We are sailing, we are sailing...
We had a lazy start this morning – no false alarm calls, as I’ve changed the time on my phone. We were collcted at 10.15 for a lagoon cruise..with beach BBQ lunch!
A very pleasant couple of hours spent either looking through the bottom of the glass bottomed boat, moored in the Marine Nature Reserve, or snorkelling around it. Where were we? In the water of course! Well, at least for half the time! Having learnt the skill, we certainly intended to put it into practise..as a result saw far too many fish to identify in about 15 feet of clear water..swimming through holes in the rocks, feeding and being fed by the boat crew!
Then into shallower water to an island in the lagoon, whose name translates as “no touch island”,where the two guys running the boat produced the most amazing bbq lunch – albacore tuna steaks, bbq’d bananas, onions, salads, french bread with grated coconut, pawpaw and watermelon. Hmmmm very yummy! Even more enteraining than watching then gather fallen palm branches ect to make the fire for the bbq, was watching them cut green palm branches and weaving them into baskets for the food! Not much was left,but the remains were quite legitimately thrown into the lagoon to feed the fish, who made very short measure of it all!
Lunch started with grace in Cook Islands Maori and English; after lunch we were told about the “Tree of Life” (the coconut palm) Trunk used for wood, branches for roofing, coconut fibre in cooking and cloth, husks for gardens, fruit for drinking and eating, shells for costumes, cups, bowls etc. The green coconuts are used for drinking – no cup required, just a sharp knife and a straw! The coconuts we normally see at home are the fully ripe ones, have little juice and much thicker and firmer flesh. What we call milk is actually the juice, coconut milk cream and milk coming from the squeezed grated flesh of the nut. I think might make my own next time – I’m sure a coconut is cheaper than a can of milk!
We had a lazy start this morning – no false alarm calls, as I’ve changed the time on my phone. We were collcted at 10.15 for a lagoon cruise..with beach BBQ lunch!
A very pleasant couple of hours spent either looking through the bottom of the glass bottomed boat, moored in the Marine Nature Reserve, or snorkelling around it. Where were we? In the water of course! Well, at least for half the time! Having learnt the skill, we certainly intended to put it into practise..as a result saw far too many fish to identify in about 15 feet of clear water..swimming through holes in the rocks, feeding and being fed by the boat crew!
Then into shallower water to an island in the lagoon, whose name translates as “no touch island”,where the two guys running the boat produced the most amazing bbq lunch – albacore tuna steaks, bbq’d bananas, onions, salads, french bread with grated coconut, pawpaw and watermelon. Hmmmm very yummy! Even more enteraining than watching then gather fallen palm branches ect to make the fire for the bbq, was watching them cut green palm branches and weaving them into baskets for the food! Not much was left,but the remains were quite legitimately thrown into the lagoon to feed the fish, who made very short measure of it all!
Lunch started with grace in Cook Islands Maori and English; after lunch we were told about the “Tree of Life” (the coconut palm) Trunk used for wood, branches for roofing, coconut fibre in cooking and cloth, husks for gardens, fruit for drinking and eating, shells for costumes, cups, bowls etc. The green coconuts are used for drinking – no cup required, just a sharp knife and a straw! The coconuts we normally see at home are the fully ripe ones, have little juice and much thicker and firmer flesh. What we call milk is actually the juice, coconut milk cream and milk coming from the squeezed grated flesh of the nut. I think might make my own next time – I’m sure a coconut is cheaper than a can of milk!
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