Yesterday dawned clear and fine – the first time we’d seen blue skies since arriving in Suvarrow on Saturday.  The dreadful weather that resulted in Amiable going on a reef has passed on by and I’ve finally managed to get our wet weather gear, used on the wet ride from Maupiti to here, dry.  The day, like the previous days, was spent helping Steve and Liz deal with the aftermath of their wrecked yacht.  Steve has done everything in his power to retrieve as much as possible from Amiable and all the cruisers (well....most of the cruisers) here have helped by ferrying loads ashore.  This is no mean feat in this climate where stuff, often heavy, has to be carted some distance to storage.  For now it is being stored in a lean to off Kiwi Tom Neale’s old house.  Tom wrote a book about Suvarrow called An Island to Oneself about his time living on this remote and beautiful atoll.

 

Everything that has come off Amiable (with a few exceptions) has been saturated with salt water so has to be rinsed and dried.  Liz has worked like a maniac to do all this and try and sort out a mountain of stuff.  A 54ft cruising boat can carry a huge amount of gear and Amiable is no exception.

 

All that needs to come off now is the sails. David spent yesterday morning removing winches while Steve tried to pump as much diesel off as possible.  We actually stopped at lunchtime and went snorkelling – first of all we snorkelled on Amiable to take more video for the insurance company.  We really felt we needed a break.

 

Last night Steve and Liz came for a meal and at first thing this morning Liz left on another boat bound for American Samoa.   Steve will stay on to carry on with the work.

 

We’re hoping to get away to Nuie in the next few days.  The incident has spoilt our time here and even though the weather has come right it just doesn’t feel right sitting here looking out at a wrecked yacht with all the memories.