position 23 39.4s 178 54.1w The weather was quite good - a bit of sun squeezed through. Went for a snorkel near the reef in the lovely warm water?.as crystal clear as it comes. Unfortuneatly there is very little coral. However, it was so lovely to see all the familiar tropical fish swimming around. The excursion was topped off for me by spending a few minutes in the company of a half metre turtle and later on with a 1m reef shark.
The tide was going out mid morning and by midday we were able to walk across the reef to the ocean side?what an experience. To think I was standing on the ocean with nothing around for a few hundred miles.
The edge of the reef at low tide is about half a meter above the sea level and has been eroded away with time but equally has much growth on it. The waves crashing on the ocean side of the reef send water across the reef to the inside of the lagoon so there are a myriad of waterfalls along the ledge. It all makes it look like the terraces of Pammukele or even what I imagine the pink and white terraces may be like with a different hue.
Decided to take my copter for a whirl?over the reef. Despite the cloud cover I am rather pleased with my photos. Went up to 220m and from that altitude have some very good pics all the way to the pass. You get such a different perspective of the reef looking down on it. I will post some when I get WiFi. I hope the wind dies and the sun comes out before we leave so I can get some more pics?however I doubt that will be the case After lunch took the dingy down to look at the lighthouse. Mark & Joel climbed to the top! Mark was looking for some surf :) They then spotted a wreck in the distance so took off to examine it. Only when they were nearly ontop of it did they realise it was a lump of rock or coral that had been weathered to look like a wreck.