Trying our new spinnaker

Fish -

So here we are anchored off this idyllic island of sand and sunshine, and a local boat stops by to say hi and give us some fish. Valiant and I go down the back swim-step, and start filleting the fish. All is wonderful, and as I fillet the fish Valiant helps by throwing the skin, guts, and fish carcasses overboard.

All is going great until Shannon asks where the fillets are. Apparently there is no difference to Valiant between the actual fillets of fish, and the parts of the fish that we do not eat. Valiant unfortunately had thrown everything overboard in an attempt to be the "biggest helper".  Shannon managed to save the very last fillet so at least we have a tiny bit of fish for dinner!

And the adventures continue!

Courage

Sand $ Island

We are at another beautiful white sand beach. It was covered in sand dollars. The only nautilus was broken and fading, so we left it there. We had the place to ourselves for a few hours, and then a motorboat with 4 people came here to camp for a few days. Our last anchorage, we were the first ones there, but there ended up being about 6 boats. It was nice, but not nice enough to stay with everyone else, so we came here. The last island had again just gorgeous coral for snorkeling. The boat beside us saw about a 3.5-meter shark below them when they were snorkeling, so they got out of the water. We just snorkel right above the coral, making it hard for the large sharks to come where we are. We have stopped swimming out to our boat though, so we are not out in the open. The coral is so alive and colorful here. I haven't taken the GoPro yet, but really need to. It's so nice. There were 2 sea turtles the other day when I was out.

Shannon

Sharks -

So the rumor is that there have been shark attacks here. There are always stories, but these seem to be based on a little more facts. Yesterday one of the boats at another anchorage called to say there was a giant shark under their boat, and it was not a reef shark. Then today the catamaran next to us who were diving all day yesterday, stopped by and let us know that yesterday evening a 10-foot shark was under their boat. They did not do any diving today.

Sooooo, we are only doing diving at the shallow reef areas until we know what we are dealing with. Anybody know if there have been any shark attacks in New Caledonia in the last couple of years?

Courage

Another Beautiful Island

We are at another beautiful island.  It is really picturesque; cold water, but great snorkeling and coral.  I swam with 2 sea turtles and a huge fish that had been hovering around our boat for the past few days at the other anchorage. 

There were probably 20 remoras that ate our scraps and one huge fish.  We think maybe it was a jack, or a giant trevally.  When he saw me swimming, he left, but it was real clear water and he likes pancakes, so we had a lot of fun watching him and the remoras.  All of these little islands are surrounded with soft white sand and coral.  We can walk around each of them in about 30 minutes in general.  We've found some nautilus shells, broken and washed up, but I really like them. 

The day before Cassidy's birthday she found a large and complete nautilus washed up.  It's really nice!!

Shannon