Day 53, Year 2: First Email from Sam
Date: Saturday, June 16, 2007
Weather: Still Windy, Still Mostly Cloudy
Location: Korolevu Bay, Kadavu Island, Fiji

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No, this is not a typo. This is the content of our first ever email from that grand baby, Sam. This is the message just as he typed it, according to his father. So June 16, 2007, will go down in history as the day the youngest baby (147 days old today) sent an email. I sent one back to him, but it was not nearly as creative as the one he sent. Sam is starting to sit up now and is grabbing at everything in sight, including the nearest computer keyboard. I’m sure this is just the first of many
emails to come.

We are in a holding pattern but are still hoping to leave here tomorrow afternoon. The wind has subsided some, but not much. It has come around to the southeast, which is a good thing for us, but the problem is the sea state. Our Fiji reports are saying that the seas are rough. We’ll wait until tomorrow morning to make a final decision, but we will probably go, rough seas and all, unless high winds are predicted. We probably should have left a few days ago when we had a weather window, but
the snorkeling here was just too wonderful to leave. I think I can endure one night of rough seas while dreaming of a coral garden with the most beautiful fish one can imagine. That will get me through.

We have wonderful fish identification books onboard, but we have almost nothing that helps us identify coral and other sea creatures. Last night Paul on Ranger loaned me a book he had from Tahiti that showed some pictures of coral and had some nice descriptions. I spent my entire morning taking pictures of the pictures in the book and entering all of the written information into my computer. I’m a fast typist, but it still took me all morning. Mark spent the morning starting to read a new book.
He is reading River God by Wilbur Smith. It is about Egypt and I think I mentioned this when I read it a couple of weeks ago. He is entralled and it was hard to pull him away to go snorkeling, but we finally made the move. Gerry and Donna went out again today as well, and they took that new little digital underwater camera of theirs. We went over when they got back home and literally drooled over some of their pictures. They were kind enough to share and when I get to Savusavu in two or three
weeks, I will be able to post pictures of some the fantastic sights we have seen here underwater. Today’s prize was a lionfish. Well, technically it is called a turkeyfish, but it is what I have always called a lionfish, and what some other books call it as well. It was the classic striped fish with very long spines radiating all around. Actually Donna and I saw one a day or so ago, but today Gerry and Mark saw them and Donna was actually able to get pictures. I also saw pennant bannerfish today
for the first time, and a beautiful fish with a huge red ring just behind his head. But still for me, the highlight of the day was “finding Nemo.” I found an anemone I had not seen previously, and was able to bring Mark over to watch the pink anemonefish. I went on to search for the orange-fin anemone fish I have been observiing for the past few days. On the way, I actually found another little group of what looked like tomato anemonefish to me–dark orange, almost red. Mark got cold – the water
can feel quite chilly here – and went back to the dinghy, but I persisted and I found my little family so that I could say goodbye. The orange-fin anemonefish has two turquoise bands around an almost black body with a yellowish-orangish face and fins and a little white tail fin. They are beautiful and just so much fun to watch. I found Donna with her new camera and showed her the spot. She was able to get a couple of pictures, but you really have to be patient with these guys. They dart in and
out of the anemone and are very hard to capture on camera. But even without a photograph, I have fantastic picture memories in my head.

070616 Day 53 Kadavu Island, Fiji–Kadavu's Waya Island Underwater