[p]beale12.4
[s]
pos: 18 48.2s 179 07.1w
Date: 14/07/2017 14:00 gmt+12:00
This update is dedicated to the wildlife. We saw our first up-close WHALE yesterday in the lagoon at the Yagasa cluster, a tiny group of uninhabited islands a little north of Fulaga. We were heading off for a tour round the island in our dinghy when the eagle-eyed whale spotters in the next dinghy spotted a whale about a mile away. We doodled at 3hp outboard speed across the lagoon and finally ended up drifting, waiting for the whale to breach. Sure enough, she emerged above the water about 100m away, and idly rolled over in our direction, gave a brief puff of spume then dived back down again.
She reappeared several times over the next half hour, which was wonderfully exciting. We had our fill , then we headed back to the island to continue our tour, leaving her to feed or whatever she was doing.
During the tour we were delighted by the bird life here. There are magnificent white sea birds with long trailing white tail feathers that are a flying work of art.
Later that afternoon our whale reappeared, about a mile away, with the full whale-leap-and-cavort performance.
Today, Friday, we have set sail for Kadavu, about 120 miles west of here, the other side of the 180th line of longitude.
And along the way, a manta ray decided to show us some aerobatics just 100m off our path. Several times it leapt out of the water, performing full somersaults, some with a full twist. Degree of difficulty Very High.
A magnificent display.
Now we are cruising at 7 knots across relatively flat seas, all is well with the world, and our next stop is the Astrolabe Reef.

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