Hunters and Gatherers

Lovely sleep in this morning after a late night of chatting last night with local RAN, Robyn. Just after breakfast, two of the local boys, Phillip and Lorenzo, arrived and asked Ben to go spear fishing with them, as you do... Phillip is 9, and in Amy's class at school. So the three of them took off to the beach with a spear longer than either of them. Rob and I looked at each other and watched them go, with mixed feelings but a realisation that this is the island way, and it was probably the best thing for Ben, as he has really missed having a peer group. About an hour later, they returned with their catch, Ben had 2 shovel nosed sharks and Phillip had a blue spot ray. As I watched them walking up the road, I felt so proud of what Ben had achieved...what a great thing for a young man......

We prepared and cooked up the fish for lunch, delicious, really delicate meat, and very very fresh. Feeling well fed we decided to head off to the other side of the jetty to do some snorkling and swimming. Although overcast, it was still warm and the other side of the island is well protected from the winds that seem ever present on our side. We had a lovely swim around the jetty and saw a few different fish swimming around. The water was just so warm. Just as Rob and I got out, one of Amy's little friends arrived on the jetty with her brother and the three of them swam and played for a while.

Jocelyn's Bala ( brother ) was just hilarious, and very confident in the water, at aged 3! He and the girls were leaping off the jetty together and then giggling like mad and swimming back around to the ladder to do it all again. He also had the best smile and while chatting to Rob, agreed to let me take his photo, how could I resist??

Once we had had enough sun, we came home and mooched for a couple of hours before heading out for our afternoon walk. The sand is so soft here and I just love collecting shells. We rounded the eastern tip of the island and came across a young couple with a bucket full of fish. They were trevally. We continued up the beach for a 100m or so when we heard a shout from the young man, who was following us up the beach with two of his fish in his hands. He gave them to Rob for our dinner....It was just such a generous, lovely thing to do....We came home and cooked them up and have all finished another delicious fish meal. Island life is good.....Yawo!