10:25.6S 105:40.2E
We are now at Christmas Island, where we have been taking a 48 hour break on our way to Cocos Keeling. We had good wind and current on our last day of sailing which meant that we covered 257 miles in the final 24 hours. This is not as impressive as it seems because of the 1 to 2 knot current helping us along, but still a new record for Anastasia as far as distance covered over the ground.
We arrived at 8am local time which meant that after we had cleared customs there was plenty of time to walk around town, check out the supermarkets for provisioning and do some snorkelling in the bay. Christmas Island has world class diving and snorkeling and one of the good snorkel sites is the bay where we are anchored (Flying Fish Cove).
Today we went on a tour of the island. It is not quite the right time of year to see the red crabs doing their famous migration, but we did see plenty of these endemic crabs, as well as the blue crabs (newly classified as endemic) plus some large robber (coconut) crabs, which are also protected here and so not as timid as in on the Pacific islands. We also saw some endemic birds, the beautiful Golden Bosunbird, with its golden wings and long tail streamer, plus the huge Abbotts booby soaring over the cliffs.
The kids opted to walk 4km around the coast to visit a grotto where you can climb down into the water for a swim, and which is reputedly the hideout of a dragon. They didn't see the dragon.
F The idyllic anchorage
10 And in the other direction !
11 Under the water
12 The red crabs
13 The blue crabs
14 The much larger robber crabs