We woke up hugely relieved that we had a very comfortable night. There was quite a swell rocking us gently but there was no storm in the middle of the night. The big rain storm we had in the afternoon yesterday might have come early and was what the forecast predicted at midnight.
We got going before breakfast as the rain always comes in the afternoon. The winds was hovering just under 10 knots, each time Rowan thought about putting the sails up the wind dropped so we landed up motoring the 30 odd miles to the marina. Grey clouds with intermittent sunshine the whole way. We got into the marina around lunch time and went straight into the fuel dock to fill the tanks up for our passage to NZ. We managed to just get into our berth with wind picking up, we literally got our last line on when the heavens opened once again. What amazing timing.
We decided to go to the marina restaurant for a very late lunch as Rowan had a work call at 8pm. On the way back I popped to the shops while Rowan headed back to PolePole, we are at the furthest end of the marina from the restaurant and shop. Having spent some time looking at some locally made goods, I bought a couple of things and the biggest treat of all – two Magnum ice creams! I hadn’t been out the shop long when a guy told me he thought my husband was calling me from behind. It turned out Rowan had been walking to the boat when his phone made a very unusual ring tone, he tried to ignore it, as he had one hand holding his umbrella up and the other hitching his shorts up as he had forgotten to put a belt on. When the phone wouldn’t stop ringing he got it out his pocket and his shorts immediately fell around his ankles, some guys working near thought it was the funniest thing ever! Turns out the phone wasn’t Rowan’s, he had picked up the waiter’s phone when he paid! So funny, all I could say was, it was lucky he was wearing decent underwear!
We are feeling relieved we are safely in the marina with tanks full and the weather window still looking good to go on Monday. A bit bumpy to start but good weather getting into NZ. Phil is arriving tomorrow to join us. Everything is looking under control for our departure, even better we no longer have an invasive species on board!
Sun shining briefly for our departure, spoke to Phoebe and she quite rightly said the mountain looked like devil horns
It looked a lovely village, but we did not want to linger about
So many rainbows about
Dramatic scenery
Thunderclouds bubbling up
Clouds rolling in over the dramatic scenery
Clouds hanging over the main land of Fiji
Dark clouds behind us
Safely in the marina before another downpour
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