24th February 2011

We've had a visitor on board for almost a week now. Erika, Ralph's Mum arrived on the 16th of February and has been with getting accustomed to boat life...we've dragged her around Kokopo and the Rabaul market...made her climb up and down jetties and transom boards... repair our rather sad and sorry Bavarian flag...scale locally speared fish and sweat out the mercilessly still, hot nights that only the tropics can manifest. She coped with all of this brilliantly and looked more than comfortable with our brief sails out to the neighbouring islands.... definitely salt water in her veins!

We took Christophe and his family, along with Lorraine (Rod's crew) and Erika out to the Pidgeon Islands first up...just a half a days sail away and a chance to give everyone and outing.. The kids and Christophe enjoyed jumping from the side of the boat into the water and catching it again before it passed....and Erika enjoyed being rescued by Ralph in the Dinghy as she attempted her gentle breast stroke behind the boat... you see the boat had picked up a little breeze as she let go which meant she got a wee bit left behind, but with Ralph to the rescue she was hauled up onto the transom before any harm was done (mental note...when swimming behind a moving boat.....hold onto a rope!)

We also had a beautiful trip to the Local Duke of York Islands...extremely picturesque and a welcome change from the exposure of Simpson Harbour..... It also gave Erika her first taste of early morning canoe calls and local children visits.... lucky we had sufficient bananas for all.