After three days of travel outward from B-002, I've come to B-003, another Earthlike planet. I settle my ship into orbit and start my scans. After several hours in orbit my scan has come up with many interesting things. There is an oasis at the edge of a vast desert, that has a stream coming out of is that leads off into a plain of reeds. From there is cuts a path through a canyon. After that it winds through a grassy plain where I've spotted some ruins. Eventually the stream leads to a sea where there is a massive coral reef.
With what I've observed from orbit, I take my ship down to the oasis. It's a lovely place, with palm type trees and reeds surrounding the spring that feeds the stream. I take several pictures as well as samples of the flora and the water. The water is drinkable, so I fill up a canteen.
While I was taking lunch at the oasis, I noticed a few birds in the palm trees. They were big, approximately two feel tall with a wingspan of about four foot tip to tip. They remind me of egrets. I assume that they fish in the oasis and in the stream. I think I frighten them, because they stayed up in the trees till I left to make my way towards the coast.
Travelling through the plain of reeds was difficult. The ground was quite spongy, which made it hard to walk. The reeds were taller than me which is why I literaly stumbled over an inhabitant of the area. They were collecting the reeds into bundles, and because I couldn't see very far through the reeds I didn't see them at their work. After a few minutes adjusting the translater, I was able to apologise for the intrusion. They asked if I would go back to their village and talk some more. I said yes and helped them with their cargo of reeds. The village was a short distance away so we didn't have to travel far. It was a small village, maybe around five hundred people lived there. It was nice. I stayed there overnight and than started back down the stream again. Before I left though, I told my new friends that I would be back to see them on my way back to my ship.
After a few hours I made it to the mouth of the canyon that I saw from orbit. This stream has been working on this place for some time, because the canyon walls are very steep. Fortunately there is space alone the wall were I can walk. As I make my way through the canyon I notice some strange plants hanging down the walk from the top of the canyon wall. As I walk by these plants I see one of them snare a fish in the stream. The plant picked it out of the water and raised it up to a mouth similar to a venus flytrap. I'll have to keep clear of the vines or I may end up lunch for one of these plants.
Around mid-day I came out of the canyon. Before me was the grassy plain that I had see from orbit. Off in the distance I could see the ruins that I had spotted from orbit. At this point I stopped to have my lunch. It will probably take me till sundown to get to the ruins. I'll have to make camp there tonight, so the rest of the day I spent getting to the ruins.
The sun is quite low on the horizon, so I think I'll set up my shelter and than have dinner. After getting the shelter setup, I took several pictures and measurements before the light faded. I had dinner and than went to bed. It had been a long day and I was quite tired. The night passed without incident and I woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the ruins. I had a great breakfast before I started my work. I took lots more pictures and measurements before I took down my shelter and headed on to the coast.
It took about three hours to get to the coast. When I got there I could see the waves cresting over the top of the reef. I assume the tide must be low as the reef was not exposed when I spotted it from orbit. I waited several hours while the tide came in and covered the reef again. At that point I went for a swim out to is. It was longer than I had expected but it was worth it. I got some amazing pictures. I did need to be careful as there were some rather large fish in the water that the smaller fish hid from. When one noticed me I turned on my sonic repeller which kept it from getting to close. I spend quite some time out by the reef, but when I started feeling the tide pulling me out, I made for the beach.
I took my time on the way back, stopping at the ruins for another day and night. I also stayed in the village for another day, but had to leave. There are many planets on my list to explore and I only have a year to get to them all. I'll have to stop back here on my way home.
End of log.