Day 6

We decided to have a chilled out day and hang out at the resort today. There are catamarans that you can take out from the resort, but, given our minimal water sport experience, Brett and i decided that we would book a lesson first.

A wee flag went up in the back of my head when I noted that the guy who came to give us a lesson had a name tag that said "Tom - Gym", but I figured that maybe "Gym" might cover all physical activities, so I didn't really worry about it.

The photo you see here is as we set off and the only period that we actually did any actual sailing. My suspicions were further piqued after about 10 minutes of him fruitlessly trying to have the sail "catch its own wind" while we drifted backwards down the harbour (despite the pretty natty wind blowing) when Tom muttered ''it should go, I don't know why it won't". Uh oh. "Hey Tom" I say, "How long have you been at the resort?" Tom replies (with a hint of panic in his voice) "3....2.....7 months". "Hmmmm" I think, "Note to self, make sure that you check before you take a sailing lesson, that your tutor knows how to sail".

10 minutes later, still drifting, Tom tells us he wishes he had remembered his cell phone. Yup, us too. He tried to whistle up a couple of frinds as we drifted by, but the wind was too strong for the sound to carry. Thank goodness we were still in the harbour and not drifting out to sea! A little while later, we washed up on a coral beach - embarrassingly enough, just outside the yacht club. Brett and I waited with the boat (drawing a crowd) and Tom took off to find help.

30 minutes later, one of the resorts service boats arrived to rescue us and ferry me and Brett back to the island. Tom was left to bring the catamaran back and we saw him still inching his way back up the harbour as we wandered back to our room. None the worse for wear, but with a lesson learned - although not the one we had expected.

After lunch we went snorkelling off the point at Iririki. We found Nemo and his family - safe and well and playing among the anemones.

Dinner was the Seafood Buffet at Micheners on Iririki. During dinner we were entertained by a group of local ladies who performed dances from various Pacific Islands - with very quick costume changes in between. They sure can shimmy those hips.

Last day tomorrow, hard to believe.