Another couple of weeks down. Not much to report really. I’ve been biking to work most days but alas the coral dust, mud etc is destroying the gears on my bike so think I will cut back to a couple of days per week. The coral dust is like course sand paper and combined with the sea salt off the lagoon and reef destroys moving parts of bikes. Not a good combination! My neighbour John and I have continued to go out surfing with the local kids when the tide is right. We took the boys out surfing after work a couple of days last week but towards the end of the week the tides were still too low by the time it was getting dark so arranged for them to go out first thing Saturday at high tide. The boys were impatiently banging on the rusty corrugated fence by the lagoon about 8 am to get John up as they wanted to surf! I’m too far from the beach to hear them, ha! It was a bit windy and messy but we got the boards out and the kids were out for a good 2 ½ hours before the tide dropped too m...

One of the things I came out here to do while in the middle of the Pacific is surf. I bought a couple of boards over with me and get out on the reef outside my home when the conditions are right- which is not that often. There is a prevailing easterly wind that usually chops up the surf making it pretty messy and not very good, even early in the mornings. Also, we can only get out about an hour and a half or so either side of high tide or there isn’t enough water on the reef. But once in a while you get great conditions and a nice little 2 foot wave. It can close out pretty quickly, be a bit dumpy out the back and  and there is occasionally a larger wave comes through to keep you on your toes but it’s good fun. The best spot near us is the causeway between Bairiki and Betio where the channel they blasted in the reef to allow local boats though has made a nice little right hander. But you need a car to get there from where I live so it is usually easier to simply head out ...