March 20 update

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I guess the biggest news here currently is that poor old Tapi has yet another boat on the reef. This time the Ana, which went up Saturday afternoon in calm conditions. Rumours are rife as to what caused this calamity but until Taio Shipping makes some sort of statement it is all rumours. We had the Mercury Celebrity arrive on the 6th with 2200 passengers aboard but conditions on the day meant that none got ashore, a shame for the many vendors and tour operators like ourselves who look forward to these big influxes of visitors, even if it is only for one day. Sometimes it seems the skippers on the cruise boats don’t try hard enough but in this case it really was quite shitty. We have had Tahitian Princess here since then and they were a lot luckier and got a cracker day!

We welcome back old friends Terry, Mary and Nicky Snutch from Canada, I believe this is their tenth visit to Rarotonga. These are the folk we stayed with last year in Vancouver. We also welcome back long time resident and good buddy Wally Duff who is up for a couple of weeks but did not get here in time to sort out our recent power problem. Neil from Aitutaki was also in for a day recently on his way to NZ, it was good to catch up.

On the Nudibrach front, Neville Coleman has just released his new book “Nudibranch Encyclopedia” he sent us an autographed copy as Shane has a picture in of a pretty rare beast (page 216) he is pretty pleased with this.

All here are pretty much sorted out with helmets now as it is less than a month till their use on motor bikes becomes a requirement. I have mixed feelings on this issue but do realize that they save lives. Not a lot to report this time around but I am trying to make this a regular publication so I will leave off here and hopefully more next issue.

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Photos

FV Ana
Our most recent Marine calamity

Bonds Helmet
Bond gets a start on the helmet law

more on helmets
what to do if your roof leaks

returning friends
Wally, Mary, Nicky, Terry