The outrigger itself was still in the water, though not fully submerged. Its torpedo shape was well over a metre in depth even before it rose into the up-arching wing and a metre or so was under the water, leaving a little less than a metre between its sleek, aqua-dynamic bottom and the coarse seabed beneath it. As the astonished Australian watched wide-eyed, Robin and Akelita dived beneath the surface, wedged their bodies into this space and remained there for minute after minute, their legs wriggling like massive shrimp-tails. After about thirty seconds, the wavelets on either side of the outrigger started to get a yellowish-looking scum on the top of them. Fascinated, and still utterly unsuspecting, Flo turned round and started wading back out, frowning with concentration as she looked at the weird phenomenon. By the grace of God, as she later observed, her eyes were pretty sharp, and a childhood experience with a swarm of green ants in Cairns made her realize what was going on pretty quickly.
