Day 174 Namenalala Island

We have the anchor up before 0800 and head out of the pass behind Liahona. The plan is to sail for half a day and then anchor for the night next to the island of Namenalala at the end of the Namena barrier reef (S17º07 W179º04 for those of you who track this kind of thing on Google Earth). The wind is a mild 10 knots and the direction is comfortably down wind so the sail is easy and uneventful. By noon we enter the pass in the boundary reef around the island and put down the anchor next to a narrow strip of white sand beach that sticks out from the thick rain forest covering the mountain behind. It would look like an uninhabited paradise except there is a sign on the shore that says it is private land and a fee-based permit must be obtained for use. Since we are not using the land, we must be exempt.
Not long after we have anchored, a dive boat from the nearby Cousteau resort puts down an anchor next to us so their guests can enjoy a peaceful lunch between dives.
The trees on the shore are a rookery for birds and are full of young white boobies. Overhead circle black frigate birds ready to steal from the mature boobies that are fishing nearby. Also hanging from the trees are black fox bats who will leave at sunset to eat fruit in the jungle.
We all jump in with our snorkel gear and enjoy the reef that fringes the island. Again, the colors are a bit disappointing but the water is clear and there is an abundance of small and colorful fish as well as some larger parrot fish, clams and conchs. Kurt discoves that 30 feet further out from our boat there is a boat on the bottom that looks like and old barge. The water is over 60 feet deep at that point so it is too deep for us to do much exploring by just free diving.
After snorkeling a bit we enjoy lunch and a nap to catch up from having gotten up so early. In the late afternoon we play water polo for a bit to get some exercise followed by welcome showers and dinner. Life is good.
We are a bit wary of the anchorage as the reef and some shallow coral heads are close so we do not want to swing much on the anchor chain as that could get us into trouble. As much as we might enjoy this anchorage, we will not be 100% comfortable sleeping here.
I reflect back on last night's eclipse and the comments of the young Indian woman named Dolly who works at the Copra Shed Marina. She said that Hindus are not permitted to view the eclipse. In fact if a woman is pregnant and looks at the eclipse, her baby will be born deformed. While Dolly considers these views to be groundless superstition she still does not plan to give the eclipse a look. It always amazes me how people in the 21st century will direct their actions by the ignorance of the past. When people had no explanation of events, they made up a story. However, when the real explanation finally became known the story persisted even though the facts presented a different picture. My education in the scientific method has had an indelible influence on me. "Hypothesis, experiment, observation and proof" seem so logical, it is hard for me to think in any other way. If the hypothesis is not borne out by observation, it seems hard for me to understand how people can accept it. One example and 100 exceptions do not make a proof.