Tuesday 23 January we left Majuro and motored 77 NM to arrive late afternoon at Aur Atoll, entering through the south entrance. Our first notice of the entrance was white breaking waves ahead, the actual coral is unseen just under the surface. The entrance is 90 feet (30m) wide and 42 feet (15m) deep and all submerged. It was too late in the day to visit the Mayor on Aur to pay our respects and get his permission to visit within the atoll so we anchored off and had a lovely night's sleep. It is dark by 7.30 pm so there is 12 hours to dream away, or sweat!

This morning we moved to anchor just off Aur and took the tender ashore. Bud dropped us off at the steep-to sandy beach, then took the tender out to deeper water, threw over an anchor and swam ashore. We then walked around the headland to find the village. Our first welcome came from kids at the local school right on the beach. We then walked through the village to find the Mayor with the help of some local women. Once we had sat and talked with him, his wife gave us some bananas which we exchanged for a bag of coffee. Carrying on through the village we chatted with other locals, seeing their houses, chickens with chicks, dogs and pigs. On our return trip through the village we were invited into the Pastor's home for fresh coconut milk which was very refreshing. He had a few children so Bud gave them a lollipop each. Taking our leave we continued back towards the tender and became engaged by a group of school children. Andy and I sat down with them and looked at th eir spelling books. They had a lot of quite difficult words. We met one of their teachers next who told us they have a test for the spellings in two weeks time. Bubba was a point of interest. He was so keen to get to the water he pulled at his lead and sounded like a little squealing piglet.

Of particular interest was that every household had at least one solar panel outside with a large battery supplied by a Taiwan (China) company. They also had several large 1,500 gallon (4,000 litre) tanks for collecting fresh water from their roof. There were well laid out paths between all the houses and through the village. Everyone was very welcoming and we worked hard to use our limited Marshallese with them and to learn new words. We spent about 2 hours at the village and then returned to the boat. We moved across the bay to anchor in the lee of Ebon. Andy and I launched the kayak and all four of us paddled ashore. We were met by a big black sow that wandered down the beach to us from its shack to see if we had any food for it. We walked into the jungle to cross to the windward side of the island. The coconut trees were dense with lots of dead debris and coconut husks in piles where the locals collect them, to process the copra for income as well as the women us ing other parts of the leaves to make beautiful baskets or wall coverings with cowrie shells woven into the design. The windward beach had lots of rubbish but also lots of dead coral build up. We found some interesting formations as well as lovely shells. Andy had a stick to roll the shells over to check if they were occupied. You have to be careful as some of the owners have a very powerful sting which can be fatal.

All in all a great start to our journey around some of the Marshallese islands and atolls. And what more perfect way to finish the day than with pudding of home made fondant au chocolat with coffee ice-cream (made from condensed and evaporated milk - all out of a tin). Yum

PICTURE: Andy and I talking with the school kids about their spelling exercises