This mornings swim was interrupted early on when we saw this massive ball of fish about 500m out from the beach. Never seen anything like it – kind of like the picture above. I dived down in amongst it which was spectacular. Wow !

Then swam the full course with Matt and Mel. Mel did a fantastic job of staying on my feet the whole way without tapping them once. I tried to drop her once or twice briefly (it’s only fair ;O)) but I was pleased to see she was very tenacious and didn’t get dropped. I’m now encouraging her to start with me you never know she might manage to pick out my feet in the melee.

There were extra marker buoys out which made it feel a little less committing and at the far end the permanent buoy was no where to be seen. The swim back always seems incredibly daunting from that point and it was made tougher by lots of stingers on the way back.

We all went for a very long leisurely breakfast in Tantes. That was me done for the day so I chilled out. I spent some time in the sun continuing my plan to try and get a proper tan in the hope of avoiding the sun burn I’ve had every time I’ve race here. Had coffee at Lava Java with Roger before more time relaxing ahead of dinner at the Canoe Club accompanied by a fantastic sunset. I got piccies but I’m keeping them up my sleeve for future blogs in case I’m missing a photo.

Brett, Mel and I finished off in Kope Lani for coffee. I got chatting to a couple who told me that they were down to one cruise ship a week now. This must be devastating for the local economy. I remember my first trip here in 2005 when there seemed to be at least one cruise ship a day and sometimes two. The recession is hitting … I guess the price of oil has a massive impact on the price of cruises.

Excited about tomorrow – riding the full course. Looking forward to seeing Hawi again. After that it’s full bore on recovery and rest.