Sun and sand

Hurray, after a really really really windy night, we finally have sun. We're anchored in front of a perfect white sand beach, complete with palm trees, turquoise water and lush scenery. Tonga is finally living up to the praise of our friends who arrived ahead of us. Pete went for a nice snorkel this morning and I enjoyed some quiet minutes with my book and beach chair. The kids had a marvelous day playing with other kids, making forts in the trees. Tomorrow we're invited to celebrate two kid birthdays. We figure 26 kids and 23 adults will eat two roasted pigs, four cakes, one rum punch, one sangria, one box of white wine, a lot of juice and as many salads as we can make.

I hope this week we can have a regular routine of school and varnishing in the morning and playing in the afternoons. For over a month now we've been sightseeing like crazy and moving around so much we're behind on boat chores and feeling quite worn out. With all the wind and all the rough anchorages, we haven't slept well in a long time. So far this evening is quiet and calm, so we hope to collapse into bed early and actually sleep through the night. Living on a boat equates to having a new born baby sometimes with all the night interruptions. Everyone in the anchorage this morning compared notes about lack of sleep and anchor problems. Only one cruising boat dragged, but the charters fared worse due to lack of experience, I guess. A current came through from a different direction than the wind and had everyone swinging around towards shore at 3:00 in the morning. No harm done, just "knackered" people as the Brits say.

Pete found a fantastic shell while snorkeling, but a hermit crab is living in it. For some reason the hermits have terrific taste in shells. We have a no killing policy when collecting shells, so we have become adept at evicting hermits and relocating them to ugly shells. Sometimes they can be pulled out, sometimes they will come out if put in fresh water. This guy is stubborn, but we've turned his shell upside down, put him in fresh water and offered him another shell to move into. We'll see what happens by morning. If he's unwilling to move, we'll set him free.

-Kellie