pos S 15.14 W 147,42
This morning I left for the south side of the Atoll, tried to leave at first light but the
anchor chain was snagged, so I went to the village and bought some eggs at 60F each!!! that's about 80c Aus/77c US each and some baguettes,the sun was up by now so I dove on the
anchor, remember I'm in 40 foot of water and its been a long time since I free dived to that depth, I freed the chain with lungs bursting but feeling good that I can still do it. I arrived at 11.30am Pos S 15,14 W 147,42 the bottom here is mainly broken coral and sand and is quite steep, I dropped the
anchor 100 meter from the shore in 15 feet, let out 90 and am floating in 30 feet, 100 meters behind me its 100 feet plus. As soon as the
anchor bit and I backed down on it hard, on went the fins and goggles to check. The
anchor was in nice and deep. I was surprised at the lack of fish so I kept heading toward the shore and that is were the coral reef comes up out of the sand in about 12 foot of water, the tide was going out so I didn't try to go into the shallow waters on top but stayed at the side. Now we have fish, so I start studying tonight's menu. I have come to the conclusion that if I take a photo of something edible I tend to eat it, that could be a bit of a worry with a nice, cihanti (spell?) Thiss Thiss Thiss. So there I am snorkeling west along the reef wishing I had bought along the hand spear, rounding a coral patch the jutted out when traveling east is Mr.. HUGE, BIG and I mean BIG, black tipped reef shark, we are no more than 10-12 feet away from each other, head to head I stop, he stops, that is, I can guarantee a shark has brakes and he, or she applied them big time. I don't know who was more surprised me or the shark, the shark made a sharp turn right but found coral then shot to the left going a wide arc around the back of me and up onto the shallower reef. I think it thought I intended to take its PHOTO. I do have trouble eating fish that look like they belong in an aquarium, and for that reason most fish I catch on a
line tend to go back until I catch a normal looking fish, the trouble with spear fishing is they all look quite bland at 20 feet but on the surface you find you have just speared Dory from finding Nemo and really, who want to eat a fish that sound like Ellen DeGeneres. After lunch (no fish) went to explore the piece of water that flows from the ocean into the inner island lagoon??? I have no idea what its called. Anyway hit some coral and snapped the sheer pin. Big problem no spare sheer pin, no tools and wait for it, no OARS. So on with the fins over the side and splash my way back to the mother ship, decide trying to fix a prop with 30 feet of water below you is asking for trouble, so rather than drop bits of motor over the side I, using the oars that should have been in he
dinghy(but weren't) head for dry land and make the repairs there. While up to my shins in water using the old sheer pin but in a different format i.e by moving the broken bits around I have a useable sheer pin, I little black tip reef shark about 14 inches swims right by my leg, if I had a camera it would have been dinner.
Macs are better at handling Photos than PCs IMHO. Your posts have been great, and have a good trip to Tahiti. 
Linear Mode
