The other day (actually about 2 weeks ago), we went out surfing with our friends. After a great day on the break for everybody, we were sitting on their yacht and Monica comes up from the salon and say’s guess what? Today is our anniversary! We’ve actually been “together” for 21 years and married 18 years. After a couple congrats from John and Lulu and a hug from me, we all settled in to relax with a cold beverage. Then John say’s for our anniversary, he and Lulu want to take us out to Cloud 9.

Cloud 9 is a floating bar on the reef between Cloudbreak and Tavarua Island. The location and facilities are remarkable. Cruiser note: The holding is great, but pay close attention to the various areas of bombies. We had a ball. After we all got our beer muscles on, it was time to climb up on the second floor railing and jump into the water. After we all went for a jump, Monica and I decided we should jump while holding hands. While it sounds like a great idea, it went a little awry. To Tom, jump meant JUMP, to Monica this meant step off. Thus, she went straight down pulling Tom onto his side and the impact was rather loud and woke up his ribs for a few minutes of minor pain.

Since team Tanga had only planned on going surfing with JnL and then returning home that afternoon, we left all our windows and hatches open. So, of course it rained all night while we were away and we returned to a wet boat the next day. But it was worth the price.

A couple days later, we all went surfing again, but this time we took Tanga while our buds took the Red Menace. After another great session, we moved the boats in between the outer and inner reefs and anchored in multi-colored waters and pristine views. We went to sleep in nice perfectly calm weather, but Mother Nature likes to mess with us, so during the middle of the night, she started blowing pretty strong. Since we were between a couple reefs, the swell wasn’t too bad, just enough to annoy us and keep our sleep lousy. Thus, when then sun came up, we looked at the surf and saw it was a blow out and decided to pull the hook and head for the protection of Musket Cove. As we pulled the hook, yet another nice surprise, we wrapped a bombie! Unfortunately it was at 60 feet of water, so Tom couldn’t swim down and unwrap us. We started working the throttle and helm and windlass together and a little help from the wind waves and we got the chain and anchor off. Then it was back to Musket for some beer butt chicken on the fire.

Since then we’ve been surfing every day with our friends. Tom got a nice reminder that a resin surf board does not give when it comes down on his nose. During a mild wipeout of his, I saw the board go flying in the air and thought I saw it hit his shoulder. After making sure he re-surfaced, I went back to talking with Lulu. Then we noticed Tom paddling back to the dingy after only an hour in the surf? This was odd because John and Tom go surfing till their arms fall off, usually about three or so hours. As he approached the dingy, he said the bridge of his nose hurt, and he was a little fuzzy. He wasn’t aware that he had blood streaming down his face until we pointed it out to him. After a little cleanup and a couple pictures, he had shaken out the cobwebs and was fine. Then we went to the Red Menace to treat the cut properly. Properly means scrubbing it out with Limes. Tom said this was worse than the impact of the board, but other than a couple girly whimpers, he took it like a trooper. We don’t think it’s broken, but parts that didn’t move before are a little loose when we touch it.

We would love to post pictures of our Cloud9 time and his nose, but our homo aussie friends haven’t given us a copy yet. So when we get copy’s we’ll post them. Fricken Aussies!!