Amazing Sunday

The church bells sounded loudly at 9am. Its an old fashioned bell,one that hangs in a tower and is pulled by a rope. It sang out to tell everyone that church would be starting in one hour. So following breakfast we made our way across the sand between us and the church and entered the tiny church, built about 70 years ago. We were met by Uncle Dan, one of the island elders. He was very welcoming as he sat in the church waiting, with a couple of Aka's ( grandma's). About 10 minutes later, the minister arrived, Uncle Ned. He was dressed in full anglican minister robes....and thongs, and rang the bells again before welcoming us to the morning service.

The church is a high ceiling building with stain glass windows around the room. Its almost an egg shape inside with plastered white walls. The pews are wooden benches but it was very comfortable and had a lovely atmosphere. Once Father Ned had said good morning, Uncle Dan stood and started to sing. Wow!!! The sound reverberated around the walls. And soon one of the Aka's joined in. The sound of their voices harmonising in creole was spine tingling and just amazing. There were only 7 of us in the church but it sounded like there could have been a hundred. I glanced out of the window at the turquoise water and listened to the song and just felt very at peace with the world. The service was very traditional Anglican. About 15 minutes into it a couple of other people arrived, one of whom had a traditional island drum, a waroop. When the next song began, the drum just added another dimension of sound.....it was so loud, but not unpleasantly so at all.
Church finished about 90 mins later and we all left feeling uplifted and very blessed to have been part of the service.

Once we got home, the ocean was calling. A couple of young boys arrived with Amy's friend Jocelyn and we decided to all go over to the jetty for the afternoon and snorkle, fish, just be....when it looks like this, you  just cant resist

We snorkled for a while around the jetty and the kids all leaped off and tried different jumps etc. Its so lovely to see them all playing. Ben and Amy and the three island kids. It doesn't matter what color you are or what language you speak, fun all sounds the same, though I must say, Ben and Amy are both speaking more creole everyday! One of the young boys caught a little fingerling and gave it to Rob saying he would catch a shark with it. So Rob baited up one of the heavy reels and casted off. I have never seen anything try and pull Rob into the ocean before...when it hit, it was so strong!! He carefully backed down the jetty after letting the reel scream off some line and slowly started to pull the fish in from the beach. Great excitement all around, with everyone offering advice on what to do. After about 15 mins of a fight, a meter long black tip reef shark was landed on the beach!! What a thrill. It was quickly gutted and the prize held up by the hunter. Happy Fathers Day Rob. I am sure you will remember this one for a long time......Flake for tea ( today, tomorrow, the next day and.............)