Day 163, Year 5: Happy 1st Birthday to Ziggy Milo
Date: Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Weather: No Wind; Beautiful Day
Location: Ile Fouquet, Peros Banhos Atoll, Chagos
Last year on this day, we got up at 7am ready to leave the Boat Lagoon in Thailand for Rebak Marina in Langkawi, Malaysia. We were going to make it in four days, get the boat ready to leave, and fly to New Mexico on April 16 just in time for Ziggy’s birth. But things didn’t quite happen according to plan. Since we were planning to leave the Boat Lagoon at 9:30, one of the first things we did that day was check email while we were still connected to the internet. There was an email from Justin and Jo explaining that Jo’s labor was beginning and that actually it had begun a couple of days prior. We immediately tried to call and got no answer. We called our daughter Heather and she explained that we should have received a series of emails from the past couple of days that we just didn’t get. She forwarded those immediately so we could better understand the situation. Jo’s water had broken, but labor had not begun. They thought she was going to have to go to the hospital for the birth, but the latest email was explaining that things were moving along and that they were still hoping for a home birth. We were very torn as to what to do. If we stayed at the Boat Lagoon where we would have good communication, it would be another week before we would have a tide high enough to allow us to leave. But if we left, it would be at least four days before we could call again. In the end, we decided to leave. Since our morning on the 7th was really Justin and Jo’s evening of the 6th, it was two more nerve-wracking days before we got the email announcing Ziggy’s birth. They did have to go to the hospital for the birth as it ended up to be a C-section, but the email explained that baby and mother were a little traumatized, but fine. We celebrated that night on the beach at Ko Lipe by sending up a Chinese lantern. As it soared upwards, looking like it was headed for the moon, it was evident to us that a new star had been born-our Ziggy Milo. A year later, we still feel the same way. He is one happy baby and such a cutie. So happy birthday little star . . . Ziggy. You had a tough time getting into this world, but you have made up for it ever since. We love you and send hugs and kisses across the miles.
We spent our morning aboard Mirage with Kathy and Jeff and Lynne of Constance. Ed was hit with a stomach virus this morning so he didn’t come. Cathy and Jeff invited us over just to chat. We met them back in Thailand but really haven’t gotten a chance to know them. We had a delightful morning sampling the various banana treats we brought and drinking coffee-something we rarely do but I imbibed this morning and I’m glad I did as it was really good. I brought whole wheat banana bread, the recipe coming from my time honored thirty-seven year-old Tassajara Bread Book. Lynne brought banana muffins and Kathy baked banana cake with almonds. All were delicious and a result of the two huge stalks of bananas that Constance and Windbird brought from Gan. They were green when we left the Maldives, but are now in desperate need of being used up. We have given as many away as we can, so I guess the Gray Reef Sharks that hang out under our boat are going to get a banana treat-whether they want it or not.
In the afternoon, Mark, Lynne, and I went snorkeling on a coral shelf referred to by cruisers as “the aquarium.” We had hoped to go at 1:30 but the inner reef had rolling waves and didn’t look hospitable, so we waited until 2:30 and headed out. Our timing could not have been more perfect. “The aquarium” is separated from the main reef by a patch of sand. We put our dinghy anchor down in the sand and started exploring. The water was absolutely crystal clear and even though we had to tuck our tummies when swimming over some of the coral, the depth was also perfect for seeing the fish up-close. The parrotfish just absolutely ignored us and it was a delight to just hover over them and study them closely. I found an Emperor Angelfish hiding under a shelf, but I was patient and she came out to say hello. He or she was a big one, probably fifteen to eighteen inches long. The body had dark blue and yellow horizontal stripes with a bit of an upward slope, a bright yellow tail, and a blue snout with a black mask backed by yellow. Spectacular! We also saw a group of nine spadefish, either Boer’s Spadefish or Obicular Batfish. Whichever, their bodies are shaped like very large flat dinner plates. And they were followed by a couple of Longfin Batfish which are much smaller but much more curious about humans. And as their name indicates, they have long dorsal fins. Then there were the Sailfin Tangs. These are dark fish but when you see them up close they are ornately decorated and when you bother them their top and bottom (ventral and dorsal) fins fan out which gives them a circular shape when just a second ago they were fish-shaped. They usually are found alone, but today a group of four was hanging out together. And the highlight of the day was a spectacular ray. It was at least four feet across, nearly circular in shape and with a tail about as long as the disc. It had huge spiracles or gill openings topped by big eyes. It was whitish gray with darker gray splotches. It swam right across the top of the aquarium, just barely skimming the coral, and then settled in the sand at the edge so we could examine him carefully from a safe distance. Then he swam around the eastern perimeter of the shelf and off he went. He was spectacular, but unfortunately on a day when we really should have had the camera, we had left it behind. We will go back tomorrow and try to get photos of some of the fish, but I doubt that we will be so lucky as to see the ray again. Hopefully there will be other opportunities.
We headed back to the boats but decided to go check out a bommie that Bill on Jenain had marked with a Styrofoam float this morning. On our way there we saw Ed out in his dinghy, so we knew he was feeling better. He wanted to get in the water and the marked bommie was just too deep, so we snorkeled over near the island. The water was way too warm and other than humongous plate corals, some at least nine to ten feet in diameter, there was not much else to see. But just seeing that plate coral was a treat.
