July 6, 2012

Red-footed boobie

We left at the "crake of dawn" as Barry says now to search for the rare Tuamotu Sandpiper on a nearby small motu where it is known to be. It doesn't pipe in the sand but lives in bushes where it eats insects. We didn't really search either. We just got out of the dinghy, went ashore, stood there and two came to us loudly announcing their arrival. One was banded. They posed for us and chit chatted with us. "Confiding" as they would say in New Zealand. We searched for the Atoll Fruit-dove, which we didn't find, but found many nesting Red-footed Boobies, noddies and Fairyterns. We visited the "neighbors" on the way back to the boat. Neville and wife from England and Ireland, then New York where they became US citizens and now cruising on Dream Time and kite surfing. Just vaguely interested in birds. They went through the Panama Canal and did the Coconut Milk Run like everyone else through French Polynesia and then to Opua, NZ. They did NZ to Fiji to NZ then left Opua and are going round again through Ravaivai, the Australs, Gambiers and now here in the Tuamotus where they have been 6 weeks. Lady from South Africa on Tereme with a young cat. Her husband was out sailing their inflatable dinghy (like ours) which is outfitted with sails and even a spinnaker. (I have a new project for Barry.) She has seen the Atoll Fruit-dove near our boat. The kitty has fallen over 3 times but they have a wire mesh ladder off the swim step and two long blue braids dangling from the deck into water which the kitty uses to climb back aboard. The cat fishes from the swim step. When we got back to Sunrise there were the mother, father and daughter from the third boat visiting "our" motu while we were visiting theirs. That's it for the neighborhood gossip. Back aboard out of the sun doing boat chores. Results of evening outing to the motu: no crake, no dove but much peace & beauty. I wore shoes and socks!! (I always wear Tevas in the water because I can still hear Pamela screaming, "Dangereux!" as I almost stepped on a Stone Fish.)



Coconut Milk Run



Stone Fish