Day 164 Another feast

Sia called all the yachts in the harbor yesterday to invite them all to a free lunch on the motu (island within the coral reef). We were asked to bring desserts so Andy baked a delicious chocolate cake from scratch. At the lunch, three of the women asked him for the recipe. They could not believe he had baked the cake.
In the morning, Mark reviewed with us a variety of safety procedures. We had gone over these in Mexico but that was months ago and with the news of Just Desserts sinking, it was timely to do it again. We started with the positions of all the "through hull" fittings and the procedure to plug these if they spring a leak. Next was the operation of all 4 pumps and finally the procedures for sending out a "Mayday" and abandoning ship. The protocol for using the life raft is that you step up into it i.e. it is the last thing one does when all else fails. The boat's hull is the safest place to be so the life raft is only used when the hull is surely headed for the bottom. At that point, the "ditch bag" of emergency supplies is loaded into the life raft along with the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) that broadcasts an automatic Mayday with out boat ID to a satellite network. None of us expect we will ever have to use any of these measures but we feel better prepared having reviewed them.
At noon we joined the other yachties on the motu for a nice lunch with Sia and her husband Niko. Several of their kids were there as well as some older youths who had helped assemble the feast. Several of the dished were made from parrot fish that had been caught that morning on the reef. Everything was very good and Andy's cake was a hit.
We brought an American football along with us and engaged the locals in a game of catch. It is always fun to teach someone how to throw this awkward looking ball as the technique is not intuitive but once learned the result is very rewarding.
By mid afternoon, everyone had packed up and headed back to their respective boats. We had a quick swim and spent a quiet evening reading on the boat. We had done a book trade with Liahona and all of us were delving into the new supply. I finished a book called "The Mindful Traveler; A Guide to Journaling and Transformative Travel" by a U.S. writer who obviously had been greatly influenced by Buddhism. His main message was to be in touch with yourself and know why you are traveling. He made a good point that on a long trip, the reasons for your travel may change with increased travel. I found the book particularly interesting as it stressed taking time to think and contemplate as well as write down experiences and impressions as a way to clarify the thinking. I certainly have tried to do that to some extent in this blog but I have also spent time in solitary contemplation - a method stressed in his book. We have about two more months to sail and this is a good time to reflect on the learning acquired.