Sunday 23 June – good winds but very bouncy seas

My shift was 6am, it was my turn for a whole night’s sleep, which was a wonderful rest. I managed to sleep through all the crash banging of the waves as they hit us from the side. Sadly I think all the men struggled sleeping and with their various night shifts, everyone was a little tired today. The good news is we will be arriving at our destination in SavuSavu in Fiji tomorrow morning.

The views out either side of the boat, sun rising and moon sinking, at 6am

It was a stunning sunrise, bright red skies on one side and then the full moon’s silvery light on the other side. We have powered along averaging 8 knots over the 24 hours, with a reef in the main sail and the jib out. Besides the usual flying fish visitations it was an easy sail even if bumpy. Around 4 pm we heard a big noise and discovered the jib block had broken. We had noticed when we put her up the block was not quite right but thought it would hold, luckily with a spare block on board not the exact same one but would do, the three men easily got things under control. During supper Rowan realised we had threaded the rope through the wrong part of the block. It was broken anyway, just another thing for Rowan to buy at the Chandlery, which is like a sweetie shop for him! Apparently it is a huge chandlery (by Fijian standards!), Rowan has already checked they have our sim card we need for navigation, he tried everything to get the old one going with various helpful suggestions, but it looks corrupted. Luckily he has the maps downloaded on his phone and Ipad, as it is quite a tricky wiggle through many small islands to get to our destination to check in with customs. We have to wait a few days to get our cruising permit, they are trying to knock the drug industry and everything seems to be taking a little longer according to all the Fiji groups we are following.

Great sailing day, the water temp is up to 27.6 degrees and we are all in shorts

Rowan decides now we have got rid of the duvet to get rid of his long locks too!

Off it goes………..

With the new hair style he tackles the mega hoover job required afterwards

We finally spot land around midday

The men tackle the broken block on the jib

Another sunset

We over challenged our little airfryer tonight with a rack of lamb, tasty but messy! We enjoyed our last evening of mocktails, we are all looking forward to a drink tomorrow when we arrive, after our week off. CJ can’t remember the last time he had a whole week without an alcoholic drink!