(Photo: Semper V (center) at Warderick Wells)

The park at Warderick Wells is superb. We hiked along the trails on the north end of the island, which are dotted with excellent interpretive panels about the ecosystem, and several of us had our hats blown off by the blowholes that funnel air up through the rock from where the waves crash against the caves being carved out below. We trudged up to Boo Boo Hill, which owes its name to a shipwreck that carried missionaries on board, with all souls perishing. Legend has it that their ghosts may be heard on moonlit night singing hymns, but as we were there during a new moon, we heard nothing but the steady 15-knot easterly wind (even the regular visitors here are commenting on the relentless winds). The night sky, however, is gorgeous, and we have seen a few spectacular meteorites and the Space Station cross overhead.

We tried snorkelling at one of the choice spots in the southern cut to the mooring channel, but the current was a little too strong for Marine, so we shifted to a more sheltered location. In the interim, I managed somehow to sweep a fin and my snorkel overboard the dinghy without noticing, and it wasn't until I started to gear up 20 minutes later that I noticed the missing items. We doubled back to the dinghy buoy in the cut where I figured I lost the gear, but our best attempt at a search-and-rescue pattern looking through our glass-bottomed bucket was fruitless, and I resigned myself to having to wait until Georgetown in another week or so before being able to replace fins and snorkel.