After breakfast, we pulled up the anchor and made the short hope to the south island in the atoll, Oqea Driki island. A beautiful little spot where we tucked in tight to shore in quite shallow water 0.8 meters under the keel and water levels still dropping (at low tide we were about 6 inches off the bottom).
A plan was hatched to snorkel a small rock outcropping at low tide. As we waited Carl proposed we paddleboard to the “waterfall” and then to the small rock outcropping. I was leery but game and we jumped on the boards. It wasn’t bad at first, some gusts where you made no progress until they passed, but overall, not bad. However, as we got closer to the waterfall (coral reef extending form the island out to the barrier coral with water constantly draining off of the coral during low tides), the wind increased and the gaps between gusts got smaller and smaller. Ultimately it was wind all the time and 100% effort zig zagging back and forth trying to make forward progress. All told it was thirty minutes of very hard labor to make the 0.75 miles to the waterfalls. Ugh.
We checked it out and took a few pictures before I declared that I was tapping out. Still a mile or more from the rock outcropping and strong winds were too much for me. So instead we paddled downwind. Stopping to explore small beaches and shore line. All told, we covered over three miles. And still my shoulders were burning when we got back. Definitely the correct call, for me, to not paddle to the snorkeling spot.
For dinner, I whipped up an Octoberfest of sorts; sausages with Bavarian mustards, German potato salad, and coleslaw, plus we split a beer (we left civilization with only six beers).
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