[password] zara1010

[status]

:position 20 11.728s 163 59.10e

Now anchored in Poum, a tiny town that has a festival this weekend - perfect timing.
Today we went as far north as we will on this trip to the tropics, it's south down the west coast now to Noumea, then NZ next month.
Had an exciting exit from last nights anchorage in 20+kn on the nose, bouncy swell, reefs and shallow water - under 4m.
Once out in the bay we got the sails up and headed downwind at over 7kn to round the northern most tip of the islands and reefs at the top of New Cal.

We were very lucky; as we hugged the coast and turned west before heading south to pass the far side of the narrow islands, we watched the wind go round more to the North - yippee, a beam reach down this side now - not what we were expecting.
We had the best sail in ages, over 7kn, blue sky above, turquoise seas below, wonderful scenery and flat seas, we did the 30nm in 4 hours and were sad it was over so quickly. Saw lots of very large turtles close up, think that with the noise of the wind and seas they didn't hear us coming - it was great.

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