During hours of respite from the wind and rain we have managed to get to Home Island thanks to Frank and Karen whose catamaran Tahina can carry an 8 man dinghy with a really powerful outboard. The lagoon is sometimes so rough it would be dangerous to take ours so shopping would be almost impossible. From Home Island we were able to take a ferry to West Island but there is little there, in fact the total population of Home and West islands is less than 900 with the majority living on Home Island. Two of the days it was slightly less boisterous so our dinghy could be used to get diesel in jerry cans but only one person could travel in it, it was like a roller-coaster flipping off the top of the waves.

We have explored Direction Island a little more, it is largely coconut grove from previous plantation days but there is a healthy stock of chickens which wander about all over the place presumably having got here from Home Island and a huge population of hermit crabs. Each time we visit we swim from the beach, the water is warmer in these shallows.

Gryphon II and Tahina at anchor in the bay.          The beach at Direction Island

Hermit crabs are everywhere.                            Barbeque with friends off Tahina and Three Ships.

Direction Island anchorage has provided shelter for yachties over many years and visiting boats have left their mark just as we have by carving their boat names into various materials from driftwood to a Formica shelf or a flip flop.  

Ours carved into a piece of driftwood.

One for posterity.

So gorgeous on the one day when the wind dropped.