It’s 2:00 P.M. Sunday here on Minerva Reef and we plan to leave in
\na few hours for Fiji. It should take us 2.5 days. Weather forecast
\nis for very light winds for the next 24 hours followed by winds of
\n15 knots the next day, 20 the following day, and then a big low
\npressure system with winds of 30 knots or more will be coming. We
\nshould be safely anchored in Fiji a full day before the 30 knots
\narrives.<\/p>\n
Thursday and Friday at Minerva reef were very windy – too windy to
\ngo out and walk on the reef – but not too windy to have a good
\ntime socializing with our friends on “Vera” and “Wombat of
\nSydney”. We are all anchored a couple of hundred feet away from
\neach other so it is easy to hop in your dinghy and get to the next
\nboat. It was so windy we never felt inclined to get our own
\ndinghy off the deck of the boat (where we carry it on long
\npassages) and into the water, so we bummed rides from our friends
\nwhenever necessary.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Saturday, the winds died down a bit and Mike from
\n“Wombat of Sydney” wanted to go lobstering. We all went on his
\nboat (a 47 foot Beneteau First) and he pulled up his anchor and we
\nmotored over to the other side of the lagoon (just 2 miles away).
\n We pulled two dinghies behind us. Once he had securely anchored
\non the other side we all hopped into the dinghies – in our
\nwetsuits and reef shoes and gloves – and with Mike carrying his
\nharpoon and his wife Lynn carrying buckets for the captured
\nlobsters. We dinghied over to the reef which, although it was low
\ntide, still had quite a bit of water on it, and we had to wade up
\nand down little heads of coral to cross over to the ocean side.
\nThen, following Mike, we looked for deep holes in the reef.
\nApparently the lobsters like to hang out in those holes and Mike
\nis experienced at hopping into them and feeling around for the
\nspiny creatures and then yanking them out. He has done it many
\ntimes in dozens of places, and even caught a dozen or so just the
\nother day. Unfortunately he did not catch any yesterday. It was
\nan interesting experience though. Mark and Michael were at his
\nside, but not particularly keen on leaping into the holes, and the
\nthree women were lagging 1\/2 a kilometer behind, happier picking
\nup shells and looking at little colorful bits of coral than
\nstruggling with the crustaceans. Just as we gave up and started
\nheading back to the dinghies to return to his boat, some very dark
\nand threatening looking thunderclouds started forming on the
\nhorizon. We quickly made it back to our respective boats and
\nwithin an hour we had torrential rain and sheets of lighting all
\naround us. It was pretty scary. By 9:00 p.m. it had all passed
\nby and it was a brilliant, calm, starry night.<\/p>\n
Dinner was not lobster – but chicken curry!<\/p>\n
L.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s 2:00 P.M. Sunday here on Minerva Reef and we plan to leave in a few hours for Fiji. It should take us 2.5 days. Weather forecast is for very light winds for the next 24 hours followed by winds of 15 knots the next day, 20 the following day, and then a big low … <\/p>\n