Venture Lady and Lollypop came to us for sundowners yesterday; eight of us in the cockpit, and three dinghies astern, made for a very sociable sight. Then later on the weather started to change, ahead of forecast. Initially the wind and waves started to increase from the west, which left us a bit exposed. As the waves built we could feel them surging around us in the dark, in our very shallow anchorage. Eventually the wind backed into the south-east as forecast and our anchorage became very protected. We awoke to calm turquoise water despite the dull skies and building wind.

We were doing some boat maintenance today and thinking that we have not seen a proper marine chandlery since Panama. We have to try to carry all the spares we think we can possibly need on board; this time it was bulbs for our navigation lights, and waterproofing for the sprayhood.

Then we went ashore to explore the motu. It, like so many here, is covered in coconut palms, harvested for copra. The ground is white coral and scrub, with great heaps of empty brown coconut shells, occasional gangs of big orange hermit crabs, and a couple of lonely hens with their chicks. There's a cobbled-together hut with a bit of a garden where the copra collector stays when he's working here. Not a sound but the rustling of the wind in the palms and the occasional thud of a falling coconut. We walked across to the ocean side, breaking through the trees to cross a great expanse of broken grey coral, and what a contrast. Today's photo will show the red coral platform we found on that side, with massive pieces of coral busted off and flung around the shelf. It must have taken an enormous amount of energy to move these. Such a difference from the atoll side, where there are small sandy coves of still water, fringed with coconut palms.

G took another chance to snorkel some of the nearby bommies �" good coral and fish, and very close to the surface. It is clearly a bit of a minefield for navigation here, so definitely day light movement only, backed up by satellite imagery and polarised lenses.