A quiet morning – Mike and I took the dinghy to the limestone cliffs where the birds roost because I wanted to take some photos. Then we upped anchor to move Raven to nearby Bird Island which the guidebooks list as a good dive spot. The ocean side of this tiny rock and sand outcropping is a wall which drops straight down 30-40 meters to sandy bottom, which then slopes off to the deep. It’s reported to be a good place to spot pelagic sea dwellers – turtles, rays, sharks and big fish.

This time Rod and I went for the dive, while Anouk followed our bubble trail in the dinghy. Mike has been missing these dives because he has a lesion in his outer ear canal which we are treating with antibiotic ear drops – and it seems like a good idea not to submerge it in seawater. Too bad for Mike – I’m borrowing his dive computer and having a great time – he gets to watch the videotapes at the end of the day!

The visibility here was good, but not incredible like yesterday. We followed the wall mostly at a depth of 20 meters or so. Again a turtle swam by, closer than yesterday. We found two lobsters side by side backed into a crevice and took more video. We came across an enormous fan of black coral probably more than 6 feet across, and I found a colony of the Fijian Christmas tree worms, this time white and blue varieties instead of yellow. At the very end of the dive just as we were only a foot or two from surfacing, Rod glanced down and pointed out a pair of spotted eagle rays.

We dinghied back along the shore of Bird Island – aptly named for the variety of seabirds living on the craggy, guano-coated, limestone rocks. Surprising we spotted a herd of goats on the sand – it’s hard to believe they can survive on such a small, rocky, sandy outcrop – but apparently they do fine as there were several.

I was remarking with enthusiasm yesterday that when we embarked on the concept of acquiring Raven and taking off cruising – diving never entered the equation. It has been a huge bonus that Anouk and Rod enjoy diving so much and are so well-qualified to train us! I loved diving as a teen-ager but truly believed my diving days were long over. This has been a great opportunity to renew my enthusiasm, and in such spectacular waters!

Monday morning we are leaving Vatulele and heading for Beqa Island for more reputedly great diving, and also some different scenery. Vatulele is long, low and flat – while Beqa is steep, forested, and rugged.