"Sweet Dreams & Strong Smells at Bligh's Cave"

Hah, i'll write up a better blog this time, now i'm much more awake. As soon as I came off watch I was out like a light for hours. I have the nice ability of being able to sleep anywhere if I'm tired, so that helps with the cramped sleeping conditions under the bounty canopy. Hong Kong Dave is the only one that snores and luckily we never sleep at the same time, so his chainsaw-like snoring, while really annoying, helps keep you awake when you need to be.

Okay, from my upside-down position contorted around kit with drips falling on my face i'll pick up where I left off yesterday. So yeah, Kelefacia, it really was a stereotypical tropical paradise, as everyone has said in their blogs. Though it was pretty obvious most of the bounty and diageo crew were getting sick of lingering in that one place. But to be honest, I was content just hanging around and relaxing. Everyone else seemed to be worrying about the days to come, so much so they missed out on some peace of mind. I read, watched a few films, swam in the clear sea and had a wander around the island. It was awesome. And it was a nice ease into the situation being able to live off the support boat, Ianthe, which lessened the blow when it came to leaving.

Apparently, Dave (who was voicing his apprehensions at that time), found it insulting that I wasn't stressed in the slightest and started whining at me. Pointless really. It just seemed to make him more stressed. Made no difference to how I chose to use my own time. And most importantly, it interrupted my film. Which, by the way, was Forest Gump. Sweet film, go watch it if you haven't already seen it.

Even Stuart was a bit of a douche and started shouting at me because I took "too many sweets". It's hard to convey how uncalled for his reaction was, though at least after his childish tantrum he reverte back to acting his age.

Anyway, so we sailed up towards Tofua. Our first proper sail, which was a nice release from the unnatural motion of being towed along. It wasn't even a large distance, only twenty miles or so. Yet it was well into the night before we got close to the island. We just circled till morning, waiting for a chance to land. Fully boring, but it had to be done.

Don probably filled you in on what we did yesterday, but I'll sum up. Tofua looked so spectacular in the daylight, I was so eager to get ashore and explore. Whereas Quilter and Wilco were more interested in just bolting to Fiji. Still, we stayed and I got my chance. A bunch of locals offered to show us the way to the cave Captain Bligh found shelter in when he landed here all those years ago. "20 minutes" Said rudolf, one of the locals - to my dismay his nose was not red. A good hour's trek later, we arrived at a spot a few hundred foot from the cave. What they hadn't mentioned is that the final hurdle was descending a sheer cliff, just with a short stretch of questionable rope. It wasn't even rocky either, no firm hand holds, it was just a mix of loose dirt and roots. The kind of dirt that just shifts and slides under your weight. Still, nothing like a dangerous trip to kick off...and even more dangerous trip. To be honest I hadn't even planned on heading down the last stretch in the first place, I was just going to pass Stu some camera gear he'd left at the top. But seeing as I'd gone down halfway by the time I reached him, I just thought "Ah well. In for a penny. In for a pound."

I don't know if it was the wisest decision to expend all that energy, but seeing as the "starvation rations" we have actually fill you up, I wasn't too bothered. I really did expect to be a lot hungrier, still, not going to complain over being well fed. Come to think of it, if we're sharing out this food in the wrong amounts, it'll be hilarious if one day we realise there's nothing left to eat...

Hmm, just lost my trail of thought, the smell from Quilter's toilet break made me gag.

So yeah we're heading off for Fiji tomorrow and i'm quite happy to be leaving now as there's not much else we can do with our time here. I couldn't really be in a better frame of mind. I think it's partly due to being able to get a good night's sleep. I have extremely lucid dreams, so even though I don't have a lot of my own space on Bounty Boat, the solice from a dream is enough to keep me level-headed. Sleep deprivation is now my biggest concern, as it looks like there could be plenty of that in the future. But, if I just keep doing what i'm doing, this'll be a sinch.

Adieu
Chris