Sea Snakes

August 3, 2009—While I have good Internet, I wanted to load a few pictures from Robinson Crusoe Island and my birthday celebration.

The Central Market in Nadi was a very interesting place.

Our snorkeling trip at Musket Cove was really lovely, and Steve took these pictures with our underwater camera.

The past week has been uneventful since Steve was unlucky enough to pick up a case of the flu from another cruiser who was in the anchorage with us. From Sunday through Thursday, Steve spent his time on the settee with a fever, chest congestion, and a bad cough. We kept all the ports and hatches open, trying to get as much air moving through the boat as possible, and some how I did not catch it from him.

Thursday afternoon we decided to go ashore to make some travel arrangements for our trip to Sigatoka to see the Hoppers. Steve got into the dinghy so that we could lower the outboard engine, and when he looked down at the floor of the dinghy, he spotted a sea snake at the back of the dinghy and underneath the inflatable floor. He high stepped it back onto the boat, and we debated how to get rid of it. Our inflatable floor leaves an air space between it and the bottom of the dinghy, which creates a lovely, warm place for the snake to warm itself.

We turned the dinghy upside down and tapped on the bottom, but the snake did not leave. We ended up deflating the floor, and then Steve started pulling it up to find the snake. All of a sudden we realized that there were actually two snakes, not one. He got back on the boat and grabbed our boat pole so that he could pick them up and put them over the side, but both snakes slithered off the dinghy by themselves. Steve then started placing the floor back into position and was amazed to find a third snake, and he did have to pick that one up with the pole and lower it into the water. Now we check very carefully before stepping down into the dinghy.

We went ashore and Ronnie at Robinson Cursoe was very helpful and made our hotel reservations for us and also arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the boat landing. We then returned to the boat so that Steve could rest up before we returned in the evening for dinner.

On Friday Steve was still not feeling great and still had a low-grade fever, so we took it easy for another day. On Saturday morning we were packed and ready to go, and the shuttle boat came by our boat to pick us up and take us up the river, which took about 30 minutes. From there the taxi picked us up and drove us to the Badeera Beach Hotel where we will stay for two nights and spend time with Bob and Barbara Hopper.

In closing I wanted to post the picture that Steve took through the binoculars of Lisa's boat, sv Magia, on the reef. On Friday, July 24, her boat was pulled off the reef, and she now has it on the hard for repairs. This story had a good ending.