Friday 15th July 2022

I’m sitting here in the cockpit watching the beautiful sunrise for the umpteenth time, with a warm breeze on my face, sipping my tea, and watching the water glisten and sparkle as if sprinkled with diamonds, it reflects the colors in the sky that gradually change as the sunrise becomes more vibrant; I can’t help but feel blessed, it’s such a privilege to be here in this incredibly beautiful part of the world, so far away from noise, pollution, traffic, politics and the cold. Daisy bobs gently on the rippling water, the wind has not come up yet, all is still and peaceful.

The sky behind the Island glows, in a mixture of deep red, sunburst orange (excuse the pun) turquoise, yellow, blue and green, a rainbow of colors. The puffy white clouds are tinted with orange and pink from the sun, I wish I could paint them, but I could never do justice to their exquisite beauty. The Frigate birds and Boobies are taking flight over the tree tops, where the flying foxes all rest, having safely returned before sunrise, I couldn’t see them it was too dark, but I could hear them as they returned to their treetop resting places.

I’ve been collection shells again; a pastime I absolutely love. Shells are like nature’s little treasures, unbelievably complex in their multitude of shapes and colors. Mostly I bring the shells back to the boat, where I can identify them (through my collection of shell books), I photograph them, write where I found them and when, and then return all but a few special specimens back into to the ocean.

Our lives are very simple when we’re on the boat, we make our own water, Bob recently installed a new water maker that fills our tanks in 2 – 3 hours, previously it took us all day to fill the tanks. We sail to our destinations only using the engine when we have to, so our fuel consumption is very little. We catch fish, but only what we can eat. We’ve recently started collecting garbage from the beaches, and taking it where it can be disposed of properly, the garbage is almost always plastic bottles, plastic bags and odd shoes. I will never understand why people throw their plastic waste overboard, or leave their garbage on the beaches when they leave? What kind of person does that, and why do so many people feel it’s ok to do that? It makes me sad…