June 15-18, 2010
Southeast Winds &
Revenge of the Crown of Thorns
June 15
After 6 days of wonderful diving in a row, we are not diving today. For one thing the place I got pricked by the Crown of Thorns seems to be having an allergic reaction and hurts like heck. Just when finger #4 is so much better! I am taking Benadryl plus Aleve and intermittent hot water soaks then ice packs. Such a pain, literally! But I am getting a bit less spastic typing with thumb, middle and pinky on the right hand. Doing dishes, etc I forget sometimes and bump it accidentally which makes me yelp like a dog run over.
We have seen LOTS of bump head wrasse, so I am laying off killing the crown of thorns anymore. risky business. We hardly ever see them here, because the big wrasse plus the Triton Trumpet cone shell (beautiful, large) are keeping the population down by eating them before they can wreck the reef. Hurrah for Mopelia, nature seems to be in balance.
June 16
Index finger pain tolerable so went for a dive. Scott took his macro lens and got some great shots.
I felt ok for 30 minutes, then the finger pain escalated over 10 minutes to unbearable. I removed glove on that hand. Seam of glove pressing into sore area. Did safety stop & surfaced. Pain quickly reduced to bearable.
White patch on fingertip seems to be growing with more defined margins. Treat with hot water soaks
Benadryl & Aleve. Pain pill at night.
The wind shifted south & got stronger, where we were anchored was far from the protection of the atoll & fetch was building. We moved “Beach House” back down to where Jerome & family are. There are two other boats plus us, so 4 total. Spaced out nicely. With this wind, probably no diving for a several days. Hope to get in at least 1 more day of diving before we sail on. Weather permitting; we will leave here for Aitutaki (Cook Islands) in 4-8 days.
June 17
Wind 10-20 knots, rain intermittent, some rocking of the boat due to wind shop making me feel seasick at anchor. I hate to take medication when we aren’t underway, but feeling a little bit seasick is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Sort of like being a little bit pregnant. I seem to need a sledge hammer of medicine, to be effective. I need a smack upside the head to remind me to not just endure the miserable feeling of headache, unable to read, cranky, overall edgy. The good news is that the sledge hammer works & I was then able to read & write.
Finger looks yucky and making me nervous, besides being painful. Dr. Scott orders me to begin antibiotics. I had been reluctant since I have needed them for recurrent ear infections. But, knock wood, I think I have finally found an effective prevention regime for those. For the finger we chose Clindamycin 300 mg, 4x/day. We still don’t think I currently have an infection, but a patch of tissue is looking necrotic (dead) and antibiotics should help prevent infection while my body is trying to heal this thing.
Two boats joined the family ashore for a potluck. I was keen to get off the boat, but the wind & rain deterred us. Later I found out they had LOTS of lobster and I was jealous. Oh well, another time perhaps. Scott spent most of the day in his “digital darkroom”. Results are awesome. You will have to wait to see the Mopelia Galleries because as we have no internet here, we’re unable to upload photos to the website. The posts we can, but the photos are just too big.
June 18
Natalie visited by dinghy with the twin 4 year olds. It was like having raccoons in your tent! We three adults could not keep up with the two of them, getting into everything in every direction. We were exhausted and she graciously took her leave after a short time. I don’t know how she does it! We commended each other on our wise decision to NOT have more children. Skye was our limit. We are so glad we have her. And so glad that she is 25!
Scott was the primary “warm up” operator on the Pacific Seafarers Maritime ham radio Net last night. I was just starting to listen to songs on my Ipod and have my sunset yoga session, when a dinghy pulled up to our stern. It was pretty windy and getting dark, so of course I invited him onboard. It was Bernard, French sailor alone on a little monohull. One of the two others holed up here besides us and sister ship “Na Maka”. He came to thank Scott for giving him information and guidance through the pass the day he arrived (a week ago maybe?). I asked him if he was at the beach potluck last night and he said no, he had dinner with the other couple that lives here. We knew there were two groups on this atoll: one couple alone Monique and Frankie, who we have not met. And the other family, who we have met 7 of them.
Get this: The two parties do not get along! They apparently feud and make accusations about each other. Ridiculous on a four mile strip of sand and palm trees, but classic. Talk about “small town politics”! Anyway, besides hearing that bit of gossip, it was great to chat with Bernard and take my mind off my owie finger.
