Suwarrow

W have had a nice reunion with Cloud Nine, Ian and Lyn. They are off tomorrow for Tonga and New Zealand. Maybe we'll see them again in a few years, who knows.

We haven't done much here yet. We did take the dinghies up to the Gull Islands (motu) to see the birds. It is a nesting area for Frigit birds, Masked Boobies (illegal to eat here!) and a small turn. There were thousands of them nesting on the small patch of dirt above the high tide line. The motu they are on is only 100 by 300 yards with one palm tree and a few scrub bushes. The bird nests are just on the ground. There used to be more palm trees, but the last few hurricanes have mostly wiped out
the trees and bushes.

We planned to snorkel on the way back but there was nothing to see. The birds clean out all the small fish close to the motu, so there aren't any bigger fish that would normally eat the small ones.

John and Veronica and their 4 boys suggested we have a pot luck at their place yesterday, so Cloud Nine and us did. There are two other boats here but they were too busy scuba diving the pass with the sharks to come. We had a nice afternoon with them.

There are sharks here. Lots of them! John's oldest son went fishing just before the pot luck so they could provide the fish. He said "I caught one and a half fish." Turns out the sharks got the back half of his second fish. A regular occurrence here. I have not been swimming yet. Not really because of the sharks, but when I slammed my finger in the hatch, it split open. It is healing fast, but I still don't want to get it infected by spending too much time in the salt water.

Three more boats came in today. After so long mostly by ourselves, 7 seems a lot. They have had nearly 100 boats so far this season. At least one boat all time since the park opened April 1st. They are only open April to November, due to hurricane season. John and Veronica have been the care takers for 4 seasons now. They go back to Rarotonga for the off season.