South Pacific Morning (Nukubati - Part 3)

We said goodbye to our new friends as they departed back to Australia and headed out in the morning to our sandbar picnic brunch.  Levi took us out to the Mangrove sandbar which at high tide is underwater but at low tide is this pristine private beach with no one around for miles.  He packed 2 dining chairs, a dining table and a large beach umbrella in the blue motorboat along with a cooler of brunch that Sara and Josephine had packed.  When we got to the sandbar he unloaded our picnic components and gave us a 2 way radio so we could radio when we wanted to come back when the tide started coming in.  “Nukubati this is Sandbar :)”.  

The water was like glass which is seems surreal for the Pacific Ocean and there was the kind of silence one does not usually have in a house full of young children.   It was so quiet Keith realized he was hearing the sand dry up.  The only other people were fisherman far in the distance.  They looked to be walking on water but I suspect that they were on sandbars of their own.  We had our usual leisurely breakfast on our red-tableclothed dining table right there in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  After breakfast we walked around our little sandbar and found the entry/exit point Levi had mentioned.  We had brought our snorkeling gear and after a few feet there was a huge drop off but at the edge of the drop off was all sorts of coral and tropical fish.  We went around our little island looking at the fish and coral and then also  realized we could almost as easily see them standing up along the edge.  Keith went a little farther out and say an “eel” when I asked him what colour it was he said “black and white like a zebra” knowing full well that it was not an eel but a sea snake.  It was swimming away though and as Gordon keeps reminding me their venom is in the back of their throat and they are usually very docile and nothing to worry about (this is only a small comfort to me due to my deathly snake fear).  

After snorkeling around the sandbar we read our books under the shade of the umbrella and watched the tide come up.  The little crabs I had been trying to see on our regular beach showed us their regular ritual on the sandbar.  They would come out of their holes carrying armfuls of sand, throw it in a pile and retreat back in their holes.  It’s pretty ridiculous and fun to watch.  The three hours before Levi came to pick us up seemed to fly by.  A magical morning.