We have really enjoyed our week here in Kuto. A great anchroage, very pretty, protected and good holding even in the strong winds we had the other day. A popular place too! There were 13 yachts anchored here during the week, some have departed now leaving only 7 in the bay today. This is also a popular cruise ship destination. We have seen 4 different cruise ships come in over the past week and it seems like 4 per week is quite normal here. The ones we have seen include Holland America line, Carnival, P&O and Princess line. We have enjoyed the company of fellow yachties, especially Dennis and Pamela from sv Pamela, having sundowners on each others boats and listening to Dennis play the guitar.
A resident turtle hangs around the boat, quite a large one, popping his head up a few times to gulp some air and take a look at us before ducking down again. We have collected a group of Ramora's under the boat, about 8 of them now. They dart out to have a look at anything we throw over the side to see if it is good to eat. They love paw paw skins and meat scraps.
It has been really nice just to sit here for a week and enjoy our surroundings. Good preparation for our upcoming voyage.
Today we will stuff cushions and towels into cupboards to stop things clunking around while at sea and then tonight we will enjoy our last good nights sleep in a real bed before we set sail in the morning. All going well it will take just 7 days to reach Opua. The winds are forecast to be light, so we should have calm seas and will probably need to motor quite a bit through some very light winds on the way. So it looks like a peaceful passage at this stage.