Flying Foxes

Its like a scene out of the "Adams Family.." Giant bats fill the sky – and we mean giant. Here, these flying foxes are called peka and they hand upside down in the trees. They look like strange fruit – that moves! We went dinghy exploring today and saw a tree filled with these upside down hanging bats. When we clapped loudly they awoke and all flew away – an awesome sight. They are called "flying foxes" because of their size and their fox-like faces. They are actually fruit eating bats – so though quite large, they are quite harmless except to bananas! Of course we did decide to close up the boat tonight because we have bananas aboard! They are interesting to look at but don't exactly want one flying inside Astarte.

We are moored in Port Maurelle and enjoyed an evening on the beach with three other boats – "Cuttyhunk", "Buena Vista" and the just arrived "Chapter Two." We built a fire and enjoyed a few hours on the sandy beach. This morning, it was boat projects – cleaning the hull! Then we went for a snorkel nearby and saw some very interesting fish – some new varieties for us. The water here is very clear. We then did some dinghy exploring to a place called Swallows Cave. It is a large cave with white rumped swiftets and lots of stalagmites and stalagtites. Unfortunately when we arrived there – lots of other boats were there with snorkelers exploring the cave so we couldn't dinghy inside as planned. Perhaps we'll try again tomorrow earlier.

This is really a very lovely place and its fun to watch the boats come and go. Right now there are four boats on the moorings and four boats anchored.

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