We are still hiding out at the NE corner of Rarioa Atoll with Perigee and Capel, Mara, two Australian boats. A spell of calm weather has allowed us to get out to the mid-lagoon deepwater bommies, which are fantastic and I am getting the hang of photography while snorkeling so LOTS of fish pics are forthcoming. Unfortunately one of the downides of remote anchorages is only having satellite communications so they will have to wait, possibly for quite a while until we get to an island on the fiber optic cable that has recently been strung through parts of French Polynesia.

I have now dragged out the big camera and started to get some bird pics. We are not sure if this is a Tern or a Petrel but I'm sure someone out there will know. Anyway they are beautiful birds that often fly around in pairs in such tight formation that they can be mistaken for the white wing tips of a larger bird. This formation flying appears to be an important part of their mate selection process because we sometimes see a second male join the formation for a fly-off. They are impossible to tell apart so the victor is uncertain but it ends with one male flying off alone.

We motored down to the village yesterday as a group on Perigee to see if we could get online and visit the only store to buy some veggies as the monthly boat came in the day before. Slim pickings, carrots, cabbage, onions and garlic was all we found. The village satellite internet link was down so no internet either. We did manage to find some beer and some Tim Tams (the Audtralian equivilant of US Oreos or UK Kit Kats) and it was a very nice day out.

A fourth boat is arriving later today so our little community of six people will become eight - very exciting.