The tribes jump from the dock and swim toward their inner tubes. "Swimming," by the way, is only a loose approximation of what they're actually doing. Most of them can barely make it to the inner tube, much less dive down the whopping eight feet to remove a rock from the boat. On his first run, Hunter is able to remove several rocks, but most everyone else can only manage one rock at a time -- if that. It doesn't even look like certain of the S15 (S14, less Robert) ever even leave the inner tube. Also, for some reason, they mostly submerge one at a time, even though that's not part of the rules. This challenge makes half of these people look like pretty substantial wussies. John on Rotu is proud because he "took out three" rocks, but then The Moppet goes down and really rocks. Hee. Get it? Rocks? He comes up with the brilliant concept of using two hands to remove rocks from the boat, and emerges from below with the claim that he's just emptied eighteen rocks from Rotu's boat. It then looks like it's The Moppet's idea for a few members of Rotu to swim down and just overturn the boat to dump out all the rocks. John and Zoe join The Moppet in this effort, and it's a pretty smart move. I like Zoe so far; I just wish she weren't mute. Not that I have a problem with mutes, but maybe they could give her a pen or paper or something? Rotu hoots very loudly over this victory; Maraamu also figures out the boat-dumping technique and follows suit, except that Hunter appears to do it single-handedly. Now the members of Maraamu start bailing out their boat, but Rotu is already headed for shore. If it is in the rules that all members of the tribe actually have to be in the boat, then both sides would be disqualified, because random stragglers hang off the back. In fact, based on the two episodes of Survivor we've seen so far, if aliens from a fully land-based planet were to land on Earth and watch this show, they'd think boats were for pushing. Or maybe they'd think that we humans are just a stupid, stupid bunch.

Rotu makes it to shore first; the members all transition from swimming to running except for Paschal who's still being dragged through the sand when they're almost fully out of the water. Rotu places its boat on the appropriate mat and celebrates. Paschal is willing not only to touch Kathy but to hug her as well. Maraamu finishes and claps for Rotu, but Hunter and Gina can't hide their disappointment. High-fives all around at Rotu, though!

It's now windy Day 6 at Maraamu; Gina eats fruit because that's what she does best. As the others weave, Hunter agrees that it will rain, and then Vecepia tells us that she, Sarah, and Patricia have been working to make the palm fronds into a roof. Their goal was to finish before the rain because it's so unpredictable, but that's kind of a difficult goal then, isn't it? Hunter and Sean work together to raise the frond roof while Sarah squats and scowls in the background. She tells us in a confessional that she's been saying for two days that they should use fronds to make a "water groove," but for two days no one's been listening to her. Now, she claims, Hunter has proposed the same concept, and it's been welcomed by the tribe as a great idea. Sarah, apparently, has never heard of the concept "good leadership." The tribe works as Sarah continues to snit; she insists that they should build the roof from the bottom to the top because otherwise water will drip down. The tribe just ignores her. Gina tells us she's irritated with Sarah because she's "all talk and no action."