Sand bar, birds, and blue boys

Sandbar from Treasure Island.

I organised a picnic lunch out on the sandbar.  A small boat took us over at about 10.30am.  The sand bar was tiny, about 30 metres long, and about 10 metres wide.

Just us and the crew for the BBQ

Looking back towards Treasure Island

The tide was going out, so it got larger during the day.  More people joined us with kayaks from Beachcomber and Treasure Islands.  A group of Japanese were diving nearby, and set up a BBQ lunch on the sandbar.

Shells, shells, and more shells.  Tighe and I gathered a collection.  Quinn built sand castles, and moats, and tunnels.   

At one stage, a huge wave suddenly crashed on shore, and stranded a thin blue fish.  We gathered the sand underneath it and popped it back in to the sea.  

Fijian Seagull

After the tide had gone out a little more, we went snorkelling.  The gentle current just played with us, and the fish.  Great variety, and we could hear them eating the coral.

 Lunch was salad and sandwiches, plus fresh pineapple.  I went snorkelling again, while the boys sunbathed.   

 

I saw some more blue sea stars.  The Japanese gave the boys some BBQ chicken wings, and sausages. That was neat.

Later in the afternoon, cruising back to Treasure Island, I asked Tito, the skipper, if we could go slow over the reef, as I wanted to take photos of the water and coral.   

The coral reef and Beachcomber Island

Tito asked if we had any snacks.  He crushed the biscuits, and sprinkled the crumbs into the water.  Immediately Humbug Damsel fish appeared from the coral, Parrot fish, Wrasse, and butterfly fish. 

All on top of the water for Quinn and Tighe to see.  There were also long thin fish, which I thought were baby barracuda. Tito identified them as baby Marlin.

Baby Marlin

Quinn and Tighe spent the rest of the afternoon near the pool.  I watched the wild life.  A very relaxing afternoon.

Tighe watching geckos

Gecko on fence

 The parrots joined us again, noisy beautiful birds.

 When it got too hot we wandered back to the bure.

Mana Island

 At the Eastern point of Treasure Island, a heron was waiting.

 These Jays are noisy cheeky birds.   They steal your food.

In the comfort of air conditioning, the boys did their schoolwork, until it cooled down outside to about 25 degrees.   The jays and banded rail visited us.

Tighe wanted to go swimming before dinner.   The pool is lit with blue lights, so when the boys are in the water, their skin is blue too.  It reminded me a little of the creature from Hell Boy.

After eating on the sand bar, Quinn and Tighe weren’t particularly fussed about a BBQ buffet dinner.  I had steak and sesame stir fried vegies,  They ordered a Fruit Plate off the Kids Menu, but asked for no Watermelon, and double pineapple.  The plate came out with 10 slices of pineapple, and nothing else. Perfect!

Tighe has made friends with a young Italian lad, Alexandro.  We invited him to come crab hunting.  With torches, we found 3 decent sized crabs.  We could hear the party music from Beachcomber island.