After a quiet day in Naselesele we opted to move on to destinations new. Tomorrow is a public holiday for the Queen (Elizabeth 2) birthday and shops are closed, buses running a Sunday schedule. If it hadn't been a holiday we'd have stayed and caught a bus to visit the Brouma waterfalls. We can do it on the way back south.
For once the wind was blowing from the right direction and we were able to sail almost all the 20 miles to Albert Cove on Ra(m)bi island. Ra(m)bi island was purchased by the British government in 1931 to resettle Kiribatians from Banaban after phosphate mining by the British and an influx of settlers rendered their island uninhabitable. Two thousand Banabans were dumped on Rabi in the middle of the cyclone season with only army tents and two months' rations. Many died due to the cold (Banaba is on the equator). Today Rabi, has a small community of Banaban and Fijian people who live simply and harvest copra.
Before we'd seen Albert Cove we'd been encouraged to visit this 5 star anchorage and we weren't disappointed. This is picture postcard paradise with a white sand beach backed by palm overlooked from the rocks above by majestic trees. Not only was Albert Cove pretty, and the navigation in through the reed straightforward, but our good friends on Imagine were here too. Odilin from Monaco had sailed with us from Naselesele this morning and they were first in, followed by Imagine and then us.
We haven't seen Stuart and Sheila since Savusavu. This time they had guests, Helen and Brett visiting, and we had a pleasant gin and tonic chatting and watching the sunset.
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