7 November 2010 – North Minerva Reef

The predicted low came through at 0700, so at least we got a good night's sleep before the excitement began. First lots of rumbling, then lightning & lotsa rain. The crew on Wata won't need us to give them water from our watermaker now!

After it was over - in just a couple hours - we were facing South with our rump to the reef, so, after dropping off Steve on Endymion’s forgotten snorkel & sock (from our excursion to the pass yesterday), & giving him a much-needed lighter in exchange for some fishing gear, we motored a couple miles to the south side of the reef, anchoring right next to the navigation light. As always, the water colors in Minerva, when the sun shines, are just stunning.

We swam to the light, but the ladder was too high to climb, so we swam to the reef, walked a bit, then returned to the boat to replace the batteries in the camera. We noticed the sand spit now showing above the tide line to the west, so decided to take Plover there, as it was too far to swim. We remembered being told there were ruins there of a house an American guy built some years ago, laying claim to Minerva as his personal independent republic. Sure enough, there was a rectangular foundation built of coral & concrete next to the sand spit. Crazy. The foundation resembled a shallow swimming pool, with chunks of what must've been the walls of the house lying around. Very interesting to see. We also learned that there are many more birds living here than the 5 white fairy terns who came to visit us as we explored. There are black terns living on a big rock, & there seemed to be a lot of them.

I did my requisite cartwheels on the "beach" before we returned to the nav light, which I was determined to climb. The tide was now high enough to reach the bottom of the ladder. We stopped again at the boat to get the spear gun & more batteries (taking lotsa pics!) since previously we'd seen some edible fish under the light.

It was so cool being up there! Probably only 30' above the water, but it felt really high since it's so flat here. The colors of the water, the reef, the coral below us, Migration at anchor, even Plover tied to the base of the light, all looked so amazingly clear & colorful. Surprisingly the platform wasn't covered with guano, & the light & solar panel were very clean. Wonder why it’s not working?
  
  

BB shot a couple drummers for dinner, then we picked up anchor again & moved closer to the 2 French boats anchored at the south end. The other 3 boats spent the day anchored inside the pass, then left at sunset.

I baked a cake cuz I dreamed about cake & really wanted one. The icing came out too runny, but BB suggested putting it in the fridge & it was okay after chilling it. I have yet to make a good icing.

Today is the day we got engaged here last year & I think we commemorated it well with our day of exploring.... I’m so glad we were able to return to Minerva Reef to celebrate our one year anniversary.

says ADR