If you follow the blog, you may have seen a recent photo of me having a massage on the foredeck. I'm very very sad to have to write that the lovely lady who gave me the massage, Alesandra (travelling with her partner Per, on Arctic), was taken ill last week. After trying antibiotics for a few days, she did not get any better and on Monday morning last, Per and Lilley (from Vagabond) took her up to the hospital, here in Neiafu. She was hooked up to an IV, but after initially showing some signs of improvement, she passed away, at the age of 41, on Monday evening around ten in the evening. Despite efforts by Per and Otto (Lilley's husband) to revive Alesandra using CPR they were unsuccessful and the hospital did not have adequate equipement to attempt to mechanically revive her.

Our floating village is devasted, all the more so because Alessandra was such a popular person, a truly gentle person whose gentleness was the first thing that struck you on first meeting her.

 Mike from the Aquarium cafe has helped Per with the practical side of arrangements, taking much of the paperwork away from him once Per gave him the information. He also has told Per that he can put Arctic on a cyclone mooring free of charge for as long as Per is in Sweden and has been feeding him free of charge. The rest of us are doing what we can in terms of giving moral support and the ocassional practical bit of help. A terrible terrible tragedy that has brought home to all of us exactly how precious and fragile life can be and also reminded us of the risk that we all take when traveling in out of the way places. Most of us survive any illnesses that occur, sadly, tragically,  Alesandra did not.