May 31, 2024
Treetop walk and Slide Avondale, Co. Wicklow

Today was bright and sunny, best weather I have had in Ireland so far. We had such a fun day and it started with a giant slide! About 2 years ago, I sent Edel a photo of this and asked her if she had heard about? ( she lives in Cork - we've been friends for years). Today we got to experience together.
First you do the treetop walk through the forest and this leads to the giant slide. You don't pay to go down the slide, until your are at top and fully committed! All ages join in the fun. We asked one of the attendants, who told us the oldest child he knew to go down was 91 and just last week an 82 year old, celebrated her birthday going down! We were game and he joked that the boxes at the bottom where for those who didn't make it! Fear not!
First went Edel, then me! Weeeeeeeeeee! It lasted all of 17 seconds. And Edel gave me a 10 out of 10, for my fashionable dismount!
I got to go Sailing Again! We were supposed to head to the COOK ISLANDS after the lovely Rangiroa and the Tuamotu Archipelago, but due to stormy weather there, with all unprotected tender ports, they made the decision to head us southwest, back to the protected port in Papeeta (Tahiti). We got lucky and Holly ( pictured below) found us a sailboat available for charter.

Since Janette Emerich is generous enough to share her drone photos with all of us on board the Ship, I have to share them with you all. This beauty is why I said we felt like we were in a screen saver the whole day in Rangiroa! I love the height perspective in the photos it really captures so much more. Blue Lagoon below:

The water in Rangiroa is so spectacular, I wanted to spend more time drift snorkeling and checking out the area called " The Aquarium ". So today I went back out for a 3 hour session to do 3 drift passes in Tiputa pass and then spent an hour in an area with wonderful healthy corals and tons of fish, earning it the nickname " The Aquarium ".









