Cocos Keeling Firsts
07 June 2016 | Cocos Keeling Island, Australia
Kim
We have been in Cocos Keeling, Australia going on 2 weeks. The weather has been grim, with inordinate amounts of rain, something we are not accustomed to. We have come to expect that the sun will shine on us and every day will be ours to play. Despite this uncooperative weather we have been having a grand time and even getting some school done on the rainy days. Our first few days here the weather was glorious and we had no reason to believe it wouldn't continue. So, we took it easy, relaxing on the beach and snorkeling the numerous reefs and the "rip." The rip is the cut between Direction Island and the next sand spit. The current rips through the pass and hence the name. They are not so creative here with the names, the islands are South Island, West Island and Home Island. No fishing is allowed in the rip and the fish seem to know it. There is a path thru the bush that leads to the head of the rip, where you put on a mask and dive in and the are whisked to the end by the current. On the way you almost always see a school of huge Maori Wrasse, lots of colorful parrot fish, a few black tip reef sharks and a couple of white tip reef sharks. We have been thru numerous times and have not been disappointed yet. It is easy entertainment.
The reefs around the anchorage are numerous and filled with fish. The coral is pretty good and there is a fair variety. But, we are not snorkeling to see the coral these days. Zack and David have their spear guns out and after a long hiatus from fishing in SE Asia they are keen to eat fish everyday. Zack has had his spear gun since Panama but has yet to spear a fish. He has been out every day with David and Will searching out edible fish. His first few days he made lots of shots to no avail. David and Will each got a few so there was fish for dinner but Zack wanted his own. It finally happened for him and he came up with a red snapper which he nailed with a single shot to the brain. He was beside himself with pride as he swam it back to the dinghy, carefully watching the sharks and keeping his fish high out of the water. The boys can only get one fish a day as the sharks show up straight away when they hear the spear gun fire. Mostly they are small black tips and not a worry, but, lately we have been seeing a 2 meter grey reef shark that is a bit concerning. It has stayed in the distance but we are taking no chances and as soon as we spot it we head for the dinghy, fish or no fish. Zack wanted to cook his own fish so I helped him out with some ideas and he chose to stuff it with a lemon and bacon bread crumb filling and we sliced some potatoes thin to make a crust. It was a work of art and the boys were very happy. It's Zack's only catch to date but he keeps trying and will surely have another fish soon.
When we were in Thailand we bought a small kite surfer for Zack's birthday. The issue was that Zack's birthday is in September, but Cocos Keeling is an amazing place to kite surf. We decided to sing Happy Birthday and give it to him early. He was stoked!! We went with a 7 meter kite on the advice of the guy at the surf school that we bought it from and a friend who kite surfs and knows Zack well. We had originally thought to buy a 4 meter kite. The first day we took it out we were thinking we had made a big mistake. The wind was up and Zack and I did numerous face plants and drank lots of salt water. Then it rained for a few days and we couldn't take it out. Zack was gutted, he wanted to get back out. When the weather cleared we were back at it. We played it smart and brought our spare anchor so we could tie ourselves to it. It made all the difference and Zack and I were able to fly the 7 meter no problem. David has been a kite surfer for years and so he was sorted already. Zack has had some great days flying his kite and has mastered getting lifted into the air. He's so light that all he has to do is power up the kite and pull it back and he is flying. He has seen altitudes of 10 feet and loves it. He can spend all day just flying his kite attached to the anchor and never loses focus. Not sure why he can't focus so well at school? He is keen to get going on the board and hopefully we will be able to get him on it before we leave. We plan to be here a couple more weeks so he has time.
We have made only one trip to town so far. It is super expensive here so we are trying to just eat all the food we bought in Thailand and Malaysia. We went in for fresh veggies and one basket, no cart, cost $80. It's ugly, but it is all shipped in so we are lucky to be able to get any at all. We have yet to get to West Island to surf but it is definitely in the plans. There are 2 spots and we want to try them both. It is just a bit of a hassle because you have to line up the ferries with the tides and it doesn't work everyday. Some of the dilemmas we have!
The wind layed down for one day and we decided to go on an adventure to South Island. There is no ferry to South Island and it is mostly deserted. We had to take the dinghy over, and to do that we need a very calm day. We didn't want to miss our chance as the wind blows pretty consistent here. So we were off with Chantey and Whistler. It wasn't such a long ride and we found ourselves in a super shallow bay where we had to either row or walk the dinghy along. We had hoped to snorkel but there was no coral to speak of and we ended up just picnicking on the beach and playing some frisbee. Still a nice day with friends.
We had thought that we would be having lots of beach barbecues here but the mosquitos have been so bad we haven't bothered. There were 2 birthdays to celebrate in the fleet of 9 boats that are here so a beach party was scheduled. We kite surfed all morning and then headed in for what we thought was just going to be singing and cake but ended up being a full-on fish fry barbecue. The kids had a great time playing on the beach and opening coconuts with a rechargeable drill, which is sort of cheating but they didn't seem to care. There were several cakes, lots of fish cooked on the fire, a few beers, and lots of chat and a great night was had by all.
We are loving Cocos Keeling and hope to have lots more fun here before we have to head out. Our next passage will be 2,000 miles to Rodriguez and take 2 weeks so I for one am not looking forward to it. But for now all is good!