Tunung life

The second dive on the Sanko Maru was great too. I rang my Nadia on her mobile from Clem's satellite phone and spoke for 1 minute, 15 seconds! She got the roses I'd arranged.

We're going to Chapman's Reef tomorrow - by all accounts, it should be stupendous.

Lunch was good again, simple including coconut rice.

It's raining again and there are were whitecaps on the sea as we made our way back from the dive. Since lunch, I've been trying to help Clem get his satellite phone working as a modem, so he can send and receive emails. There are no other forms of telecommunications available in this whole district. He has two very old and very virus-infected laptops.

I washed my clothes too - they're hanging on my hammock.

The reef rumbles, birds chatter, generator whirrs and the rainclouds are heavy on the horizon.

Tunung Highway is the name of the path to the other end of the island - there are only 5-6 houses altogether, in 3 groups.

Sanko Maru

I needn't have worried - 61-minute dive on the wreck went without a hitch. It was magnificent - the ship is more than 100m long and covered with life. A torpedo cut the ship through the middle. Nearby, a Japanese mini-sub lies upright on the sea floor.

The best part was entering the hull, letting my eyes adjust, then enjoying the view out through the ribs of the ship. I saw a large groper, a moray eel, loads of super-cute clown fish, a few angel- and batfish. Clem unravelled a tangled fishing line. I took Ibuprofen to help reduce any sinus inflammation.

Dinner last night was great, as was lunch and breakfast. Sophie's bread is magnificent. She's a shy, pretty village girl from just across the water on New Hanover - Clem says she hasn't been much beyond the New Hanover area. I asked her this morning if she missed her kids, who are staying with her parents on New Hanover during the school week. "Yes, but if I miss them too much, sometimes I paddle over to them". It takes about one hour.

Blaise works for Clem - no English, never went to school.

The sun is coming out again, the rain fading to drips from overhead branches.

Today is my darling Nadia's birthday - hopefully I'll be able to call her using Clem's satellite phone.