[password]waiknot
[position]18 57.369S 179 52.791W

[status]
We are now at Totoya island, one of the three islands in the western Lau group. We have had a fabulous day getting here. We had to make 63nm today from Kabara to Totoya, there are no other islands in between. So we left Kabara at 6am, when it was just getting light. We got the anchor up and as we turned to head out of the bay, we noticed a very shallow patch with water breaking on it very near to us! What? We did not notice that reef yesterday! Then the shallow patch moved. And blew a fountain of water! Whales. Three whales meandering by, seemingly unaware that we were even there. Possibly Fin Whales, but not 100 percent sure. Very different to the pod of Pilot whales we had seen the day before. So nice to see these magnificent creatures. Many other yachties are reporting whale sightings this year, so it seems like a great year for whales.
Then we were off on our fast sailing journey. With 25 knots plus from almost behind, and waves pushing us along, we scooted along and had a wonderful ride. 8-9 knots surfing down waves on a broad reach. Aradonna just loves these conditions. Winds moderated after lunch to around 20 knots. After passing the southern tip of Totoya we had another lovely sail up the west side of the island. We covered the 63nm in just 9 hours. That is very quick for us with an average of 7 knots over the day, so we were very happy.
The only mishap on the way was around lunchtime. Yesterday, Heather had made bacon, spinach and feta fritattas, so we would have something quick and easy to eat on our day trip. So at lunch time today, Heather carefully heated up some fritatta, wrapped it in a paper towel and handed it out to Karl in the cockpit. Yum! Karl had not noticed that Heather was getting lunch ready, grabbed the paper towel bundle and threw it overboard, thinking Heather wanted him to get rid of some rubbish!! Oh dear. After a bit of a laugh, and some more heating of the remaining fritatta, we managed to eat our yummy lunch.
With such a fast trip we arrived in plenty of time for a swim and a snorkel. The water is not crystal clear here - but better than Fulaga and certainly plenty of coral. Tomorrow we plan to go ashore and explore our surroundings. Totoya is an interesting island. It is in the shape of a horseshoe and is actually an old volcano with the middle blown out. Sea water now fills the crater. There are coral reefs around the outside, enclosing the island in a coral rim. The island is about 6nm (about 10km) across, although the ring of land is only 1km wide in many places as it forms the horseshoe with no land in the middle. The coral reefs are extensive, coming out another 4km from the edge of the land in places. So the diameter of the whole island, including reef is more like 11nm or 20km at the widest point. There is almost more coral than land! Most of the villages are positioned on the inside of the horseshoe, facing into the crater. We are anchored on the outside, but in the bay we are in, there is only a small strip of land, about 250m wide, so we can walk over to look in the crater tomorrow and see where we go from there.

[weather]20 knots E, 30 pct cloud, 1015
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