Bernard stayed long enough for Scott to finish the net. We showed him some photos of the shipwreck here & our “Fins” video. They exchanged weather information & route plans. Bernard may return to try giving Scott some charts for a software we own (MaxSea) but he hasn’t used a lot. Not sure if charts are transferable but they may try.
Weather is keeping us here, looks like the 22nd to 24th before we leave for Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, 350 miles to the Southwest.
Cindy and Scott
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After a later than normal night, we slept in a bit. When we finally got up, we were treated to a full arc, gorgeous rainbow. The sun was shining with lots of puffy clouds, absolutely magnificent.
Jerome called about 8:00 a.m. on the VHF radio asking to join us for a dive. We told him we’d radio when we returned from dive #1, to join us for the second dive. He is a great Dad, but we know he is happy to get a break from the mayhem of three boys aboard. The clouds filled in and it rained as we went out for the first dive, but we enjoyed it very much anyway. Scott did not take the camera or video which is kind of rare and has pros & cons. On the one hand, he notices and interacts more with me. Of course when I am modeling for him he notices, directs and we are interacting, but it is not very relaxing. But we both love the results and are willing to do that. When he is photographing stuff that does not require me as a model, small stuff especially, it is great for me because he doesn’t swim much. I can be in my own world, while he is in his, yet I can easily keep an eye on his position. Sometimes without the camera, like this morning, he swims fast in order to explore a larger area of the reef. It is always a give and take compromise. Thank God I taught him finger spelling because I can tell him to slow down and he does listen.
There is a lot of “action” in the pass. Schools of fish, sharks, the current always goes out. Sometimes stronger and other times weaker, but always out, never in. This means the water is a bit cloudy because of the sand from the lagoon gets kicked up as it is swept out. But the marine life loves Natures way of “stirring the pot”, so it is a fun place to just hang on to one side and just watch the action: schooling barracuda & jacks above, sharks below.
We saw our first lemon shark here. Those were the big ones in the “Fins of Bora Bora” video. It clearly felt Scott’s shark shield and reacted in the appropriate way: quickly swimming away from us! I love to see evidence that these things actually work. The 6 foot long antenna frequently gets hooked on coral. If you touch it, it zaps you. The on/off control is not easily managed with gloves on. A royal pain. But I wear it because we dive “in the wild” so much, Scott is adamant about it. Like a motorcycle rider or airplane rider: the more you do it, the more chance there is that eventually there will be an incident. I would never ride a motorcycle without a helmet. So, we always wear our shark shields when we are diving alone The fact that we DO NOT spear fish reduces our risk of confusing a shark & de-promotes an accidental nibble of neoprene.
Returning through the pass we saw the 3rd boat (2 French guys) snorkeling near their kayak. Their wimpy motored dinghy was anchored safely inside the lagoon, but the poor guys were clearly getting pushed out to sea due to the strong current. We had them hop in our dinghy and towed their kayak safely to their dinghy. They were keen to find the shipwreck, which they had read about. Without a strong motored dinghy they would not be able to return to the lagoon against the current. We suggested they walk across the shallow part of the reef, then snorkel, but they did not have any shoes! C’est la vie.
When we were back onboard after dive #1, we hailed Jerome on the radio and he did not waste any time jetting over. No Leo snorkeling above today, which was good, because the sea state got rougher as the morning wore on. While we finished filling tanks, Scott loaded some weather viewing software on Jerome’s memory stick. We also showed him untouched photos from diving on the “Seeadler” wreck. Once Scott “develops” the digital images to his satisfaction, he will burn them a CD. Jerome was thrilled to be in many photos with his son and knows the little boys will be very excited to see them.
Nice 2nd dive. We covered the same territory as in the morning. Jerome is a very compatible third diver and we know he really loves it like us, so it is a pleasure to share. I had a “Zena Warrior Princess” moment when I saw the evil Crown of Thorns starfish on the reef. I didn’t have my own long knife and got pricked on a thorn using Scott’s short knife. Scott got pricked too. Now my right hand is really spastic. Finger #4 is still recovering from my crush injury of 2 weeks ago and now I have a new owie on the tip of my right index finger. We do not believe the thorn breaks off nor is it known to be poisonous. It did bleed and is quite bruised looking. But Scott kissed it all better so I am sure to be fine soon.
The days pass quickly. By the time we rinsed gear, showered, Scott loaded fuel to the tank that runs the generator and I made yogurt and salads, it was 3:00 p.m.
We are having pretty darn comfortable weather. I could do with less rain, but the cloud cover is mainly what keeps it cooler.
Cindy and Scott
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