[password] pilot25041
[position] 18 39.92s 174 00.55w
[status] Thursday 4th October and we're anchored just outside Neiafu main harbour, near Lotuma Island, its early morning and the rain has just started again!

So, we stayed hidden away in Pangaimotu Bay all weekend until Monday morning, going ashore for walks on Saturday & Sunday, doing occasional boat jobs or swimming off the back of the boat, as the wind consistently blew quite hard and we could see across the other side of the enclosed bay where the white caps and waves were rolling by! Anyway on Monday we decided to leave for Neiafu, so set off with reefed main & reefed genoa, sailing through the islands with 30kts wind, we went out through the main entrance, to dump our biodegradable rubbish and see if there were any whales about ....... which there were. We think there were at least two whales this time and they were breaching and pectoral fin slapping, this we believe is a mating/courtship ritual, we watched this for about an hour before we continued on our way up to Neiafu. After a tour of the harbour we anchored in our usual spot and had a quiet afternoon as the wind was still blowing hard.

Tuesday morning we did a run to the shops, for fresh supplies, then in the afternoon Barry & Pam went for a walk & explore ashore, nothing much to see apart from a huge Catholic school and a dilapidated Paradise Hotel, not sure when it last had any residents, but it is seriously rotting & falling down and it doesn't look like cyclone damage! After dinner, Allan, Pam & Barry ventured ashore to the 'Rocking Rooster' for a local dancers show ....... not sure what we expected, but certainly not what we got .......... a bunch of fafafines dressed up in various female attires, miming to music and suggestively dancing! Anyhow, it was different and it gave us all a laugh!

There have been a number of super yachts anchored in the bay and yesterday morning we watched the crew of Twizzle (58m long!) trying to recover a lost anchor and chain, they'd been diving and putting buoys out on Tuesday, which we couldn't understand anyway after 3hours yesterday it all made sense as they had the chain lashed with some ropes to their bow and looked like they were then contemplating what to do next or how to get the chain over the port bow roller, to pull it in ....... at which point we departed for our current location to get more protection from the wind, so we're not sure of the outcome. We anchored here and swam off the boat, Lyn had 'Hector' out, a child's inflatable unicorn that Allan gave her for her birthday!

So, to today, we've had rain on and off overnight, the wind has also decreased, we're planning to stock up on supplies, 'clear out' with customs ready to head south to Haapi group tomorrow.

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