to amaze me the wonders that
lay beneath the surface of the water. One second palm trees rise from
white sandy islands sitting in turquoise sea, then face down an
underwater wonderland lays beneath. The coral was so much brighter
than we’d seen so far with purple fans next to yellow tubes. Reef fish
in every colour paraded round, darting under rocks when feeling
threatened by us. Parrot fish, angle fish, puffer fish; those long
eely ones with heads like a sea horse, tiny bright yellow ones, serene
purple ones sometimes in huge shoals………. What a feast for the eyes and
an amazing experience. With crinkly skin we eventually returned to
Brindabella for lunch.
More treats were on offer this afternoon when we returned to the
turtles for our last encounter. The current was much stronger than
yesterday however and I had trouble keeping up with them never mind
diving down to photograph them close up. We motored over to the white
sand of Petit Bateau for a brief walk through to the channel to Petit
Rameau. Brightly coloured T. Shirts and sarongs were for sale hung
from lines between the palms and under the almond trees picnic tables
were set up for night time beach barbecues. The brightly painted boats
of the local traders were pulled up on the beach and on our way back
through to the dinghy I saw my first tiny humming bird hovering over a
shrub: magical!
Simon was well into his book and even his sundowner only briefly
distracted him. I rummaged through the fridge and struggled to find
food for a barbecue tonight. Broccoli, string beans and soft tomatoes
weren’t exactly suitable. We tried the sweet potatoes on there tonight
but these are a white fresh variety and very starchy, making them
extremely difficult to swallow without a large dollop of butter. I
mashed them with apple last time and they were delicious but will not
be barbecuing them again.
The sun sunk between Petit Bateau and Jamesby then a zillion stars
twinkled above us in the black night.