As we made our way from the entrance of North Minerva reef to the eastern side of the reef, the rain that had welcomed us in began to blow over, with blue skies on the horizon. After we anchored, Scott and I got to work with cooking up a big brunch to celebrate our arrival, bacon and eggs for a well-deserving crew. We had logged 950 nautical miles since leaving Auckland, which is no small task! The afternoon was spent catching up on sleep, reading, or basking in the sun after the clouds had cleared. Mid-afternoon, we all piled into the dinghy to go for a snorkel just off where we had anchored. The current made it an easy drift dive, taking us from the far edge of the reef back to the boat. I’m sure I start to sound like a broken record when I write about the South Pacific anchorages, but this truly was the most incredible water I’ve seen. The shades of turquoise and blue were almost fluorescent, and going for a swim was totally surreal knowing that we were in the middle of the ocean in such incredible conditions.

Back onboard after our dive, Michael had made a pork roast for dinner, which was an absolute hit. After dinner we all sat on deck for sunset, and were even lucky enough to see a green flash as the sun dropped down over the horizon.

That night we all went back out to the reef for low tide. Only a small portion exposed due to not a very extreme tide, the rest about ankle deep. As we got off the dinghy you could hear the breaking waves on the outside of the reef, where the ocean meets the reef, but also the rushing water over the reef into the inside. With headlamps on, we all spread out exploring, and found it was quite easy to get disoriented and turned around. We had all heard of the delicious Minerva reef crayfish, and were hoping we might score one or two to share the next evening. What we discovered was that the crayfish population at Minerva reef was absolutely thriving, and ended up catching far more than we could eat. So we left what we didn’t need, and made our way back home to the boat dreaming of a garlic butter feast the next day.

Sunday morning started with a bit of timings confusion thanks to daylight savings and shifting time zones, but we made it to the reef in time for the 0830 low tide. We wandered all the way to the edge of the reef this time, watching the waves break and wash down the reef. In the daylight, we found that there were so many different areas and layers to the reef, some with pools with big fish, others with brain coral or soft coral. We explored until the tide began to fill back in, then made our way back to the boat.

Coral heads out by the breaking waves on the outside of the reef

I had been itching to see the reef from a bird’s eye view, so when we were back onboard, a few of us took turns going up the mast. At the top, you could see all the way around the reef, and even out to the ocean beyond. Later on in the afternoon, we all piled in the dinghy once again for the high tide, going to snorkel in another area of the reef. Despite it being the same reef we were exploring only a few hours earlier, it looked like a totally different environment at high tide. It filled in with life in the sparkling water, and we spotted even more sharks and fish than the day before.

View of the reef and the ocean beyond from the top of Silver Fern’s mast

After our swim, it was finally time for our crayfish feast! Scott and Andreas got to work cleaning the catch, and got the barbecue going. It was my first true crayfish experience, and I fear none after this will ever compare. We sat on deck and feasted on the cooked legs, which seemed to never end despite only taking a few crayfish. And for the main course, we had the garlic butter tails. Crayfish at Minerva reef, a memory I will never forget. We stayed on deck for the sunset, then all retired to bed pretty early after a busy day in the sun.

Scott and Andreas cleaning the crayfish!

This morning we woke up to the boat having spun around to sit facing North, and a fair bit of rain to wash the deck of any crayfish shells leftover from last night. We tidied up the boat to get ready for sea once again, and weighed anchor with one more adventure in mind before departing. We’d heard that the snorkeling right by the entrance of the reef was incredible, and a few of us wanted to check it out. So we are off for one last hoorah on Minerva reef, then off to Tonga. The forecast looks like we may have to motor-sail east for a while to hopefully set ourselves up on a nice angle to sail the rest of the way up, planning to arrive Wednesday mid-day.

Cheers,

Liv

Green Flash and the Crayfish Feast

“If they get silly big, we get back into the boat.”

Onward to Minerva