The Second Week in Paradise

This week has been filled with interesting things to do:

I had my first Bali Belly experience, not good (First Aid Kit pills did the trick)
Blocked ear canal (Swimmers ear drops from the chemist)
My first bicycle ride to town with a milk carton fashioned into a rock repository ( for the dogs) and wearing my bike helmet which created a bit of a sensation (obliviously not that many helmets here.) I joined the Nelson Public Library for 10 tala and checked out most of the collection (3 books for 2 weeks).

The pic is of the sea wall in town and the dogs that hang out there. I bicycle along the path which is better than playing with the road traffic and the dogs.

I went to the Palolo Deep Marine Reserve near the Apia Wharf this morning on the last of the incoming tide for a snorkel. I hired mask, snorkel and fins, looked at the map, got directions to swim to the first pole on the reef and snorkeled for 90 minutes. The Deep is a large depression in the reef and the sides are covered with corals and fish on the drop-off to about 10-15 meters. While it was good to be back in the water again, it was the things I found that amazed me, I had worked the east side that had the best coral and then crossed the hole to the harbour side and came across first a divers knife and later a mask and snorkel. Obliviously someone had had difficulty here in the last week. The ebb tide race can be quite strong with several signs along the front street testifying to this. So it was a happy soul that finned back to the beach.

There I met a spearo who was going to go spear fishing around to the wharf area. Albert was from New Caledonia and was attending Bible School. He was well set up with a fish float, very long spear gun, knife and spearo fins. He invited me along but I had already been in the water for 90 minutes and the prospect of another 90 was a bit daunting, so I wished him well.
So it has been an interesting week so far, Saturday we are going to the south west coast for an explore.