May 25, 2016
Hotel: Vaiaku Lagi Hotel; Funafuti, Tuvalu

Ow my head. Was definitely feeling woozy this morning after all the kava. When booking the hotel via email, I had arranged a boat trip for 200AUD out to the other side of the lagoon. Now I wasn't sure how I felt about that with a spinning head! Peter was joining me so that was good to split costs. Originally I thought we were going to the Conservation Area, but that has to be arranged through the town council, we were just going to some private islands right next to it. Breakfast at hotel was OK with egg+bacon.

We decided to return the scooters this morning as we likely wouldn't need them all day. The gas 'station' was just up the street, we filled up our bikes but Peter's was in gear when he started his and the bike took off and flipped over, throttle racing. He got banged up a little, and the footrest/gearshift got slightly bent. Ironic as we were just across the street from Richard's place and about to return the bikes. Richard said no worries though and was able to get the peg bent back into shape, and didn't charge a thing.

The boat arrived about 9AM, a metal fishing boat with no shade. The fisherman's wife also came along. I covered up pretty well and slathered on the sunscreen. It took nearly an hour to cross the 14km-wide lagoon to Tepuka island. The island was surrounded by gorgeous blue water and white 'rice' sand. Peter and I walked around the island, nearly 1.5kms. The outer side of the island had a lot of downed trees from recent storms so we had to thread our way through branches and wade through the water. When we reached the boat again there were fish grilling on the coals and the boat guy (can't remember name, sorry) opened up some fresh coconut to drink. We eagerly dug into the fish, peeling off the skin and scales and eating the hot flesh with our fingers. We had Red Snapper and some other local fish. The coconut water was very refreshing. They mentioned they had 6 kids!









Fresh lunch

After lunch we swam for a bit before getting into the boat and heading across to another island. This had lots of coral surrounding it and it was low tide, so it took awhile to maneuver the boat to shore. There was another boat here with some fishermen walking on the reef. We hopped out and walked up the island. Lots of screaming seabirds here, so it must be a nesting site. Saw some empty coconuts with what looked like rocks on them until I realized the ground was crawling with hermit crabs. The crabs were feasting around the empty coconut. Even on this island there was plastic bottle trash, you can't get away from it.


Hermit Crabs

We headed back to Funafuti, this time the sea was a bit rougher and kept getting soaked by the spray. Was pretty exhausted by the time we got back so had a bit of a rest before going down to the post office and mail the postcards, then for a walk out on the runway. The runway is the largest open space in Tuvalu, and as flights only come a few times a week, most afternoons there are people out excercising and walking on the runway! It must have been too early yet as we were the only ones out there. A bit of ice cream sounded good so we wandered about trying to find a shop that had any. Eventually we find a shop near the 'university'.



For dinner we headed to the Filamona hotel with the IMF guys. Several rounds of beer later we end up back at our hotel.