Day 97, Year 3: Snorkeling, Snorkeling, and Then Snorkeling
Date: Hari (Thursday), Bulan Agustus 14, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Lots of Puffy White Clouds and Sunshine
Location: Kroko Atoll, Adunara Island, Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia

It was a snorkeling kind of day. But actually it was not all for fun. We started our day by completing the job of cleaning the bottom of the boat. We started yesterday, but it ended up being a huge two-day job. The last time the boat bottom was painted was in April of last year, so the bottom paint has really stopped doing its job. Loads of little sea creatures have decided to hitch a ride with us by attaching themselves to Windbird’s bottom, so it took two days of scrubbing to get her as clean
as she is going to get until we have a chance to paint the bottom. We will simply need to dive down each time we are anchored in clean water and do a little maintenance. Once we recovered from the cleaning, we then went snorkeling for fun. We are anchored right next to a pearl farm, so we snorkeled out to the huge line that holds the pearl farm in place and then worked our way back to Windbird. It is such a delight to be able to jump in the water and see such wonderful underwater life. Today
we saw more clownfish as well as three other varieties of anemonefish. There were lots of boxfishes and a whole variety of small, colorful fish, but one of the most interesting finds today was a sea squirt that looks like a small, bright yellow human heart with dark purple veins. Quite interesting. And there were lots of barrel sponges and a few rays. The great thing about snorkeling here is that there are acres of shallow water in which to explore. We took a lunch break and Scot Free II came
over to talk about our next few days of travel. And then it was back in the water for a late afternoon snorkel. I’m going to be sad to leave the little Nemos tomorrow, but I am hoping that I will see them everywhere we go. By tomorrow evening we will be in an anchorage on Flores. There are a couple of good diving/snorkeling possibilities so we are hoping to find another place to play in the water by Saturday.

We want to wish our daughter Heather good luck in her three-day walk for breast cancer. She begins her walk in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Friday. This will be the first time she has been away from Sam so Jed will follow with Sam and meet her every evening.
So good luck to you, Heather. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and that Sam hangs in there and doesn’t completely wear out his dad.

080814 Day 97 Adunara, Indonesia–Underwater at Kroko Atoll